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Counterfactual-Hando Third International Conference on Iranian Linguistics 11th-13th September 2009, Paris, Sorbonne Nouvelle Arseniy Vydrin Institute of Linguistic Studies St.Petersburg, Russia [email protected] Counterfactual mood in Iron Ossetic Ossetic1 (Northeastern Iranian): Iron, Digor dialects. Spoken mostly in The Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, about 500000 native speakers. 1. Counterfactual meaning Counterfactual meaning can be defined as the meaning which is contrary to the actual state of affairs. Conditional constructions with irreal condition are the easiest way to express the counterfactual meaning. For example, Persian: (1) Agar tabar-rā az dast-aš na-geferte1 bud2-and if axe-OBL PREP hand-ENCL.3SG NEG-take.PLUPERF1,2-3PL hame-ye mā-rā tekke pāre karde1 bud2-and all-EZF we-OBL piece piece do.PLUPERF1,2-3PL ‘If they hadn’t taken the axe from him we would have been hacked to pieces’ (S. Hedāyat. Katja). Couterfactual is considered to be the core meaning of the semantic domain of irrealis [Plungian 2005]. However, as shown in [Lazard 1998; Van Linden and Verstraete 2008], very few languages have a narrow dedicated marker for expressing only counterfactuality. In most languages, counterfactual meaning is a part of the semantic repertoire of some other “broad” markers, primarily associated with the domain of possibility / probability or past (including, according to Lazard, such values as prospective, desiderative, debitive, inceptive, evidentiality, habitual, subjunctive and optative). Most of the Iranian languages: past habitual, imperfect or pluperfect markers. Among languages which possess a dedicated counterfactual marker Lazard cites Turkana (Nilotic), Ewondo (Bantu), Yoruba and classic Nahuatl. Van Linden and Verstraete add Chukchi (Chukotko-Kamchatkan), Hua (Trans–New Guinea), Ika (Chibchan-Paezan), Kolyma Yukaghir, Martuthunira (Pama-Nyungan) and Somali (Cushitic). In the paper I will show that some of the Iranian languages possess a narrow dedicated marker for expressing counterfactivity only. 2. Ossetic data 5 moods: indicative, conjunctive, optative, imperative, counterfactual2. Present indicative of the verb kænən ‘to do’ Imperative of the verb kænən ‘to do’ SG PL SG PL 1 kæn-ən kæn-æm 1 2 kæn-əš kæn-ut 2 kæn-ø kæn-ut 3 kæn-ə kæn-ənc 3 kæn-æd kæn-ænt 1 I base my analysis on data collected during my fieldwork in North Ossetia in 2007 and 2008 and examples found in modern Ossetic texts. 2 There is no standardized terminology for the Ossetic moods either in the grammars or in the special researches. The labels used in the paper are mine and are chosen according to the main function of the moods. 1 Conjunctive of the verb kænən ‘to do’ Optative of the verb kænən ‘to do’ SG PL SG PL 1 kæn-on kæn-æm 1 kæn-in kæn-ikkam 2 kæn-aj kæn-at 2 kæn-iš kæn-ikkat 3 kæn-a kæn-oj 3 kæn-id kæn-ikkoj Counterfactual of the verb kænən ‘to do’ Counterfactual of the verb carən ‘to live’ SG PL SG PL 1 kod-t-ain kod-t-aikkam 1 card-ain card-aikkam 2 kod-t-aiš kod-t-aikkat 2 card-aiš card-aikkat 3 kod-t-aid kod-t-aikkoj 3 card-aid card-aikkoj Reference grammars treat counterfactual mood as “old optative” [Abaev 1959], “optative- conditional” [Ahvlediani 1963] or “optative of the past” [Bagaev 1965], “preterit optative” [Thordarson 1986, 476]. However, a detailed analysis3 of how this mood is used in the modern language shows that its core meaning is just counterfactual. Counterfactual mood in Ossetic can be used in various types of complex sentences as well as independently. This mood is widely used in conditional, concessive and purposive constructions. In conditional constructions it is used only in the case of a counterfactual condition, both in protasis and apodosis, as in (2), exemplifying a counterfactual condition in the past (the clauses with a counterfactual condition in present (3) and future (4) are also possible). (2) žnon æž ænæmæng-æj а-səd-ain cemæ Wællag yesterday I obligatory-ABL PREF-go.PST-CNTRF.1SG 3PL.ENCL.ALL Verhniy Kurtatkom-mæ waždžə-tæ mæm kwə næ ærba-səd-aikkoy wæd Kurtatkom-ALL guest-PL.NOM 1SG.ENCL.ALL if NEG PREF-go.PST-CNTRF.3PL then ‘I would have come to them to Verhniy Kurtatkom yesterday if the guests hadn’t visited me’. (3) Xetægkatə K’osta ma ægaš kʷə wəd-aid Xetagurov Kosta EMPH alive if be.PST-CNTRF.3SG wæd əl nər səd-aid šædæ fænzaj až-ə then 3SG.ENCL.SUPER now go.PST-CNTRF.3SG 100 50 year-GEN ‘If Kosta Xetagurov had been alive now, he would have been 150 years old’. (4) waždžə-tæ næm abon næ, fælæ rajšom kʷə guest-PL.NOM 1PL.ENCL.ALL today NEG but tomorrow if ‘rba-səd-aikkoj wæd sən fər argævš-t-aikkam PREF-go.PST-CNTRF.3PL тогда 3 PL.ENCL.DAT sheep slaughter.PST-TR-CNTRF.1PL ‘If the guests had come to us not today but tomorrow we would have had time to slaughter the sheep’. In concessive constructions (5), as well as in purposive constructions (6), the counterfactual mood is used only in subordinate clauses; the event described by the main clause is in the past. 3 The first attempt of such analysis was made by Lazard [Lazard 1998]. 