Article published In: Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 44:2 (2021) ► pp.226–263
On the origin of 2nd person prefix #tV- in Trans-Himalayan languages
Published online: 23 November 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.20004.pon
https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.20004.pon
Abstract
Two 2nd person verbal indexation forms are reconstructed back to Proto-Trans-Himalayan (PTH): a suffix #-n(a) (Bauman, James. 1975. Pronouns and pronominal morphology in Tibeto-Burman. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley dissertation.; DeLancey, Scott. 1989. Verb agreement in Proto-Tibeto-Burman. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 521. 315–333. , . 2014. Second person verb forms in Tibeto-Burman. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 37(1). 3–33. ; Sun, Hongkai (孙宏开). 1983. Woguo Zang-Mianyu dongci de rencheng fanchou (我国藏缅语动词的人称范畴) (The personal category of verbs in Tibeto-Burman languages of China). Minzu Yuwen (民族语文) 21. 17–29., . 1995. A further discussion on verb agreement in Tibeto-Burman languages. In Yoshio Nishi, James Matisoff & Yasuhiko Nagano (eds.), New horizons in Tibeto-Burman morphosyntax, Vol. 411, 17–29. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.; van Driem, George. 1993. The Proto-Tibeto-Burman verbal agreement system. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies LVI(2). 292–334. ; Watters, David E. 2002. A grammar of Kham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ), and a prefix #tV- (Watters, David E. 2002. A grammar of Kham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; . 2012. Agreement morphology: the case of rGyalrongic and Kiranti. Language and Linguistics 13(1). 83–116.; . 2011a. Notes on verb agreement prefixes in Tibeto-Burman. Himalayan Linguistics Journal 10(1). 1–29., . 2014. Second person verb forms in Tibeto-Burman. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 37(1). 3–33. ). While #-n(a) is in paradigmatic distribution with other suffixal forms, the prefixal position of #tV-raises the question of its functional origin.
DeLancey (. 2011a. Notes on verb agreement prefixes in Tibeto-Burman. Himalayan Linguistics Journal 10(1). 1–29., . 2014. Second person verb forms in Tibeto-Burman. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 37(1). 3–33. : 23) suggests hypothetically that #tV- finds its origin either in a non-finite nominalization or in an irrealis nominalization, “ideal for an impersonal 2nd person use: ‘One might [speak]’ rather than ‘You will [speak].’”
Through the comparison of cognate tV- possessive and tV- nominalizer prefixes found in rGyalrongic, Kuki-Naga (Ao), and Sinitic, I propose that 2nd person #tV- can be traced back to a nominal possessive modifier such as one’s or someone’s: a man-type of R-impersonals (Malchukov, Andrej & Anna Siewierska. 2011. Impersonal constructions: A cross-linguistic perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ). Spreading to verbs, #tV- was used as a nominalizer indexing the notional S or A argument. With nouns and verbs alike, the referent of the possessor, whether 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, was specific (Siewierska, Anna. 2011. Overlap and complementarity in reference impersonals. Man-constructions vs. third person plural–impersonals in the languages of Europe. In Andrej Malchukov & Anna Siewierska (eds), Impersonal constructions: A cross-linguistic perspective, 57–89. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. : 62), accessible in discourse, anaphorically or deictically, regardless of the presence of a coreferential overt noun-phrase. The prefix #tV- started to be used in particular to address 2nd person indirectly, a development likely triggered by pragmatic motivations, i.e. politeness, before being reanalyzed as a 2nd person indexation marker.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Cognate tV- possessive in rGyalrongic, Mongsen Ao, and old Chinese
- 2.1Cognate tV- possessive in rGyalrongic, Mongsen Ao, and old Chinese – in citation form
- 2.2Possessive markers in Japhug and Mongsen Ao – in discourse
- 2.3Cognate tV- possessive in discourse – beyond inalienability
- 3.Cognate tV- nominalization in rGyalrongic and Mongsen Ao
- 3.1Cognate tV- in attributive predication in rGyalrongic and Mongsen Ao
- 3.2Cognate tV- in action nominalization in rGyalrongic and Mongsen Ao
- 4.From specific R-impersonal possessive to 2nd person indexation via nominalization
- 5.Conclusion
- Sources for language data
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
References
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