Contents

Number 2 2006

Niina Aasmäe, Sources of Variability in the Duration of Stressed and Unstressed Syllable Nuclei in Erzya: Inter-Idiolect Data of Spontaneous Speech
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Abstract. Analysis reported in this paper aimed at eliciting the effects of stress, vowel segment duration, openness/closedness of the syllable and number of syllables constituting the word upon the temporal relationship between the nuclei of adjoining stressed and unstressed syllables. Observations were made on spontaneously produced one-word utterances. Main spoken varieties of Erzya were represented in the materials by a group of idiolects characterised by the use of full vowels and three groups of idiolects exhibiting different types and degrees of vowel reduction. The results confirm the validity of indications obtained previously on the effects of word structure upon vowel duration in controlled speech. Analyses focused on the occurrences of comparable sets of vowels across the idiolect groups. The overall results revealed idiolect-specific sources of vowel duration variability. In the idiolects lacking reduction, stress and vowel duration were found to be independent. Vowels in the adjoining stressed and unstressed syllables tended to have equal duration. In the idiolects having reduction, the duration of the syllable nuclei showed dependence on stress. Stressed syllable nuclei were consistently longer than unstressed counterparts. The effect of the openness/closedness of the syllable was not explicitly manifested either in the reading or spontaneous speech data. Vowel duration variations in words with open/open and open/closed syllables were found to be statistically significant in some of the idiolects with reduction. Trisyllabic words compared to disyllabic ones in both types of idiolects had shorter syllable nuclei but higher duration ratios within the duple foot. Differences in the values of duration between stressed and unstressed syllable nuclei were not significant in the idiolects lacking reduction. The tendency towards equal duration of the vowels observed in disyllabic words persisted in trisyllabic words, as well. In the idiolects with reduction, statistically significant differences were found between vowel durations in the stressed and unstressed syllables both in di- and trisyllabic words, as well as between the duration ratios for the duple foot of trisyllabic and disyllabic words. Data obtained in the study provide evidence of differences in the rhythmic patterning of the two idiolect types.

Ljubov' Abukajeva, Frazeologizirovannye konstruktsii so znatšeniem nesoglasija, neprijatija, otritsanija v marijskom jazyke
Ljubov' A b u k a j e v a, Ablehnung, Unannehmbarkeit und Negation ausdrückende phraseologische Konstruktionen in der marischen Sprache
(full article in PDF format)
Abstract. In the Mari language there are five main types of phraseological constructions that carry not only the main sense of the sentence, but also a subjective-modal function of negation, unacceptability and disagreement. The syntactic expressions can be modelled by means of their stable components — particles and pronouns. Those patterns are productive in spoken Mari and they are widely used in various genres of belles lettres.

M. G. Atamanov, Ještšo raz o proishoždenii udmurtskogo voršuda
M. G. A t a m a n o v, Once More about the Origin of Udmurt voršud
(full article in PDF format)
Abstract. Udmurt patronymic groups appeared within the voršud unities in the period of developed patriarchal-tribal system (patriarchy), whereas voršud organization reached its peak in the period of matriarchal-tribal system (matriarchy). During the historical development and under the auspicious conditions there were organized hundreds of patronymic groups within every voršud unity, for example: is'kavyn, böljak, betše, uly, nasil' and so on.

László Honti, Drei (mittel)europäische Isoglossen
(full article in PDF format)
Abstract. The paper deals with parallels between the Hungarian, Slavic and Balkan expressions for the numbers 11—19 and between the German and Slavic structures denoting 'one' in the higher tens, as well as temporal use of the instrumental (comitative) in Hungarian and Slavic. I conclude that those constructions are independent of each other. True, some of them have become generalized, but in this process the neighbour languages can be suspected to have had, at most, a conveyor role. I am actually rather sceptical about the possibility of direct borrowing of morphosyntactic constructions. According to my experience, such borrowing may happen only if (a) the object of borrowing in a way already exists in the receiver language, potentially at least, thus not being typologically unacceptable, and (b) if the speakers of the two languages have a cultural relationship, like living in the same community or in close symbiosis.

REVIEWS

Külli Habicht, Pille Penjam, Zum Jubiläum von Valve-Liivi Kingisepp
(full article in PDF format)

Irma Mullonen, Jubilej N. G. Zajtsevoj
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V. K. K e l' m a k o v, Dialektnaja i istoritšeskaja fonetika udmurtskogo jazyka 2, Iževsk, Izdatel'skij dom "Udmurtskij universitet", 2004. Rets. Galina Nekrasova
(full article in PDF format)

T. D. B l a š k i n a, Atjur'jevskij dialekt mokšanskogo jazyka. Dissertatsija na soiskanie utšenoj stepeni kandidata filologitšeskich nauk, Saransk 2005. Rets. D. V. Cygankin
(full article in PDF format)

T. V. S i d o r o v a, Gornomarijskie polisemantitšnyje glagoly i ich russkie ekvivalenty v gornomarijsko-russkich slovarjach. Dissertatsija na soiskanie utšenoj stepeni kandidata filologitšeskich nauk, Joškar-Ola 2004. Rets. Gennadij Tužarov
(full article in PDF format)

Anatolij Kuklin, Congressus Decimus Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum
(full article in PDF format)

Renate Pajusalu, Karl Pajusalu, Mauno Koski 1930—2005
(full article in PDF format)

Auf der Titelseite: Monument eines Bootsrumpfes, das während der Feierlichkeiten zum 50-jährigen Bestehen des livischen Volkshauses an der livischen Ostseeküste bei Irē (Mazirbe) am 4. August 1989 eingeweiht wurde (Foto Mati Hint)