Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 84. kötet (1982)

Tanulmányok - Riese, Timothy: The Conditional Sentence in the Ostyak Language 229

238 TIMOTHY RIESE Irt. yun yajadat ûdîden, tut ent jûguttan 'wenn du mit einem Manne gelebt hast, dann kommst du nicht hinüber' (PATKANOV 128) 4.5. As in osN, in the overwhelming majority of the cases the protasis précèdes the apodosis in osS. Of the 113 conditional sentences, only four had the opposite order: apodosis + protasis. In three of thèse sentences the apodosis contains an imperative, the protasis containing the potential form: Kr. termát tömp3 tèrmàt puà, mánt vdtà mosärp 'eiliger als eilig komm, wenn du mich nehmen willst' (VÉRTES 212) Irt. mena, metta vêren tâjarjen 'geh hin, wenn du (da) irgendein Geschäft hast' (PATKANOV 26) 5. As is only to be expected, the number of conditional sentences of open condition in osS is far greater than the se of rejecteei condition, the ratio 88%/12% being for all practical purposes the same as in osN. As regards the usage of the tenses in conditional sentences of open condition, nothing new need be added here. The remarks on the ccmbination possibilities of the indicative past and présent and the imperative in osN apply also to the osS conditional sentences of open condition. The différences between osN and osS sentences of open condition have already been discussed, i.e. the employment in osS of a verbal noun or a conditional conjuration. 5.1. There is a great différence between osN and osS as regards their conditional sentences of rejected condition. Of the three éléments instrumental in the formation of the protases of osN conditional sentences of rejected condition, ki, loin, and the past indicative, not one is to be found in the corresponding osS protases. Instead, the following éléments are important for rejected condition: 1) a verbal noun consisting of the past participle with or without a personal suffix, followed by a case suffix, usually the locative, 2) the particle of unreality adarj (ädarj, àtarj)23,

and 3) the past indicative, but restricted to the protasis. As has been seen, a verbal noun, having in the main a présent participle as its base, was used in 14% of the osS conditional sentences of open condition. In the osS conditional sentences of rejected condition a verbal noun, practically always with the past participle as its base, was found in 100% of the cases. In no case was a finite verb found in the protasis. In the apodosis, on the other hand, we find in almost every case the indicative past. Only one instance was found for the usage of a présent participle in the protasis and the présent indicative in the apodosis in a conditional sentence of rejected condition. The past participle is used with or without a personal suffix being attached, folio wed by a case suffix. In the overwhelming majority of the verbal nouns the locative case was used (e.g. %ot\me\m\n$), sporadically one finds the instrumental case (e.g. tömU/melm/at). In contrast to the verbal nouns used in conditional sentences of open condition no postpositions occurred instead of the simple case suffix. It must be noted that such a verbal noun is not specifically conditional but occurs extensively in a temporal meaning. Once again, context 23 Ibid., p. 84. A Vogul counterpart to the Ostyák particles of unreality is olk (ol%) which is to be found in most Konda sentences of rejected condition.