3546 XVI.

Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

196. Budugh
1. Introduction
2. General overview
3. Composition
4. Derivation
5. Reduplication
6. References

Abstract
Word-formation in Budugh is characterized by extensive use of quasi-syntactic forma-
tions in composition, and conservative, typically East Caucasian derivational devices:
alienable or inalienable possessive NPs stand for nominal compounds, while a variety
of complex predicates act as verbal compounds; verbal derivates show two slots for
spatial preverbs, and valence-changing introflection. Derived adjectives make use of
suffixes, most of them borrowed. Verb stems can be used not only as predicates, but also
as nouns and attributes without additional morphology, a type of derivation which comes
very close to conversion. Reduplication is less developed, occurring mainly with adverbs.

1. Introduction
The Budugh people originate from the village of Budugh, located close to the Baba-
Dagh mountain in northern Azerbaijan. Their language belongs to the East Caucasian
family, and it is most closely related to Kryz, with which it forms the southern branch
of the “core Lezgic” languages. The closest relatives of Budugh treated in this volume
are Aghul (see article 198) and Rutul (see article 195). Budugh is also a moribund
language: certainly less than one hundred fluent speakers remain, almost all of them
adults. Due to the absence of a road, the village has lost most of its population in the
recent decades, and most families dwell in various places in the low-lands of the Quba
and Khachmaz regions. All speakers, including elders, are bilingual, using Azeri as a
native language. These parameters crucially determine the processes that have shaped
the language as we observe it today: it retains remarkable archaic features typical of this
linguistic family, and also bears traces of heavy influence from Azeri (Turkic) as well
as from Tat (Iranian).
Budugh is an unwritten language, and recent efforts by educated speakers to introduce
teaching classes using an Azeri-based orthography have been thwarted by rampant cor-
ruption and the general hostility of the authorities towards all linguistic minorities. There
are no published (authentic) texts; the dictionary by Mejlanova (1982) is rich in data but
not based on texts, and contains many typos. A grammar by Talibov, published postu-
mously in 2007, is less reliable, and should be used with the utmost caution. Alekseev’s
(1994) excellent grammar sketch does not deal with word-formation apart from verbal
derivation. In this article, we mostly use our own field data as well as unpublished
196. Budugh 3547

original texts collected by Adigözel Haciyev, and his translations of Azeri folktales (after
duly checking that the lexemes he uses, when not native in origin, are not taken over
from the Azeri version). For a brief account of Budugh phonology, see Authier (2008b).
We use a transcription as close as possible to the Azeri script. c is a voiced palatal
affricate, xh represents a velar fricative, and q is the allophone of ğ in initial position.
Special glosses are given in a note at the end of the article.

2. General overview
Word-formation processes found in Budugh include compounding, derivation and, to a
lesser extent, reduplication. Nominal compounds are mostly created via syntactic case
marking. Verbal compounding is represented by complex predicates, is very productive,
and is the primary means of enriching the verbal lexicon in the modern language, since
it can make use of borrowed Azeri verb forms. Derivation is mainly suffixal with the
exception of verbal locative prefixes. Conversion of verbs into nouns and adjectives is
treated here as derivation, although in the nominative there is no formal marking of the
change in word class.

3. Composition
Composition in Budugh is not canonical: there are few adjectival compounds, in nominal
compounds the modifier is case-marked, and complex predicates are what stands for
verbal compounds in the language. But the two latter constructions are very productive
and represent typical strategies for a small language under external pressure to expand
its vocabulary using as much native material as possible.

3.1. Nominal compounds

3.1.1. Coordinate nominal compounds

Coordinate nominal compounds include ada-dide ‘father and mother, parents’, boʕlus-
mik’es big-little ‘adults and children’, ʕari-xarap’ ‘the good and the bad’, q’il-qaş ‘head
and eyebrows’, xab-ğil ‘hands and feet’, xab-icin (sonzu) ‘(to wash) face and hands’,
çağar-quşxar go-to come ‘visitor’, çay-fu tea-bread ‘meal’, q’um-zav ground-sky ‘uni-
verse’, doldom-t’ürt’eħ ‘drum and flute’. The type involving synonyms is rare: kıda-pişe
‘occupation’, ħille-ħavala ‘tricks’, yurt-yava ‘inhabited place’ (cf. yıva ‘nest’). aq’-na-
xhad sweat-and-water ‘lots of sweat’ is isolated. Some coordinate expressions are only
found in an inflected form, for instance, the “inlocative” case in: cehennem-ce-gur-ca
har siʔi hell-IN-tomb(?)-IN sending do ‘to send to all hell’.
3548 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

3.1.2. Endocentric determinative compounds

Most Budugh determinative compounds are endocentric. Examples of the A + N t y p e

are apparently restricted to the subtype illustrated by mik’e şidir ‘little (> younger) sis-
ter’, boʕlu riž ‘big (> elder) daughter’.
The N + N t y p e is much more prominent. Except in rare examples with an un-
marked determiner like yu-yarı night-half ‘midnight’, qil-ʕad leg-cover ‘skirt’, pulat
sunduq’ ‘steel trunk’, the first noun is marked in the adlocative case -(OBL)-u/o, glossed
AD, which is also used as a locative case, for some adjuncts, and as a genitive-like case
in alienable possessive NPs (for a discussion of the alienability contrast in Budugh, see
Authier 2013). These pseudo-possessive NPs are semantic equivalents of adjectival
phrases in other languages: seħir ‘magic’ → seħir-co azar ‘magical sickness’. The new
lexemes express subclasses including kinship terms ʕam-u riž/dıx uncle daughter/son
‘cousin’, şiyu riž brother.AD daughter ‘niece’, şiyu dix ‘nephew’; species of animal: xhiyu
yer water.AD snake ‘water snake’, Alla-cu ħani God-AD cow ‘lady beetle’ (cf. Russian
bozh’ja korovka), eb-ildo kurç’ ‘wolf cub’, dağ-co ts’eʕ ‘(wild) mountain goat’; species
of tree: vişne-co dar ‘cherry tree’, palud-cu dar ‘oak tree’, yeç-u dar ‘apple tree’, gıl-
ınu dar ‘blooming tree’; other plants (this domain needs further investigation): sordo-
but’ bear.AD-? ‘raspberry’; many toponyms like Cag-ano guney ‘the sunny slope (in the
direction) of Jek’ on the model of ilçi-co q’ol go-between-AD stone ‘stone where the go-
between waits to be introduced’; utensils and tools: ça’y-ıno tur ‘tea spoon’, ħuv-u qaye
mill-AD stone ‘millstone’, xiri-co xabanac ‘skein of thread’, ceng-inu doldom ‘battle
drum’; materials: merx-ino t’ul ‘oak (?) wood’, ipeg-cu yoyluğ ‘silk scarf’, ç’er-iyo
mık’at’ hair-AD rope ‘horsehair rope’, qızıl-co qefes ‘golden cage’, demir-cu ʕasa ‘iron
stick’; origin: dar-o xhad tree-AD water ‘resin’, yux-u neʕ ‘smell of milk’, vis-u xhad
‘spring water’; destination: nik-o cıga’ field place ‘ploughed field’, sağ ınkan-cu xhad
safe remain-AD water ‘healing water’; products: xəmir-cu xurak-ar dough-AD meal-PL
‘dough products’, kusxuyo soza egg.AD yellow ‘yolk’, simişke-co ħarac sunflower seed-
AD butter ‘sunflower oil’, mux-o fu ‘bran bread’.
Bodyparts are normally inalienable heads, with a possessor marked in the inlocative,
and indeed one can regularly combine ç’uval-ca yak sheep-IN meat ‘mutton’, kıs-ılda’
yak hen-IN meat ‘white meat’, or qur-ulda’ yak rabbit-IN meat ‘rabbit meat’, ts’eʕ-ilda’
ʕiç ‘goatskin’, yux-ona’ xhixhi milk-AD gruel ‘cereals with milk’. Even if the bodypart
term is metaphorical, the inalienable inlocative strategy has to be employed: çalam-ca
meʔel boot-IN nose ‘boot tip’, qapu-ca q’il door-IN head ‘lintel’, k’ant-ına’ mez knife-IN
tongue ‘knife’s edge’, pana-ca siv cave-IN mouth ‘cave entrance’.
With types of clothes, the two constructions are in contrast: occasions at which special
outfit is worn take alienable (adlocative) marking like mitker-u halavar ‘wedding
clothes’, daʕva-co halavar battle-AD clothes ‘warrior’s outfit, battledress’, while the type
of person or animal wearing the clothes bears inalienable (inlocative) marking: hec-a
halavar woman-IN clothes ‘women’s clothes’, xilğıld-a’ naʕıl ‘horseshoe’. (Note that
many of the examples above do not look like canonical compounds, and their meaning
seems to be more or less compositional, but I treat them as lexemes and not as syntacti-
cally complex constructions with a non-referential dependant, because one cannot use
the dependent part as a predicate.)
Ethnic and temporal determination also makes use of the adlocative-marked type:
Buda’-no mez ‘Budugh language’, ʕarab-cu mez ‘Arabic language’, ħayva’n-bo mez ‘the
196. Budugh 3549

