Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 84. kötet (1982)
Tanulmányok - Riese, Timothy: The Conditional Sentence in the Ostyak Language 229
232 TIMOTHY BIESE tional sentences employing yundi (%undi-gi, %çn) are not very common in osN. While undeniably being in existence, they do not seem to constitute a major type. Example for pindi as a conditional conjunction: O %undi serjkî èàrdïlaldn, ma labst tvlà-lwqdl l pul ant uifom 'ha nagyon erőltettek, én hét évig egy falatot sem veszek' (PÁPAY 91) Example for %undi-gi as a conditional conjunction: O %undi-gi olda ant ra%hm, sèmdm %ol piti, sí manhm 'ha pedig majd (itt) nem maradhatok tovább, amerre a szemem lát, arra megyek' (PÁPAY 91) Example for %çn as a conditional conjunction: Kaz. %çn menne arjkïja-aéïja wer\-%q pörmdsdt an mçstdAdt, eweA an maAeA AÜweAa 'wenn die Gegenstände des Bräutigams der Mutter und dem Vater der Braut nicht passen, geben sie ihm ihre Tochter nicht' (RÉDEI 44) 2.3. As regards the séquence of the protasis and apodosis, the generál rule is that the protasis précèdes the apodosis. This was the case in 98% of the examples from osN. Indeed, this order of the component clauses of conditional sentences is regarded by many as a language universal.10 In most of the cases for the other variant (apodosis + protasis) the following observations can be made: 1) the séquence is very likely due to Russian influence, or 2) the apodosis consists solely of a verb in the imperative mood followed then by the protasis. If the protasis is preceded by the apodosis, the enclitic partiele ki was always employed. ad 1) Kaz. jïrjka ponetdm joxdm-wonedm-öt jäma jit, sakkardn-kï pönta11 'die eingewässerten Preiselbeeren werden besser, wenn man Zucker zugibt' (RÉDEI 128) ad 2) Sy. mana, ülti ki at yösldn\ 'geh, wenn du nicht zu leben verstehst!' (STEINITZ 123) Only one example was found for the protasis being inserted into the apodosis: O táus, torom louel pàrddm tàéki, ät tùllil 'a tunguz, ha istentől neki rendelt nyáj, hadd vigye' (PÁPAY 39) 3. Another interesting aspect of the Ostyák conditional sentence is the usage of tense and mood. As is the case with other languages we can distinguish between conditional sentences of open condition and conditional sentences of rejected condition. The relative frequency of these two sub-groups is not equal ; conditional sentences of open condition account for 89% of the sentences found, those of rejected condition for 11%, almost exactly the same ratio as in Vogul. In conditional sentences of open condition both tenses (présent and pást) and both moods (indicative and imperative are used, if not with the same frequency. The by far most common combinations are 1 ) présent tense + présent tense, and 2) présent tense -f- imperative, ad 1) Kaz. ma-kï nő%pltAdm, %àntï %q, %antï ne wçAzpseA Aaskama pïtdA 'wenn ich siege, wird das Leben der ostjakischen Männer und Frauen frei sein' (RÉDEI 84) 10 Cf. GBEENBERG, J. H., Some Universals of Grammar, in: GREENBEBG, J. H. (ed.), Universals of Language. Cambridge/Mass., 1963. 11 This sentence cornes from the re-narration of a Russian text.
