THE UDI ADDITIVE CLITIC -AL IN PROSE DISCOURSE Текст научной статьи по специальности «Философия, этика, религиоведение»

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ГРАММАТИКИ

The Udi additive clitic -al in prose discourse Удинская аддитивная клитика -al в прозаическом дискурсе

van Willigen C. ван Виллиген К.

Udi is a North Caucasian (East Caucasian, Lezgic) language spoken in Azerbaijan. The Udi clitic -al carries a range of meanings, depending on the grammatical and semantic context. This paper investigates the function of this clitic in Udi prose discourse and shows that it has the following functions in the area of focus: 1. Marking topic switch between participants salient to a story; 2. Marking additional focus and giving a reinforcing effect; 3. Marking the beginning and end of an episode and drawing attention to changes in storyline by conveying prominence of an event, time, etc. in a larger discourse context.

Key words: Udi, Azerbaijan, North Caucasian, Lezgic, topic switch, focus, discourse, narrative

Удинский язык относится к северокавказской семье (восточ-нокавказская ветвь, лезгинская группа) и распространен в Азербайджане. Удинская клитика -al выражает целый ряд значений в зависимости от грамматического и семантического контекста. В статье рассмотрены функции этой клитики в удинских прозаических текстах и показано, что ей свойственны следующие функции, связанные с выражением фокуса: 1. Маркирование смены топикального участника среди наиболее значимых протагонистов повествования; 2. Маркирование аддитивного фокуса, сопровождаемое усиливающим эффектом; 3. Маркирование начала и конца эпизода и привлечение внимания к изменениям в сюжете за счет выделения определенного события, времени и пр. в более широком дискурсивном контексте.

Ключевые слова: удинский язык, Азербайджан, лезгинская группа, северокавказские языки, смена топика, фокус, дискурс, нарратив

1. Introduction

Udi is a North Caucasian (East Caucasian, Lezgic) language spoken mainly in the Oghuz and Gabala districts of Azerbaijan, with also a considerable diaspora outside of the country, especially in Russia. There are two dialects of Udi: the Nij dialect and the Oghuz dialect, also known as Vartashen.

The Udi clitic -al carries a range of meanings, depending on the grammatical and semantic context. Languages spoken in the same geographical region like Persian and Talysh have clitics (respectively ham and an(i)) with similar, yet not fully correlating functions (Paul, ms.). This article investigates the function of the Udi clitic -al.

The Udi examples with source reference are taken from Harris' and Schulze's works, and from Udi stories by Ke^aari and Ant'onova (see bibliography). The examples from the Nij dialect without reference that are used to evaluate (un)grammaticality have been gathered in the context of my Udi language learning in 2014-2016, in Baku and Nij. The examples are cited in the current version of the Udi orthography as used in Nij. A list of abbreviations is included at the end.

2. General properties of -al

2.1 Overview

The Udi marker -al has the form of an affix and cannot appear on its own, it only imparts meaning when attached to a host. It can be attached to words of a wide variety of types: verbs, adverbs, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and postpositions. It can thus be properly characterized as a clitic [Harris 2002: 102]. The basic function of -al is that of addition, i.e. it marks a chunk of information which is being added to the information conveyed

by the speaker earlier. In this respect, -al is a representative of a cross-linguistically common type of additive markers, as described recently by Forker [2016].

In the following examples, various positions and meanings of -al are illustrated: in (1a), it is hosted by a postpositional phrase 'upon them', in (1b) it is hosted by the ergative subject 'chicken', in (1c) by a numeral 'one' (here, the combination has an idiomatic meaning), and in (1d) by an adjective within a noun phrase.

(1) a. 9ylux nep'ax-t'un-iy, i?-ogo-y

children sleep-3PL-PST REFL-PL-GEN loxol-xun-al but'-e-y. upon-ABL-ADD covered-3SG-PST 'The children were asleep, even covered.' ["Tarak'ala xaxal"; Ke?aari 2001: 125-126)

b. K'ok'os'-en-al p'urum bur-e-q-sa chicken-ERG-ADD again begin1-3SG-begin2-PRS q'izil-i qoq'la lax-s-a.

gold-GEN egg lay-INF-DAT 'As for the chicken, [she] began to lay golden eggs again.' ["Q'izili qoq'la"; Ant'onova 2012: 35]

c. Sa-al t'ia-ne beg-sa na-al amdar-xo one-ADD there-3SG see-PRS nor-ADD person-PL te-ne bu, na-al sas.

