A Syntax of the Nivkh Language

This volume, originally published in Russian in 2012, is one of the few larger works on Nivkh (Gilyak), an underinvestigated endangered Paleosiberian language-isolate, that have appeared lately. It is a descriptive grammar based on extensive language data and supplemented with the authors’ experiments and subtle analysis, aimed at elucidating some moot points of the highly specific Nivkh syntax, and with quantitave data. It focuses on syntactic and semantic types of verbs and their aspectual and temporal characteristics, various groups of verbal grammatical morphemes, the use of finite and non-finite verb forms, and especially on numerous converbs, sentence types, word order, two-predicate constructions, relative clauses, direct and indirect speech, text structure and cohesion. The typological expertise and insights of V.P. Nedjalkov and the native intuitions of G.A. Otaina combine to add value to this volume. The book will be of interest to specialists in morphosyntax, typology, general linguistics and indigenous languages.

Dr. Anna Bugaeva, The Institute of the Japanese Language and Linguistics, Tokyo, Japan Dr. John Whitman, The Institute of the Japanese Language and Linguistics, Tokyo, Japan and Cornell University, NY, USA:
A Syntax of the Nivkh Language written by the leading typologist Vladimir P. Nedjalkov and native speaker Nivkh specialist Galina A. Otaina, and thoroughly edited by another leading typologist Emma Geniušienė together with Nivkh expert Ekaterina Gruzdeva is the first fully-glossed grammar of Nivkh to be published in English. Moreover, unlike previous grammars of Nivkh which paid more attention to morphonological aspects of the language, the present work is focused on syntax. Being a truly typologically-informed and typology-oriented description, A Syntax of the Nivkh Language will significantly contribute to the advancement of knowledge in general linguistics as well. Nivkh possesses a number of typologically interesting phenomena such as morphonological changes in the syntactic complexes “direct object + verb” and “attribute + head noun”, the lack of (person) agreement in the finite indicative forms but its presence in the imperative paradigm, the existence of over 20 converbal forms etc. presenting many challenges to standard linguistic assumptions. As a language isolate, which is presumably a remnant of some very old language family, Nivkh will allow us to peel back beyond our current view of Northeast Asia to make visible earlier stages of its human past.