Predicate Nominals and Related Constructions in the Vakh Dialect of Khanty

The paper deals with predicate nominals and related constructions in the Vakh dialect of Khanty. They include nominal predicates (which typically express proper inclusion and equation), predicate adjectives, predicate locatives, existentials, possessive, comparative constructions, as well as predicate comitatives and abessives. These constructions tend to be similar grammatically in lacking a semantically rich lexical verb. The following elements can be used in these clauses: the copula wăs- ’be’, the copula wăl- ’be, live’, the existential negative predicate ӛntím neg.ex, the predicative suffix -iki prd, the possessive verb tăjá- ’have’ and a zero copula. The study was carried out on two diachronic layers and revealed the changes in the Vakh dialect of Khanty — a drift to the Russian models in some cases.