This section is a summary of some of the noun and verb morphology of Lutsi. The data in the examples is drawn from materials collected by researchers Paulopriit Voolaine, August Sang, Aino Valmet, Salme Nigol, Salme Tanning, and Elna Adler. The noun declension and verb conjugation paradigms are taken from August Sang’s unpublished studies of Lutsi noun and verb morphology. Unlike in the word list on this website, which is regularized according to the speech of Lutsi speakers from Lielie Tjapši, the data in these examples are written as they originally appeared in connected speech, though rewritten in my Lutsi practical orthography. All of the examples for this section are taken from speakers living in Lielie Tjapši and Škirpāni. Both villages are located in the former Pilda parish (pagasts, in Latvian), which is to the south of Ludza.

Nouns

August Sang distinguishes thirteen noun cases in his unpublished study of Lutsi noun morphology. A fourteenth case, the accusative, can be added on for convenience in explaining grammatical relations. The accusative case is not, however, included in the noun declension paradigms as it is not morphologically distinct. Lutsi noun cases function much as the same cases function in its close linguistic relatives Estonian and Finnish. The source for each example is listed with that example as a numeral in parentheses. The key to these numerals is given at the bottom of the page.

Nominative

The subject of a verb is typically in the nominative case.

            (Nominative)    Repän  nār                                                                                                      (1)

                                    fox        laughs   

                                    ‘The fox is laughing.‘     

The nominative plural is often formed by adding the plural -q to the genitive singular form. The genitive singular of ‘horse’ is hobeza.

           (Nom.pl.)          Hobezaq  olliq    kyvaq.                                                                                    (2)

                                    horses      were  strong

                                   ‘The horses were strong.‘

Partitive and Accusative

The direct object of a verb can be in the partitive, genitive singular, or nominative plural. Finnic languages distinguish two types of direct objects. One type of direct object always appears in the partitive, while the other type appears in the genitive when singular and in the nominative when plural. This second type of object is sometimes referred to as the “accusative” and I am using that term here for convenience.

The difference between partitive and accusative objects is multifaceted. On one hand, some verbs always have an accusative direct object, while other verbs always have a partitive direct object. On the other hand, in Finnic languages in general, verbs with partitive objects will express an imperfective meaning (uncompleted or open-ended actions), while verbs with accusative objects will express a perfective meaning (completed actions or actions with a defined endpoint). However, the partitive and accusative distinction should not be reduced to just a way of distinguishing between imperfective and perfective in Finnic languages.

            (Partitve)         Kuningas  lähäț  voiska  poiga   oțșma                                                           (3)

                                   king          sent   army    boy     to look for

                                   ‘The king sent the army to look for the boy.‘

            (Accusative/   ...piniq rebäze kinni   vytnuq                                                                           (1)

            Gen.sg.)            dogs   fox     closed take   

                                  ‘...the dogs would catch the fox.‘               

            (Accusative/    Kost             sa          neoq  kalaq vytiq?                                                        (1)

            Nom.pl.)          from where  you.sg.  those   fish   took

                                   ‘From where did you get those fish?‘

All negated verbs have partitive direct objects.

            (Partitive)        ...ei    ole-eiq  rebäst,  ei    ole-eiq  kallu                                                        (1)

                                      nor  is not    fox        nor  is not    fish.pl.

                                  ‘...there are neither foxes, nor fish.‘

The partitive singular form is used for all nouns with numerals, with the exception of nouns with üțș ‘one’ for which the nominative form is used.

            (Nominative)    üțș    hopen                                                                                                   (4)

                                    one   horse

            (Partitive)        kațș    hobest                                                                                                  (4)

                                   two     horse

Locative cases (illative, inessive, elative, allative, adessive, ablative)

The Finnic languages are known for having a broad system of locative cases. These are often grouped into two categories: the “inner” (illative, inessive, elative) and “outer” (allative, adessive, ablative) cases. These cases are used to express their literal meanings (to where, where, from where -- respectively), as well as for other uses. For example, as Lutsi has no verb meaning ‘to have’, the adessive case is used to create a construction with this meaning, while the allative case is used to indicate indirect objects.

