Cases Denoting Path in Komi: Semantic, Dialectological and Historical Perspectives

This article examines the functions and use of Komi-Zyrian prolative cases. The theoretical background is rooted in cognitive linguistics, and the use of these cases in written Komi is studied with the methods of corpus linguistics. Our analysis shows that the two prolative cases have different distributions and functions, but there are also dialectal and grammatical factors that condition their use. Furthermore, we show that there are parallels between the distribution of these forms in different Permic languages and dialects. We contextualise these findings within Permic dialectology, and provide an analysis of how these forms are related and how they have developed in specific Komi subvarieties.