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Article published In: Proper Names:
Edited by Chia-Jung Pan and Yang Huang
[Asian Languages and Linguistics 6:1] 2025
► pp. 34–62

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The grammar of proper names in Classical Tibetan

ORCiD logo with link | Sun Yat-sen University
Published online: 19 August 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/alal.25009.bi
Abstract
Classical Tibetan exhibits extensive use of proper names, predominantly referencing religious/historical figures and geographical locations. At the noun phrase level, honorific markers demonstrate fixed postpositional placement when modifying proper names, contrasting with their prefixal usage with common nouns. Demonstratives co-occurring with proper names serve multiple functions: beyond their classificatory and emotive roles, demonstratives in Asian languages such as CT also have the functions of achieving rhythmic regularity and emphasizing spatial distance indication, which have not been addressed in previous typological studies. Coordinative strategies for proper names encompass four structural types: asyndeton, monosyndeton, polysyndeton, and summary conjunction. Appositional constructions reveal information-structure governed ordering, wherein common nouns typically precede proper names. However, when common nouns are placed postpositively, it forms an appellation. Syntactically, proper names in CT can serve various argument roles, and both personal names and place names can occupy a wide range of argument positions. When relative clauses modify proper names, there are both syntactic gap and gapless types, aligning with the General Noun-Modifying Clause Construction (GNMCC) observed pan-Asiatically, thereby reflecting information-packaging strategies divergent from Indo-European models. Passivization permits proper name subjects through syntactic displacement, though patient-positioned personal names display non-compulsory agent animacy hierarchy effects modulated by pragmatic constraints. Lexically marked naming expressions contrast with syntactically flexible vocative forms, demonstrating morphosyntactic demarcation between nomination and address protocols.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1An overview of CT and its nominal categories
    • 1.2Corpus data of this paper
  • 2.An outline of proper names in CT
  • 3.Proper names of CT in noun phrase
    • 3.1Honorific marker
    • 3.2Demonstrative
    • 3.3Coordination
    • 3.4Apposition and appellation
  • 4.Proper names of CT in clause
    • 4.1Proper names in different argument position
    • 4.2Proper names in relative clause
    • 4.3Proper names in passive construction
    • 4.4Two different types of naming expressions
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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