Modus-dictum constructions with the names of action in the Nenets language

Abstract

Modus-dictum constructions are one of the most important functional-semantic types of polypredicative constructions. Numerous studies of such constructions have been conducted in different languages. Nevertheless, the constructions expressing modus-dictum relations in the Nenets language have yet to be sufficiently studied. The most frequent part of speech in such sentences is known to be the name of action. This work aims to study the modus-dictum constructions with the names of action in the Nenets language. The Nenets language is characterized by the change in the form of the dependent part of the sentence influenced by the semantics of the modus verb in the main clause. Four types of modus-dictum constructions with the names of action are distinguished: constructions with the name of action in the accusative, dative, ablative, and locative cases. The most functionally significant type of modus-dictum constructions has been found to be the construction with the name of action in the accusative case. Such a construction expresses a speaker’s confidence in the source of information. Other constructions have been found to express the semantics of the absence of an information source, as well as some additional meanings of negative or positive emotion, order, desire, and so on.