On the origin of 2nd person prefix # tV - in Trans-Himalayan languages
Résumé
Abstract Two 2nd person verbal indexation forms are reconstructed back to Proto-Trans-Himalayan (PTH): a suffix #- n(a) ( Bauman 1975 ; DeLancey 1989 , 2014 ; H. Sun 1983 , 1995 ; van Driem 1993 ; Watters 2002 ), and a prefix # tV - ( Watters 2002 ; Jacques 2012 ; DeLancey 2011a , 2014 ). 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 , 2014 : 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 & Siewierska 2011 ). 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 2011 : 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.