language of animals’, xhacrec-iyu yiğ ‘spring day’, yiycu yığ-ıno axur ‘a seven days’
sleep’, yiycu san-o rix ‘a seven-year journey’ quqhadco yığ-ıno axur ‘a forty-day sleep’.
Note also Semed-o mağ ‘the tale about Samad’, and the set phrase: xor-u xhad dog-AD
water ‘bad trick, revenge’.
A small subclass of body-related terms add a class marker (glosses: A for ‘animate’
and N for neuter, that is ‘inanimate’) to the adlocative ending: si-vo-c xhad mouth.AD-N
water(N) ‘saliva’, ʕül-ö-c ağri eye-AD-N pain(N) ‘sore eye’, ħur-o-c neʕ shit-AD-N
smell(N) ‘smell of shit’, aq’-o-c neʕ ‘smell of sweat’, aq’-o-d par sweat-AD-A shine(A)
‘shiny (beads of) sweat’, qil-ö-d mek’ leg-AD-A kick(A) ‘kick’.
A much rarer, but probably archaic strategy yielding relational adjectives in com-
pounds is to attach the agreement marker to the nominative case: q’il-ic ağri ‘headache’,
or to the inlocative case ʕül-e-c xhad eye-IN-N water(N) ‘tears’, q’ala’-d ç’er head.OBL-
IN-A hair(A) ‘hair (of the head)’, k’ul-ca-d idmi ‘house master’, yux-ar-ad zar milk-PL-
IN-A cow(A) ‘milking cow’.
In Budugh, all animals belong to the third “animate” gender, which is also the gender
of non-adult human females, and there are usually different nouns for male and female
domestic animals. But if it is important to specify the sex of an animal designed by a
generic term, a dedicated adjective is used: xhıdli ç’uval female sheep ‘ewe’, or a generic
male noun k’ap’al kakıl cockerel grouse ‘male grouse’.
On the basis of an Azeri model, short relative clauses serve to characterize different
sorts of machines: halavar servi maşın clothes-to sew-machine ‘sewing machine’ (cf.
Az. paltar-tik-ən maşın); halavar sonzu maşın clothes wash machine ‘washing machine’
(cf. Az. paltar-yu-yan maşın); yux qurot’u maşın milk pick up machine ‘milk-filtering
machine’ (cf. Az. süd-çəkən maşın); q’il qurot’u maşın head pick up machine ‘clipping
machine’ (cf. Az. baş-qırx-an maşın); icin oroxu maşın face shave machine ‘electric
razor’ (cf. Az. üz-qırx-an maşın).

3.1.3. Exocentric compounds

The calques from Azeri seen just above are headed variants of short relative clauses
used as exocentric compounds denoting utensils like ʕacgan-ber qonu cauldron-PL take
‘cauldron-holder’, biçħantu < bicaħ + ʕantu porridge + (to) filter ‘colander’ (cf. Az. aş-
süzən), or garments like yuq’-a volt’u loins-IN tie ‘belt’, bel-a volt’u forehead-IN+tie
‘turban’.
Note also the universal ibra’ ʢöç’ü ear.IN enter.A ‘centipede’, another insect: ts’a
cünħü fire steal ‘moth’ and, rather isolated, gile-qoħulu ass-scratch ‘rose hip’, xhad
alakal water (to) flow ‘waterfall’.

3.2. Adjectival compounds

Adjectives are not an open class in Budugh and adjectival compounds are also very rare.
Examples of the N+N type like yık’-yux-a’ heart-milk-IN ‘tender-hearted’, and in the
reverse order bel-a’ k’up’ (ʕabt’u) forehead-IN knot(A) (bind.A.PF) ‘worried’, are excep-
tional, the latter obviously an elliptical relative clause.
3550 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

The N+V type is represented by ad hoc translations like xhın soʢulu grass eat ‘herbiv-
orous’ and yak soʢulu meat eat ‘carnivorous’, or ʕül veyi eye+COP.PTCP ‘bad-eye-d’ (cf.
Az. göz olan), xhad-kan water-want ‘thirsty’, and the rather opaque yık’-arxar heart-
sleep ‘irregular (surface)’.

3.3. Verbal compounds

Verbal compounds, or rather complex predicates, are the only productive means of ex-
panding the verbal lexicon in Budugh, as is probably the case in all the Lezgic languages
nowadays. Renewal of the verbal lexicon is achieved by means of a very large and
diverse class of verbal compounds, incorporating heterogeneous “coverbs” (also called
“lexical parts”, i.e. elements of light-verb constructions which do not bear verbal inflec-
tion), many of which are loans from Azeri or other languages. From a typological point
of view, at least some influence of Tat can be assumed. All light verbs are also found
independently, whereas coverbs vary considerably as to their degree of syntactic attach-
ment to the light verb. In fact, as will be seen in the section on derivation, some Budugh
preverbs are certainly former coverbs.
In the case of some particular set phrases, or collocations, it is sometimes difficult to
dissociate the result from syntax. For instance, in the expression raʕbottuca xhiye ʕaç’i
carefully water.IN enter, it is the position of the adverb that shows its scope, the meaning
being ‘to wash carefully’, whereas ‘to enter the water cautiously’ would be xhiye raʕbot-
tuca ʕaç’i. The light verbs used most often are yıxhar N.be.IPF ‘to be(come)’ (yuxhor
A.be.IPF) for intransitive verbs, and siʔi ‘to do’ for both intransitive and transitive verbs.
The vast majority of verb compounds have ‘to do’ or ‘to be’ as a light verb, but some
light verbs are found in just one compound expression or “collocation”.

3.3.1. Compound intransitive verbs with yıxhar ‘to be’

The combination of an adjective and the verb ‘to be’ are inseparable prosodic units and
can have the value of a compound: q’us yıxhar ‘to be, grow old’, ʕatxa yıxhar ‘to have,
catch a cold’, gutrum yıxhar ‘to be lame’, buylu yırxhar ‘to be pregnant’. Adverbs and
some inflected nouns are also found as coverbs: dıx yıxhar ‘to hurry’ (from dıx ‘quickly’)
is a calque of Azeri tez ol- as are dide-kir yıxhar mother-ABL be.INF ‘to be born’ (cf.
Az. ana-dan ol-), hiçna-puç yıxhar ‘to be in vain’ and ra’st yıxhar ‘to meet’; qhel-e
yıxhar ‘to be angry’ uses a locative case of the obsolete noun qhel ‘anger’.

