Loading AI tools
The Ingrian language is a highly endangered language spoken in Ingria, Russia. Ingrian is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, along with, among others, Finnish and Estonian. Ingrian is an agglutinative language and exhibits both vowel harmony and consonant gradation.
In the late 1930s, a written standard of the Ingrian language (referred to as kirjakeeli, "book language") was developed by the Ingrian linguist Väinö Junus. Following the Soviet Union's 1937 politics regarding minority languages, the Ingrian written language has been forbidden and Ingrian remains unstandardised ever since. This article describes the grammar of kirjakeeli with references to (modern) dialectal nuances.
Consonant gradation
Many words in Ingrian display consonant gradation, a grammatical process where the final consonant of a root may change in some inflected forms. Gradated words have two forms, called the strong grade and the weak grade. Follows a list of consonant gradations present in Ingrian, with examples:
| Strong | Weak | Example | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOM.SG | GEN.SG | |||
| k | ∅ | jalka | jalan | "foot, leg" |
| nk | ng | kenkä | kengän | "shoe" |
| t | ∅ | vahti | vahin | "guard" |
| lt | ll | ilta | illan | "evening" |
| rt | rr | merta | merran | "basket" |
| nt | nn | ranta | rannan | "shore" |
| st | ss | riista | riissan | "thing" |
| p | v | apu | avun | "help" |
| mp | mm | kumpa | kumman | "which" |
| pp | p | leppä | lepän | "alder" |
| uut, yyt oot, ööt | uuvv, yyvv oovv, öövv | suuto | suuvvon | "court" |
| Vut | Vvv | rauta | ravvan | "iron" |
| Vuk | Vvv | leuka | levvan | "jaw, chin" |
| Vit | Vij | maito | maijon | "milk" |
| Vik | Vj | poika | pojan | "boy, son" |
| eik, iik | eij, iij | reikä | reijän | "hole" |
Consonant gemination
In nominals and verbs alike, consonant gemination is an active process where a consonant following a light, uneven syllable, if followed by an (underlyingly) open syllable with a long vowel or a diphthong, is geminated. This process can be seen in the following examples:
- sana ("word") → kaks sannaa ("two words")
- käkö ("cuckoo") → kaks käkköä ("two cuckoos")
This gemination should not be confused with consonant gradation: Both can occur in one word. For instance, pittää ("to keep") has both consonant gradation and gemination:
- pittää ("to keep"); miä piän ("I keep"); höö pitävät ("they keep")
Consonant gemination does not affect consonants that start an uneven syllable:
- literatura ("literature"); literaturaa ("into the literature")
Some (recent) loanwords aren't affected by gemination either:
- inženera ("engineer"); kaks inženeraa ("two engineers")
In the Soikkola dialect, there is a phonological distinction between primary geminates (those that were originally present in Proto-Finnic) and secondary geminates (those formed as a result of gemination). Primary geminates are realised as long, while secondary geminates are short. In the other dialects of Ingrian, both types of geminates are equally long.[1]
Vowel elongation
In contrast with consonant gemination, nouns that do not have an even number of syllables or do not have a penultimate light syllable, experience vowel elongation in the inessive and adessive endings, where the final vowel becomes long:
- paikka ("area") → paikaas ("in the area"), koira ("dog") → koiraal ("on the dog")
- orava ("squirrel") → oravaal ("on the squirrel"), Soikkola ("Soikinsky Peninsula") → Soikkolaas ("on the Soikinsky Peninsula")
If the noun has consonant gradation, the weak grade determines the vowel length of the inflectional ending:
- poika ("boy") → pojal ("on the boy")
In the Soikkola dialect, this rule also holds true for the elative, ablative and translative cases:
- paikka ("area") → paigaast ("from the area")
- orraava ("squirrel") → oravaalt ("off the squirrel")
- soomi ("Finnish") → soomeeks ("in Finnish")
The Ingrian language does not distinguish gender in nouns, nor is there a definiteness distinction. Nouns can be declined for both case and number.
Cases
Ingrian nouns have thirteen noun cases. Unlike some plural pronouns, nouns don't have the accusative case and its function is taken over by either the genitive in the singular or the nominative in the plural.
| Case | Suffix | English PREP | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominativa) | -∅ | — | talo | a house |
| genitive (genitiva) | -n | of/'s | talon | a house's |
| partitive (partitiva) | -(t)a / -(t)ä | a bit of | talloa | a bit of a house |
| illative (illativa) | -V | into | talloo | into a house |
| inessive (inessiva) | -s | inside | talos | inside a house |
| elative (elativa) | -st | out of | talost | out of a house |
| allative (allativa) | -lle | onto | talolle | onto a house |
| adessive (adessiva) | -l | on top of | talol | on top of a house |
| ablative (ablativa) | -lt | out of | talolt | out of a house |
| translative (translativa) | -ks | into (being) | taloks | into (being) a house |
| essive (essiiva) | -nna / -nnä | as | talonna | as a house |
| exessive (eksessiva) | -nt | out of (being) | talont | out of (being) a house |
| comitative (komitativa) | -nka / -nkä | with | talonka | with a house |
In the modern (spoken) language, the exessive case has grown to be obsolete. Furthermore, the comitative is only present in the Ala-Laukaa dialect of the Ingrian language, although it was adopted into the written language as well.[2]
Some of the endings differ among dialects. In the Soikkola dialect, for instance, the essive ending is -Vn rather than -nna, yielding talloon. On the other hand, many cases in the Ala-Laukaa dialect contain a final vowel: talossa, talosta, talolla, talolta, talokse, talonta.
Nominative
The nominative case is used primarily to mark the subject of a verb:
- Kana kaakattaa ("The chicken cackles")
- Kana muni munan ("The chicken laid an egg")
Furthermore, it can be used as a form of address:
- Mama, miä tahon söövvä ("Mum, I want to eat")
Accusative
As mentioned above, the accusative isn't morphologically distinct from the genitive in the singular and the nominative in the plural. The accusative case is used to mark a direct object of an affirmative telic verb:
- Poika sööp lihan ("The boy will eat the meat")
- Tyttö näki koirat ("The girl saw the dogs")
The accusative is identical to the nominative when a direct object of an impersonal verb or a verb in the imperative mood:
- Söö liha! ("Eat the meat!")