NEG-3SG BE nor-ADD thorn 'At once there he sees that there are neither people, nor thorns.'1 [Harris 2002: 57)

d. mis'ik'-al k'oj small-ADD house

'and also a small (FOCUS) house'

1 Rendering as given by Harris. Personally, I would render this Udi sentence in English as follows: "Once more he looked in that direction: there are no people, nor thorns." To make a good choice between these variants, the context of this sentence is needed.

As becomes clear from the examples above, -al conveys a variety of meanings: 'even' (1a), 'as for' (1b), 'at once' or 'once more' (1c, together with sa 'one'), 'and also' (1d, and also a small house as opposed to a big house), which seem to point to focus. In this article, 'focus' is understood in a broad way: referring to a participant's activation state, salience of a participant, event, or speech, and general prominence in a discourse context. In Udi, sentence level focus is also expressed by position and by the placement of the person marker, which is attached to the constituent in focus. We will take a brief look at this below.

Note that the clitic can appear as -l after a host ending in a vowel: e.g. t'et'iya 'there' becomes t'et'iya-l. Other variants of -al are -al, as in some cases [a] changes to [a], depending on the preceding vowel, e.g. badan 'body' becomes badan-al. An epenthetic [y] or [v] can be inserted in intervocalic contexts: arane 'between' becomes arane-yal, zu 'I' becomes zu-val.

2.2 Focus by position

The default word order in Udi is S/A O V:

(2) a. vi xun?i har-e-ne

you.GEN sister come-PERF-3SG 'Your sister has come.' [Schulze 2001/2] b. vi xun?i-n-en mal-lux tov-ne-d-i

you.GEN sister-OBL-ERG good-PL sell-3SG-LV-AOR 'Your sister sold the goods.' [Schulze 2001/2]

A constituent in focus would normally appear in the slot before the verb. Consider this example:

(3) Bez baba-n q'al-l-ux sa I.GEN father-ERG lamb-OBL-DAT2 one me-n-en-e sam-p-i knife-OBL-ERG-3SG cut-LV-AOR

'My father slaughtered the lamb with a knife.' [Schulze

2001/2]

In the example above, the fact that father slaughtered the lamb with a knife is stressed. The word 'knife' both occupies the slot before the verb (default would be to place it before the object) and has the 3SG person marker attached to it (see 2.3). However, for putting the focus on the fact that father slaughtered a lamb (as opposed to a chicken), the word 'lamb' needs to occupy the default object slot before the verb ('My father with-a-knife a lamb slaughtered') but to distinguish this from the default and convey focus, another focus marker like -al would be attached to 'lamb'. Note that in this case the 3SG person marker would be attached to the verb.

2.3 Focus marked by placement of the person marker

Example 4 below shows how Udi can express focus by attaching the person marker to the constituent in focus:

(4) a. Zu sum u-za-k-sa.

I bread eat1-1SG-eat2-PRS 'I am eating bread.'

b. Zu sum-ez uk-sa.

I bread-lSG eat-PRS

'I am eating bread.' (DEFAULT)

c. Zu-z sum uk-sa. I-1SG bread eat-PRS 'I am eating bread.'

For a verb like uksun ('to eat'), 4b would be the default SOV (there is no emphasis on the action of eating itself); in transitive clauses, the person marker by default attaches to the object. However, as becomes clear from these examples, the person marker can be attached to other elements if focus is required. In these cases, the word order does not need to be changed.

Harris shares this view in her Endoclitics and the origins of Udi morphosyntax [2002: 63] as she concludes that the person

marker in Udi attaches to a constituent that is in focus (like question words, answers to questions, and negators).2

Harris's exposition of placement of person markers in relation to focus in Udi is thorough and helpful. However, no special attention is given to the function of the clitic -al in relation to the placement of the person marker as a focus marker. Harris glosses -al as an additive conjunction 'and, also', which indeed covers one of the functions of -al as we will see below.

