From spatial noun to addressee-oriented demonstrative

Khalkha Mongolian has recruited two new, addressee-oriented demonstratives from the spatial nouns naa- ‘close side of’ and caa- ‘remote side of’ with the attribute- or argument-referring suffix -d. With proximal naa-d, the addressee is close to and can sense the referent; with distal caa-d, the referent is somewhat distant from the addressee. In their demonstrative function, naa-d/caa-d usually combine with either the second person possessive clitic =čin or with a second person subject and the reflexive-possessive clitic =AA, so as to render orientation towards the addressee explicit (e.g., naa-d xüŋ=čin ‘the person on your remote side’), though these markers can be left out under certain circumstances. Distributionally, demonstrative naa-d/caa-d resemble the speaker-centered demonstratives en ‘this’ and ter ‘that’ rather than other spatial nouns such as dee-d ‘upper’. Among other spatial cases forms, the locatives naa-n/caa-n can express addressee-orientation, while allatives in -š(AA) cannot. Naa-d/caa-d also fulfill discourse-deictic anaphoric uses.