- Söövvää liha ("The meat is eaten")
Partitive
The partitive is used in a number of functions. First of all, it is used to mark a direct object of an affirmative atelic verb or any negative verb:
- Poika sööp lihhaa ("The boy is eating the meat")
- Tyttö näki koiria ("The girl was seeing the dogs")
- Elä söö lihhaa! ("Do not eat the meat!")
- Ämmä ei nää koiraa ("Grandma doesn't see the dog")
Secondly, the partitive case is used with numerals (other than yks, "one") and determiners to designate amounts of an object:
- Miul on kaks silmää ("I have two eyes")
- Miä näin paljo koiria ("I saw a lot of dogs")
The partitive can be used to designate indefinite amounts:
- Miul on rahhaa ("I have money")
The partitive is used in comparative constructions to mark the object of comparison:
- Miä oon paremp häntä ("I am better than him")
Finally, the partitive is used as an indirect object of some postpositions:
- Tämä ono podarka miun lapsia vart. ("This is a present for my children")
Genitive
The genitive is used primarily to mark a possession by the inflected noun:
- Miä näin pojan koiran. ("I saw the boy's dog.")
- Lapsiin pere on suur. ("The children's family is big.")
Furthermore, it is used as an indirect object of many prepositions and postpositions:
- Talon al ei oo mittä. ("Under the house there isn't anything.")
- Möö elämmä talon sises. ("We live inside the house.")
Illative
The illative is primarily used to describe a direction into something:
- Miä mänin talloo. ("I went into the house.")
- Miä tokuin merree. ("I fell into the sea.")
It is also used to mark the designation of an object:
- Tämä poika tööhö ei kelpaa. ("This boy isn't fit for work.")
Furthermore, the illative is used to indicate a cause:
- Miun emä kooli lässyy. ("My mother died of a sickness.")
Finally, the illative is used to denote a timespan during which something didn't happen:
- En miä joont kahtee päivää. ("I haven't had a drink in two days.")
Inessive
The inessive is primarily used to describe a location inside something:
- Miä oon talos. ("I am inside the house.")
- Miä ujun meres. ("I am swimming in the sea.")
It is also used to describe a duration during which something has happened:
- Ei stroitettu Rim yhes päivääs. ("Rome wasn't built in one day.")
Elative
The elative is primarily used to describe a movement out of something:
- Miä tulin talost. ("I came out of the house.")
- Miä hyppäisin merest. ("I jumped out of the sea.")
It is furthermore used to describe the subject of some kind of information:
- Miä luen lehmilöist. ("I am reading about cows.")
- Miä kirjutan meijen maast. ("I am writing about our country.")
The elative is used to denote a domain to which an object belongs:
- Miä oon paremp kaikist lapsist. ("I am the best of all the children.")
- Kaikest miun perreest, miä suvvaan vaa miun emmää. ("Out of all my family, I only love my mother")
Finally, the elative is used to denote a material from which something is made:
- Miä tein pöksyt täst kankaast. ("I made trousers from this fabric.")
- Laps teki samoljotan paperist. ("The child made an airplane from paper.")
Allative
The allative is primarily used to describe motion onto something:
- Miä hyppäisin kannelle. ("I jumped onto the table.")
- Kolja pani koiran stoolille. ("Kolja put the dog on the chair.")
It is furthermore used in a dative function to mark an indirect object:
- Miä annoin hänelle omenan. ("I gave him an apple.")
- Mitä hää siulle saoi? ("What did he say to you?")
Adessive
The adessive is primarily used to describe a location on top of something:
- Miä issun kanneel. ("I am sitting on the table.")
- Koljan koira ležžii stooliil. ("Kolja's dog is lying on the chair.")
It is also commonly used in a construction with the verb olla ("to be") to denote a possession:
- Miul ono kirja. ("I have a book.")
- Lapseel ovat pöksyt. ("The child has trousers.")
In the Soikkola dialect, the adessive is used instead of the comitative to denote an instrument of an action:
- Miä kirjutan krandoššiil. ("I am writing with a pencil.")
- Miä kuuntelen korviil. ("I am listening with [my] ears.")
Finally, the adessive is used to denote a location in time:
- Ööl suet jahtiijaat. ("At night, the wolves hunt.")
- Kesäl ilma ono lämmää. ("In summer, the weather is warm.")
Ablative
The primary function of the ablative is to describe a motion off of something:
- Miä hyppäisin kanelt. ("I jumped off the table.")
- Kolja nosti koiran stolilt. ("Kolja picked the dog up from the table.")
It is furthermore used to mark a source of an action:
- Miä sain hänelt omenan. ("I got an apple from him.")
- Mitä hää siult kuuli? ("What did he hear from you?")
Translative
The primary function of the translative is to describe one's change of state towards being something:
- Miä tahon noissa siun ystäväks. ("I want to become your friend.")
- I konna muuttui käppiäks tytöks. ("And the frog turned into a beautiful lass.")
It is also used to denote that an action was or will be done by a specific point in time:
- Hää noisen sinnua unohtamaa voovven lopuks. ("He will forget you by the end of the year.")
- Pittää meille ostaa podarkoja hänen nimipäiväks. ("We need to buy birthday presents for her birthday.")
Finally, the translative is used in many fixed impressions:
- Miä läkkään ižoraks. ("I speak Ingrian")
- Tämä poika näyttiijää oikiin käppiäks. ("This boy is (lit. seems) very pretty.")
Essive
The primary function of the essive is to describe one's current state of being:
- Miun isä tekköö töötä kalastajanna. ("My father works as a fisherman.")
- Miun emä ompelianna jaksaa laatia siun pöksylöjä. ("As a tailor, my mother can fix your trousers.")
It is also used to denote the point of time when an action occurs:
- Pyhännä möö määmmä kirkkoo. ("On sunday we will go to church.")