(5) Me-t'-in-al burim sa yaravga

PROX-OBL-ERG-ADD apparently one bag.ABS q'azal-le haq'-sa

gold.ABS-3SG take-PRS

'She also, apparently takes a bag of gold.' [Harris 2002: 44, example 1]

Harris uses example 5 to state that 'bag of gold' is in focus, which indeed is the case if just looking at the placement of the 3SG person marker. Yet in this particular sentence met'in ('this one', 'she') is hosting the clitic -al which could be conveying focus, too (to determine with certainty whether focus is conveyed rather than a mere additive function, a context would be needed for this sentence). However, as mentioned before, in transitive clauses the object hosts the person marker by default. Since the verb 'take' naturally points to what is taken, it would be more true to consider it default for the person marker to attach to 'bag of gold' rather than this being a deliberate expression of focus; 'bag of gold' is also in the default object position. In this

Harris also points out that the complex unit composed of focused constituent in argument-focus + person marker generally occurs immediately before the verb. Preverbal position in argument-focus structures therefore can be considered as another way of marking focus. (Note that in SOV constructions the object is by default placed before the verb, so this does not imply focus; only other constituents in a preverbal slot are in focus).

2

sentence, met'in seems to be marked for topic switch by -al, which communicates that this new character is now prominent in the story. As we will see later, -al does not necessarily always have only an additive function 'also, too, just like the other person mentioned in the preceding context' but can also convey other meanings depending on discourse context. A similar case of -al marking prominence of a participant is shown in examples 6a and 6g below:

(6) a. Zu-val sum-ez uk-sa. I-ADD bread-lSG eat-PRS 'I am eating bread.'

(or, depending on context, -al expresses additive function: 'I, too, am eating bread') (*'I, too, am eating bread.')

b. §o-t'-in namak'-e yaq'-a-b-sa. DIST-OBL-ERG letter-3SG road-DAT-do-PRS 'He sends a letter.'

c. §o-t'-in-al namak'-e DIST-OBL-ERG-ADD letter-3SG yaq'-a-b-sa. road-DAT-do-PRS

'It is he who sends a letter.'

(or, depending on context, -al expresses additive function: 'He, too, sends a letter') (*'He, too, sends a letter.') *d. §o-t'-in namak' yaq'-a-ne-b-sa

DIST-OBL-ERG letter road-DAT-3SG-do-PRS e. §o-t'-in namak'-al yaq'-a-ne-b-sa.

DIST-OBL-ERG letter-ADD road-DAT-3SG-do-PRS 'He sends also the letter.' *f. §o-t'-in namak'-al-e yaq'-a-b-sa.

DIST-OBL-ERG letter-ADD-3SG road-DAT-do-PRS g. Ek'a-te Giorgi-n-en a-t'u-k'-e

what-REL Giorgi-OBL-ERG see1-3SG-see2-AOR2

muzeum-a, zu-val bes a-za-k'-e. museum-DAT I-ADD before see1-1SG-see2-AOR2 'What Giorgi saw in the museum, I, too, had seen earlier.' [Harris 2002: 44, example 21e]

6b has default word order and placement of person marker; 6a and 6c however show prominence of the subject by using -al; the person marker placement is again default and therefore does not convey particular focus. Note that in both 6a and 6c -al could have an additive function rather than expressing focus; this depends on context. To establish if -al truly conveys focus and does not just express an additive function, I investigate the use of -al in discourse context in section 3. Example 6d is ungrammatical since the person marker has to be on 'letter' in combination with 'sent'. This is solved in 6e, where 'letter' is host to the clitic -al and the person marker stays attached to the verb, rather than to 'letter'. However, in this example 'letter' is definite since -al here implies that this letter has been mentioned before and the action of sending is a continuation of something that happened earlier.

We see that there are several ways focus is expressed in Udi: one expressed by the placement of the person marker, the other expressed by non-default word order. Focus vs. background can be marked additionally by using a clitic like -al.3 Schulze [2001/2] indeed recognizes this difference by stating that the placement of the person marker indicates bound focus (defined as "a kind of focus that is necessarily related to a referent in S=A function"), but that free focus is indicated by -al, being either emphatic or contrastive.

In Udi, -al is not the only clitic that can be used for this purpose. There is also a contrastive topic clitic isa, which is the adversative equivalent of -al (as a topic switch marker). However, -al is used for additive focus or topic switch, whereas isa always marks a contrastive topic (see also below).

