According to Kremer (1997: 30), reference to people is mostly made by using full, lexical noun phrases, proper names and pronouns. With regard to linguistic gender, nouns and pronouns are closely related. In fact, Greenberg’s implicational universal No. 43 is: ´If a language has gender categories in the noun, it has gender categories in the pronoun` (1966:96).
Pronouns, which are always mentioned as one of the traditional word classes, represent a very heterogeneous collection of `closed-class words with nominal function` (Quirk et al. 1985:335).
The Lezgian is spoken by about 400,000 people in southern Daghestan and northern Azerbaijan in the eastern Caucasus. Lezgian has been written since 1928, first in the Latin alphabet, from 1938 onward in the Cyrillic alphabet. The grammar, which I used describes the standard language, which is based on the lowland Güne dialect.
Lezgian is a member of the Lezgic branch of the Nakho-Daghestanian family of languages. The family tree of Nakho-Daghestanian is shown in (1) (following Hewitt 1981 a:197).
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- 1. Lezgian
- 1.1. The Lezgian language
- 1.2. An overview of Lezgian grammar
- 1.2.1. Phonology and morphophonemics
- 1.2.2. Morphology
- 1.2.3. Syntax
- 2. English
- 2.1. Forms of the verb
- 2.2. Forms of the pronoun
- 3. German
- 3.1. Pronoun
- 3.2. Gender
- 3.3. Number
- 3.4. Case
- 3.5. Verbal categories
- 3.6. Person
- 4. Russian
- 4.1. Personal pronouns
- 4.2. Use of personal instead of possessive pronouns
- 4.3. The pronoun Я
- 4.4. The conjugation of the verb
- 5. Comparing Lezgian, English, German and Russian
- 5.1. Verbal inflections
- 5.2. Personal pronouns
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper examines the functional role of person reference in the languages of Lezgian, English, German, and Russian. It aims to analyze and compare the grammatical structures and systems used to express person reference in these languages. This paper will explore the various ways in which person reference is encoded, including through pronouns, verb morphology, and other grammatical features.
- Person reference systems in different languages
- The role of pronouns in expressing person reference
- The relationship between person reference and gender
- The interaction between person reference and verb morphology
- Cross-linguistic comparison of person reference systems
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The first chapter provides an introduction to the Lezgian language, its history, and its place within the Nakho-Daghestanian language family. It also presents an overview of Lezgian grammar, focusing on phonology, morphophonemics, morphology, and syntax. The second chapter examines the forms of the verb and pronoun in English. The third chapter explores the pronoun system in German, including its categories of gender, number, and case, as well as its verbal categories and person. The fourth chapter focuses on personal pronouns and the conjugation of the verb in Russian. Finally, the fifth chapter compares the person reference systems of Lezgian, English, German, and Russian, with a particular focus on verbal inflections and personal pronouns.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
Person reference, pronouns, verb morphology, gender, number, case, cross-linguistic comparison, Lezgian, English, German, Russian, Nakho-Daghestanian, grammar.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Lezgian language?
Lezgian is a Nakho-Daghestanian language spoken by about 400,000 people in the eastern Caucasus (Daghestan and Azerbaijan).
How do Lezgian, English, German, and Russian differ in person reference?
The languages differ in how they use pronouns and verb inflections to indicate person, gender, and case, with Lezgian having a unique structure compared to the Indo-European languages.
What is Greenberg’s universal No. 43?
It states that if a language has gender categories in the noun, it also has gender categories in the pronoun.
How are personal pronouns used in Russian compared to English?
The study examines specific features of Russian, such as the use of personal pronouns in place of possessives and the conjugation patterns of the verb.
What role does verb morphology play in person reference?
Verb morphology often encodes information about the subject (person and number), which can sometimes make the use of explicit pronouns redundant (pro-drop features).
- Quote paper
- Elena Dubodelova (Author), 2002, Functional Role of Person Reference. Comparing Lezgian, English, German and Russian, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/301054