- Nimipäivännä miä sain paljo podarkoja. ("On my birthday I received a lot of presents.")
Exessive
The exessive is a rare case, and is practically not used outside of the literary language. It's used only to describe a change of state out of being something:
- Miä tulin pois ompeliant. ("I stopped being a tailor.")
Stem types
A stem is the part of a word that can be changed by adding inflectional endings, and in most nominals corresponds to the nominative singular.
Vowel stems
Ingrian has several paradigms that involve a vowel that all endings are added onto. When pluralised, however, this vowel might change:
| stem vowel |
English | NOM.SG | GEN.SG | PTV.SG | ILL.SG | NOM.PL | GEN.PL | PTV.PL | ILL.PL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -a | chicken | kana | kanan | kannaa | kannaa | kanat | kannoin | kanoja | kannoi | Followed by nominals ending in -a when following a syllable with a, e or i and recent loanwords. |
| -a | dog | koira | koiran | koiraa | koiraa | koirat | koiriin | koiria | koirii | Followed by native nominals ending in -a when following a syllable with o or u. |
| -ä | summer | kesä | kesän | kessää | kessää | kesät | kessiin | kessiä | kessii | |
| -a/-ä | parent | vanhemp (<*vanhempa) | vanhemman | vanhempaa | vanhempaa | vanhemmat | vanhempiin | vanhempia | vanhempii | Followed by nominals with historically an underlying final -a or -ä that underwent full vowel reduction. |
| -e | leaf | lehti (<*lešte) | lehen | lehtiä | lehtee | lehet | lehtilöin | lehtilöjä | lehtilöihe | Followed by nominals where (pre-)Proto-Finnic *-e regularly changed to -i. |
| -i | guard | vahti | vahin | vahtia | vahtii | vahit | vahtiloin | vahtiloja | vahtiloihe | Followed by relatively recent borrowings, from after the Proto-Finnic period, ending in -i. |
| -o/-ö, -u/-y | birch | koivu | koivun | koivua | koivuu | koivut | koivuin, koivuloin | koivuja, koivuloja | koivuihe, koivuloihe | |
| -VV | earth | maa | maan | maata | maaha | maat | maijen | maita | maihe | Followed by nouns ending in long vowels and diphthongs. The illative takes on the final vowel, unless it's i, in which case the ending is -e. |
| -oi/-öi | slaughterhouse | boinoi | boinoin | boinoita | boinoihe | boinoit | boinoin | boinoita | boinoihe | Only used in Russian loanwords. In the Ala-Laukaa dialect, where the final -oi, -öi is pronounced as a monophthong, these nominals inflect as others ending in -o, -ö. In the Soikkola dialect, the plural cases are suppleted from the paradigm of nouns ending in -o, -ö. |
In the Soikkola dialect, a separate paradigm exists for nouns ending in -oi (< Proto-Finnic -oi), which in the Ala-Laukaa dialect and Literary Ingrian have lost their final component of the diphthong:
| stem vowel |
English | NOM.SG | GEN.SG | PTV.SG | ILL.SG | NOM.PL | GEN.PL | PTV.PL | ILL.PL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [-oi-] (-o-) | fox | [reboi] (repo) | [revoin] (revon) | [reppooja] (reppoa) | [reppoi] (reppoo) | [revoid] (revot) | [reboloin] (reppoin, repoloin) | [reboloja] (repoja, repoloja) | [reboloihe] (reppoi, repoloihe) | Forms given in square brackets represent (approximate) pronunciation of the Soikkola form, the forms given below represent the Literary Ingrian form. |
Consonant stems
Other nouns have their endings attached on a consonant base.
The largest group of these are nouns ending (underlyingly) in a -i, which resemble e-stems like lehti. The only difference between this paradigm and that of e-stems is the partitive singular, where the ending is added onto the consonant and is -ta (-tä), rather than -a (-ä).
The final consonant of these nouns must be either h, l, m, n, r, s or t:
Due to historical reasons, some nouns in this class have an irregular change of the stem:
| English | NOM.SG | GEN.SG | PTV.SG | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| knife | veitsi | veitsen | veistä | In a cluster -Cs, the partitive singular stem is -s. |
| child | laps | lapsen | lasta | |
| water | vesi | veen | vettä | Word-final *-ti regularly became -si. |
| five | viis | viijen | viittä | |
| snow | lumi | lumen | lunta | m assimilates to the following t. |
| one | yks | yhen | yhtä | In the nominative singular and in the plural, *-kt became -ks, while in the singular and nominative plural it became -ht (~ -h) |
Some nouns historically ended on a consonant. In these nouns, the consonant before the final vowel is gradated:
A final subclass of such nouns are those ending in -ut (-yt). These exhibit an irregular illative ending and form the plural differently from e-stem nouns:
Another large group of nouns in Ingrian end in the consonant -s. These, again, come in various inflection types:
| stem consonant(s) |
English | NOM.SG | GEN.SG | PTV.SG | ILL.SG | NOM.PL | GEN.PL | PTV.PL | ILL.PL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -nt- | third | kolmas | kolmannen | kolmatta | kolmantee | kolmannet | kolmansiin | kolmansia | kolmansii | Before -i, the stem consonants change to -ns-. In the partitive singular, the stem extends to -tt-. |
| -h- | man | mees | meehen | meestä | meehee | meehet | meehiin | meehiä | meehii | |
| -∅- | column | patsas | patsaan | patsasta | patsaasse | patsaat | patsain | patsaita | patsaisse | In the Soikkola dialect, the stem consonant -h- is retained (for instance, the genitive singular is patsahan) |
| -ks- | treason | petos | petoksen | petosta | petoksee | petokset | petoksiin | petoksia | petoksii | |
| -ks- | law | oikehus | oikehuen | oikehutta | oikehuee | oikehuet | oikehuksiin | oikehuksia | oikehuksii | The stem consonants only appears in the plural; In the singular, the stem-final -s is elided, while in the partitive, the stem extends to -tt-. |
| -m- | orphan | armatoin | armattoman | armatointa | armattommaa | armattomat | armattommiin | armattommia | armattommii | Note that in the nominative and partitive singular, the root ends in -in-, rather than the expected -n-. |
A third group includes nouns ending in the consonant -n:
| stem consonant(s) |
English | NOM.SG | GEN.SG | PTV.SG | ILL.SG | NOM.PL | GEN.PL | PTV.PL | ILL.PL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -s- | fly | kärpäin | kärpäisen | kärpäistä | kärpäisee | kärpäiset | kärpäisiin | kärpäisiä | kärpäisii | In some words, like ihmiin ("human"), the vowel preceding -n is shortened in inflected forms. In the Soikkola dialect, the partitive singular retains a weak grade of the stem: kärpäin - kärväist. |
Finally, some nouns ending in -e have an underlying stem consonant -∅-:
| stem consonant(s) |
