Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 84. kötet (1982)
Tanulmányok - Riese, Timothy: The Conditional Sentence in the Ostyak Language 229
THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCE IN OSTYAK 237 suffix, followed by a case suffix or a postposition). In the case of thèse latter verbal nouns the importance of context must not be underestimated since they are used in other sentence types as well (particularly as temporal qualifiera ) and are thus not specifically conditional. In conditional sentences of open condition the présent participle was used in most cases (12 out of 14) as the basis of the verbal noun, in two cas33 the past participle. In eight cases out of 14 the locative case suffix -m was added to the suffixed or non-suffixed participle. Otherwise, various postpositions (kemm,19 tatns, 2Q piS 21 ) were used after the participle. These postpositions, it must be noted, are used most often with a temporal meaning. Présent Participle -f- Locative Suffix: D min töm pB3 iëudttèmna àr\Gdt o%têu3 it säidmDdt 'wenn ich jenen Uhu von der Stadtstange (herunter) schieße, rollt er hinunter' (VÉRTES 59) C xaDèrjà nur\èn tànnà nèr\ puntsà nèr\ omattèmns . . . 'wenn ich sie dir später (als) Frau ohne Brautpreis, (als) zu heiratende Frau hinsetze . . .' (VÉRTES 75) Présent Participle -+- kemm: Kr. mint uèttèn kèmu? min udrèm mdnts tiyrdia sUmit rtdrdm et 'wenn du mich tötest, entsteht eine Birkenrute auf der Stelle, wo mein Blut wegfließt' (VÉRTES 208) In PATTKATSOV'S collection of texts two instances were found for the usage of a past participle in a conditional sentence of open condition. In each case the participle appears with a personal suffix and the postposition pi§: Irt. man jâstîdem ai kedem ent yûtmen-piê . . . con%s&tem 'hörst du aber nicht auf das Wort . . . werde ich berühren' (PATKAÍTOV 92) 4,4. The fourth and last major type of conditional sentence in osS is the only one using a conditional conjunction. %un was used in the protasis together with the indicative in 12% of the conditional sentences of open condition. As has been seen, this usage occurs also in osN where it is, however, not very common and does not repres3nt a major type. It is thus more widespread in osS without at the same time being a ,,serious rival" to the more fréquent types. As in osN, %un is primarily a temporal conjunction in osS. Its use as a conditional conjunction is very likely a newer development in the Ostyak language. In his dictionary, Steinitz22 lists %un with the définition 'wenn' only for DN. This conditional meaning would, however, seem to be more wide-spread in 03S, occurring in my material in D, C, Sav., Kr., and Irt: D %un idyàuèn tfutns sarmaßa ti pDdn 'wenn du ihn verlierst, dann stirbst du' (VÉRTES 48) C %un tcLr\%h mhrèU%m %aiàt dnD äpDdi mi ta uettäpm 'wenn nicht bald der Mensch, der ihn zerbrochen hat, gefunden wird, da werde ich getötet' (VÉRTES 95) 19 Cf. SIEINTIZ, DE WO 633 —634. kern is listed with the maaaing 'ein gewisses Maß, eine gewisse Menge'. With the locative case suffix -ri3 we find the définition 'zur Zeit von, um; nach; als'. 20 Ibid., p. 810. SrEiNTTZ gives the définition 'Zeit, Termin; Ziel, Grenze, Zielstreifen' for tat. 21 Cf. MSzFE 173—174 and KT: 752—753. The Ostyak particle with the meaning 'Mal: Schicht, Strähne' is related to the Hungárián fagy. The original FU meaning was likely 'Reihe, Schicht; drehen, winden, schichtweise aufeinander legen'. 22 STEINITZ, DEWO 444.