Schulze [2001/2] gives an example of the emphatic use of -al:

(7) Zu xe-zu ug-i sum-ax-al

I water-1SG drink-AOR bread-DAT-ADD u-zu-k-i

eat1-1SG-eat2-AOR

'I drank water and ate the bread.' [Schulze 2001/2]

Schulze does not give further context for this sentence, which makes it difficult to judge why 'bread' would be in focus here. The following example makes this use of -al clearer:

(8) Ofal-in fo gunax-i q'a bi-sun-i world-GEN face sin-GEN CONJ die-MSD-GEN ga-ne bay. Amma Buxacug-on hala-l place-3SG be.AOR but God-ERG still-ADD insan-xo fark'est'un-e fur-e-sa-y person-PL save+MSD-3SG want-LV-PRS-PST

'The world had become a place of sin and death. But God still [even now] wanted to save the people.' [Danakari, §ixmalova 2017]

The considerations above point to the clitic -al being used as discourse marker, and that sentence level focus is mainly conveyed by word order and placement of the person marker. For this reason we proceed to investigate if and how -al functions as a discourse marker.

3. Use of the clitic -al in prose discourse

To see how the clitic -al functions in prose discourse, I have analysed several prose texts. The main findings are presented and explained below.

3.1. The clitic -al marks topic switch between participants in a story

In the course of a story, -al is used for topic switch between different participants. Below are a few lines from the story "The walking sieve". This story is about an elderly lady, her daughter-in-law and four granddaughters, who live together in a house. One night, when all are asleep, the daughter-in-law wakes up because of a strange sound. She notices the sound comes from under a sieve that has been turned upside down, and what is more, the sieve is moving through the house! She screams in fear, waking up the girls:

(9) Bin-ey sas-axun xuyar-mux mugur-t'un

daughter.in.law-GEN voice-ABL girl-PL awake-3PL bak-i. 9yl-og-on-al xaxal-i

be-AOR child-PL-ERG-ADD sieve-GEN tara-p-sun-a ak'-i bur-t'un-q-i

walk-LV-MSD-DAT see-AOR begin1-3PL-begin2-AOR s'irit-b-s-a. Kalna mugur-bak-i

outcry-DO-INF-DAT grandmother awake-be-AOR p-i-ne: "Axir, ay bin, ay bal-oox,

say-AOR-3SG Now oh daughter.in.law oh little.one-PL mo he s'irit'-e? He-t'-aynak' te-nan

PROX.ABS what outcry-3SG what-OBL-BEN NEG-2PL bar-e bask'-a-yan?" Bin-en-al, let-LV:PRS sleep-SUBJ-1PL daughter.in.law-ERG-ADD xuyar-mog-on-al xaxal-a-t'un ak'-es-t'-i girl-PL-ERG-ADD sieve-DAT-3PL see-INF-CAUS-AOR o§a-l p-i-t'un: "Sa beg-a then-ADD say-AOR-3PL one look-IMP.2SG xaxal hetar-a tara-ne! iz oq'a

sieve how-3SG:Q walk-LV:PRS REFL.GEN under §eytan-e bu." Kalna-n xaxal-a

devil-3SG BE grandmother-ERG sieve-DAT

ak'-i bur-e-q-i axsum-b-s-a.

see-AOR begin1-3SG-begin2-AOR laugh-LV-INF-DAT "Vax zu hik'a uk'-a-z! Zu-val

you.PL.DAT I what.ABS say-SUBJ-1SG I-ADD nex-su he-t'-aynak'-t'un haray-e."

say.PRS-1SG what-OBL-BEN-3PL scream-LV:PRS 'The girls woke up from the voice of the daughter-in-law. When the children saw the sieve walking they began to scream. The grandmother woke up and said: "Now, oh daughter-in-law, oh little ones, what is this screaming about? Why did you not let us sleep?" Both the daughter-in-law and the girls pointed to the sieve and said: "Just look how the sieve is walking! There's a devil underneath." Grandmother saw the sieve and began to laugh. "I'll tell you something! I will say what you've been screaming about."' ["Tarak'ala xaxal"; Kefaari 2001: 125-126]

In the story above we see how -al is used for topic switch, and in the last occurrence in combination with contrastive focus. The grandmother is introduced into the scene, but 'grandmother' does not host the clitic -al until she takes the lead: "I will say what you've been screaming about", and thus marks a development in the storyline.