English | NOM.SG | GEN.SG | PTV.SG | ILL.SG | NOM.PL | GEN.PL | PTV.PL | ILL.PL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -∅- | boat | vene | venneen | venettä | venneesse | venneet | vennein | venneitä | veneissee | Compare this noun class to nouns like patsas ("column"). The Soikkola dialect splits this class in two, namely those that retain the Proto-Finnic consonant -h (vene - venneehen; "boat"; < Proto-Finnic *veneh), and those that reflect the Proto-Finnic consonant -k (lähe - lähteen; "spring, source"; < Proto-Finnic *lähdek). |
Ingrian adjectives are inflected identically to nouns, and agree in number to the modified noun. In all cases but the comitative, the case of the adjectives also agrees with the case of the noun. A noun in the comitative is modified by an adjective in the genitive:
| Ingrian | English |
|---|---|
| suur poika | "a big boy" |
| suuren pojan | "of the big boy" |
| kaks suurta poikaa | "two big boys" |
| suuren pojanka | "with the big boy" |
| suuret pojat | "big boys" |
Comparative
The comparative degree of Ingrian adjectives is generally formed by adding the suffix -mp to the adjective:
| Positive degree | English | Comparative degree | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| korkia | "high" | korkiamp | "higher" |
| noori (noore-) | "young" | nooremp | "younger" |
In some cases, a stem-final -a, -ä is transformed into an -e- in the comparative:
| Positive degree | English | Comparative degree | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| vanha | "old" | vanhemp | "older" |
| pitkä (pitä-) | "long" | pitemp | "longer" |
The comparative degree of the adjective inflects just like any other nominal:
| Ingrian | English |
|---|---|
| suuremp poika | "the bigger boy" |
| suuremman pojan | "of the bigger boy" |
Note that comparative endings have an underlying final vowel -a (or -ä in front-vocalic words).
Superlative
Unlike Finnish and Estonian, Ingrian doesn't have a superlative degree morphologically distinct from the comparative. Instead, a form of the indefinite pronoun kaik ("all") is used together with the comparative:
| Ingrian | English |
|---|---|
| kaikkia suuremp poika | "the biggest boy" (literally: "the boy bigger than all") |
| kaikkiin suuremp poika | "the biggest boy" (literally: "the boy biggest of all") |
| kaikkiis suuremp poika | "the biggest boy" (literally: "the boy biggest among all") |
Furthermore, the adverb samoi (borrowed from the Russian самый) can be used together with either the positive or comparative form of the adjective to express a superlative:
| Ingrian | English |
|---|---|
| samoi suur poika | "the biggest boy" (literally: "the most big boy") |
| samoi suuremp poika | "the biggest boy" (literally: "the most biggest boy") |
Ingrian pronouns are inflected similarly to their referent nouns. A major difference is the existence of the accusative (plural) in personal and some demonstrative pronouns, which is absent in all nouns and adjectives.
Personal pronouns
Unlike in Finnish, personal pronouns can be used to refer to both animate and inanimate nouns alike. Follows a table of personal pronouns:
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | miä ("I") | möö ("we") | siä ("you") | töö ("you") | hää ("he, she, it") | höö ("they") |
| Accusative | miun | meijet | siun | teijet | hänen | heijet |
| Genitive | miun | meijen | siun | teijen | hänen | heijen |
| Partitive | minnua | meitä | sinnua | teitä | häntä | heitä |
| Illative | miuhu | meihe | siuhu | teihe | hännee | heihe |
| Inessive | mius | meis | sius | seis | hänes | heis |
| Essive | miunna | meinnä | siunna | teinnä | hänennä | heinnä |
| Comitative | miunka | meijenkä | siunka | teijenkä | hänenkä | heijenkä |
Other locative cases are formed using the appropriate nominal case endings to the inessive stem.
As seen above, Ingrian does not have grammatical gender, so the pronoun hää can be used for both male, female and inanimate referents alike. However, inanimate nouns are often referred to using the demonstrative pronoun se ("this") instead.
Some variation occurs among different dialects of Ingrian in regards to the personal pronouns. First of all, dialects with mid vowel raising exhibit the plural pronouns myy, tyy and hyy for möö, töö and höö respectively.[1][3] Furthermore, in the Ala-Laukaa dialect, the third person singular pronoun hän is found instead of hää. Similar forms have been found also in the now-extinct Hevaha and Ylä-Laukaa dialects.[3]
Since verbs in Ingrian conjugate according to grammatical person and number, subject personal pronouns may sometimes be omitted in Ingrian. In most cases, however, the person remains doubly marked, and the reasons for dropping the pronoun are similar to ones in Russian.[4]
Demonstrative pronouns
Ingrian demonstratives can be used both as pronouns and as determiners in a determiner phrase. There are three sets of demonstratives: proximal (near to the speaker), distal (far from the speaker) and neutral, which is used to refer to an object without specifying its relative location is space, and is often used in anaphoras:
| Proximal | Distal | Neutral | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | tämä ("this") | nämät ("these") | too ("that") | noo ("those") | se ("this, that") | neet ("these, those") |
| Accusative | tämän | nämät | toon | noo | sen | neet |
| Genitive | tämän | näijen | toon | noijen | senen | niijen |
| Partitive | tätä | näitä | toota | noota | sitä | niitä |
| Illative | tähä | näihe | tooho | noohe | siihe | niihe |
| Inessive | täs | näis | toos | noos | siin | niis |
| Elative | täst | näist | toost | noost | siint | niist |
| Allative | tälle | näille | toolle | noolle | sille | niille |
| Adessive | täl | näil | tool | nool | sil | niil |
| Ablative | tält | näilt | toolt | noolt | silt | niilt |
| Translative | täks | näiks | tooks | nooks | siks | niiks |
| Essive | tämännä | näinnä | toonna | noonna | senennä | niinnä |
The proximal demonstatives can be contracted to tää (< tämä), tään (< tämän) and näät (< nämät). Again, in dialects with mid vowel raising, the distal demonstratives are tuu and nuu rather than too and noo respectively.[3] Furthermore, in the Ala-Laukaa and the extinct Hevaha dialects, as well as among some speakers of the Soikkola dialect, the plural neutral pronoun is ne rather than neet.[3]
The genitive and accusative singular of the neutral demonstrative pronoun are often used interchangeably, counter to the prescriptive usage described in Junus (1936). Furthermore, for most speakers of the modern Soikkola dialect, the functions of the distal demonstrative have been taken over by the neutral pronoun (se/neet).