3.3.2. Compound verbs with siʔ i ‘to do’

In the majority of complex verbs containing the transitive light verb siʔi ‘to do’ the
coverb occupies the position of a patientive noun phrase in the nominative case and
retains its gender, controlling agreement on the light verb: yık’ ‘heart’ → yık’ siʔi ‘to
dare’, ufun siʔi ‘to feel pity’, q’in-kala’m siʔi ‘to swear’, guz süʔü ‘to pray’, alaħ süʔü
196. Budugh 3551

‘to curse’, ç’el sad word one siʔi ‘to decide, plot’, masxara ‘joke’ → masxara siʔi ‘to
play’. Occasionally, a coverb is extracted from a foreign verb: prob siʔi ‘to taste’, from
Russian prob-ovat’.
Azeri nouns employed as coverbs normally acquire a gender (often the animate gen-
der, which typically characterizes nouns denoting activities): q’abul siʔi acceptance do.N
‘to accept’, əngəl ‘obstacle’ → engel siʔi ‘to hinder’, zənn ‘opinion’ → zand siʔi ‘to
suppose’, subut siʔi ‘to prove’, sas siʔi ‘to make noise’, soʔda süʔü ‘to make a deal’,
davʕa süʔü fight.do.N ‘to fight’, fikir süʔü ‘to think’, ta’ma’şa süʔü ‘to admire’, qarğış
süʔü ‘to curse’, cəhd ‘effort’ → caht süʔü ‘to make an effort’, əmr ‘order’ → emr süʔü
‘to order’, əhd ‘promise’ → eħt süʔü ‘to promise’, alqış ‘praise’ → arxiş süʔü ‘to praise’,
av ‘game, hunting’ → ov süʔü ‘to hunt’, Russian spor ‘quarrel’ → ispor süʔü ‘to quarrel’.
The Azeri equivalent of these verbs is usually synthetic, using the suffix -lA-: alqış-la-,
av-la-, etc. Abstract nouns in -val derived from nouns or adjectives (cf. sections 4.1.1
and 4.1.2 below) also denote activities but do not belong to the animate gender; they
productively combine in the same pattern: dide ‘mother’ → dide-tuval siʔi ‘to act as a
mother’; contrast tanbal yıxhar ‘to be lazy’ → tanbal-uval siʔi ‘to laze around’ and
kömək → kumok süʔü or kumokuval siʔi ‘to help’.

3.3.3. Transitive (incorporating) verb-noun compounds

In another group of verbs the coverb may be a noun, as in naʕra siʔi call do ‘to invite’,
memen siʔi/ınkan guest do/remain ‘to cater for/be invited’, hes siʔi ‘to estimate, taste’,
kaşıl siʔi coal do ‘to reduce to ashes’, but the whole expression allows a patientive noun
phrase. The coverb is thus “incorporated”, as proven by the fact that it does not inflect
for plural: memen-0̸ si-b-ʔi/ı-ba-nkan ‘to have/be (as) guest-s’.
In some of these expressions, the coverb cannot be positively identified as a noun as
opposed to an adjective: aşq’al siʔi ‘to disgrace’, har siʔi ‘to send’, dülk siʔi ‘to exile’.

3.3.4. Pairs of compounds with yıxhar ‘to be’ and siʔ i ‘to do’

Many compound verbs exist in pairs, switching from transitive to intransitive by using
yıxhar ‘to be’ instead of siʔi ‘to do’. The coverb can be an adjective, for instance k’ev
siʔi/yıxhar strong do/be ‘to close/be closed’, feyi ‘warm’ → fey siʔi/yıxhar ‘to warm up’,
cüre siʔi/yıxhar ‘to sever, separate’, kur siʔi/yıxhar ‘to blind sb./become blind’, boʕlus
yıxhar/siʔi ‘to grow up/raise, educate’, qadağan siʔi/yıxhar ‘to forbid/be forbidden’, or
not recognizable as such: cidir siʔi/yıxhar ‘to hide tr./itr.’, pasar siʔi/yıxhar ‘to finish tr./
itr.’, ħar siʔi/süʔü ‘to teach/tame’ / ħar yıxhar/yuxhor ‘to learn/be tamed’ (ħar is found
in related languages with the meaning ‘big, grown-up’), varavur siʔi/yıxhar ‘to disturb/
be disturbed’ (probably an ideophone denoting a whirlpool), vesilke siʔi/yıxhar ‘to exile/
be exiled’ (cf. Russian vysylka ‘deportation’). One may include in this type pairs denot-
ing a transformation and involving a noun, like yeç süʔü/yuxhor ‘to change tr./itr. into
an apple’, q’ad parça siʔi/yıxhar ‘to break tr./itr. in two’, k’ark’ar siʔi/yıxhar ‘to cut/be
cut to pieces’.
3552 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

Adverbs or adverbial expressions may also be used as coverbs in pairs of compounds;

xan ‘after, behind’ → xan siʔi/yıxhar ‘to move tr./itr. aside’, laxan ‘up, above’ → laxan
siʔi/yıxhar ‘to lift/rise’, k’ot’a siʔi/yıxhar ‘to gather tr./itr.’ = yığ-ca’m siʔi/yıxhar, whose
coverb combines the Azeri stem yığ- ‘to gather’ with the synonymous Arab root camʕ,
ird-oxuna siʔi/yıxhar ‘to cover/be covered in blood’.
In some of these equipollent pairs, the coverb is the imperfective stem of a formerly
independent intransitive verb (cf. the class of “stative” verbs in Aghul): çıxar siʔi/yıxhar
‘to mix tr./itr.’, ʕutar siʔi/yıxhar ‘to shake tr./itr.’, yugor siʔi/yıxhar ‘to kindle/light up’,
hats’ar siʔi/yıxhar ‘to make sb. know/know’, sifet ç’u<d>ğor siʔi face(N) wrinkle.N+do
‘to frown’.

3.3.5. Integration of Azeri verbs

The majority of pairs of verbal compounds use as a coverb a form derived from an Azeri
verb.
The vast majority of compounds using ‘to be’ as a light verb have as a coverb an
element borrowed from the Azeri verbal lexicon. This element has the form stem+mi,
and certainly originates from the perfect participle in -mIş, dropping the final ş and
avoiding vowel harmony. In principle, any intransitive Azeri verb can be incorporated
into the lexicon. We cite here only the most frequent. These include verbs of state,
attitude and transformation: Az. oxşa- → oxşemi yıxhar ‘to look like’, azalmi yıxhar ‘to
disappear’, aza’rmi yıxhar ‘to be sick’, yaşa- → yeşemi yıxhar ‘to live’, iştemi yıxhar
‘to work’, elleşmi yıxhar ‘to endeavour’, nazdemi yıxhar ‘to simper’, dünmi yıxhar ‘to
turn into’, çatla- → çatdemi yıxhar ‘to burst’; verbs of movement: Az. başla- → baştemi
yıxhar ‘to begin’, üz- → üzmi yıxhar ‘to swim’, uzan- → uzami yıxhar ‘to lie down’,
qon- → qunmi yuxhor ‘to perch (bird)’, köç- → kuçmi yıxhar ‘to change places’, sürün-
→ sürünmi yıxhar ‘to crawl’; verbs of utterance: yalvar- → yervemi yıxhar ‘to entreat’,
qışqır- → qışqırmi yıxhar ‘to scream’, especially animal noises banla- → bannami yux-
hor ‘to crow’, civildemi yuxhor ‘to chirp’, kişnemi yuxhor ‘to neigh’, anqır- → angırmi
yuxhor ‘to bray’, melemi yuxhor ‘to bleat’, qaqilda- → q’aq’ildemi yuxhor ‘to cackle’.
The verb for ‘to yap’ (the sound of foxes) is vanç’ildemi yuxhor and has no Azeri
equivalent.
Many Azeri transitive verbs enter the Budugh lexicon in combination with the light
verb ‘to do’: qaldirmi siʔi ‘to lift’, gemirmi siʔi ‘to gnaw’, udmi siʔi ‘to swallow’,
qıza’rtmi siʔi ‘to fry’, soymi siʔi ‘to peel’, yala- → yelemi siʔi ‘to lick’, qına- → qinemi
siʔi ‘to blame’, sınami siʔi ‘to put to the test’, terpetmi siʔi ‘to move, tr.’, qızışdirmi siʔi
‘to make angry’, qurxutmi siʔi ‘to frighten’, gözlə- → gözdemi siʔi ‘to wait for’, bağışla-
→ baxıştemi siʔi ‘to offer’.
The coverbs retain the derivation markers, either causative: uç- → uçmi yıxhar ‘to
fly’ → uç-ur-mi süʔü (Az. uç-ur- fly-CAUS) ‘to make (a bird) fly (in order to have him
choose a new king by perching on his head)’, armi yıxhar ‘to melt, itr.’ → ar-it-mi siʔi
‘to melt, tr.’, yağalmi yıxhar ‘to go astray’ → yağal-t-mi siʔi ‘to lose (voluntarily)’ or
anticausative (there is no clear instance of passive): egmi siʔi ‘to bend, tr.’ → eg-il-mi
yıxhar ‘to bend, itr.’, duzalmi yıxhar ‘to be fixed’ → duzal-t-mi siʔi ‘to fix’, buğmi siʔi
‘to strangle’ → buğ-ul-mi yıxhar ‘to be stifled’.
196. Budugh 3553

The Azeri derivational suffix -lA- is partly productive in Budugh (just as in Kryz, cf.
Authier 2010): Russian peçat’ ‘seal’ → puçatdemi siʔi ‘to seal’, Az. kafan ‘shroud’ →
kafannami siʔi ‘to put in a shroud’.
There are many doublets, and native synthetic or compound verbs tend to give way
to compounds involving borrowed material: sarğar ‘to freeze, be surprised’ has, in the
latter meaning, the synonyms teʔeccüb süʔü, and çeşmi yıxhar. müʕö-müʕö siʔi ‘to mew’
and sad kıda siʔi a work do ‘to succeed’ are less commonly used than the loan-based
synonyms miyoldemi yuxhor and başar siʔi, (cf. Az. miyolda-, bacar-). Often a native
idiom is not flexible in valence, like xab-a’ erʕi hand-IN push down ‘to cheat, pull one’s
leg’; this justifies the borrowing of alda-n-mi yıxhar ‘to be cheated’, which in turn has
led to the adoption of alde-t-mi siʔi ‘to cheat’, creating a doublet.

