Buryat Complementizers and Clause-Embedding Verbs

[Bon22] [Bon20] [Bon19]

This file records the clause-typing morphemes of Barguzin Buryat (Mongolic) embedded clauses and the matrix verbs that select them. Embedded clauses show three surface shapes ([Bon22] §4.3.1 ex. 30–32): bare [… V-TENSE gɘ-žɘ], nominalized [… V-PART-CASE], and nominalized with the say-root [… V-TENSE g-ɘːš-CASE].

Main definitions

• Buryat.ge, Buryat.aasha, Buryat.zha — the say-root gɘ, the agentive participle -Aːša, and the imperfective converb -žA ([Skr03]), as root Complementizer entries; the closed inventory is Buryat.complementizers
• Buryat.hanaxa, Buryat.medexe, Buryat.xelexe, Buryat.duulaxa — clause-embedding verbs; all four alternate between the finite-CP and nominalized frames (ex. 35–36, 50–51). hanaxa's frame-conditioned think~remember readings ride on Verb.Reading rows keyed to Buryat.nominalizedFrame

Implementation notes

Bondarenko's head assignment (gɘ expones Cont, the suffixes are Comp allomorphs) is paper-specific and lives in Studies/Bondarenko2022.lean; rival carvings of Mongolic say-complementizers: [Kny16], [MP13]. Bare §-references are to [Bon22], bare ex./fn. references to [Bon20]. Identifiers are ASCII romanizations (ɘ → e, ː → doubling, ž → zh, š → sh); form fields carry the faithful transliterations, with capitals marking vowel-harmony archiphonemes.

def Buryat.ge : Complementizer

gɘ — grammaticalized root of gɘxɘ 'say' (fn. 21: no speech act entailed under 'hear' or 'see'). Never surfaces unsuffixed (gɘ-žɘ, g-ɘːšɘ), so it is recorded as a bound root.

Equations

• Buryat.ge = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "gɘ"] }

def Buryat.aasha : Complementizer

-Aːša — past-oriented participle ([Bon20] ex. 36; [Skr03]); appears next to nominal projections. The complement it types is Noonan-nominalized (case-marked, genitive subject) while the morpheme itself is a participle — two axes, two fields.

Equations

• Buryat.aasha = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.suff "Aːša"], coding := some Complement.Coding.nominalized, verbForm := some UD.VerbForm.Part, licenser := some Complementizer.Licenser.nominal }

def Buryat.zha : Complementizer

-žA — imperfective converb ([Skr03]); appears next to verbs, also in analytical verb forms and sentential adjuncts (ex. 30).

Equations

• Buryat.zha = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.suff "žA"], coding := some Complement.Coding.indicative, verbForm := some UD.VerbForm.Conv, licenser := some Complementizer.Licenser.verbal }

def Buryat.complementizers : List Complementizer

The clause-typing inventory — closed per §4.3.1 ex. 30–32.

Equations

• Buryat.complementizers = [Buryat.ge, Buryat.aasha, Buryat.zha]

Clause-embedding verbs

Vendler class stays unset (Verb.Aspect.vendlerClass convention for clause-embedding verbs).

def Buryat.nominalizedFrame : ArgumentFrame

The nominalized complement frame of the ex. 35–36 alternation: [Noo07]-nominalized coding with an overt genitive embedded subject (§4.3.1). Richer than the bare ArgumentFrame.gerund cell: it records the embedded-subject case.

Equations

• Buryat.nominalizedFrame = { complements := [ArgumentFrame.Position.clausal (some Complement.Coding.nominalized) ⊥ (some (Clause.EmbeddedSubject.overt (some Case.gen)))] }

def Buryat.hanaxa : Verb

hanaxa 'think', translated 'remember' with a nominalized complement (§4.4.3): one verb, whose nominalized complement carries a presupposition that the event it describes started before the thinking ([Bon20] (2), (21)). The readings rows record the alternation, nonveridical and opaque on the bare CP, veridical and transparent on the nominalized frame.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Buryat.medexe : Verb

mɘdɘxɘ 'know' — factive in both frames (ex. 36); embeds polar questions (ex. 3).

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Buryat.xelexe : Verb

xɘlɘxɘ 'say' — non-factive with bare CPs; nominalized complements are existence-entailing (ex. 51; speaker variation per fn. 30).

Equations

• Buryat.xelexe = { valency := Verb.Valency.of [(ArgumentFrame.finiteClause, [0, 1]), (ArgumentFrame.gerund, [0, 1])], morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "xɘlɘxɘ"], speechActVerb := true }

def Buryat.duulaxa : Verb

duːlaxa 'hear' — non-factive with bare CPs, existence-entailing with nominalized complements (ex. 50).

Equations

• Buryat.duulaxa = { valency := Verb.Valency.of [(ArgumentFrame.finiteClause, [0, 1]), (ArgumentFrame.gerund, [0, 1])], morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "duːlaxa"] }