Finite and non-finite subordinated clauses in the Babur-name

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Claus Schönig (†)
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 175655900

Aim of the project is a detailed survey of the (formally) sudordinated clauses (predications) of the Babur-name. The clauses in question will be listed according to formal criteria like, e.g., types of predications, subject marking (mainly in the case of non-finite predications), types of introductory elements and grade of their semantic differentiation (in the case of finite predications), length of the subordinated clauses, and the probable positions of the subordinated clauses in the sentence. This introductory survey will be followed by a semantic investigation, which will be focused on the transphrastical properties and functions of the constructions in question (inspired by own investigations on this topic). The aim of this investigations is to reveal as much relations as possible between form and contence of the different types of subordinated clauses. Here, finite and non-finite constructions of the same function are of special interest.A special type of subordinated clause-like constructions are chains of predications based on -p-gerunds, which resemble German Satzreihen connected by und. here, one of the main questions to be solved is the problem of subject changes between the single -p-predications. On the semantic level the question has to be investigated, why such chains of -p-predications instead of main clauses are used.Another important aim of the investigation is to clear the relations between Chaghatay Turkic and Persian constructions. The latter are with great propability the model for the Turkic ones. Establishing relations between the construction in the two neighboring languages will enrich contact linguistics on the Central Asian area.If possible, the results of the survey shall be put into relation to Ottoma materials of comparable structures, the investigation of which can also profit from this project in question. But this can only be decided after solving the problems of the language of the Babur-name.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants