Ossetic comitative markers in intragenetic and areal perspective
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Ossetic comitative markers in intragenetic and areal perspective
Annotation
PII
10.31857/0373-658X.2023.6.67-102
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Irina Khomchenkova 
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Address: Russia, Moscow
Oleg Belyaev
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences
Address: Russia, Moscow
Edition
Pages
67-102
Abstract

The article is dedicated to the description of comitative markers in Ossetic. First, we compare the distribution of basic comitative markers (which are used in prototypical comitative contexts like ‘Alan went to the mountains with Soslan’) in Iron and Digor Ossetic (the case marker -imæ and the postposition xæccæ, respectively). It is demonstrated that their usage contexts are similar overall, with the exception of plural pronoun constructions and attributive constructions, where the Digor postposition xæccæ has limited use. Second, we analyze the preposition æd, which exists in both language varieties. It is different from the basic comitative markers both in syntax and in semantics. It is typical in the context of “complete set” (e.g., ‘throw away the pot together with the flower’), thus being a socalled “holistic” comitative, like certain markers in some Uralic and Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages. The preposition æd also has a limited syntactic distribution, attaching mostly to nouns without dependents. The properties of æd also differ in Iron and Digor: in Digor, æd is more widespread in attributive constructions, and, unlike Iron, is used in coordinating constructions with double marking. Third,we discuss comitative markers in Iranian and in languages areally close to Ossetic in connection with the untypical semantics of æd. No reliable semantic counterparts to æd are found in Iranian. However, Georgian, which is found in the same linguistic area as Ossetic, has the marker -ian-ad, used in contexts similar to those where Ossetic æd is typical.

Keywords
Caucasian area,comitative,Iranian,language contacts,Ossetic
Acknowledgment

The research has been supported by Russian Science Foundation grant No. 22-18-00285. We are grateful to all native speakers of Ossetic thanks to whom we could collect all the field data discussed in the article in 2022–2023, particularly to Elvira Gutieva (V. I. Abaev North Ossetian Institute for the Humanities and Social Research), Elmira Gutieva (North Ossetian State University) and Madina Darchieva (V. I. Abaev North Ossetian Institute for the Humanities and Social Research), without whom our work would not have been possible. We are particularly grateful for the data of Digor to Fedar Takazov and Natalia Dzagurova (V. I. Abaev North Ossetian Institute for the Humanities and Social Research). We would also like to thank an anonymous reviewer for their comments, as well as Artyom Badeev for his helpful remarks on the Avestan data and Ketevan Gadilia for her consultations on Georgian. All errors are our own.

Received
15.08.2023
Date of publication
22.12.2023
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