This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language spoken in Russia, in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Since the Cyrillic script do not usually mark long vowels, macrons will be used in this article (excepting е (ē), which is always long, at least in native words). Example sentences will be taken from either the Evengus (ru|Эвенгус) website, or from Nadezhda Bulatova and Lenore Grenoble's book Evenki Grammar in 1997.
Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u).[1]
| First row | Neutral | Second row | |
|---|---|---|---|
| а a | и i | э ə | |
| е e | у u | ||
| о o |
| Syllables containing first row vowels can only be followed by another syllables that contain first row vowels, and vice versa. |
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| и (i) and у (u) can be followed by either first or second row vowels. |
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| Short о (o) can be followed by о (o); however, о (o) cannot follow long о̄ (ō) or being intervened by neutral vowels. In this place, а (a) is used instead. |
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Here are some rules of forming Evenki plurals:[2]
| The plural suffixes -л (-l) after vowels or -ил (-il) after consonants are usually used. |
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| However, after -н (-n), -р (-r) is used instead and the final consonant before the suffix is removed. |
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| Some nouns use -сал (-sal) in addition to the previous two suffixes. Notice that this suffix also removes -н (-n) from the stem. |
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| Some kinship terms are irregularly pluralized: |
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Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, allative, locative, prolative (longitudinal), allative locative, allative prolative, ablative, elative, instrumental, and comitative cases.[3]
| Suffix | |||||
| -V | -C[+V] | -N | -C[-V] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | ||||
| Accusative[4] | -ва/-вэ/-во -va/-və/-vo | -ма/-мэ/-мо -ma/-mə/-mo | -па/-пэ/-по -pa/-pə/-po | ||
| Accusative indefinite[5] | -я/-е/-ё -ja/-jə/-jo | ||||
| Dative[6] | -дӯ -dū | -тӯ -tū | |||
| Allative[7] | -ткӣ -tkī | -тыкӣ -tikī | |||
| Locative[8] | -ла̄/-лэ̄/-ло̄ -lā/-lə̄/-lō | -дула̄/-дулэ̄ -dulā/dulə̄ | -тула̄/-тулэ̄ -tulā/-tulə̄ | ||
| Prolative[9] | -лӣ -lī | -дулӣ -dulī | -тулӣ -tulī | ||
| Allative locative[10] | -кла̄/-клэ̄/-кло̄ -klā/-klə̄/-klō | -икла̄/-иклэ̄/-икло̄ -iklā/-iklə̄/-iklō | |||
| Allative prolative[11] | -клӣ -klī | -иклӣ -iklī | |||
| Ablative[12] | -дук -duk | -тук -tuk | |||
| Elative[13] | -гӣт -gīt | -ӈӣт -ŋīt | -кӣт -kīt | ||
| Instrumental[14] | -т -t | -ит -it | -ди -ʒi | -ит -it | |
| Comitative[15] | -нӯн -nūn | ||||
| Evenki nouns can also be inflected for possession, where a possessive suffix is attached to the noun based on features of the noun which possesses it.[16] [17] |
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| When declined in grammatical cases, case suffixes are placed between the noun and the possessive suffixes:[18] |
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| There are also reflexive-possessive suffixes; they do not inflect in the nominative, and instead use null on the accusative:[19] |
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| Some kinship nouns, as well as body part names (usually), are inalienable: |
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| -ӈӣ (-ŋī) is used to mark non-attributive possessive:[20] |
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| To negate presence of an object, а̄чин (āčin) is used:[21] | ||
| Final element in the stem → | Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person ↓ | -V | -C[+V] | -C[-V] | -n | -l | -r | ||
| Singular | 1st person | -в -v | -ив -iv | -мӣ -mī | -вӣ -vī | |||
| 2nd person | -с -s | -ис -is | -нӣ -nī | -лӣ -lī | -рӣ -rī | |||
| 3rd person | -н -n | -ин -in | ||||||
| reflexive | -вӣ -vī | -пӣ -pī | -мӣ -mī | -вӣ -vī | ||||
| Plural | 1st person | exclusive | -вун -vun | -мун -mun | -вун -vun | |||
| inclusive | -т -t | -ит -it | -ты -ty | |||||
| 2nd person | -сун -sun | -нун -nun | -лун -lun | -рун -run | ||||
| 3rd person | -тын -tyn | |||||||
| reflexive | -вар/-вэр/-вор -var/-vər/-vor | -пар/-пэр/-пор -par/-pər/-por | -мар/-мэр/-мор -mar/-mər/-mor | -вар/-вэр/-вор -var/-vər/-vor | ||||
| Evenki adjectives can be declined, and agree with the noun's inflection:[22] |
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