Interrogative pronouns
Ingrian interrogatives are divided into one that has an animate referent (ken, "who?") and one that has an inanimate referent (mikä, "what?"). Originally, the latter is a combination of the pronoun *mi- and the interrogative clitic -kä, but its inflected forms are still formed on the basis of the free pronoun:
| Animate | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ken | mikä |
| Genitive | kenen | minen |
| Partitive | ketä | mitä |
| Illative | kehe | mihe |
| Inessive | kes | mis |
| Essive | kenennä | minennä |
Other locative cases are formed using the appropriate nominal case endings to the inessive stem.
The interrogatives also have plural forms of the nominative, ket and mit respectively. Other case forms are used in the singular and plural alike. Like in Finnish and Estonian, but also English, the interrogatives are also used as relative pronouns:
- Mikä ono? ("What is it?")
- En tiije, mikä ono. ("I don't know, what it is.")
Person and number
Ingrian verbs inflect for three persons, two numbers, and feature a separate impersonal form.
| Number | Person | Suffix | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | first | -n | (miä) etsin | I search for |
| second | -t | (siä) etsit | you (SG) search for | |
| third | -V | (hää) etsii | he/she/it searches for | |
| plural | first | -mma / -mmä | (möö) etsimmä | we search for |
| second | -tta / -ttä | (töö) etsittä | you (PL) search for | |
| third | -Vt -vat / -vät | (höö) etsiit etsivät | they search for | |
| impersonal | -taa / -tää | etsitää | one searches | |
The impersonal form may always be used to denote the third person plural.
Mood
Ingrian verbs inflect for four moods: indicative, conditional, imperative and potential.[5] Of these, the potential is very rare.
The indicative mood is the only one to feature a past tense separate from the present tense and not formed by means of modal verbs.
| Mood | Suffix | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | -∅ | (hää) tahtoo | he/she/it wants |
| IMPERF indicative | -i | (hää) tahtoi | he/she/it wanted |
| conditional | -is(i) | (hää) tahtois | he/she/it would have wanted |
| potential | -ne | (hää) tahtonoo | he/she/it may want |
The paradigm of the impersonal forms is irregular:
| Mood | Suffix | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | -taa/-tää | tahotaa | one wants |
| IMPERF indicative | -ttii | tahottii | one wanted |
| conditional | -ttais/-ttäis | tahottais | one would have wanted |
| potential | -ttanoo/-ttänöö | tahottannoo | one may want |
In verbs whose stems end in -n, -l, -r, -s, -h the initial -t- of the impersonal forms is dropped, or (in the case of present indicative) assimilated to the preceding consonant:
- männä - män- ("to go") → männää, mäntii etc.
- kuulla - kuul- ("to hear") → kuullaa, kuultii etc.
- purra - pur- ("to bite") → purraa, purtii etc.
- pessä - pes- ("to wash") → pessää, pestii etc.
- nähä - näh- ("to see") → nähhää, nähtii etc.
The imperative paradigm is also highly irregular compared to the other three moods, and occurs only in the second and third person, as well as the impersonal:
Indicative mood
The indicative mood is used to describe actions that either have happened, are happening at the moment, or will inevitably happen:
- Miä käyn ulitsaa mööt ("I am walking along the road")
- Miä ujuin joes ("I was swimming in the river")
The present forms of the indicatives can always be used to describe a future action:
- Hoomeen, miä mään škouluu ("Tomorrow, I am going to go to school")
Conditional mood
The conditional mood is used to describe actions which would have happened if a certain condition were met; At the same time, it is used to describe that condition:
- Jos miä olisin suur, mänisin škouluu ("If I were big, I would go to school")
When the condition refers to the future, or is a general remark that is true regardless of time, the indicative is used instead:
- Jos oon suur, mään škouluu ("If I am (ever) big, I will go to school")
- Jos katsoa, voip nähä ("If one looks, he will be able to see")
Imperative mood
The imperative mood is used to give commands, either directly (to one's collocutor), or by expressing a wish about a third person:
- Anna sitä miulle! ("Give that to me!")
- Emä olkoo terve! ("May mother be healthy!")
In the first person, there is no imperative, and instead other constructions are used with a similar effect:
- Anna miä laulan ("Let me sing")
- Laa möö määmmä kottii ("Let us go home")
Potential mood
The potential mood is used to describe actions that are likely, but uncertain to happen:
- Miä kirjuttanen kirjan ("I will probably write a letter")
The potential forms of the verb olla ("to be") are irregular, and are used as a separate future tense instead:
- Miä leenen suur ("I will be big")
The potential forms are frequently followed by the clitics -k and -kse.[6]
Stem types
Like nominals, verbs can be divided into a number of inflectional classes, according to which they are inflected, each class associated with a particular form of the stem.
