Ugric languages

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Ugric or Ugrian languages IPA: /ˈjuːɡrɨk, ˈjuːɡriən/ are generally held to be a branch of Finno-Ugric languages. The term derives from Yugra.

They include three languages: Hungarian (Magyar), and the Ob-Ugric languages, Khanty (Ostyak) and Mansi language (Vogul). Their common Proto-Ugric language was probably spoken from the end of the 3rd millennium BC until the first half of the 1st millennium BC[citation needed], in Western Siberia, east from the southern Ural mountains.

[edit] Structural features

  • Distinct verb conjugations according to the transitivity of the verb. It is sometimes termed as “definite” versus “indefinite” conjugation, because also the definiteness of the object can play a role when selecting between the two
  • Verbal Prefixes - modify the meaning of the verb in both concrete and abstract ways

Examples from Mansi

ēl(a) - 'forwards, onwards, away'

jōm- 'to go, to stride' ēl-jōm- 'to go away/on'
tinal- 'to sell' ēl-tinal- 'to sell off'

χot - 'direction away from something and other nuances of action intensity'

min- 'to go' χot-min- 'to go away, to stop'
roχt- 'to be frightened' χot-roχt- 'to take fright suddenly'

Examples from Hungarian

el - 'away, off'

ugrik 'to jump' elugrik 'to jump away'
mosolyog 'to smile' elmosolyodik 'to start to smile'

ki - 'out (of)'

ugrik 'to jump' kiugrik 'to jump out'
olvas 'to read' kiolvas 'to read out'

(In Hungarian, the citation form of verbs is the 3rd person singular form, which is given here, which doesn't have any suffixes.)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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