3.3.6. Other light verbs and micro-classes

Apart from ‘to be’ and ‘to do’, many other verbs take part in the composition of new
lexical entries, and many concepts usually conveyed by simplex verbs are expressed by
compounds in Budugh, like qhur ‘laughter’ + qoxuts’u ‘to pour out’ → qhur qoxuts’u
‘to laugh’. I give here just a short selection of examples illustrating this phenomenon.
Compounds with yuts’u ‘to give’: fu yuts’u bread give ‘to feed’, tesellüg yuts’u ‘to
comfort’, kiç’xhın yuts’u ‘to frighten’, naʕlat yuts’u ‘to curse’, ç’el yuts’u ‘to promise’,
ders yuts’u ‘to teach’, faʕam yuts’u ‘to pay attention to, examine’, neʕ ‘smell’ → neʕ
yuts’u ‘to smell, itr.’, kulak-cu yuts’u ‘to winnow’, langar yuts’u ‘to stagger’, ħak’ana
yuts’u salary-ADV give ‘to sell’.
Compounds with qonu ‘to take’: neʕ ‘smell’ → neʕ qonu ‘to smell, tr.’, nafas qonu
‘to breathe, rest’, hec qorunu ‘to take as wife’, qabağ qonu front take ‘to prevent, avoid’,
xab ‘hand’ + qonu ‘to take’ → xab qonu ‘to give up’ (cf. Az. əl çək-, xabar qonu news-
take ‘to enquire’ (tr., incorporated)).
Compounds with surqhu ‘to catch’: mez-a’ tongue-IN surqhu ‘to make sb. talk, per-
suade’, divan courtroom surqhu ‘to punish’, atag skirt surqhu ‘to take refuge’, laxan up,
above surqhu ‘to prefer’, peqh surqhu ‘to rust’.
Compounds with ʕaqhu ‘to keep’: yığ ʕaqhu day keep ‘to fast’, k’en ʕaqhu heart.ADV
keep ‘to remember’.
Compounds with verbs meaning ‘to pull’: çendek qeçħi pinch pull ‘to pinch’ (cf. Az.
çimdiklə-), ħayif qeçħi ‘to take revenge’, ç’inq’i qöçħü ?(A) pull.A ‘to utter a word’, q’il
qöçħü head(A) pull.A ‘to understand’, xab qiçħi hand(N) pull(N) ‘to grope around’, tapan
qüçħü belly(A) pull.A ‘to crawl’.
Compounds with verbs meaning ‘to push’: cıga’ qerʕi place push up ‘to plough a
field’, q’ala’ erʕi head.IN push down ‘to explain’, gam serʕi ‘to make a step’, car qerʕi
‘to stand watch’, kıda’ xab serʕi work-IN hand throw ‘to undertake a task’, q’ala’ erʕi
‘to explain, make sb. understand’.
Compounds with verbs meaning ‘to put’: ʕül ʕosu eye put ‘to wait’, ibir qu-su ear
put on ‘to listen’ (cf. Az. qulaq as-), ibir vo-su ear put at ‘to overhear’, q’um-a’ osu
ground-IN let ‘to despise, to neglect’.
Budugh is very rich in idiomatic expressions, sometimes but not always shared with
Azeri or Tat: q’in soʢulu oath eat ‘to swear’, gala maq’am vodoʔu neck.IN until gather
3554 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

‘to be fed up’, mez ʕots’u tongue(A) pour.A ‘to plead’, ʕül ʕölsü eye(A) wander.CAUS.A
‘to look (around)’, mitker atu marriage beat ‘to celebrate a wedding’, xiri-ce çunk’u
thread-IN string ‘to narrate’, t’il-a’ quroku finger-IN put on (a ring).
Physical states and mental activity often make use of a verb of state or movement as
the light verb: guc čuroq’or strength(A) reach.A ‘to be able’, nabud alsal ‘to return
frustrated’, xan qalt’al ‘to stay away’, cuş-una’ qoşxhor boiling-IN arrive ‘to seethe’,
ħal-cekir araxhar health-SUBEL go down ‘to be exhausted’, leq’-tuxul qaşxar liver-lungs
come out ‘to feel nauseous’, gala’ ʕalq’al neck.IN lay down ‘to embrace’, yık’ qaraxhar
heart go out ‘to be worried’, ħaz ʕaraxhar ‘to please’, yık’-ıla’r yeç’i heart-INEL pass ‘to
hope’, k’en senxi heart.ADV drop ‘to forget’, yık’-ıla’ yoroğu heart-IN carry through ‘to
think of’, k’en quşxar heart.ADV arrive ‘to remember’, q’ala’ ʕaraq’ar heart.INgo down
‘to understand’ (cf. Az. ba-şa düş-).
In verb+verb compounds, the second element bears verb inflection, whereas the first
is in the perfective bare stem used as a sequential converb: qaç’u çağar ‘to (go out and)
leave’, esil ʕuşxar return.PF come ‘to come back’, ʕağa osu carry inside put down ‘to
arrest’, xab-a’r qarxhu ʕaraxhar hand-INEL come out.PF flee ‘to escape’, ant’un ʕaşxar
filter.PF come ‘to flow drop by drop’, ħarq’u pasar yıxhar ‘to finish talking’, çot’u sux-
uts’u ‘to play and sing’. In çeşki ‘to stutter’, perfective çaka + qalt’al ‘to stand’ → çakka
qalt’al ‘to keep quiet’ note the expressive gemination. Examples also exist with the
imperfective (locative) converb as a coverb: ʕacargar-a’ qeç’i embrace-IN go out ‘to
climb’.

3.4. Adjectival and adverbial compounds

There are no native adjectival compounds apart from stems of verbal compounds used
as adjectives, like k’ul ʕoxu house fall down ‘ruined’, icin-a’ ʕaxu face-IN fall down
‘with his head covered’, qhur qoxuts’u ‘to laugh; laughable’ (but qhur qoxuts’u yığ ‘day
of mirth’), xab surqhu hand hold ‘to help; generous’, t’il-ezin ʕük’ü finger-INSTR show
‘famous’, q’ala’n qaşxar head.ADV come out ‘imaginable’, and veyi-do-r-u sa-r COP.PTCP
NEG.COP-M/F-PTCP one-M/F ‘unique’. bad ħisa’b bad count ‘unjust’ must be a loan from
Persian.
Likewise there are no adverbial compounds, with the exception of qe-paga’ today-
tomorrow ‘soon’ and xa-ʕuran behind+in front ‘around’ (adverb or postposition), a re-
marquable calque of Tat peso-puşo.