Vowel stems
| stem vowel |
English | 1st. INF |
PRES.IND | IMPERF.IND | PRES.COND | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | ||||
| -o/-ö -u/-y | to look | katsoa | katson | katsoo | katsoin | katsoi | katsoisin | katsois | |
| -a/-ä | to sow | kylvää | kylvän | kylvää | kylvin | kylvi | kylväisin | kylväis | |
| -a/-ä | to plough | kyntää | kynnän | kyntää | kynsin | kynsi | kyntäisin | kyntäis | Followed by verbs whose stem ends on -nta- (-ntä-), -lta- (-ltä-), -rta- (-rtä-), or -Vta- (-Vtä-) |
| -a | to pay | maksaa | maksan | maksaa | maksoin | maskoi | maksaisin | maksais | Followed by bisyllabic verbs whose first stem vowel is either -a-, -e- or -i- |
| -e | to lower | laskia | lasen | laskoo | lasin | laski | laskisin | laskis | In the infinitive, the historical combination *-ea (*-eä) regularly becomes -ia (-iä). In the third person singular present, the historical combination *-ee regularly becomes -oo/-öö. |
| -i | to believe | sallia | sallin | sallii | sallin | salli | sallisin | sallis | |
| -Vi | to rain | vihmoja | vihmoin | vihmoi | vihmoin | vihmoi | vihmoisin | vihmois | Note that the -i- intervocalically becomes -j-: *vihmoi+a > vihmoja |
| -VV | to marry | naija | nain | naip | nain | nai | naisin | nais | Followed by monosyllabic verbs ending in an unrounded vowel. Unlike in other inflections, the infinitive ending is -ja (-jä) instead of -a (-ä) and the third person singular present ending is -p. |
| -VV | to eat | söövvä | söön | sööp | söin | söi | söisin | söis | Followed by monosyllabic verbs ending in a rounded vowel. Unlike in other inflections, the infinitive ending is -vva (-vvä) instead of -a (-ä) and the third person singular present ending is -p. |
Consonant stems
Most consonant stem types are inflected in much the same way as laskia, but exhibit an intrusive consonant in moods other than the infinitive:
| stem consonant(s) |
English | 1st. INF |
PRES.IND | IMPERF.IND | PRES.COND | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | ||||
| -s-/-r- | to wash | pessä | pesen | pessöö | pesin | pesi | pesisin | pesis | The infinitive ending goes back to an original *-stak / *-rdak, which then regularly developed into -ssa and -rra, respectively. |
| -l- | to fly around | lennellä | lentelen | lentelöö | lentelin | lenteli | lentelisin | lenteliis | Formally identical to the preceding type, with the exception that the syllable preceding the stem consonant may gradate. |
| -ts- | to choose | valita | valitsen | valitsoo | valitsin | valitsi | valitsisin | valitsiis | |
| -ks- | to run | joossa | jooksen | jooksoo | jooksin | jooksi | jooksisin | jooksiis | |
| -n- | to flee | paeta | pakenen | pakenoo | pakenin | pakeni | pakenisin | pakeniis | |
Two other frequent types of consonant stems used to feature the Proto-Finnic consonant *-d-, which was regularly lost in Ingrian:
| stem consonant(s) |
English | 1st. INF |
PRES.IND | IMPERF.IND | PRES.COND | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | ||||
| -∅- | to borrow | lainata | lainaan | lainajaa | lainaisin | lainais | lainajaisin | lainajais | The vowel preceding the stem consonant is duplicated after it, resulting in a long vowel in the present indicative. If the preceding vowel is -i-, the imperfect forms keep only one -i- (e.g. hävitä - hävisin - hävijäisin). |
| -∅- | to be ashamed | hävetä | häppiin | häpijää | häpisin | häpis | häpijäisin | häpijäis | Note how the vowel preceding the stem consonant changes from -e- to -i-. |
A final type of vowel stems, which are unique to Ingrian, are reflexive conjugations, which are formed with the suffix -issa and its allomorphs:
| stem consonant(s) |
English | 1st. INF |
PRES.IND | IMPERF.IND | PRES.COND | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | 1SG | 3SG | ||||
| -∅- | to descend | laskiissa | laskiin | laskiijaa | laskiisin | laskiis | laskiijaisin | laskiijais | Note how unlike the lainata-type conjugations, this verb features a long vowel throughout the paradigm |
| -∅- | to throw up | oksentaissa | oksentaan | oksentaijaa | oksentaisin | oksentais | oksentaijaisin | oksentaijais | Formally identical to the preceding type, with the exception that the verb contains a diphthong instead of a long vowel before the stem consonant. |
| -∅- | to separate | erahussa | erahun | erahuu | erahuin | erahui | erahuisin | erahuis | |
Irregular verbs
There are a handful of verbs in Ingrian that do not follow the above mentioned patterns. These will be discussed here in detail.
The most irregular verb in Ingrian is the copulative verb olla ("to be"). Overall, it mostly follows the pattern of l-final consonant stems (like lennellä), but features a completely irregular present indicative, imperative, and potential paradigms (as mentioned above, the potential is used to mark the future tense of this verb):
The rest of the forms are formed regularly, according to the l-final stems.
