Strictly, isomorphism is a term in mathematics for an exact correspondence between both the elements of two sets and the relations defined by operations on these elements. It is used in linguistics, from the late 1940s, for a general principle by which the structuring of one level parallels or is made to parallel that of another. E.g. the relation of morpheme to allomorph was modeled on that of phoneme to allophone; a binary division of the syllable, into onset and rhyme, parallels that of the sentence into subject and predicate; semantic features, e.g. in componential analysis, parallel distinctive features in phonology.
Let’s analyze isomorphic and allomorphic features of the interrogative pronouns as to their qualitative character:
Isomorphic features of the interrogative pronouns as to their qualitative character. In both languages there are isomorphic features, because of the need of communication.
Firstly, in both languages, there is a pronoun that is used for asking person: who — kim.
The English interrogative pronoun who has the category of case:
Nom: who (Who is it?)
Gen: whose (Whose book is this?)
Accuse: whom (Whom are you waiting for?)
The uzbek demonstrative pronouns kim, nima have the categories of number, possession and case.
Number
Singular Plural
kim kimlar
Possession
Singular Plural
1st person: kimim, nimam kimlarimiz, nimalarimiz
2nd person: kiming, nimang kimlaringiz, nimalaringiz
3rd person: kimi, nimasi kimlari, nimalari
Case
Singular Plural
Nom. Kim, nima kimlar, nimalar
Gen. kimning, nimaning kimlarning, nimalarning
Accuse. Kimni, nimani kimlarni, nimalarni
Dat. Kimga, nimaga kimlarga, nimalarga
Loc. Kimda, nimada kimlarda, nimalarda
Abl. Kimdan, nimadan kimlardan, nimalardan
Secondly, the interrogative pronoun for asking things are what-nima, which-qaysi.
Thirdly, there is a genitive case form of the interrogative pronouns for asking possessiveness in both compared languages: whose — kimning.
Isomorphic features as to their quantitative features. There is not almost similarities as to the quantitative features of the interrogative pronouns.
Allomorphic features of the interrogative pronouns as to their qualitative character. For the beginning there are many dissimilarities in the languages. Because the Uzbek language is considered agglutinative language as to its structure. Contrasting, the English language is analytical language. This is the cause why the differences have in these languages. According to their qualitative character, the Uzbek pronoun kim in contrast to the English pronoun who can be used to inquire about person’s profession:
U kim bo’lib ishlaydi? – What is he? (what does he do?)
This differences may cause such errors as «Who is he?» (instead of «What is he?»).
As it is seen above there are 10 interrogative pronouns in the Modern English Language. Contrasting, Uzbek language has only 6 of them.
Another dissimilarity is seen in case formant of the Uzbek interrogative pronoun. «Whom» is an object form of the English interrogative pronoun «who» and comparing to the Uzbek language, there are kimni, kimga, kimda, kimdan which gives the same meaning with «whom». In the Uzbek language, the case formants are made with adding suffixes (-ni, -ga, -da, -dan) to the root.
In English, there are two common but contrasting ways of asking questions, one by which we ask for specific information, and another by which we only want a simple yes or no as an answer. In the former case, in English, for specific information, we make use of a set of function words, and all these words except «how» begin with Wh... These Wh.. words demand specific information. They cannot be answered by yes or no.
In Uzbek sentences, like the English Interrogative pronouns, the corresponding interrogative word doesn’t often come first. But, as for the rest of the structure, in Uzbek, the object is followed by a verb.
Kim javob beradi? Kim yordam beradi? Kim Andijonda yashaydi?
But: Siz kimga yordam bermoqchisiz? Ota-onangizdan qaysi biri nafaqada?
In English The Interrogative Adjective occurs before the subject and modifies it. It can be used as object also. But, in all cases, the Wh…. word comes first. Let us consider the following sentences:
- Which book was stolen?
- What misfortune has upset you?
- Whose father is a doctor?
- How many children are present?
Apart from the Wh questions, there is another kind Interrogative Sentences to which the answer is given by Yes or No. To make this kind of sentence, we place the first auxiliary verb before the subject in English and to express this we have to use «-mi» in Uzbek. For example, «Have you read the book?» gives the Uzbek transliteration — Siz kitobni o’qib chiqdingizmi? — you the book have read.
The addition of the suffix at the end of the word «-mi» in Uzbek transliteration is the result of the shifting of the auxiliary verb before the subject. Here, it is necessary to note that Uzbek has no corresponding word.
In addition to the above two cases of Interrogative Sentences, we also have another sort of question known as Tag Question. For Question Tags, we have affirmative question after negative statement and vice versa. The Tag Questions are not unique in English. We also have it in Uzbek. This type of tag question is used for the sake of confirmation or denial of any statement. In Uzbek, we frequently use the term «Shundaymi? Shunday emasmi?» This is similar to any kind of tag question in English. But, it is not a real question at all. Rather, through this sort of tag question, the speaker tries to find out whether he/she is in agreement with the listener.
English speaking people say the sentence «How do you do?» after an introduction. Originally it was an inquiry about other people's health. The expression is, from a structural point of view, an Interrogative. But now it is merely a formal greeting. But, we the Uzbek speaking people do not have any such expression but we say «Yaxshimisiz(?)» or «Assalomu alaykum» which the listener doesn’t need to give the full answer.
So, language learners should be aware of the allomorphic and isomorphic features of the English and Uzbek pronouns. It gives a good opportunity for learning the language easy by comparing.
References:
- Якубова Х. Залоги в узбекском языке в сопоставлении с залогами русского языка. АКД, Т., 1954. 11 с.
- Омельянович В. Н. К вопросу о выражении залоговых значений в современном бирманском языке. Проблемы теории грамматического залога. — Ленинград, Наука, 1978, С. 258–264.
