Itelmen Language - External Influence On Morphology

External Influence On Morphology

There may be different answers given to the question of which elements of Itelmen are original and which have been brought about by contact with other languages. To take the second hypothesis, Itelmen was at the very beginning an agglutinative language, with word structure (m) + R + (m) (where R is a root and (m) one of several word-changing morphemes), it was nominal, compounds were prohibited; it preserves all of these elements into the present. A difference in reported material origin with Chukotko-Koryak languages in declensional and conjugational paradigms is the result of convergent development under conditions of a Chukotko-Kamchatkan Sprachbund. Incorporation goes against word structure (not more than one root morpheme), thus Itelmen did not take it on. Reduplication of a root, inherent to all the languages of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan group, was able to develop in Itelmen apart from the influence of contact.

Russian borrowings in Itelmen already started to appear in the 17th century. Among the Russian words that were borrowed, in some cases replacing Itelmen words, adjectives and adverbs predominate and even preserve Russian morphology: vostr-oy sharp-, krasn-oy red-, sinny-oy blue-, svez-oy fresh-, etc. Borrowed verbs adapt in accordance with the demands of Itelmen morphology: Itel. stara'lkas (Rus. starat'sya) means 'to try', Itel. otkaza'lkas (Rus. otkazyvat'sya) 'to deny,' It. napraves means 'to cook food'. To speak of Russian borrowings in Itelmen today is hardly possible, since all Itelmens speak Russian much better than their native tongue.