The verbs tulla ("to come"), männä ("to go") and panna ("to put") also mostly follows the l-final stems in conjugation, except in the indicative and the second-person singular imperative:
The verbs nähä ("to see") and tehä ("to do") are also conjugated according to the l-final stems, but feature a stem ending in -k- (which gradates regularly with -∅-) in indicative and conditional non-impersonal forms, the second-person singular imperative, the present active participle, and in the 3rd and 4th infintives:
The verbs seissa ("to stand") and haissa ("to smell") are conjugated very similarly, featuring the stem seiso- and haiso- (following -o final verbs like katsoa) in indicative and conditional non-impersonal forms, the second-person singular imperative, the present active participle, and in the 3rd and 4th infintives:
| Mood | Person | seissa | haissa |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | 1SG | seison | haison |
| 3SG | seisoo | haisoo | |
| IMPRS.SG | seissaa | haissaa | |
| IMPERF indicative | 1SG | seisoin | haisoin |
| 3SG | seisoi | haisoi | |
| IMPRS.SG | seistii | haistii | |
| conditional | 1SG | seisoisin | haisoisin |
| 3SG | seisois | haisois | |
| IMPRS.SG | seistais | haistais | |
| 4th infinitive | seisomiin | haisomiin | |
| PRES ACT PTCP | seisova | haisova | |
| PRES PASS PTCP | seissava | haissava | |
The verbs tiitää ("to know"), siitää ("to tolerate") and tuntaa ("to feel"), but feature the weak stems tiije- and tunne- instead of tiijä- and tunna-, respectively:
| Mood | Person | tiitää | siitää | tuntaa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | 1SG | tiijen | siijen | tunnen |
| 3SG | tiitää | siitää | tuntaa | |
| IMPRS.SG | tiijetää | siijetää | tunnetaa | |
| IMPERF indicative | 1SG | tiisin | siisin | tunsin |
| 3SG | tiisi | siisi | tunsi | |
| IMPRS.SG | tiijettii | siijettii | tunnettii | |
| conditional | 1SG | tiitäisin | siitäisin | tuntaisin |
| 3SG | tiitäis | siitäis | tuntais | |
| IMPRS.SG | tiijettäis | siijettäis | tunnettais | |
| 4th infinitive | tiitämiin | siitämiin | tuntamiin | |
| PRES ACT PTCP | tiitävä | siitävä | tuntava | |
| PRES PASS PTCP | tiijettävä | siijettävä | tunnettava | |
The last two irregular verbs are sannoa and lähtiä. The former shows the weak stem sao-, whereas the latter shows the past stem läksi-.
| Mood | Person | sannoa | lähtiä |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | 1SG | saon | lähen |
| 3SG | sannoo | lähtöö | |
| IMPRS.SG | saotaa | lähetää | |
| IMPERF indicative | 1SG | saoin | läksin |
| 3SG | saoi | läksi | |
| IMPRS.SG | saottii | lähettii | |
| conditional | 1SG | sanoisin | lähtisin |
| 3SG | sanois | lähtis | |
| IMPRS.SG | saottais | lähettäis | |
| 4th infinitive | sanomiin | lähtömiin | |
| PRES ACT PTCP | sanova | lähtevä | |
| PRES PASS PTCP | saottava | lähettävä | |
Infinitives
Ingrian verbs possess four different infinitive forms, each of which may be inflected in various cases:
| Number | Case | Ending | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | nominative | -(t)a/-(t)ä | tahtoa | to want |
| 2nd | inessive | -(t)es | tahtojees | when wanting |
| instructive | -(t)en | tahtoen | by wanting | |
| 3rd | illative | -maa/-mää | tahtomaa | with the intention of wanting |
| inessive | -mas/-mäs | tahtomaas | in the act of wanting | |
| elative | -mast/-mäst | tahtomast | from just having been wanting | |
| abessive | -mata/-mätä | tahtomata | without wanting | |
| 4th | nominative | -miin | tahtomiin | the act of wanting |
The fourth infinitive is formally a verbal noun but is fully productive and may occur in certain (rare) grammatical constructions.
Participles
Every Ingrian verb has four distinct participles:
The formation of the past active participle is not always straightforward. Verb stems ending in the consonants -n, -l, -r and -s, -h assimilate the initial consonant of the ending to the stem consonant:
- männä - män- ("to go") → mänt, männyt
- kuulla - kuul- ("to hear") → kuult, kuullut
- purra - pur- ("to bite") → purt, purrut
- pessä - pes- ("to wash") → pest, pessyt
- nähä - näh- ("to see") → näht, nähnyt
In verbs whose stems end in -n, -l, -r, -s, -h the initial -t- of the passive participles is also lost:
- männä - män- ("to go") → mänty, mäntävä
- kuulla - kuul- ("to hear") → kuultu, kuultava
- purra - pur- ("to bite") → purtu, purtava
- pessä - pes- ("to wash") → pesty, pestävä
- nähä - näh- ("to see") → nähty, nähtävä
Negation
The negative in Ingrian is expressed with the negative verb ei, which is conjugated irregularly:
The negative verb is used with various forms of the main verb, called connegatives, to express the negation of that main verb. These connegatives vary by mood, but not by person:
| Mood | Ending | Example | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | -∅ | (hää) ei taho | he/she/it doesn't want | identical in form to the second-person singular imperative |
| IMPERF indicative | -nt -nut/-nyt | (hää) ei tahtont (hää) ei tahtonut | he/she/it didn't want | identical in form to the past active participle |
| conditional | -is | (hää) ei tahtois | he/she/it wouldn't have wanted | identical in form to the third-singular conditional |
| potential | -ne | (hää) ei tahtone | he/she/it may not want |
In the imperative, there is a separate connegative for the second person singular and all other persons:
| Mood | Ending | Example | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2sg imperative | -∅ | elä taho! | do not want! | identical in form to the second-person singular imperative |
| non-2sg imperative | -ko/-kö | elköö tahtoko | he/she/it must not want |
To express the negation of the impersonal forms of a verb, the third singular form of the negative is used with an impersonal connegative, which also inflects by mood:
| Mood | Ending | Example | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRES indicative | -ta/-tä | ei tahota | it is not wanted | |
| IMPERF indicative | -ttu/-tty | ei tahottu | it was not wanted | identical in form to the past passive participle |
| conditional | -ttais/-ttäis | ei tahottais | it would not have been wanted | identical in form to the impersonal conditional |
| potential | -ttane/-ttäne | ei tahottane | it may not be wanted | |
| imperative | -ttako/-ttäkö | ei tahottako | it must not be wanted |
To negate any other verbal or non-verbal form the negative verb, inflected to the person of the subject of the main clause, is placed directly before this form:
- Miä en taho siin en olla ("I do not want to not be here")
- Miä en maha en suutia enkä laatia[7] ("I can neither judge nor decree")
Note that in Ingrian, double negatives are obligatory:
- Kenkää sitä ei tiije ("Nobody knows that")
- Miä mittää en teht ("I did nothing / I did not do anything")
Ingrian adverbs are most commonly derived from adjectives by adding the suffix -st:
| Ingrian | English | Ingrian | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hyvä | "good" | → | hyväst | "well" |
| kerkiä | "easy" | → | kerkiäst | "easily" |
| rauhalliin | "peaceful" | → | rauhallisest | "peacefully" |
Note that the resulting form is always identical to the elative singular of the adjective.
