The Grammatical Development of Directional Verbs in Black Tai

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Published: Aug 31, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14456/hasss.2018.21
Keywords:
Directional verbs Black Tai grammaticalization aspect

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Wichaya Bovonwiwat
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Somsonge Burusphat
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

Abstract

Certain directional verbs in Black Tai or Tai Dam have developed into many grammatical functions rather than merely verbs, like those in many other languages. This preliminary study aims to explain spatial and temporal meanings in Black Tai directional verbs and to illustrate the grammaticalization path of these verbs. The Black Tai data was collected by interviewing Black Tai native speakers in Thailand and Laos and reviewing Black Tai folklore texts. After that, the elicited data was analyzed along with these three types of theories: grammaticalization, aspectual, and situational.


The common directional verbs in Black Tai are classified into three contrastive pairs: /paj5/ ‘go’ and /ma:4/ ‘come’; /khɯn6/ ‘ascend’ and /loŋ4/ ‘descend’; /khaw6/ ‘enter,’ and /Ɂɔk3/ ‘go out.’ These directional words not only present the movement direction of a subject, but also note some aspectual meanings of a situation by means of the grammaticalization process over time. Spatial and temporal relations increase semantical and syntactic use of the directional verbs more extensively, from verbs to temporal markers. The directional verbs originally function as verbs at the pre-verbal position, and then are grammaticalized to aspect markers at the post-verbal position due to the influence of spatial and temporal relations.

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Volume 18, Number 2 (May - August), 2018
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