Nominalizations in Hill Mari

Abstract

This paper deals with the two kinds of deverbal nouns that exist in Hill Mari: nominalizations derived using the suffix -mə̑ - and those derived using -maš-. The aim of the study is to establish the functional structure in Hill Mari nominalizations. The data shows that the first kind of deverbal nouns found in Hill Mari, the -mə̑ - nominals, retain a lot of clausal properties due to the many clausal projections embedded in the DP, the structure of these nominals thereby being [DP [PossP [PlP [nP -maš- [NegP [vP [LP ]]]]]]]]. The ambiguous results on the -maš- nominals suggest to analyse these as two different kinds of nominalizations, one of them functioning as a Referential Nominal and therefore including no functional verbal projections: [DP [PossP [PlP [nP -maš- [LP ]]]]]], the other having the same structure as -mə̑ - nominalizations (and only being grammatical for a group of speakers).