A similar case is found in the story "The three axes". There is topic switch between three participants: a mother, her son, and a helpful stranger. The story starts with a poor woman who has a son and works hard to provide for him. Then the son becomes the main actor, shown by use of -al (see example 10 below). The son wants to help the mother earn money and goes to the forest where he cuts down trees to sell the wood. One day he loses his axe as it slips out of his hands and falls into the water. A stranger appears on the scene and asks him why he is crying. The boy tells him what has happened. Then the stranger becomes the main actor, shown by -al; he takes the lead as he goes into the water to look for the axe:

(10) §o-t'-in gar-a nex-e: "Ay bala, DIST-OBL-ERG boy-DAT say.PRS-3SG oh little.one he-t'-aynak'-en ono-ne? Gar-en t'e what-OBL-BEN-2SG cry-LV:PRS boy-ERG DIST i§q'ar-a exlat'-e-b-sa, i§q'ar-en-al man-DAT talk-3SG-DO-PRS man-ERG-ADD §o-t'-o nex-e: "Ma ono-p-a, DIST-OBL-DAT say.PRS-3SG NEG cry-SAY-IMP.2SG haysa zu vi tavar-a bege-b-i

now I you.GEN axe-DAT find-DO-AOR

c'evk'-o-z."

take.out-FUT- 1SG

'He said to the boy: "Oh little one, what are you crying for?" The boy talked to that man, the man said to him: "Don't cry, now I will find your axe and take it out." ["Xib tavar"; Ant'onova 2015: 49-50]

Note that -al is only used at the moment that the man takes the lead and begins to act and change the course of events, rather than at the moment the man first speaks.

The use of -al for marking topic switch is particularly distinctive at the beginning of stories. Presentational focus of the first participant in a story is usually conveyed by sa ('one, a certain'). When a new participant is introduced, -al is generally used to focus on this new participant. An example of this is the story "New year":

(11) Taza usen har-i p'ap'-e-ne. Ge nana new year come-AOR reach-PERF-3SG today mother a§-a tag-ala-te-ne. Nana-n paxlava, work-DAT go-FUT-NEG-3SG mother-ERG baklava t'ort-e bast'a. Zu-val fur-ez-s-i

cake-3SG bake+PRS I-ADD want-1SG-LV-AOR nana komay-b-a-z. mother help-DO-SUBJ-1SG

'New year has come. Today mother does not have to go to work. Mother will bake baklava and cake. I want to help mother.' ["Taza usen"; Ant'onova 2012: 29]

This example shows how the first participant, mother, is the prominent character until the second participant (I) is introduced and becomes the main actor; therefore -al is attached to the 1SG pronoun. Of course in this case mother does not need to get introduced with sa ('one, a certain'), since in this context 'mother' is a definite term of itself; the child that tells the story has only one mother.

Another example of consecutive participant introduction is found in the story "The three axes" at which we looked before (10). The first participant is a woman, introduced by sa ('one, certain') which conveys presentational focus. She remains the prominent character, even when the son is first mentioned. It is only when the son begins to play the main role in the story, that -al is used to mark this.

(12) Ba-ne-k-sa te-ne-bak-sa sa fuux-e

be1-3SG-be2-PRS NEG-3SG-be-PRS one woman-3SG bak-sa, izi-yal sa gar-e bak-sa.

be-PRS REFL.GEN-ADD one son-3SG be-PRS Me ?uux gele kasib-e bak-sa. PROX woman very poor-3SG be-PRS T'iya-miya a§-p'-i iz

here-there work-DO-AOR REFL.GEN ayel-a-ne beg-sa. 9yl-en-al

child-DAT-3SG look-PRS child-ERG-ADD kala-bak-sun-en ?ali§-e-bak-sa iz big-be-MSD-ERG try-3SG-be-PRS REFL.GEN nana komay-b-a-ne. §o-t'-in mother help-DO-SUBJ-3SG DIST-OBL-ERG c'alay-axun us k'as'-p'-i toy-d-i forest-ABL wood cut-LV-AOR sell-LV-AOR

tanga-ne q'azain§-b-sa. money-3SG earn-DO-PRS

'Once upon a time there was a certain woman, and she had a son. This woman was very poor. She worked here and there to care for her child. The child, when he was growing up, was trying to help his mother. He cut and sold wood from the forest and earned money.' ["Xib tavar"; Ant'onova 2015: 49-50]

It must be noted that a newly introduced participant only hosts the clitic -al when:

1) the new participant is actually salient to the discourse, and

2) when no other discourse marker is used for expressing prominence (for example sa conveying presentational focus).

