Functional development of directional prefixes in nDrapa and rGyalrong

Abstract

This study examines the functional development of directional prefixes in two varieties of Qiangic languages of the Tibeto-Burman subfamily: Mätro nDrapa and Bola Eastern rGyalrong (Situ). While the directional prefixes of both languages primarily function as directive markers, they are further grammaticalized to more abstract functions. First, we will examine the morphological characteristics of both languages' directional prefixes. Second, we will examine their functions. Both languages show two dimensions of functional development: [1] semantic expansion of each directional marker and [2] semantic abstraction of the entire set of directional markers. Both languages show a significant contrast in the second dimension of grammaticalization: The obligatory marking of the simple past is only found in rGyalrong, whereas the clear marking of telicity is only found in nDrapa, although both languages' directional prefixes have functions of imperatives, changes of state, and perfectives. Based on these facts and using an aspectual notion of transition, we propose a hypothesis for the stages of functional abstraction occurring in the process of grammaticalization: [I] directional prefixes that indicate a transition between places, that is, direction of motion; [II] directional prefixes that indicate a certain part of aspectual/modal transitions such as the imperative, a change of state, and the perfective; [III] directional prefixes that indicate telicity, that is, a more general aspectual transition. The change from the perfective to the past may occur in each language in Stage II. According to this scale, nDrapa is in Stage III, even though the function of indicating the past is not fully developed, while rGyalrong is in Stage II.