Defining Pronouns “һәр” and “each” as markers of distributivity in Tatar and English

Abstract

The study aims to identify common and specific features of expressing distributivity using the defining pronouns “each” and “һәр” in the English and Tatar languages. The article presents a comparative analysis of the semantics and functioning of these defining pronouns based on the specified languages. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that, for the first time, a comparative study of the distributive potential of these units was conducted using material from structurally different languages with the involvement of corpus data. Within the framework of the semantic analysis of the pronouns “һәр” and “each”, the main models of their functioning as markers of distributive meaning were identified and systematized. The results of the study establish that while sharing a basic function, these pronouns demonstrate significant differences in the grammatical formalization of distributivity. In the Tatar language, distributivity is expressed synthetically through the interaction of “һәр” with the case system and possessive affixes, whereas in English, “each” realizes distributive meaning primarily analytically, relying on prepositions and other contextual intensifiers. At the same time, universal quantitative-distributive models and verbs with distributive semantics are identified in both languages.

Research materials

1. ПК ТЯ − Письменный корпус татарского языка. https://search.corpus.tatar/ru
2. ТС ТЯ − Толковый словарь татарского языка. https://suzlek.antat.ru/indexR.php
3. Cambridge Dictionary − Кембриджский словарь английского языка. https://dictionary.cambridge.org
4. COCA − Корпус современного американского английского языка. https://www.english-corpora.org/coca
5. Collins Dictionary − Толковый словарь английского языка. https://www.collinsdictionary.com

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Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: March 11, 2026.
• Published: April 29, 2026.

Keywords

• дистрибутивность
• определительные местоимения
• татарский язык
• английский язык
• сопоставительная лингвистика
• distributivity
• defining pronouns
• Tatar language
• English language
• comparative linguistics

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