Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 84. kötet (1982)

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

THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCE IN OSTYÁK 239 and the individual meaning of the two clauses détermine whether a sentence is a conditional one or not. atarj is the osS counterpart to the osN loin. While being a partiele of unreality üke loin, atarj is not used in exactly the same way. It occurred in only 8 out of 14 sentences of rejected condition, i.e. with not quite the same frequency. In contrast to loin, atarj occurred primarily in the apodosis alone (six times) and only once each in the prötasis alone or in both clauses. Examples for osS conditional sentences of rejected condition: Prötasis: Pást Participle/Locative Suffix -f- Apodosis: Pást Indicative Kr. tömtap utat u% pânmàrj nai arjTcït sir3 uimèmns tdyatetat di àt %ötmemn3 èuèr] ùntdp %ui iörj ot nùmèm 'hätte ich früher diese kopfbedeckten Fürstenjungfern gesehen, hätte ich mit ihnen eine Nacht übernachtet, ich Mann mit Tochter (zeugendem) Innern würde mich zehn Jahre (lang) erinnern' (VÉRTES 218) Prötasis: Past Participle/Instrumental Suffix + Apodosis: Past Indicative Irt. noten mëget torerjemivet pïtmen uimem-at, ûgema sornirj Övfit Mot 'hätte ich deinen Pfeil bemerkt, als er mich in die Lunge (?) meiner Brust traf, so wäre auf meinem Haupte ein goldenes Horn gewachsen' (PATKANOV 70) adarj in Apodosis: Kr. tëpdrj nïmdt' väyta Jcdrdï uàyta àr nùràt dnt ta%mètn3 tëpdrj %at%ar sàytU it mordpt ätarj 'wäre der Fußboden des Hausflurs nicht mit vielen blecheisernen (und) metalleisernen Haken befestigt gewesen, wären wohl die Bretter des Hausflurs heruntergebrochen' (VÉRTES 227) In this connection I should like to comment on E. Vértes's translation of several Ostyak sentences collected by H. Paasonen. Edith Vertes, an internationaliy recognized authority on the Ostyak language, undertook in the early 60's the editing and publishing of Paasonen's grammatical notes on the Konda and Jugan dialects.24 Paasonen noted six sentences with the particle atarj without, however, providing a translation. In her publication of Paasonen's unpublished notes, Vertes gives a Germán translation of thèse sentences. Five of thèse sentences hâve the same structure as the conditional sentences of rejected condition discussed above, i.e. verbal noun (past participle/personal suffix/case suffix) in the prötasis, past indicative -j- atarj in the apodosis. Vertes translates thèse sentences either as conditional sentences of open condition or as temporal sentences. As noted above, the verbal nouns are ambivalent and indeed usually temporal, the exact meaning being determined through the context. In the case of thèse isolated sentences there is no context, though, which means that more than one translation is possible. I therefore by no means maintain that Vértes's translation is incorrect. I do feel, however, that for at least some of thèse sentences a translation with a conditional sentence of rejected condition would be apter. As examples I should like to quote two of Paasonen's sentences, first with Vértes's translation and then with my own. It must be emphasized once more that in the lack of any context it is not possible to détermine one specific correct translation. tg,m wèr ùimènns dna mdy %ùi klttâpdrja ntpà msndm giàrj 'falls du diese Angelegenheit sahst, ging ich wohl nicht in das fremde Land'25 — 'wenn 24 PAASONEN, H., Ost jakische grammatikalische Aufzeichnungen nach den Dialekten an der Konda und am Jugan. Herausgegeben von E. VÉRTES. JSFOU. 66. 25 Ibid., p. 59.