Conjunctive and Comitative Noun Phrase Coordination in Beserman Udmurt
Conjunctive and Comitative Noun Phrase Coordination in Beserman Udmurt

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the issue of noun phrase coordination in Beserman Udmurt. I consider monosyndetic/bisyndetic no and single/double comitative constructions as main competing strategies for noun phrase coordination in Beserman Udmurt. Syntactic tests show that monosyndetic/bisyndetic no and single/double comitative with plural verbal agreement are coordinating structures while the single comitative structure with singular verbal agreement is a case of subordination. The choice between conjunctive and comitative structures is affected by animacy, number, and syntactic function of coordinands. Elicitational data shows that bisyndetic no is used for emphatic coordination, since it cannot be used with collective predicates. In case of the single ­comitative marking, the number agreement on a verb is defined by the predicate type and the information structure of an utterance. Coordination of nouns in non-subject function is typically formed by using the asyndetic or syndetic strategy. Double comitative coordination of nouns in non-subject function is only possible under the case compounding strategy, although this strategy causes the speakers some difficulties.

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