The illative in Lutsi, just as in Estonian, has two forms: the “short” and “long” illative. In Estonian, both of these forms are morphologically distinct from the other noun cases. In Lutsi, however, only the short illative is distinct. The long illative is identical to the allative.

Both illative forms cannot be formed for all nouns. Some nouns have both forms, others have one or the other. In the first example below, sytta ‘(in)to war’ is a short illative form, but kerikule ‘into the church’ is a long illative which is not morphologically distinct from the allative for this noun. Generally speaking, the illative indicates movement into an enclosed space, while the allative indicates motion towards an open area. This difference can be seen when comparing kerikule ‘(in)to the church’ with mäele ‘on to/up the mountain’ in the next example. kerikule indicates motion into a church -- an enclosed space, while mäele indicates motion up a mountain -- an open area. The short illative does not have a unique ending, while the allative is usually formed by affixing -le to the genitive form of the noun.

            (Short          Sǟd  jo    imǟ      poiga  sytta                                                                             (5)

            Illative)         send  still  mother  son    to war

                               ‘Still the mother is sending the son to war.‘

            (Long           ...ļǟmi      kerikule                                                                                              (6)

            Illative)            we go   into church

                               ‘...[we] are going into the church‘

           (Allative)       Tulkke         mäele                                                                                              (7)

                                come.pl   up the mountain

                               ‘Come (pl.) up the mountain‘

This same kind of inner-outer contrast can be drawn between the inessive and adessive. The inessive ending is -h, -n, or -hn, while the adessive ending is -l. The inessive indicates location within an enclosed space. The adessive indicates location on an object or in an open area. In the first example, obros ‘religious image’ is in an enclosed space -- kerikuh ‘in the church’ -- and for this reason the inessive is used. In the next example the location being discussed is a country, which includes māā ‘earth, ground, land’ in its name, which is an open space, therefore the adessive is used -- Ēstumāl ‘in Estonia’.

            (Inessive)      ...timǟ            obros        sais       kerikuh                                                         (8)

                                  his/her religious image  stands   in church

                                ‘...his/her religious image stands in church‘

            (Adessive)  ...Ēstumāl     oļļ      paļļo    paŗemb  elläq...                                                        (7)

                                   in Estonia   was  much  better     to live

                               ‘...it was much better to live in Estonia...’

The same contrast is also seen in the final two locative cases -- the elative and ablative. These cases indicate movement outward from a location. The elative, with the ending -st, indicates motion out from an enclosed space, while the ablative indicates motion off of or away from an open area. In the first example, the elative is used to show that kuningas ‘king’ is looking out umast dommast ‘from his own house’. In the second example, the ablative shows motion away from a country with mā ‘earth, ground, land’ in its name, Ēstumālt ‘from Estonia’.

            (Elative)        Kuningas   kaes     umast dommast                                                                (9)

                                king           looks    from own house

                               ‘The king looks out from his own house‘

            (Ablative)     ...Ēstumālt   lähǟdüq   sījäq                                                                              (10)

                                from Estonia  sent.pl.    to here

                               ‘...sent from Estonian to here‘

As stated earlier, the locative cases in Finnic languages have a broad range of uses in contexts not directly connected to an explicit locative meaning. As Lutsi has no verb ‘to have’, a construction using the adessive and the third person form of olēmaq ‘to be’ is used to express this meaning.

            (Adessive)     ...oļļ   näil   vīz   lambakeist                                                                               (11)

                                   was  they  five  lamb

                                ‘...they had five lambs’

The allative case is used for indicating indirect objects.

            (Allative)      Annaq  mulle  kaq   maitsaq!                                                                              (1)

                                give     I          also   to taste

                                ‘Give (it) to me to taste, too!’

Comitative, abessive, terminative, and translative

The comitative expresses a meaning like the English preposition ‘with’. The comitative ending is -ga.

            (Comitative) Jelli    dēḑä             bābaga                                                                                (11)

                                lived   grandfather  with grandmother

                                ‘Grandfather lived with grandmother.‘

The abessive expresses the absence of something. Due to vowel harmony, the abessive ending has two forms: -lda(q) and -ldä(q).

