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THE URALIC ORIGIN OF THE KHANTY ABLAUT (I) // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2019. Issue 3 (25). P. 22-31

According to a hypothesis put forward by E. A. Helimski, the paradigmatic alternation of root vowels (ablaut) in Khanty results from the influence of second syllable vowels, themselves partially lost already in Proto-Khanty. Helimski’s internal reconstruction of these vowels – ablaut triggers *I, *II, *U and *AA – is convincing, but their Uralic origins remain unknown. The purpose of the present article is to investigate the origins of one of these vowels – the ablaut trigger *I. This vowel is found in four suffixes: 1) a suffix deriving adjectives from local nouns, 2) a suffix of denominal nouns, 3) a suffix of deverbal nouns, and 4) coaffix of possessive forms in kinship terms. The locative adjective suffix and the possessive coaffix have reliable counterparts in other Uralic languages. The locative adjective suffix *-I has cognates in Mansi, Permic, and Samoyedic. These cognates allow us to reconstruct the Proto-Uralic locative adjective suffix as *-ji. The coaffix of the possessive forms in kinship terms *-I- has parallels in Mari, Udmurt, Hungarian, and Selkup. We can suppose that Proto-Uralic had a distinct series of possessive affixes for kinship terms, that differed from usual possessive affixes by having attached a coaffix *-j- before 1st and 2nd person markers.

Keywords: Uralic languages, Ob-Ugric languages, historical phonology, morphological reconstruction, Proto-Uralic