Georgieva Ekaterina (MTA NYTI)

Sometimes ‘before’ is ‘rather’: evidence from Finno-Ugric and Turkic

Idõpont: 2019. október 10., 11.00

Helyszín: MTA Nyelvtudományi Intézet, földszinti elõadóterem

Absztrakt:

This talk deals with ‘before’-clauses with the meaning of ‘rather’ (i.e. ‘preference clauses’ in the typological literature, see Kortmann 1996) in the languages of the Volga-Kama Sprachbund, namely, Meadow Mari, Hill Mari, Udmurt, Tatar, Chuvash and Bashkir. These languages utilize a non-finite verb form that expresses various temporal clauses (e.g. ‘before’, ‘until’, ‘as long as’) and ‘rather than’-clauses. I will show that synchronically, these clauses are very similar to the diachronic change of English ‘rather’ (Traugott & König 1991; Gergel 2009, 2016, a.o.). Additionally, the findings presented in the talk are also related to the general discussion of nonfactual ‘before’-clauses (cf. Anscombe 1964; Heinämäki 1974; Giannakidou 1998; Beaver & Condoravdi 2003, a.o.) as well as contribute to the better understanding of this typologically understudied clause type.