UNIT FOURTEEN
Adverbs; Postpositions; conjunctions; particle s; interjections.
Adverbs
We have previously observed that there is little formal difference between nominals in their function as nouns and in their function as adjectives. The same words may also be used in adverbial uses. There are some particular endings which occur on words used adverbially, but examination reveals them to be morphemes already familiar to us, functioning differently. Study the following examples:
ilemlĕ vărman a beautiful woods
ilemlĕ tĕrlenĕ beautifully sewn
inşe şul a distant road
inşe an hur don‘ t put it far away
hurlăhlă jură a sad song
hurlăhlă julaşşĕ they sing sadly
vyrăsla jură a Russian song
vyrăsla jurlat he sings in Russian
Some additional examples of adjectives, pronouns, numerals and nouns used as adjectives are the following phrases (taken mostly from Dmitriyev & Gorskii, p. 890).
lajăh kalaşat he speaks well
tirpejlĕ tyt be careful, take care
chăvashla kalaşat he speaks Chuvash
şĕnĕlle purănat he‘s living like a new man
(turned over a new leaf)
urăhla tăvăpăr we do it differently
unchchĕn kilĕn until you come
teprechchen hăvarar let‘s stay until the next one
şavănta kaj go there
kuntan kajatpăr we are leaving here (from here)
vişşĕn purnatpăr we three live together
ikserĕn piraşşĕ they go two at a time
şurkunne kajăksem vĕşse kilchĕş the birds came flying in the springtime
kunĕpe şumăr şăvat it rains all day
The morphemes -lla of the directive, and the -la morphemeof adjectives may also be found in an adverbial function as: untalla ‘thither,‘ kilelle ‘homewards,‘ şamrăkla ‘as a youth, young,‘ şĕrle ‘by night, at night,‘ kĕtesle ‘in installments.‘ The genitive case is also often used to create adverbs, thus, irĕkkĕn ‘voluntarily, of a voluntary nature,‘ sivvĕn ‘coldly,‘ şămăllăn ‘slightly,‘ tĕplĕn ‘in detail,‘ vyrănăn ‘in places, somewhere,‘ măshărăn ‘in pairs, paired up,‘ kunĕn-şĕrĕn ‘by day and night.‘ The dative is found with some expressions of time, as kĕrkunne ‘in the fall,‘ şurkunne ‘in the spring,‘ irhine ‘in the morning.‘ The suffix -chchen or –chen is found on some expressions of time, as well as in the antecedent converb: halichchen ‘up to this time,‘ pajtahchen ‘since time immemorial,‘ nummajchchen ‘a great deal, for a long time.‘
We have previously met the prefixes -ta-/-te- with the indefinite pronouns; they occur with some adverbial words: tahşan ‘sometime,‘ taşta ‘somewhere,‘ temĕnle ‘some sort,‘ nişta ‘no where, to nowhere,‘ teple ‘somehow.‘ The compound suffix -ranpa, arising from the instrumental and ablative cases, is also used adverbially: ĕnertenpe ‘since yesterday,‘ paşărtanpa ‘since time began,‘ kilnĕrenpe ‘since I arrived, from my having arrived.‘
Some words and phrases occur only in adverbial usage:
paşăr recently
sasartăk suddenly
aran somehow
aval formerly
jalan always
pĕrmaj continually
kăşal nowadays (< ku ‘this‘ + şul ‘year‘)
Postpositions
Unlike languages with which the student may be acquainted, Chuvash does not have any prepositions, but instead uses postpositions, which get their name from the fact that they come after the word which they govern instead of before it. These words were once substantives, and for that matter, still are, although usually they occur in the function of postpositions. Some typical words which are used as postpositions are the following:
ajak side hĕr edge
um front, before pat direction, towards
vară midst şum along
aj underpart, underside hushă between; internal
şi surface hĕrri front one side ("its edge‘)
jen side ăsh(ĕ) interior, inside
tără upon tărri upon (possessive)
hyş rear, behind şyvăh vicinity, near
Case forms suffice to express some relationships, as:
shkapa kĕneke hur place the book in the book case
If it is necessary to tell in greater detail, then postpositions may be used:
kĕneke ajne tetrad‘ hur put the notebook under the book
kĕneke şine tetrad‘ hur put the notebook on the book
kĕneke hyshne tetrad‘ hur put the notebook behind the book
Some examples from the reading are the following.
juman patne towards the oak
şuni şinchchen down from his sled
tĕp şine on the ground
kashnin şinchen from off each
lashu patne towards your horse
pĕrin uri piche şine at the side of one"s leg
(on top of the side of the foot of one)
aslin puşĕ patĕnchen from the side of the eldest‘s head
In the modern literary language, the postposition words do not take possessives other than the 3rd p. ‚ and take only the dative, locative and ablative case endings, and govern the genitive of pronouns. With nouns, the absolute case is used. Nearly any word which means some sort of location or direction can be used with the practical effect of a postposition.
