{"id":8157,"date":"2016-03-14T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whamit.mit.edu\/?p=8157"},"modified":"2016-03-15T00:34:34","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T04:34:34","slug":"ling-lunch-317-polina-berezovskaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/2016\/03\/14\/ling-lunch-317-polina-berezovskaya\/","title":{"rendered":"Ling Lunch 3\/17 - Polina Berezovskaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaker: Polina Berezovskaya <\/strong> <\/a> (University of T\u00fcbingen) <\/br>
\nTitle: `Small Degrees’: Degree Modification in Nenets. <\/br>
\nTime: Thursday, March 17th, 12:30-1:45 pm<\/br>
\nPlace: 32-D461<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn Nenets, an underrepresented Samoyedic language from the
\nUralic language family, the suffix ‘-rka’ is commonly found on the
\ngradable adjective in comparison constructions, cf. (1):<\/p>\n

(1) Katja Masha-xad saml’ang santimetra-nh pirc’a-rka.<\/br>
\n Katja Masha-ABL five cm-DAT tall-RKA<\/br>
\n ‘Katja is a little taller than Masha.’<\/p>\n

Contrary to claims in the descriptive literature (e.g. Terezhenko
\n1947, Nikolaeva 2014), according to which this suffix is a comparative
\nmarker, original fieldwork data shows that it is not. I am proposing
\nan analysis under which ‘-rka’ is a degree modifier that modifies a
\ndifference degree stating that this degree is small.<\/p>\n

The Puzzle.<\/strong> The striking fact is that this suffix also appears outside
\nof comparison constructions. (2) and (3) show instances of ‘-rka’ on
\nnouns and verbs.<\/p>\n

(2) a. ngamderc’- chair, ngamderc’arka - kind of a chair<\/br>
\n b. neb’a - mother, neb’arka - a mother who kind of fulfils her
\nduties as a mother, but not quite<\/br>
\n c. ne - woman, nerka - kind of a woman (e.g. doesn’t really
\nbehave like one)<\/p>\n

(3) Man’ s’urba-rka-dm.<\/br>
\n I run-RKA-1.SG<\/br>
\n ‘I ran a little.’<\/p>\n

The question here is what the core meaning contributed by ‘-rka’ in
\nall these cases is and whether nouns and verbs carrying this suffix
\nmake reference to some kind of an implicit comparison.<\/p>\n

The Plot.<\/strong> In this talk, I will explore the meaning contribution of
\nthis suffix in and outside of comparison constructions. An analysis of
\nNenets comparisons that are not marked by ‘-rka’ will be provided in
\nthe spirit of the standard analysis (cf. von Stechow 1984, Heim 2001,
\nBeck 2011). I will also propose an analysis of cases like (1) using a
\ncertain type of the Restrict operation (cf. Chung and Ladusaw 2004).
\nUltimately, we will discuss the meaning contribution of -rka outside
\nof comparisons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaker: Polina Berezovskaya (University of T\u00fcbingen) Title: `Small Degrees’: Degree Modification in Nenets. Time: Thursday, March 17th, 12:30-1:45 pm Place: 32-D461 In Nenets, an underrepresented Samoyedic language from the Uralic language family, the suffix ‘-rka’ is commonly found on the gradable adjective in comparison constructions, cf. (1): (1) Katja Masha-xad saml’ang santimetra-nh pirc’a-rka. Katja Masha-ABL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-talks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8157"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8163,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8157\/revisions\/8163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}