Nganasan

What is it about?

Nganasan (in older literature also known as "Tavgy Samoyed") is an indigenous language in northernmost Siberia, now acutely endangered. It is characterized by some interesting morphophonological processes such as a highly complex consonant gradation and suffix harmony. This chapter briefly describes Nganasan phonology, morphology and syntax, with special respect to typologically interesting features such as the rich verb inflection (subject and object agreement, four morphologically marked tenses and fourteen moods), word order, and negation. One of the numerous interesting characteristics of Nganasan is the presence of two different copulas for different types of existential sentences. Predicative possession can be expressed either with a ‘have’ verb or with an existential-like construction.

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