4. Derivation
Budugh, like other Lezgic languages, retains some lexemes obviously related to others
by some sort of affixal or internal derivation, like ħuv ‘mill’ → so-ħuru ‘to grind’, axur
‘sleep’ from arxar ‘to sleep’, q’ö ‘second spouse’ if related to q’a- ‘two’, serqhi ‘fian-
cée’, probably related to surqhu ‘to hold’, or i<r>-qh-i ‘to see’ related to ʕa-qh-u ‘to
keep’ and to sa-qh-u ‘to count’. However, all these examples have become isolated,
opaque formations.
196. Budugh 3555

4.1. Nominal derivation

Nominal derivation devices are not very numerous in Budugh, except for the quasi-
inflectional (that is, perfectly regular and totally productive) formations of the masdar
(alias verbal noun), and the substantivized participles.
Indefinite generalization (‘and the like’) is achieved by the apposition of the demon-
strative la ‘that’, with an agreement marker determined by the class of number and
gender of the first element: ird la-c ‘blood and gore’, saqhu la-c ‘money and other
presents’, hec la-d ‘some woman’ (derogative), xurak la-c meal-that-A ‘sorts of food’,
guz la-d ‘the namaz and such rites’. Note the oblique base li-: kıda’ li-ye çadağar ‘not
to go to work or do anything’, sad k’ibe fu-ye-kir li-yekir ‘a little bit of bread and other
foods’.

4.1.1. Denominal nouns

The Azeri suffix -çi forming p e r s o n a l n o u n s is not frequent in Budugh, but occurs
both on borrowed nouns and on native verbal stems: t’ürt’eħ-çi ‘flut-ist’, qulluq’ ‘ser-
vice’ → qulluq’-çi ‘servant’, cüneħ or cüneħ-çi ‘robber’ (cf. cünħü ‘to steal’, probably
related to gına’ ‘sin’ < Persian gunāh). There is one adjective: ħayif ‘regret’ → ħayif-çi
‘regretful’. The type xilğer-u-xan horse.PL-AD-? ‘stable boy’ is inherited (it has cognates
in related languages), but not productive in Budugh.
S t a t u s n o u n s and denominal q u a l i t y n o u n s use the suffix -(-t)uval, borrowed
from Lezgian and found also in neighbouring Kryz and Khinalug, which replaces the
Azeri suffix -lIQ: igid ‘brave’ → igid-uval ‘bravery’, demirçi ‘blacksmith’ → demirçi-
tuval ‘the occupation of a blacksmith’ (cf. Az. dəmirçi-lik), ħamba’l-uval ‘the occupation
of a coolie’, middeʕi ‘enemy’ → middeʕi-tuval ‘hostility’, furi ‘man’ → furutuval ‘cour-
age’, ʕayel ‘child’ → ʕayel-uval ‘childhood’, esker ‘soldier’ → esker-uval ‘military ser-
vice’. Based on a verb related to the substantive cüneħ-(çi) seen just above, cünħü ‘to
steal’ → cünħü-tuval ‘robbery’ is exceptional. A substantivized adjective can also form
such a status noun: boʕlu ‘big’ → ‘boss’, as in k’ul-ca boʕlu-tuval siʔi ‘to govern at
home’ (cf. Az. böyük-lük).
The “nativizing” function of this suffix accounts for such doublets as ħille ‘ruse’ →
ħille-tuval ‘wile’, or ħücet(-uval) ‘quarrel’. The same suffix may give p l a c e n o u n s
like qunşu ‘neighbour’ → qunşu-tuval ‘vicinity’, q’abastanuval ‘graveyard’ (cf. Az.
qəbiristan-lıq). The avoidance of the Azeri suffix has not applied in the case of neq’
‘mud’ → neq’-luğ mud-lIQ ‘marshland’ (cf. Az. bataq-lıq).

4.1.2. Deadjectival nouns

The old suffix -xhın is related to the verb yıxhar ‘to be’, and forms q u a l i t y n o u n s
from concrete adjectives: feyi ‘hot’ → feyi-xhın ‘heat’, ʕapxu ‘long’ → ʕapxu-xhın
‘length’, mız ‘hungry’ → mız-xhın ‘hunger’, miç’ ‘dark’ → miç’-xhın ‘darkness’, hekki
3556 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

‘heavy’ → hekki-xhın ‘weight’, kiç’ ‘afraid’ → kiç’-xhın ‘fear’. Some bases are borrowed
and not commonly used as adjectives in Budugh: Az. dərin ‘deep’ → derin-xhın ‘depth’,
Az. hündür ‘high’ → hundur-xhın ‘height’, nam-xhın ‘moist-ure’.
Moral qualities are expressed via the same suffix -(cı)(t)uval found in combination
with nouns: ʕari ‘good’ → ʕari-tuval ‘kindness’, na’merd ‘coward’ → na’merd-uval
‘cowardice’, peşma’n ‘regretful’ → peşma’n-cıtuval ‘regret’, kuçog-uval ‘pretti-ness’,
ħalal ‘allowed’ → ħalal-uval ‘permission’, ra’zı ‘agreeing’ → ra’zı-tuval ‘agreement’,
cavan ‘young’ → cavan-uval ‘youth’, pis-uval ‘bad-ness’, yozuğ-uval ‘pity’, aksug-uval
‘needi-ness’ (cf. Az. əksik-lik), q’it ‘few’ → q’it-uval ‘famine’, çetin-uval ‘difficult-y’,
ħaq’sız-uval ‘inequity’. Note the semantic extension of the locative noun dar ‘narrow’
→ dar-uval ‘dire strait’.

4.1.3. Deverbal nouns

Both verbal nouns and participles used as nouns come close to instances of conversion:
this phenomenon, analysed by Haspelmath (1995) as “word-class-changing inflection”
with illustration from Lezgian, is a salient feature of East Caucasian languages, also well
attested in Kryz (cf. Authier 2008a). In Budugh, this property is stretched to the extreme,
with minimal morphology: imperfective verb stems can be used both as action nouns
and as participles, including substantivized participles with a value of agent or object
noun. In the nominative form, all these functions are indistinguishable: soʢulu ‘to eat;
food; the one who is eating’, sorğuru ‘to drink; drinks; one who drinks’, vodoʔu ‘to
collect; things being collected; beggar’, sarq’ar ‘to die; death; dying person’, sadarq’ar
‘not to die; immortality’, çuraq’ar ‘to reach; destiny’ (translating Az. nəsib), yığ yorğu
day pass ‘way of life’; These masdars can be used as coverbs: qonu-ħak’a’na’ yuts’u siʔi
take-price.IN give do ‘to occupy oneself with business’.
Most a g e n t n o u n s in Budugh are substantivized forms of regularly formed imper-
fective participles: çorut’u ‘to play (an instrument); player’, suxut’su ‘to sing; singer’,
voroxhu ‘to sweep; sweeper’, çolğu ‘to bury; undertaker’, duru ħaraq’ar ‘to lie; liar’,
seħir süʔü ‘to do magic; magician’, xila’ ʕovoqhu horse keep.A ‘stable boy’, naʕıl qurot’u
horseshoe nail ‘blacksmith’, rix yorot’u road(A) cut.A ‘robber’, çalam servi boot sew
‘cobbler’, halavar servi clothes sew ‘tailor’, k’ul qirvi house(A) build.A ‘mason’, nik
qerʕi field plough ‘ploughman’, ʕayel irħar/ʕaqhu child look/keep ‘baby sitter’, aza’n
yuts’u call-to-pray give ‘muezzin’, kıda hats’ar work know ‘specialist’. Note that if the
verb is intransitive, the nominalized form keeps its transfixing inflection for gender/
number: ʕüxhü-çağar come.PF go, or rix-a’r yeç’i road-INEL pass ‘passer-by’ / ʕü-b-kü-
ça-b-ğar or rix-a’r ye-be-ç’i-cber ‘passers-by’.
From transitive verbs, there are also many examples of verbal nouns with the value
o f o b j e c t , i n s t r u m e n t or p l a c e n o u n s : saqhu ‘to count’ → ‘money’, soğuru
‘to drink’ → ‘drinking glass’, q’ala’ qerʕi head.IN push on or q’ala’ quşulu head.IN put
on ‘headgear’, qil-a’ quşulu foot-IN put on ‘shoes’, xab-a çerʕi hand-IN push down
‘glove’, fu osu bread put ‘breadbasket’, qalq’al k’ul lie room ‘bedroom’, rıx cure yuxhor
(-ca) road(A) separate be.A ‘(at) a crossroads’, yık’-ıla’ yeç’i-car ‘hopes’, ada-kir idkini-
cer father-SUBEL remain.PF-HPL ‘inheritance’. For examples of adjectival value, see sec-
tion 4.2.2 on deverbal adjectives.
196. Budugh 3557

Similar lexicalizations can be observed with the perfective stem, but this is much
rarer: saʔa dry.PF ‘dry; dry land’, qap-ar-a’ arxhu door-PL-IN go down.PF ‘beggar’, yıpa
say.PF ‘words’, saq’a die.PF ‘dead’, q’axu find.PF ‘found item’, yit’e-c cut.PF ‘dry (fruit)’
from yorot’u ‘to cut’, seʔiri ‘dried (grass)’ from seʔi ‘to dry (CAUS)’. Note sağa freeze.PF
‘surprised’. The internal syntax (cf. Haspelmath 1995) is preserved: zın saq’a I.NOM-
die.PF ‘my death’, riž soq’o girl(A)NOM die.PF.A ‘the girl’s death’, yin dide-kir sabka
we.NOM mother-SUBEL be.PF.HPL ‘our birth’.
Budugh has no dedicated device for the formation of instrument nouns: traditional
utensils have unanalyzable indigenous names or are borrowed from Tat, while modern
technology is expressed by Azeri loans. No dedicated derivational device provides places
names either, but some typical places are expressed by short relative clauses, for example
virağ qöç’ü sun(A) go out.A ‘sun rise’ + taraf ‘direction’ or ciga’ ‘place’ → ‘east’, virağ
oq’ulu sun(A) sit.A ‘sunset’, ʕabeç’i-ye enter.HPL-IN ‘in the entrance’.