At the beginning of the anecdote "The walking sieve" several participants of the story are introduced: an elderly lady, her daughter-in-law, and the daughters of the daughter-in-law. All will play a role in the story. Then it is mentioned that the son of the elderly lady, the husband of the daughter-in-law, has gone to fight in a war. He does not play an actual role in the story, the statement only serves to explain why there is no further mention of the son/husband/father in this story:

(13) Nex-t'un mani-sa aiz-e sa q'oja

say.PRS-3PL which-INDEF village-DAT one old q'aynak-o, sa bin sa-al

grandmother-BE.3SG one daughter.in.law one-ADD bin-ey-al bip' xuyar

daughter-in-law-GEN-ADD four girl ayal-t'ux-bu-y. Bin-ey

child-3PL:POSS-BE-PST daughter.in.law-GEN i§q'ar-a dav-in-a-t'un ta§er-e-y.

husband-DAT battle-OBL-DAT-3PL take-PERF-PST K'oj-in butum a§-urxo mand-e-ne-y house-GEN all work-PL stay-PERF-3SG-PST

bin-ey ozan-e.

daughter.in.law-GEN neck-DAT 'They say that somewhere in a certain village there was an old grandmother, a daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law had four little daughters. The husband of the daughter-in-law had been taken to war. All the house chores were the responsibility of the daughter-in-law.' ["Tarak'ala xaxal"; Kefaari 2001: 125-126]

Not only does the man not play a part in the story, after the statement that he went to war the story continues by saying that the daughter-in-law had to do all the work. The statement about the husband only serves to give background information about the daughter-in-law, as does the statement that she has four daughters. Throughout this passage, the daughter-in-law remains the main character.

The following example, taken from the beginning of the story "Dragonfly and ant" shows how a contrastive topic is not marked by -al but with the contrastive topic clitic iss. Note that iss has been borrowed from Azeri. Whereas iss overlaps with -al in the sense that both can indicate topic switch, it conveys a sense of contrast, while -al can never indicate contrast.

(14) Xuritur-en yay-n-ul ij-eynak'

ant-ERG summer-OBL-SUPER winter-BEN yem-e gir-b-e. Sal sa dayga

food-3SG gather-DO-PERF at.all one minute dinc ars-i te-ne. Amma circirmin-en rest sit-AOR NEG-3SG but dragonfly-ERG isa meg-e-p-e. TOP sing-3 SG-LV-PERF

'The ant gathered food for winter in summer. It didn't sit still for one minute. But as for the dragonfly - it was singing.' ["Circirma saal xuritur"; Ant'onova 2012: 30]

Here we see how the dragonfly is introduced as the second participant and is immediately contrasted with the ant by the use of ama ('but'). Moreover, 'dragonfly' hosts the contrastive topic clitic iss, which is the adversative equivalent of -al (as a topic switch marker) and thus matches the use of 'but'. The use of -al would not be suitable here; -al is used for additive focus or topic switch, whereas iss always marks a contrastive topic. However, note that in example 9 the contrastive constituent is left implicit and therefore -al can be used: 'I will tell you what you've been screaming about!'.

The clitic -al is also used at the end of many stories. Often the narrator relates with a summary statement what happened to each main participant in the story. When there is more than one participant about whom a concluding statement is made, -al is used for topic switch.

An example of this can be found in the story "The golden egg". In this story we meet the poor girl Zina, who despite her poverty is always ready to help others. God is pleased with her and therefore gives her a chicken. The chicken lays a golden egg every day and Zina and her mother become rich. Riches change Zina for the worse, and she is no longer helping the poor. God is displeased and punishes Zina by making the chicken lay normal eggs. Zina shouts at the chicken and beats it. The next day God comes to tell Zina that it's not the chicken's fault, but a punishment for Zina's own sins. Zina remembers her own previous poverty, understands her mistake and asks for forgiveness. God then gives her another chance with the chicken. The story concludes:

(15) K'ok'os'-en-al p'urum bur-e-q-sa

chicken-ERG-ADD again begin1-3SG-begin2-PRS q'izil-i qoq'la lax-s-a. Zina-n-al gold-GEN egg lay-INF-DAT Zina-ERG-ADD bur-e-q-sa kasib-xo komey-b-s-a.

begin1-3SG-begin2-PRS poor-PL help-DO-INF-DAT

'As for the chicken, [she] began to lay golden eggs again. As for Zina, [she] began to help the poor.' ["Q'izili qoq'la"; Ant'onova 2012: 35]

This use of -al not only serves to switch between topics, but also connects the concluding statement to the preceding context and marks the end of an episode (in this case the entire story).

