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Matasović: A Short Grammar of KabardianThere are also structures with subordinators, but they are stylistically marked and theyseem to be developing under the influence of Russian (Kumaxov 1989: 348).Sentences with the complex conjunction sətwə žəp'am, sət śhač'a žəpp'ama 78"because, since" are of that type:Yədžəpstwəč'a ār āpx w adaw nam q'ə?wəryədzarq'əm, sətwa žəpama ā ś'ālaxam yāś'āśāġ w a śə?aq'əm"For now it is not that important, since these young men haven't done much yet".Note also that the conditional sentences can be construed with the conjunction śətma"if", rather than with the conditional mood of the verb (see above); the conjunctionśətma is originally the verb śətən "be, find oneself" in the conditional mood:Maw Badənawq'wa yə bžəč'-ər ś'ə-m q'ə-xačə-f,this B. 3sg.poss. spear-shaft-NOM ground-ERG dir.-pull out-pot.Badax w wə-ryə-psałəχ w -wə śətmaB. 2sg.-3sg.-woo-ger. if"You can (surely) pull out Badinoqo's spear-shaft from the ground, if you are wooingBadah"The subordinator łāndara "since" is combined with the instrumental form of theparticiple, e.g. zarə-k' w a łāndara "since (the time that) he went".CASE ASSIGNMENT IN SUBORDINATE CLAUSESIn complex sentences in which the verb of the main clause shares one of thearguments with the subordinate verb, this argument can be omitted in the subordinateclause, in accordance with the rule that Kabardian is not syntactically ergative (seeabove):ś'āla-m χədžabzə-r yə-łāġ w -nwə x w ay-ā-śboy-ERG girl-NOM 3sg.-see-fut. want.pret.-aff."The boy wanted to see the girl."ś'āla-m txəłə-r yə-hə-nwə x w ay-ā-śboy-ERG book-NOM 3sg.-carry-fut. want-pret.-aff."The boy wanted to carry the book."In these examples the main verb is intransitive (x w ayən "to want"). However, nounsdenoting the agent take the ergative suffix, and nouns denoting the patient of theaction of the main verb are in the nominative. The reason for this is that caseassignment in the main clause in Kabardian can be determined by the role which theargument of the verb of the main clause has in the subordinate clause; if the shared78 It seems that these conjunctions are calques of the Russian poetomu, potomu čto (see Kumaxov 1984:150).92
Matasović: A Short Grammar of Kabardianargument of the main and the subordinate clause is the doer of the action (or thehighest ranking macrorole) of a transitive verb 79 in the subordinate clause, then thisargument is marked by the ergative case, even though the verb in the main sentence isintransitive. If, on the other hand, this argument is the patient or the only argument ofan intransitive verb in the subordinate clause (e. g. yawan "to hit"), it will be markedby the nominative case:ś'āla-r χədžabzə-m yawa-nwə x w ay-ātboy-NOM girl-ERG hit-fut. want-ant.pret."The boy wanted to hit the girl."The actual rules for case assignment in subordinate control constructions are morecomplex and cannot be fully explained here, since they partly depend on theinformation structure of the sentence (i.e. on the relation between the topic and thefocus), and on the word order in the sentence (see Kumaxov & Vamling 1996 andMatasović 2007). It seems that in the speech of younger speakers (perhaps under theinfluence of Russian?) constructions in which the verb of the subordinate clauseassigns the case to the argument which it shares with the verb in the main clause arebecoming increasingly rare.MODAL VERBSModal verbs such as łač'ən, x w əzaf'ač'ən "be able, can", bawršən "must" are used asmatrix verbs taking linked clauses as complements; their complements can beinfinitives or verbal nouns (masdar), but, as a rule, not gerunds or participles(Kumaxov & Vamling 1998. 265ff.):sa s-łač'-ā-ś ā wəna-r s-ś'ə-nI 1sg.-can-pret.-aff. that house-NOM 1sg.-do-inf."I can build that house"da t-x w əzaf'ač'ə-nwə-q'əm wəna-m yə-ś'ən-ərwe 1pl.-can-fut.-neg. house-ERG 3sg.poss.-making-NOM"We will not be able to build the house"Note that the possessive prefix on ś'ən shows that it is a (verbal) noun; the noun wəna"house" is in the ergative, which is the default case in the possessive noun phrase, andś'ən is in the nominative case because the matrix verb is transitive.The "debitative modal" x w ayn is not inflected for person; it should be understood asmeaning "it is necessary that X", taking whole clauses as complements. In this way itis differentiated from the verb x w ayn "want", which has the full set of personalprefixes, but also takes clausal complements (in obligatory control constructions):yəłas-əm yə k' w ac'-č'a žaś qasəx w ə-č'a syə79 In the sentence ś'āla-m txəłə-r yə-hə-nwə x w ay-ā-ś the verb hən "to carry" is transitive, which canbe seen by the order of personal prefixes, cf. e. g. wə-z-aw-hə-r "I carry you" (2sg.-1sg.-pres.-to carryaff.).93
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Ranko MatasovićA SHORT GRAMMAR OF
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Matasović: A Short Grammar of Kaba
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PREGLED KABARDINSKE GRAMATIKE - Cryptm.org

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