4.2. Adjectival derivation

Apart from relational attributes already seen above in compounds based on the adlocative
case of nouns and on the gender-agreeing strategy, “adjectival” derivation is limited in
Budugh to a couple of suffixes borrowed from Azeri and to the quasi-inflectional (that
is, perfectly regular and totally productive) formations of the participles.

4.2.1. Denominal adjectives

P r i v a t i v e adjectives use the Azeri suffix -sIz: xhad ‘water’ → xhad-sız ‘deprived of
water’ (cf. Az. su-suz). This suffix is not very often found in Budugh, because there is
a native strategy involving the negative participle of the copula used with the same
meaning: halavar do-d-u clothes NEG.COP-N-PTCP ‘without clothes’, k’ul do-b-u house(A)
NEG.COP-A-PTCP ‘home-less’, Az. ata-sız ‘father-less’ → Budugh ada do-r-u father(M)
NEG.COP-M/F-PTCP.
Budugh forms p o s s e s s i v e adjectives by means of various suffixes. The Azeri
clitic -lI has also been borrowed in calque expressions: qızıl yeħer-rü xila’ ‘golden sad-
dle-d horse’, nexiş-dü ‘ornate’ (cf. Az. naxışlı), buylu ‘pregnant’, gıl-lu duz flower-lI
valley ‘valley in bloom’, virağ-lu yığ ‘sun-ny day’ (cf. Az. günəş-li), dağdağa-lu ?-lI
‘vigilant’, dolat-du wealth-lI ‘rich’, ird-du ‘blood-y’ # (cf. Az. qan-lı); it assimilates to
a previous dental consonant: guc ‘strength’ → guc-du ‘strong’ (cf. Az. güc-lü), can
‘soul’ → can-nu ‘creature’ (cf. Az. can-lı), tiken ‘thorn’ → tiken-nü ‘pricky’, xacalat
‘shame’ → xacalot-tu ‘shameful’, ħikmet ‘wisdom’ → ħikmet-dü ‘wise’, abud-du mişir
nut-lI sweet paste (cf. Az. qoz-lu halva), yiyi-d-mertebe-lü sab ʕumarat ‘a seven-storey
building’.
An old genitive form is retained in q’el-i ħarac ‘salt-y butter’, q’el-i nusu ‘salt-y
cheese’, and is synchronically associated with the Iranian-type derivates ħisa’b-i ‘right-
eous, just’, ʕadat-i ‘custom-ary’.
L o c a t i v e attributes are of three types. The first is based on either the unmarked
nominative or on the oblique stem, followed by a gender marker. Nominative stem: xab-
3558 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

id girz hand-A club ‘the club (he had) in hand’, xab-ic razı hand-N stick ‘the stick (he
had) in hand’, bel-ic ʕül ‘the eye on his forehead’, Zixhiye ‘in Zeyidj’ → zixhiye-d
İsmeʕil ‘Ismail from Zeyidj’, ʕad ‘surface’ → ʕad-id k’ul ‘upper room’; oblique base:
q’ali-c ʕiç head.OBL-N skin(N) ‘the skin on his head’, kum-a’ ʕura qabağ-ci-d kur village-
IN front foreside-OBL-A river(A), şeher-ce ʕura’ gal-ci-d q’ol town-IN in_front side-OBL-
A stone(A) ‘the stone at the front-side of the town’, ħuv-a’ laxa gal-ci-c tapa mill-IN up
side-OBL-N top(N) ‘a hill at the back of the mill’, uga’ q’alic tac ‘the crown on his head’,
qırağ-cı-d maħlarber side-OBL-A area.PL ‘outskirts’, xel ‘charge’ → xel-a-d ħayvan ‘pack
animal’. Note the compound: xab-a’-d-qil-a’-d hand-IN-A-leg-IN-A ‘followers’, and the
lexicalizations bel-ic forehead-(LOC)N ‘slope, hill’, xab-icer hand-(LOC)NPL ‘belongings’.
The second type of locative attribute is formed with the same gender agreement
suffixes attached to the sublocative case (marker -k) of a noun: q’an ‘base, bottom’ →
q’an-k-ic ‘lower, underlying’, ʕadic/q’ankic pak’ ‘superior/inferior lip’, kal-k-ic arm-SUB-
A ‘armpit’.
The gender agreement marker can also turn a noun in the partitive case into an
attribute denoting a m a t e r i a l : q’um-kir-id k’ul ground-SUBEL-A house(A) ‘earthen
house’, q’um-kir-ic cıga’ ground-SUBEL-N place(N) ‘earthen couch’.
Q u a n t i f y i n g denominal attributes are marked by a terminative (‘up to, until’) case
ending -ke which is related to a locative adverb keran meaning ‘downwards’ (cf. the
adverbial construction lem-ildo ç’er-inizke ‘as many as a donkey’s hairs’). It attaches to
the dative case in -z and it is followed by an agreement marker: cf. zo dağ-cız-ker ‘up
to the mountain’ and dağ-cız-ke-d sab q’ol ‘a stone as big as a mountain’, xilğildiz-ke-d/
gomuşciz-ke-d ç’uval ‘a sheep as big as a horse/a buffalo’, ç’uval-cizke-d loş ‘a turkey
as big as a sheep’, sunci miçeg-cizke-d idmi ‘a man as small as a gnat’, hanim-ke-d quş
‘such a big bird’, but sad rub-uluzke-c k’ats’ ‘a hole as small as a needle’.
The s i m i l a t i v e suffix -c(ı)ma-d ‘like’ has many uses in Budugh. It serves to form
similative adjectives from nouns: yopoğu-cma-dır hec autumn_wool-like-F woman ‘a
woman as soft as autumn wool’, gıl-cıma-d icin flower-like-A face(A) ‘a face like a
flower’, qazma-cma-d k’ul ‘a house like a hut’, or from adverbs qe-ki-cma yığ-ca today-
ki-like day-IN ‘on a day like today’. Note that the base of the derivate is not always the
nominative form but the oblique stem: şid ‘brother’ → şiyi-cma (yıxhar) ‘(to be) like
brothers’, mıkat’ ‘rope’ → mık’ayi-cma ʕabxu ‘as long as a rope’.

4.2.2. Deverbal adjectives

The negative form of the imperfective participle often translates as a n e g a t i v e - m o d -

a l adjective in English: hats’ar ‘to know’ → hadats’ar ‘unknown’, sorğor ‘to break,
itr.’ → sodorğor ‘fragile’, soʢulu ‘to eat’ → sodoʢulu ‘inedible’, soğuru ‘to drink’ →
sodoğuru ‘undrinkable’, iderħar noq’-ri NEG.look earth-PL ‘fallow lands’, k’en sadarxar
forget.NEG ‘unforgettable’, kıda surqhu ‘to undertake a task’ → sıdırqhar kıda ‘impossi-
ble task’, irqhi ‘to see’ → iderqhi ‘unseen, hidden’.
A special case is the inherited periphrastic formation of o r d i n a l s , which makes
use of the positive imperfective stem of the verb yuʔu ‘to say’: qha-na-viç’ç’i-b yuʔu k’ul
twenty-and-nine-A say room(A) ‘twenty-ninth room’.
196. Budugh 3559

4.2.3. Deadjectival adjectives

When added to an adjectival base, the similative suffix -c(ı)ma-d has an a p p r o x i m a -

t i v e function. It adds a special nuance of attenuation: soza-cma-d ‘yellow-ish’, ts’oru-
cma-d ‘green-ish’, temis ‘clean’ → temis-cuma-d hava ‘somewhat clearer weather’.
The suffix -ta, borrowed from Tat, in which it emphasizes the number of single units,
has a more restricted meaning in Budugh, where it translates as ‘only’, after a numeral:
sa-b-ta ‘only one (A)’, q’a-d-ta ‘only two (N)’, etc.