2 (5) kæmdærriddar ba-mbæxš-t-aid wæd-dær-iu æy wherever PREF-hide.PST-TR-CNTRF.2SG then-FOC-ITER 3SG.ENCL.GEN alə xatt dær šš-ard-t-am every time FOC PREF-find.PST-TR-PST.1PL ‘Wherever he would hide, we always found him’. (6) faron až a-səd-tæn Afrika-mæ sæmæy last.year year PREF-go.PST-PST.1SG Africa-ALL in.order.that ba-kaš-t-ain pəl-t-æm PREF-look.at.PST-TR-CNTRF.1SG elephant-PL-ALL ‘Last year I went to Africa to look at the elephants’ (however I didn’t manage to see them / *and I managed to see them). When used in the purposive clauses, the counterfactual means that the situation didn’t take place. For example, (6) means that when I had come to Africa, I didn’t manage to see an elephant. In concessives the counterfactual is used only as reference to the past and only in conditional- concessive constructions [Xrakovskij 2004; Xrakovskij to appear]. Roughly speaking, the meaning of concessive-conditional constructions in the past (like (5)) can be explained in the following way: ‘he used to hide in A, B and C and we always found him but even if he had hidden in D, E or F we would definitely have found him’ where one can see a counterfactual meaning. Thus, the primary function of “counterfactual mood” in complex sentences is the expression of “counterfactual meaning”. When used independently, Ossetic counterfactual mood can express an irreal desire (7), a hypothetical internal possibility in the past (8) and an assumption about situation in the past (9). (7) mænæn kwə wədaid bažər-tæ I.DAT if be.CNTRF.3SG wing-PL.NOM ‘If only I have had wings!’. (8) də šiš-t-aiš sædæ kilæ-jə you.SG lift.PST-TR-CNTRF.2SG 100 kilogram-GEN ‘Could you lift 100 kilo [that time]?’. (9) čəžg-əl səd-aid avd až-ə, girl-SUPER go.PST-CNTRF.3SG 7 year-GEN læppu-yəl ta farašt, ye dæš až-ə boy-SUPER CONTR 9 or 10 year-GEN ‘The girl was approximately 7 years old and the boy was 9 or 10 years old’ [Ahvlediani 1963, 253]. An irreal desire and hypothetical possibility are closely related to counterfactual semantics. An assumption about the situation in the past is close to irrealis domain, however, has nothing common with counterfactual. Examples of the counterfactual mood used for expression of an assumption about the situation in the past can be found in the modern Iron texts. However some of the modern native speakers never use this mood for expression an assumption and without a special context consider examples like (9) ungrammatical. Obligation in the past (10) Æz qwamæ а-səd-ain æmbərd-mæ I must PREF-go.PST-CNTRF.1SG meeting-ALL ‘I had to go to the meeting’ (and I went there/but I didn’t go there). 3 The Ossetic grammars ([Abaev 1959; Axvlediani 1963] among others) and some special researches on Ossetic modality [Kozyreva 1956; Texov 1970; Takazov 1992] mention a habitual function of the counterfactual mood. For example, (11) iw qælæš fe-šqiwd-t-aid čər-ə æxšæn-æj, one voice PREF-jump.PST-TR-CNTRF.3SG heap-GEN middle-ABL nədz-dzənæžt-aid, jæ fæd-əl jæ æmzəx-æj PREF-cry.PST-CNTRF.3SG POSS.3SG trail-SUPER POSS.3SG agreement-ABL iw-wəl-dær a-jšt-aikkoj one-SUPER-FOC PREF-take.PST-CNTRF.3PL ‘One voice used to raise from a group of people and started to cry, others used to start to cry after it’. According to our corpus of Iron literature, this meaning used to be expressed by counterfactual mood in the 19th (and probably before) and in the beginning of the 20th century. In modern spoken Iron Ossetic counterfactual mood is never used for the habitual in the past, moreover, my informants consider sentences like (10) to be non-grammatical. Conclusion about counterfactual mood in Ossetic The counterfactual mood in modern Ossetic is used for expressing a counterfactual condition and consequence, a concession in the past (in conditional-concession constructions only), a purpose in the past which has not been accomplished, an irreal desire, a hypothetical internal possibility in the past, an assumption about the situation in the past and obligation in the past. The only meanings which prevents us from considering the mood a narrow dedicated marker for expressing counterfactivity only are an assumption about the situation in the past and obligation in the past.
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