            (Abessive)     ...vanemb poig,  kiä       latsilda            elli                                                        (12)

                                      bachelor       who  without children  lived

                                ‘...the bachelor who lived without children’

The terminative indicates location up to a certain point in space or time. The terminative ending is -ni.

            (Terminative) Kșondz   katenetyiskümneni tunnini maka-aiq                                               (13)

                                 priest                           until twelve       sleep-not                                                       

                                 ‘The priest doesn’t sleep until twelve o’clock’

The translative expresses a meaning of “how” or “in what way”. In Lutsi, the translative ending is the same as the elative ending.

            (Translative)  Minnu   kutsti      vaderist                                                                                   (1)

                                 I            invited    as godfather

                                 ‘I was invited [to be] the godfather‘

Declension examples

These examples are taken from August Sang’s unpublished study Morfoloogiline ülevaade (Noomen) Lutsi mürdest (A Morphological Survey (Noun) of the Lutsi dialect). The examples are given in my Lutsi practical orthography. Sang’s original forms written a form of the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet are given alongside in parentheses.

Verbs

In this section I give an overview of some parts of the Lutsi verb conjugation system.

Lutsi has two tenses: past and present. Verbs are conjugated according to the person and number of the subject. More details will be added to this description in time.

Present and Past tense

Some examples of the present tense:

            (1.SG.PRES)               ēstu         kīlt             kynēle                                                                 (6)

                                               Estonian  language   speak

                                              ‘I speak Estonian‘

            (1.PL.PRES)               Mīq   kynēlem  kakoi  slon                                                                    (4)

                                              we     speak      like     elephant

                                              ‘We speak like an elephant‘

            (2.SG.PRES)              Mis   saq  tan,    vatēr,         kynēlat?                                                    (14)

                                              what you  there  godfather  say

                                              ‘What are you saying there, godfather?‘

            (2.PL.PRES)              Tīq         süvembäļe       jo       kynēlat   ēstu         kīlt                            (9)

                                              you.pl.  deeper/better  well    speak      Estonian language

                                              ‘Well, you (pl.) are better at speaking Estonian’

            (3.SG.PRES)              Dēda              bābaga                kyneles                                                (15)

                                              grandfather  with grandmother  speaks

                                              ‘Grandfather speaks with grandmother‘

            (3.PL.PRES)               kyik  kynelazeq                                                                                      (16)

                                               all    speak

                                              ‘all are speaking‘

Some examples of the past tense:

            (1.SG.PST)                ma  nī  kyneli   mulle                                                                                (12)

                                              I     so   said     to me

                                              ‘so I said to myself‘

            (1.PL.PST)                tak   mīq   kynelimi    inne   viņņe     värkki                                               (6)

                                             then we     spoke       only  Russian language

                                             ‘at that time we spoke only in Russian‘

            (2.SG.PST)               Kaq,  ku     paļļo   sa    jōziq!                                                                    (17)

                                             look  how  much  you  ran

                                             ‘Look at how much you ran!‘

            (2.PL.PST)                Syzareq,  tīq       minno  tapiq   üle                     üte   maŗa  vaka.           (18)

                                             sisters     you.pl. me      killed    for the sake of  one  berry  bushel

                                             ‘Sisters, you were killing me for the sake of a single bushel of berries.’

            (3.SG.PST)               timǟ    mēļē    kynēli                                                                                 (19)

                                             s/he    to us    said

                                             ‘s/he said to us‘

            (3.PL.PST)                vanaq       kynēliq                                                                                     (10)

                                             old ones   spoke

                                             ‘the old ones spoke‘

Verb negation

Verbs are negated by adding a negative enclitic to a special form of the verb. In Lutsi, just as in South Estonian spoken in Estonia, the negative morpheme follows the verb rather than preceding it as in Estonian, Livonian, Finnish, and other Finnic languages.

