Языки и литературы тюркских народов

30 ŋ indicates the subject in dual (including the speaker plus the hearer) while that with the suffix -(i)ŋ is used only when the number of Agent is more than two. The problem to be considered is that this dual/plu- ral distinction is found only in Sakha hortative among the Sakha ver- bal inflectiona system. Table 1. Two sets of forms of Sakha Hortative Dual Plural bar- ‘to go’ bar- ɯ ax ‘let us go’ bar- ɯ a ʁ - ɯ ŋ ‘let us go’ kepsee- ‘to tell’ kepsie-x ‘let us tell’ kepsie- ʁ - iŋ ‘let us tell’ The suffix -(i)ŋ appears also in greetings and imperatives. First, Sakha uses different forms for greetings due to the number of the greetee(s) (one(s) who is greeted): there are doroobo ‘hello’ and bah ɯɯ ba ‘thanks’ to a single person, whereas doroobo - lor - uŋ ‘hello’ and bah ɯɯ ba - lar - ɯ ŋ ‘thanks’, forms with the suffix -(i)ŋ, are used to address a group of multiple people. Secondly Sakha imperative has different forms for singular and plural. Plural forms are composed of the corresponding singular form plus the suffix -(i)ŋ (Table 2). Table 2 . Singular and Plural forms of Sakha Imperative Present Positive Present Negative Future Positive Future Negative bar ‘to go’: 2sg bar bar- ɯ ma bar-aar bar- ɯ m-aar bar ‘to go’: 2pl bar- ɯ ŋ bar- ɯ ma-ŋ bar-aar- ɯ ŋ bar- ɯ m-aar- ɯ ŋ kepsee - ‘to tell’: 2sg kepsee kepsee-me kepsee-r kepsee-m-eer kepsee - ‘to tell’: 2pl kepsee-ŋ kepsee-me-ŋ kepsee-r-iŋ kepsee-m- eer-iŋ Previous analyses regard that the presence or absence of the suffix -(i)ŋ indicates the dual/plural distinction in hortative and the singular/ plural in imperative, because they pay attention only to the number of Agent. This results in an imbalance system, i.e., dual number only in hortative. The author proposes that Sakha suffix -(i)ŋ is sensitive to the