Proto-Turkic/Genitive, accusative and dative cases

Welcome to sixth lesson of Proto-Turkic!

Genitive and Possessive cases

Genitive case (*-nIŋ)

We have already mentioned the genitive case in lesson one. The suffix *-nIŋ gives us the genitive case.

Possessive case

The important thing here is how you will provide the possessive case. Because there are six different forms according to the pronoun. It takes *-Xm for first person singular, *-Xŋ for second person singular, *-XmXŕ for first person plural, *-XŋXŕ for second person plural, the forms *-sI and *-I for both third person singular and third person plural. Unlike Turkish or Azerbaijani, there is no separate third person plural possessive suffix.

First person singular (*-Xm, *-m)

• My father - Beniŋ atam
• My dog - Beniŋ itim
• My horse - Beniŋ atïm
• My arrow - Beniŋ okum
• My ox - Beniŋ öküŕüm

If you are confused about vowel harmony, please go back to the previous fourth lesson.

Second person singular (*-Xŋ, *-ŋ)

• Your father - Seniŋ ataŋ
• Your dog - Seniŋ itiŋ
• Your horse - Seniŋ atïŋ
• Your arrow - Seniŋ okuŋ
• Your ox - Seniŋ öküŕüŋ

First person plural (*-XmXŕ, *-mXŕ)

• Our father - Biŕniŋ atamïŕ
• Our dog - Biŕniŋ itimiŕ
• Our horse - Biŕniŋ atïmïŕ
• Our arrow - Biŕniŋ okumuŕ
• Our ox - Biŕniŋ öküŕümüŕ

Second person plural (*-XŋXŕ, *-ŋXŕ)

• Your father - Siŕniŋ ataŋïŕ
• Your dog - Siŕniŋ itiŋiŕ
• Your horse - Siŕniŋ atïŋïŕ
• Your arrow - Siŕniŋ okuŋuŕ
• Your ox - Siŕniŋ öküŕüŋüŕ

Third person singular and plural (*-sI, *-I)

It takes the suffix *-sI after the vowel and *-I after the consonant. Twofold suffix is only available in third person possessive. In Oghur, however, final vowels are deleted before adding the suffix -ï, as opposed to the rest of Turkic (ana → ana-ï → anï, ebniŋ anï).

• Ebniŋ anasï - mother of the house
• Dabulnuŋ adakï - the end of the storm
• Eligniŋ ạbučï - palm of hand
• Ẹk(k)iŕniŋ ētüki - boot(s) of twins

It is not necessary to have the genitive suffix in the third person. (e.g; eb anasï - mother of the house, dabul adakï - the end of the storm). If exists, such forms is only exist paradigmatical category.

Accusative and Dative cases

One of the complex subjects in Proto-Turkic is accusative and dative cases. Because these cases may vary if they have the possessive suffix.

So let's start with accusative.

Accusative case (*-nI)

In the Oghur group, both in Volga Bulgarian and Chuvash, accusative and dative are provided with the same suffixes. This of course creates confusion for linguists. But the fact that both cases watch as close attachments brings us to a configuration. In early Proto-Turkic, this suffix would be *-nIg, if the last letter isn't a later mongolic appendage, in Mongolic *-nig.

• me (accusative) — bẹni
• house (accusative) — ebni

The accusative case, which comes after the third person possessive suffix in some Common-Turkic languages, is added without the i letter. But it was probably a Shaz variant. That's why we don't experience any changes when it takes a possessive suffix. In this context, accusative is not as complex as dative.

• his/her/its house — anïŋ ebini

Dative cases (-kA)

Dative case is configured as *-kA.

• to the wall - *tāmka
• to the sea - *teŋiŕke

The letter k falls after the first, second and third possessive suffixes, it only takes the -a suffix in many Turkic languages but Yenisei Kyrgyz inscriptions and also modern Kyrgyz language don't have this change, shows that it was developed later. There's nothing different.

• to my sword - bẹniŋ kïlï̄čïmka
• to your bow - Sẹniŋ yāyïŋka

Initial in Proto-Turkic

If suffixes that start with a consonant come in a word that ends with a monosyllable and a vowel, they take the n consonant unless the initial letter is n, and in this context *bẹ becomes *ben. In Shaz Turkic, *ben has become stereotyped and has taken the place of *bẹ.

• at me — *bente
• from you — *senten
• to me — *benke

Same situation also applies to words with third-person possessive suffixes.

• on the mountains of country — ēlniŋ tāgïŕïnda
• from the border of wall — tāmnïŋ kïdïgïndan
• to his/her/its house — anïŋ ebinke

It would not be correct to say that these configurations are correct, as there is only -ne form in the Lir group. But what we have can lead us to this configuration at most. The probability of it being correct is therefore quite high.

Next lesson:  Suffixes used to create new words with new meanings