So far, we have seen how the clitic -al works on the discourse level and that on the clausal level, Udi mainly uses placement of the person marker and non-default word order for focus. But as noted before, one could argue that -al also functions on the clausal level when it indicates an additive function: between propositions with the same predicate and different subjects (see example 6g above and 16 below), or propositions with different predicates and the same subject.

(16) Rayon-in i§k'ol-xo k'al-k'-ala region-GEN school-PL read-LV-PTCP ayl-ox usum-usum Nourgol-a child-PL often Nour.lake-DAT

tara-p-s-a-t'un tay-sa. Bez

walk-LV-INF-DAT-3PL go-PRS I.GEN vifi-yal tas-e-ne. brother-ADD go-PERF-3SG

'The children studying at the schools in the region often go out to Lake Nour. My brother also went.'

Indeed -al serves here to convey an additive function. However, note that after this the story continues telling what the brother saw at Lake Nour and what happened while he was there. The clitic -al therefore not only marks the additive here (the children, and my brother too), but also functions to introduce a new participant (topic switch) and mark the beginning of a new episode.

So the -al clitic serves in the discourse context to mark topic switch between participants throughout the entire story, especially where introduction of new participants marks the beginning of a new episode, and at the end of an episode. Yet topic switch does not account for all uses of -al in stories. This clitic can also be attached to other elements, as we will see below.

3.2. The clitic -al marks a reinforcing additive function

The -al clitic can be used to put focus on elements that are not story participants. Consider the following examples.

In the "Walking Sieve" story we read how the daughter-in-law wakes up to a strange sound and goes to check on her children to see if everything is in order; see example (1a). The clitic -al here serves to stress that the children were not only asleep, even the blanket was in order (additive focus).

Below is a similar example from the same story, when the daughter-in-law realizes that the strange sound is coming from the sieve:

(17) Xaxal gah ta-ne-sa-y, gah

sieve a.little go-3SG-PRS-PST a.little fur-e-ne-y. Xaxal-i oq'a-xun-al

stand-3SG-LV:PRS-PST sieve-GEN under-ABL-ADD sas-e c'ey-sa-y... sound-3SG come.out-PRS-PST 'The sieve walked a little, then stopped for a while. And from under the sieve came a sound...' ["Tarak'ala xaxal"; Kefaari 2001: 125-126]

In this example, the first strange thing that is described is the fact that the sieve is moving; the second strange thing is a sound coming from underneath it. The clitic -al conveys an additive function here and is also reinforcing the overall effect.

Another example of this reinforcing effect is found in "The legend of the crowing rooster". This legend tells about a battle that

Timur the Lame (a.k.a. Tamerlane) fought in the Udi village Nij. In the first lines of the legend, Timur is introduced as a fearsome conqueror.

(18) Omur-e dava-go-y bo§-e life-DAT battle-PL-GEN in-3SG c'ovak'-es-t'-e-y. Sal sa karan-al

pass-INF-CAUS-PERF-PST at.all one time-ADD te-ne c'ax-e-s-e-y. NEG-3SG get.lost-3 SG-LV-PERF-PST 'His entire life was spent fighting battles. He never ever lost one.' ("Dadali ele legenda"; Ke?aari 2001: 116-118]

Note that the sentence would also be grammatical without -al; in that case, the meaning would be 'He never lost one' rather than 'He never ever lost one'.

In this same legend, the reinforcing effect is conveyed by repetitive use of -al when the narrator describes how Timur's armies come closer and closer to Nij village. The repetitive use of -al points to more than a mere connective or additive function:

(19) Gi-nurxo-y sun-t'-ust'a Teymur-i q'o§un day-PL-GEN one-OBL-AD Timur-GEN army Qabal-in pervar-e-al har-i

Gabala-GEN region-DAT-ADD come.-AOR c'er-e. Usunlugen §o-t'-ay

come.out.AOR-3SG soon DIST-OBL-GEN

afata bak-ala ayiz-mug-o-al around be-PART village-PL-DAT-ADD bi-t'un-q'-i. Teymur-i kiy-e

take1-3PL-take2-AOR Timur-GEN hand-DAT koft'-i ayiz-mug-oxun sogo-al take-AOR village-PL-ABL one.ABS-ADD Nij-e-y. Nij-3SG-PST

'In one of those days Timur's army came to the [very] town of Gabala as well. Soon they had taken the surrounding villages, too. And one of the villages that Timur had laid his hand on was Nij.'

Another example from this same legend:

(20) K'odog-o hik'a sam-es-e-ne, forehead-DAT what.ABS be.written-LV-PERF-3SG §ono-al bak-ala-ne-y. DIST.ABS-ADD be-DEB-3SG-PST

'Whatever is written on the forehead, that very thing had to be.' (meaning: whatever is one's destiny will come to pass)

And finally an example from the expository text "The Udi language":

(21) Tarix-en yax nex-e ki, history-ERG we.DAT say.PRS-3SG that Udi muz 4-5-ci asir-xo-st'a

Udi language 4-5-ORD century-PL-AD a§-es-e-ne, ba-ne-k-o

be used-LV-PERF-3 SG be1-3SG-be2-FUT.MOD ko-t'-oxun-al bes.

MED-OBL-ABL-ADD before

'History tells us that the Udi language was used in the 4th or 5th century, possibly even before that. In ancient times the inhabitants of Gabala lived in the Albanian kingdom.' ["Udi Muz"; Ant'onova 2015: 36]

This appearance of -al clearly marks a superlative: 'even before that'. Without -al, the meaning becomes more neutral: 'before that'.

3.3. The clitic -al marks the beginning of a new episode

A new episode in a story, like the shift from a general description to a particular event, is also marked by -al. We already saw this in examples (9) and (10) where the introduction of a new character starts off a new episode. However, new episodes can also begin with a change in location or time. We come across this phenomenon in the story "The golden egg". The narrator tells: "When Zina became rich, she herself began to act like a rich person. She didn't help the poor anymore. One day Zina fought with a little orphan child, because he wanted a piece of bread from her. The little orphan child went away crying. God got angry at Zina." ["Q'izili qoq'la"; Ant'onova 2012: 35]. 'One day' is hosting -al, alerting the reader that now a new episode is beginning, in which a new event will take place and the storyline will develop.

4. Conclusion

Considering the above, we can conclude that -al functions in three ways on the discourse level:

1. To mark additional focus and give a reinforcing effect;

2. To mark topic switch between story participants who are salient to the discourse (often related to the beginning of a new episode);

3. To mark the beginning and end of an episode (also in other ways than topic switch), drawing attention to changes in storyline by conveying prominence of an event, time, etc. in a larger discourse context.

It is clear that, whereas the placement of the person marker and non-default word order mark focus on the sentence level, the clitic -al mainly plays a role in marking focus (e.g. prominence of characters and events) on the discourse level.

Abbreviations

1PL First person plural (person marker)

2PL Second person plural (person marker)

3PL Third person plural (person marker)

1SG First person singular (person marker)

2SG Second person singular (person marker)

3SG Third person singular (person marker)

ABL Ablative

ABS Absolutive

ADD Additive clitic

AOR Aorist

BE Existential verb

BEN Benefactive

CAUS Causative

CONJ Conjunction

DAT Dative

DIST Distal pronoun

DO Light verb 'to do'

ERG Ergative

FUT Future tense

GEN Genitive

IMP Imperative

INF Infinitive

LV Light verb

MSD Masdar (action nominal)

NEG Negation

ORD Ordinal number

POSS Possessive pronoun

PERF Perfect

PL Plural

PROX Proximal pronoun

PRS Present

PST Past tense

PTCP Participle

REFL Reflexive REL Relative TOP Adversative topic

References

Ant'onova V. Udi Muz 3. Baku, 2012. Ant'onova V. Udi Muz 4. Baku, 2015.

Danakari E., §ixmalova A. Buxacugon Avrama ayit tadi gar // Udi Q'urban video series, no. 3. Baku, 2017.

Dooley R.A., Levinsohn S.H. Analyzing Discourse: A Manual of Basic Concepts. Dallas, 2001.

Forker D. Toward a typology for additive markers // Lingua. 2016, 180, 69-100.

Harris A.C. Endoclitics and the Origins of Udi Morphosyntax. Oxford, 2002.

Keçaari K. Orayin: C'skesi samur. Tarayesunxo. Udigoy folkloraxun c'akesunxo. Baku, 2001.

Paul D. =Ani and ham in Taleshi. Unpublished manuscript. Schulze W. The Udi Language: A Grammatical Description with Sample Text. 2001/2. [http://wschulze.userweb.mwn.de/ udinhalt.htm, accessed 8 February 2017]

van Willigen Corina ван Виллиген Корина SIL International corina_vanwilligen@sil.org