The Historical Development of the Verbal Suffix -l’el in Kolyma Yukaghir

A detailed observation of how the verbal suffix -l’el (traditionally described as the evidential or inferential mood marker) is used in various contexts in Kolyma Yukaghir folklore texts from the viewpoint of evidentiality reveals that there is considerable discrepancy between the grammatical descriptions of the language and the usage of the verbal suffix in actual texts. Moreover, folklore texts in Kolyma Yukaghir, recorded around one hundred years ago, show only a few occurrences of the verbal suffix in the texts on mythical or ancient events, which the storytellers could not witness. The author examines the possibility of historical change in the usage of the verbal suffix and proposes that the suffix historically developed its new usage of recollection. A sub-dialectical difference in the course of the historical development has also been suggested based on its comparison with Tundra Yukaghir and the Korkodon sub-dialect of Kolyma Yukaghir.