In Lutsi, the negative morpheme is stressed. This means that unlike in most other Lutsi words, word stress does not occur on the first syllable in negated verbs. Following the example of the South Estonian orthography, the negative morpheme is offset from the lexical verb with a dash (-). However, the dash does not necessarily indicate a syllable boundary. For the past tense negative morpheme -Vs, if the lexical verb ends in a short vowel and the negative morpheme begins with the same vowel, these vowels are pronounced together as a long vowel (e.g. taha-as ‘didn’t want’ is pronounced “tahās”). For the present tense negative morpheme -Viq, if the lexical verb ends in a short vowel and the the negative morpheme begins with the same vowel, then only the negative morpheme is pronounced   (e.g. ole-eiq ‘wasn’t’ is pronounced “o.leiq” and anna-aiq ‘doesn’t give’ is pronounced “a.naiq”). If the verb ends in a diphthong, then the negative morpheme forms a separate syllable from the lexical verb (e.g. näe-es ‘didn’t see’ is pronounced with a syllable boundary between the lexical verb and negative morpheme: “näe.es”). The negated form of the verb differs in past and present tenses; however, within each tense, the same negated verb form is used for all subjects regardless of their person and number.

These examples show regular and negated forms of the same verbs in the present tense.

            (negated)                  Kyrvust        timä   kūld   silmist          näe-eiq                                     (12)

                                             out of ears  s/he   hears   out of eyes   does not see

                                             ‘S/he hears out of [her/his] ears, but does not see out of [her/his] eyes’

            (regular)                    Timä    nägē,  kū     lätt      kalapǖḑjä                                                    (1)

                                             s/he     sees    how comes fisherman

                                             ‘S/he sees the fisherman coming’

            (negated)                  Kullāne   kalakene   mullē   bābā               anna-aiq          rahhū         (20)

                                             golden    fish (dim.) to me  grandmother  does not give    peace

                                             ‘Dear golden fish, grandmother does not leave me in peace’

            (regular)                    Ma   sulle      ādres       anna                                                                (21)

                                             I       to you   address   give

                                             ‘I give the address to you’

These examples show regular and negated forms of the same verbs in the past tense.

            (negated)                  Näe-es        sa    sǟnest  ņe     sǟnest?                                               (7)

                                             did not see  you  that      and   that

                                            ‘Vai Tu neredzi to un to?’

            (regular)                    Näiq,    kui    saq   minnū appetiq                                                        (14)

                                             saw      how  you   me      cheated

                                             ‘I saw how you cheated me’

            (negated)                  A    imǟ        taha-as         tūd    myŗsjat                                              (22)

                                            but  mother  did not want  that      bride

                                            ‘But mother did not want that bride’

            (regular)                    Tahtse   ez̦ändäpujale       kaq      tuvvaq                                            (12)

                                             wanted   to master’s son   also     take

                                             ‘I wanted to take [that] to the master’s son’

Verb conjugation examples

These examples are taken from August Sang’s unpublished study Ülevaade lutsi murde verbi morfoloogiast (Overview of the verb morphology of the Lutsi dialect). The examples are given in my Lutsi practical orthography. Sang’s original forms written a form of the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet are given alongside in parentheses.

Texts:

1. (1)ES MT 22 (Lugusid rebasest), Speaker: Jānis Hermans (Jaan Herman) (Lielie Tjapši), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
   

2. (2)EMH 0191 (Maaharimisest), Speaker: Osips Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Documenters: Salme Nigol, Salme Tanning, Elna Adler, 1960, Transcribed from recordings by T. Iva, 2009.
   

3. (3)ES MT 22 (Õlekuningas), Speaker: Agata Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
   

4. (4)F157 (Koduloomadest), Speaker: Jāzeps Germovs (Lielie Tjapši), Documenters: Aino Valmet, Paulopriit Voolaine, 5-6.6.1971, Transcribed from recordings by T. Tuisk, 2008.
   

5. (5)ES MT 178 (Millal sõjamees koju saab), Speaker: Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Kuuldelisi tekste Lutsimaalt Jaani ja Kirbu külast, Documenter August Sang, 1936, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
   

6. (6)F157 (Keelekasutusest), Speaker: Jāzeps Germovs (Lielie Tjapši), Documenters: Aino Valmet, Paulopriit Voolaine, 5-6.6.1971, Transcribed from recordings by T. Tuisk, 2008.
   