4.2.4. Deadverbial adjectives

Temporal adverbs are changed into adjectives by the addition of the suffix -ki, borrowed
from Azeri: kıla ‘then’ → kıla’-ki ‘next, subsequent’ (cf. Az. sonra-kı); nene ‘the day
before’ → nene-ki yu ‘last night’, ʕurda-ki ‘previous’ (cf. ʕuran ‘before’), naq’a-ki ‘yes-
terday-’s’, çi-ki ‘this year-’s’, sufta-ki ‘first’, kila’-ki ‘second’, ak’a’na ‘previously’ →
ak’a’na-ki ‘previous’, qe ‘today’ → qe-ki yığcer ‘from today’, pa’ga’ ‘tomorrow’ →
pa’ga’-ki yığ-ca tomorrow-ki day-IN ‘on the day after’, raʕamqara-ki soʢulu evening-ki
eat ‘dinner’, yiza’nğara-ki fu midday-ki bread ‘lunch meal’, yığına’ ‘every day’ → yığı-
na’-ki ‘usual’. They can be substantivized by adding a gender marker: akana ‘previously’
→ akanaki-c ‘the previous’. This suffix can be considered inflectional, as it also attaches
to pronouns and postpositional NPs: müharibe-cer k’ik’a’n-ki/xan-ki-c san-iber ‘the years
before/after the war’. As a substantized form, it takes an agreement marker: iye-xan-ki-d
this.IN-after-ki-A ‘the next after this one’, i-ye-xan-ki-yo-xun iraħ! this-NH.IN-after-ki-
NH.IN-DIR look.IMP ‘Look at the one after this one!’.
In Azeri, the formant is also used for the adjectivation of locatives and the substanti-
vation of genitives. In Budugh, genitives and locatives are substantivized using native
(agreement) morphology, and the -ki suffix applies only to temporal expressions. The
only non-temporal bases that I found for this suffix are in the symetrically opposed
ba’naca-ki ‘pseudo-’ and duğurda’n-ki ‘real’; both are derivates of Azeri words which
do not take this suffix: Az. doğrudan‘really’, and for ba’na-ca pretence-IN (cf. Az.
bəhanə ‘pretext, excuse’).

4.3. Verbal derivation

As is usual for the Lezgic subfamily, there are no synthetic denominal or deadjectival
verbs in Budugh. The only way to derive a verb from a noun or adjective is by forming
a compound verb (see section 3.3). But although Budugh has many verbal compounds,
it also retains a closed class of some 400 non-compound verbs, a much higher figure
than in Kryz or Khinalug. However, many of these verbs are not in common use or even
known by the majority of speakers. The value of these relics for the study of Lezgic is
incalculable.
All Budugh non-compound verbs are derived by locative prefixation of the Aghul
type, still synchronically analyzable on many verbs and yielding a large number of
3560 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

opaque bi- and tri-partite verbs. There is also valence-changing derivation, both anticaus-
ative (inchoative) and causative, using apophony.

4.3.1. Preverbs

There is no simplex Budugh verb: inflectional markers are inserted between one or two
preverbs and a monoconsonantal root. Only a few very common verbs like ‘to be’ or ‘to
give’ retain negative prefixed forms without a preverb: yı-xhar ‘to be’ vs. de-xher ‘not
to be’, yu-ts’u ‘to give’ vs. do-ts’u ‘not to give’, yuʔu ‘to say’ vs. do’u ‘not to say’. As
a very strict rule, absolutely no Budugh verb form begins with the root. Note that there
are no spatial copulas of the type found in most other Lezgic languages.
Many Budugh verbs bearing the preverb yI- or sa-/sI- do not show this preverb on
both aspectual stems, for instance yı-xhar be.IPF / sa-xha be.PF. yI- is a frozen gender
marker. sa- and sI- are probably of locative origin, but have undergone semantic bleach-
ing and became the default preverbs when bi-partite stems became the rule in Budugh:
sa-rts’ar ‘to be fed’, sa-rʔar ‘to dry’, sa-rçar ‘to rot’, so-xu ‘to weave’, si-ʔi ‘to do’, su-
gor ‘to burn, itr.’, su-xhu ‘to mow’, su-zu ‘to plough’.
Locative prefixation is much less productive than in languages like Agul or Rutul:
the ability of prefixes to combine with verbal roots is restricted, and many derived
prefixed verbs have idiomatic, non-compositional meaning. Nevertheless, such alterna-
tions as ʕa-ç’i ‘to go in’ vs. qe-ç’i ‘to go out’ vs. ye-ç’i ‘to cross’, or çu-su ‘to put under’
vs. o-su ‘to put down’ vs. qu-su ‘to put on’ show that locative preverbation is very much
alive. Unlike its close relative Kryz, which has only one slot for preverbs (see Authier
2009), Budugh preserves the two reconstructible sets of locative prefixes and two slots
for these. The first set includes some ten transparent localization markers:
− (ʔ)A- ‘inside a container’: ı-nkan ‘to remain’, o-su ‘to put, pour (solid) in’, o-lt’u ‘to
pour (liquid) down’, e-şi ‘to dismount’, e-t’i ‘to cut … in (vegetables)’, a-rxar ‘to
sleep’, a-raxhar ‘to go down’;
− ʕa- ‘down’: ʕa-raxhar ‘to flee’, ʕa-lgu ‘to swallow’, ʕa-ts’u ‘to fill in’, ʕa-ç’i ‘to go
down’, ç’af-a’ ʕa-lt’u ‘to tie in a cradle’, ʕarşu ‘to thrust’;
− ʕI- ‘against, in front’: ʕu-rot’u ‘to push’, ʕu-şxar ‘to arrive’;
− qA- ‘out, up’: qe-ç’i ‘to go out’, qe-di ‘to shear’, qe-cerği ‘to tuck up’, qe-rʕi ‘to grow,
utter’, qo-ħulu ‘to dig out’, qa-roğu ‘to carry out’, qörödħü ‘to choose’, qo-nu ‘to
take’, qa-qhu ‘to reveal, narrate’, qa-raxhar ‘to appear’;
− qI- ‘on’: qu-şulu ‘to put on (clothes)’, qu-tu ‘to beat’, qu-ts’u ‘to load’, qi-rvi ‘to build,
sew’, qu-rot’u ‘to nail’, qu-su ‘to put … on’, qu-rzar ‘to stand up’, qi-şi ‘to mount’,
qu-roğu ‘to entrust’, qı-naxhan ‘to suit’;
− vA- ‘near’: ve-rʕi ‘to press against; sharpen’, ve-şki ‘to lean’, vo-şulu ‘to borrow’;
− çI- ‘under’, ‘up to’: çu-su ‘to prop’, çi-xuts’u ‘to knit’, çu-nt’u ‘to hitch up’;
− çA- ‘away’: ça-ğar ‘to go’, ça-lq’al ‘to sprain’, çe-rʕi ‘to push away’, ça-raxhar ‘to
slip away’;
− yA- ‘through’: ye-ç’i ‘to cross’, yo-roğu ‘to pass (time)’, yo-rçu ‘to tear off’, yo-rot’u
‘to cut (trough)’, ya-lakal ‘to slide, roll’, ç’er yörʕü hair(A) push through.A ‘to moult’.
Other first position preverbs, probably related to locative preverbs in other Lezgic lan-
guages, have become opaque in Budugh, like ha- and ç’a- in ha-tar ‘to shake’ and ç’a-
qhu ‘to gnaw’, ç’u-ʔu ‘to suck’.
196. Budugh 3561

The second set of locative preverbs has no clear semantic values. The markers are:
-ç’a, -cA, -zA, -tA, -t’a, -t’t’a, in ʕu-t’o-nşu ‘to squeeze’, qu-ç’o-nxu ‘to press’, qu-co-rgu
‘to throw’, qu-co-rğu ‘to tuck up’, ha-zo-rtu ‘to let go’, u-za-q’al ‘to cry’, vo-t’o-nku ‘to
knead’, so-t’o-rʕu ‘to throw’, çe-t’e-rʕi ‘to scatter’, sa-t’t’a-rħar ‘to run’. Obviously these
verbs imply an energetic type of action. The root meaning ‘to pull’ takes a preverb -ç-
in the imperfective only: qi-ç-ħi ‘to smear, stroke’, ye-ç-ħi ‘to peel, flay’, e-ç-ħi ‘to take
off (coat)’, qe-ç-ħi ‘to extract, spin (wool)’.
In many verbs, one may suspect that a process of incorporation has taken place: xo-
su ‘to lay (eggs)’ (cf. kıs ‘chicken’ → kus-xud ‘egg’), k’u-su ‘to bite’, q’a-xuts’u ‘to
find’, etc., or reanalysis: cüneħ ‘thief’ → cü-nħü ‘to steal’.

