The origin of the reflexive prefix in Rgyalrong languages

International audience In the Sino-Tibetan family, reflexivity is either not expressed on the verb as in Chinese or Tibetan or expressed by means of a ‘middle' marker as in Dulong or Kiranti languages. Among the morphologically rich languages of this family, only Rgyalrong languages have distin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jacques, Guillaume
Other Authors: Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale (CRLAO), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2010
Subjects:
Rgyalrong
Japhug
reflexive
reciprocal
Tangut
Yukaghir
grammaticalization
[SHS.LANGUE]Humanities and Social Sciences/Linguistics
Online Access:https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00531157
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00531157/document
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00531157/file/Rgyalrong-reflexive.pdf
Description
Summary:International audience In the Sino-Tibetan family, reflexivity is either not expressed on the verb as in Chinese or Tibetan or expressed by means of a ‘middle' marker as in Dulong or Kiranti languages. Among the morphologically rich languages of this family, only Rgyalrong languages have distinct and unambiguous reflexive and reciprocal markers on the verb. This paper shows that the reflexive prefix in Rgyalrong languages has two possible origins. It could come from a fusion of the third person singular marker and the root meaning ‘self' or alternatively come from the free third person pronoun. Both hypotheses are compatible with our understanding of Rgyalrong historical phonology.

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