7. (7)ES MT 22 (Vägimees Sergei Sarapontšik), Speaker: Jānis Hermans (Jaan Herman) (Lielie Tjapši), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
   

8. (8)F157 (Jüripäeval kirikus), Speaker: Jāzeps Germovs (Lielie Tjapši), Documenters: Aino Valmet, Paulopriit Voolaine, 5-6.6.1971, Transcribed from recordings by T. Tuisk, 2008.
   

9. (9)EMH 0191 (Sugulastest), Speaker: Osips Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Documenters: Salme Nigol, Salme Tanning, Elna Adler, 1960, Transcribed from recordings by T. Iva, 2009.
   

10. (10) EMH 0191 (Eestlasest Lutsimaal), Speaker: Osips Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Documenters: Salme Nigol, Salme Tanning, Elna Adler, 1960, Transcribed from recordings by T. Iva, 2009.
    

11. (11) ES MT 178 (Hunt saab laulu tasuks vanamehe loomad), Speaker: Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Kuuldelisi tekste Lutsimaalt Jaani ja Kirbu külast, Documenter: August Sang, 1936, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
    

12. (12) ES MT 102 (Tige vend), Speaker: Agata Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Fonograafilisi tekste Räpinast ja Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1926, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
    

13. (13) ES MT 22 (Suur varas), Speaker: Agata Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
    

14. (14) ES MT 247 (Kalapüüdja ja rebane), Speakers: Meikuls Jarošenko & Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Murdetekste Lutsimaalt, Documenter: August Sang, 1938, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
    

15. (15) ES MT 22 (Kits), Speaker: Agata Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
    

16. (16) ES MT 178 (Koolnud kosilane sõidab mõrsjale järele), Speaker: Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Kuuldelisi tekste Lutsimaalt Jaani ja Kirbu külast, Documenter: August Sang, 1936, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
    

17. (17) ES MT 22 (Poisikene ja suur mees), Speaker: Jānis Hermans (Jaan Herman) (Lielie Tjapši), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
    

18. (18) ES MT 22 (Tigedad õed), Speaker: Agata Jakimenko (Škirpāni), Murdetekste Lutsist, Documenter: Paulopriit Voolaine, 1925-1927, Original transcript retyped by T. Tuisk, 2009.
    

19. (19) ES MT 247 (Paulopriit Voolaine), Speakers: Meikuls Jarošenko & Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Murdetekste Lutsimaalt, Documenter: August Sang, 1938, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
    

20. (20) ES MT 247 (Kuldkalakene), Speakers: Meikuls Jarošenko & Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Murdetekste Lutsimaalt, Documenter: August Sang, 1938, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
    

21. (21) F157 (Perekonnast), Speaker: Jāzeps Germovs (Lielie Tjapši), Documenters: Aino Valmet, Paulopriit Voolaine, 5-6.6.1971, Transcribed from recordings by T. Tuisk, 2008.
    

22. (22) ES MT 178 (Poja ja minia haudadel kasvavad puud kokku), Speaker: Tekla Jarošenko (Lielie Tjapši), Kuuldeliski tekste Lutsimaalt Jaani ja Kirbu külast, Documenter: August Sang, 1936, Original transcript retyped by M. Kalmus, 2009.
    

Sources:

M0030. August Sang. 1936. Morfoloogiline ülevaade (Noomen) Lutsi murdest. Referenced version recopied by hand by A. Täkke, 1952.

M0029. August Sang. 1936. Ülevaade lutsi murde verbi morfoloogiast. Referenced version recopied by hand by Ingrid Vuks, 1952.

Abbreviations in the above references indicate the following archive locations for the cited texts and recordings:

EMH -- Eesti keele instituut (Institute of the Estonian Language) [EMH is an abbreviation for Eesti murrete helilint, or
             “Estonian dialect audiotape”)

ES MT -- Emakeele Selts (Mother Tongue Society)

F -- Tartu Ülikooli eesti ja üldkeeleteaduse instituut (University of Tartu Institute of Estonian Language and General

       Linguistics)

M -- Tartu Ülikooli eesti murrete ja sugulaskeelte arhiiv (University of Tartu Archives of Estonian Dialects and Kindred

        Languages)