4.3.2. Valence-changing derivation

Some concepts involving valence change of the (anti)causative type make use of supple-
tive pairs, like alq’al ‘to sit’ vs. osu ‘to seat’. But Budugh has a limited class of derived
anticausative verbs, and a fairly large proportion of causative verbs, all derived from
intransitive verbs.
A n t i c a u s a t i v e verbs are often inherited and derived from intransitives by adding
a suffix -aR in the imperfective: ʕanx-u ‘to hang, tr.’ → ʕanx-an ‘to hang, itr.’, çuroħ-u
‘to drag, tr.’ → çuraħ-ar ‘to drag, itr.’, sorğ-u ‘to break, tr.’ → sorğ-or ‘to break, itr.’.
Some detransitivized verbs have unpredictable semantics: ʕuç’onx-u ‘to press’ vs.
ʕuç’onx-on ‘to rush’ (cf. French se presser). This derivation, unlike its parallel in Kryz
(cf. Authier 2012), is not productive in Budugh, and is never used to express a passive
meaning.
C a u s a t i v e verbs are a young and productive class in Budugh, and are derived from
intransitives in a root-and-pattern manner, by dropping the intransitive suffix -aR and
switching the low back vowels of the stem to high front vowels: çağar ‘to go’ → çiği
‘to lead’, qurzar ‘to stand up’ → qürzü ‘to make sb. stand up’, sonk’on ‘to wake up, itr.’
→ sönk’ü ‘to wake up, tr.’, valq’al ‘to be twisted’ → velq’i ‘to twist’, arxar ‘to sleep’
→ erxi ‘to put to sleep’, etc. This formation is the result of the incorporation of an
imperfective auxiliary *ʔi ‘to do’ (cf. Kryz and Lezgian yi-). The meaning of causative
derivates is usually predictable, but some have drifted semantically to some extent, like
alsal ‘to return’ → elsi ‘to give back’, ʕunk’on ‘to shine’ → ʕük’ü ‘to show’, ħaraq’ar
‘to talk’ → k’ul ħarebq’ir ‘to negotiate (the price of) a house’, or çağar ‘to go’ → çiği
‘to lead’ in qevin çüğü A.take.PF F.go.CAUS ‘to take as a wife’. Some of these causative
forms are in widespread use, and form compounds and collocations like ceng çüğü battle
go.CAUS ‘to wage war’.

4.4. Adverbial derivation

Budugh possesses a number of adverbs which are probably cognate with nouns, verbs
or adjectives (for instance qe ‘today’ is related to yı-ğ ‘day’), but there is no native
derivation pattern, apart from the use of the instrumental case: faʕım ‘attention’ → faʕım-
cızın ‘attentively’, raʕbat-cızın ‘carefully’, guc-unızın ‘forcibly’, and frozen remnants of
the adlative case: k’ek’ ‘point’ → k’ik’-en ‘first’, yu ‘night’ → yü-cen ‘at night’.
3562 XVI. Word-formation in the individual European languages − Northeast Caucasian

The Azeri suffix -cA is found on very few adverbs formed on the basis of adjectives:
cidir ‘hidden’ → cidrice ‘stealthily’, ʕari-ce ‘kind-ly’, k’ev-ce ‘firm-ly’, laħki(-ce)
‘much’, mız ‘hungry’ → mız-ci or mız-mız-a’na (with reduplication) ‘out of hunger’.

5. Reduplication
Some names of small animals have a reduplicating structure: cibcib ‘baby bird’, paqh-
ranqha ‘centipede’, as well as dada ‘grandmother’ and baba ‘grandfather’, or dide
‘mother’.
A couple of familiar utensils or meals also show reduplication of a syllable: nünü
‘cradle’ (alongside ç’af ‘cradle box’ with less strongly affective connotation), cicim ‘large
rug’, ç’iç’ ‘pocket knife’, k’ak’al ‘round pebble’, xhixhi ‘porridge’, xutxut ‘cartilage’.
Budugh almost never uses the common Turkic model of noun reduplication with the
substitution of the first consonant C → m, but note the wordplay ʕagul-mogul çarğar get
lost-broom go ‘to go and get lost’ and kıda-mıda work ‘any trouble’ (slang).
There is no verbal reduplication as such, but some ideophonic coverbs in verbal com-
pounds show reduplicated patterns: gıldır-gıldır ʕaleki ‘to pour abundantly, with a gushing
noise’, xiške-xiške yıxhar ‘to be crushed’, deli-debriş yıxhar mad-dervish(?)-be ‘become
totally crazy’, t’ik’-ha-t’ik’ exçi drop-ha-drop-(to) flow ‘to drip’, t’öllö-t’öllö ʕalsal ?-?
wander ‘to roam about’.
Reduplication is most productively employed in a d v e r b i a l expressions repeating
an adjective: k’ibe-k’ibe small-small ‘slowly’, tanbal tanbal ‘lazily’, q’at’sın-bats’in
‘stark naked’, ʕari-ʕari yuʔu ‘to say gently’, sar-sar ‘one-by-one’, q’ad q’ad ‘two each’,
q’iç’-q’iç’ irħar ‘to look angrily’, sad gam sad gam ‘step by step’, mik’e-şibe little-?
‘more or less, sufficiently’, kiç’i-kiç’i-ce afraid-afraid-ADV ‘cautiously’, or an inflected
noun: san-a’-san-a’ ‘every year’, galan galan yıxhar ‘to hold sb. tight’ (cf. golu ‘neck’).
The adverb dıxda-dıxda early-early ‘often’ is a calque of Azeri tez-tez. Doubled imper-
fective converbs − a Turkic pattern borrowed by many languages of the region − are
sometimes entirely lexicalized: harat’ara-harat’ara uzalq’al shaking-shaking cry ‘to sob
loudly’.

Abbreviations
A “animate” (third) gender (this is HPL human plural
a convenient label for a class N neutral (fourth) gender
which nevertheless includes a (only inanimates)
fair number of non-animates) OBL oblique stem
AD adlocative SUB sublocative
IN inlocative SUBEL subelative
INEL inelative
196. Budugh 3563

Acknowledgements

Adigözel Haciyev provided and checked all the Budugh material used in this study,
while I (G. A.) am sole responsible for its interpretation; I am also very thankful to
Steven Kaye for mending my English, to Agnes Korn and Yura Lander for valuable
remarks, and to Murad Suleymanov for checking the Azeri data.

7. References
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2008a Participes et masdars en kryz: Une syntaxe mixte. Faits de Langues 31: 153–165.
Authier, Gilles
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Zakharov, Andrej A. Kibrik, Aleksandr A. Kibrik, Irina M. Kobozeva, Olga F. Krivnova,
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Authier, Gilles
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Authier, Gilles
2010 Azeri morphology in Kryz (East-Caucasian). Turkic Languages 14: 14–42.
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Valency, and Ergativity, 133–163. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
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Haspelmath, Martin
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Marle (eds.), Yearbook of Morphology 1995: 43–66. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Mejlanova, Uzejnat
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Talibov, Bukar
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Gilles Authier, Paris (France)

Adigözel Haciyev, Nerimanabad (Azerbaijan)