Some postpositions of invariable which can"t be declined, are:
urlă through, across
pĕrle together with (+ instrumental)
vitĕr through, across
pek like
taran up to
tărăh by, according to
pula thanks to
pirki by virtue of
valli for
kura thanks to
hirĕş against
puşne except (+ ablative)
They may govern different cases, as genitive, dative and ablative.
san valli kĕneke iltĕm I bought this book for you
ku kĕneke Ivana valli this book is for John
Verukăn ivălĕnchen puşne Vera has no one except her son
urăh nikam ta şuk
şumăra pula ută tipmerĕ On account of the rain the hay did not dry out.
Some persons consider the purposive -shăn and the terminative -chen as postpositions. One could equally well consider them cases.
mĕnshĕn for what, why?
kaşchen until evening
Conjunctions
Chuvash conjunctions function essentially the same as do their English counterparts, and may be divided into subordinating and coordinating, which, as their names imply, serve either to connect explanatory clauses with main clauses, or simply to unite words and clauses of equal (hence coordinate) status.
Coordinating conjunctions are the following:
connective: tata, -ta/-te “and, too, also“
partitive: je, te, pĕrre ... tepre, pĕr . .. pĕr “now … now;“
je . .. je “either . . or,“ “now this ... now that“
adversative: şapah, anchah “but, however“
negative: ni . .. ni “neither ... nor“ (of foreign origin)
Subordinating conjunctions are the following:
causative: mĕnshĕn tensen “because“ (‘If you say for what‘)
consequential: şavănpa, şavănpa vara, vara “since“
purposive: tese “in order to“ (lit. ‘saying‘)
conditional: tesen “if“ (‘when you say‘)
concessive: pulin te, pulsan ta “although“ (‘if it be‘)
Some examples are:
vyrăs ta, chăvash ta, irşe Both Russian, Chuvash and
te hăj chĕlhipe kalaşat Erzyan speak in their own language.
hula uramĕsem aslă ta takăr City streets are broad and flat.
epĕ şeş mar, ytisem te Not only I, but others too think so
şaplah shuhăshlaşşĕ
pajan epĕ ni pahchana, Today I neither went into the
ni urama tuhmarăm garden nor onto the street.
Particles
The use of particles imparts nuances of meaning to words and clauses. They may be divided into the following general types:
intensifying:
-ah/-eh (strengthens the preceding word like Russian zhe or German doch, ja, or the way in English we stress with the voice, by saying “He did go there“) - this is very frequent, especially In folklore, where it is mostly written as part of the preceding word. şeş şeh “only, merely“
demonstrative:
akă “here,“ avă “there;“văt “voici,“ veş “voilà".
interrogative:
-i, -shi “whether“ (often merely indicates a question is in existence, like Japanese
ka); -i-mĕn or im “really, you don‘t say“
lightly expressed command:
-ha, -ka
clarifying:
shăp “equally, exactly, namely, viz.“
negativing:
an, mar “no, not, not any“
Most of these particles are enclitic (that is, pronounced and stressed with the preceding word), but -ah, and the other intensifying particles, together with the demonstrative and negative, may also bear accents of their own. The interrogative -i is used at the end of sentences, and only when no other interrogative word is present.
Interjections
Interjections, too, function chiefly in Chuvash as In English, to insert parenthetical exclamations not essential to the sentence, but conveying a definite feeling of the speaker regarding the circumstances. Some of them are:
ej
used in salutation and greeting
aj
expresses dissatisfaction and indignation
ah, eh
alas! expresses satisfaction, but also extreme discontent, perplexity, grief and indignation
e-e, y-yh
reproachful, tsk-tsk!, uh-uh!
aj-haj, aj-jaj
ah-hah! derisive or ironical attitude
atja!
come on! let‘s go! get with it! plural is: atjăr. Also occurs metathetized: ajta, ajtăr
Onomatopoetic Words
Chuvash is quite rich in onomatopoetic or sound-imitative words, and these are found frequently in literature, folklore and native songs. For our present purposes, they are not too important.
shănkăr-shănkăr shyv juhat The water babbles, gurgle-gurgle.