Other frequent methods of forming adverbs include using the illative or adding the suffixes -in, -staa, -ttee and others.
Comparative adverbs are very rare, and are exclusively formed from comparative adjectives:
- tihti ("frequent"), tihimp ("more frequent") → tihtii ("frequently"), tihimpää ("more frequently")
Ingrian features morphologically distinct cardinal and ordinal numbers:
| Number | Cardinal | Ordinal |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | nolli | — |
| 1 | yks | ensimäin |
| 2 | kaks | toin |
| 3 | kolt | kolmas |
| 4 | neljä | neljäs |
| 5 | viis | viijes |
| 6 | kuus | kuuvves |
| 7 | seitsen | seitsemäs |
| 8 | kaheksan | kaheksas |
| 9 | yheksän | yheksäs |
| 10 | kymmen | kymmenäs |
| 100 | sata | sattais |
| 1000 | tuhatta | tuhattais |
Numbers from 11-19 are formed by adding the single cardinal numeral to -toist ("of the second") and -toist kymmenäs for the cardinal and ordinal numbers, respectively:
- 3 kolt → 13 kolttoist
- 3-s kolmas → 13-s kolttoist kymmenäs
Terms for tens are formed by adding the single cardinal numeral to -kymment ("of teen") and -kymmenäs ("tenth") for the cardinal and ordinal numbers, respectively:
- 3 kolt → 30 koltkymment
- 3-s kolmas → 30-s koltkymmenäs
Other terms from 21-99 are formed by simply stacking the single numerals onto the number for a multiple of tens:
- 20 kakskymment → 21 kakskymment yks
- 20-s kakskymmenäs → 21-s kakskymmenäs ensimäin
An alternative way of forming these numerals is also attested, where the above method of 11-19 is used:[3]
- 20 kakskymment → 21 ykskolmatta
- 20-s kakskymmenäs → 21 ykskolmatta kymmenäs
The object of cardinal numbers other than yks (1) is always put in the partitive singular:
- yks koira ("one dog")
- kaks koiraa ("two dogs")
- sata koiraa ("a hundred dogs")
- sata yks koiraa ("a hundred and one dogs")
When the cardinal number is inflected, the object noun is inflected to the same case, but stays singular:
- Miä möin kolmenkymmenän sian ("I sold thirty pigs")
- Sil kolmeel lehmääl ono sama karva ("Those three cows have the same colour")
For some plural-only nouns, direct enumeration is not possible, and a measure word has to be used:
- Miul ono kaks parria ackoja. ("I have two pairs of glasses.")
Question formation
In Ingrian, questions are formed either by using an interrogative word, or by adding the interrogative clitic -k (or its variants -ka / -kä and -ko / -kö) to the first word (or, in the case of nouns, phrase) in a sentence:
- Mitä siä sööt? ("What are you eating?")
- Suvvaatk siä siun vanhempia? ("Do you love your parents?")
The most frequent interrogative pronouns include ken ("who"), mikä ("what"), kuka ("which (of many)"), kumpa ("which one").
The most frequent interrogative determiners include millain ("what kind"), kumpa ("which") and monta ("how many").
Ingrian interrogative adverbs include kuin ("how"), miks ("why") and kons ("when").
Interrogatives are usually put at the beginning of a sentence.
Deliberative
The deliberative mood, denoting indirect questions, is expressed by adding either the particle -kse or, as with direct questions, -k, to the indicative or the potential:
- Miä en tiije, leenöökse rookaa pulmiis. ("I don't know, whether there will be food at the wedding.")
- Pittää sannoa, tahommak möö söövvä. ("We have to say, whether we want to eat.")
- Tehnenkse miä sen? ("Shall I do it?")
Discourse particles
Ingrian has a rich system of discourse particles, some of which are inherited from Proto-Finnic, while others are borrowed from Russian.[8]
The free particle i has the same function as the clitic -ki, and both can be used together to enhance the effect; these particles are used to denote an extreme which was fulfilled in a positive sentence:[3]
- Miä hänelleki annoin podarkaa. ("I gave him a present, too.")
- Miä i Pettoaki kutsuin. ("I even invited Peto.")
The negative counterpart of -ki and i is the clitic -kaa, which denotes an extreme that wasn't fulfilled in a negative sentence:[3]
- Miul ei oo kopekkaakaa. ("I don't even have a kopek.")
The particle davai is used to denote the agent starting an action, especially with some enthousiasm:[3]
- Mees näki varasta ja davai häntä löömää. ("The man saw the thief and of he went hitting him.")
The clitic -to is used to denote a contrastive emphasis:[8]
- Laa Annu ostaa viinaa, hänel-to ono rahhaa. ("Let Annu buy the alcohol, she has money, after all.")
Similarly emphatic particles že and vet are used to appeal to the collocutor's agreement:[8]
- No miä že en tiije, mont hänel ono rahhaa. ("Well I don't know how much money she has, do I?")
- Miä en saa olla traktoristanna, miul vet ei oo traktoraa. ("I can't be a tractorist, I don't have a tractor, do I?")
The clitic -pa has two functions; firstly, it is used to denote surprise or disappointment:[8]
- Kuinpa lapset ollaa reukkaat! ("Gosh, how dirty children are!")
Secondly, -pa can be used to express concessions or admissions:[3]
- Miulpa ei oo lapsiloja, mut miä oon näht heijet! ("Well, I don't have any children, but I've seen them!")
Finally, the clitic -haa can be used to engage the collocutor in the conversation, especially while indicating surprise:[3][8]
- Petteriis ono, kuinhaa saotaa, muuzeja. ("In Saint Peteresburg there is a, whaddayacallit again, a museum.")
- Siinhää muuzejaas ono ižoralain kannel. ("In that museum there is an Izhorian kannel, you know!")
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
