In Erzya, transitivity is indexed both in the verb conjugation and the inflection of the object. The degree of definiteness and case of object alternate, while the verb displays the cross-reference of the person and number of both the subject and object. The morphologically complex transitivity marking system is a major challenge for speakers of Erzya as a second language. The article examines the variation of Erzya transitive clause in the light of data drawn from interviews with non-native Erzya speakers who have a Slavic or Turkic language as their first language. During the HALS fieldwork in Dubenskiy district at the Republic of Mordovia in August 2013, a survey test was made on 68 transitive clauses representing patterns of both high and low transitivity. The answers of the Erzya second language speakers showed that they had adopted Erzya transitivity as a system involving both nominal and verbal inflection. However, the marking of transitivity varied between individual speakers regardless of their background. Although the interviewed non-native Erzya speakers were very fluent, there was a clear contrast between the answers of native and non-native speakers.

Peer reviewed