A semantic study of deictic auxiliaries in Burmese

Abstract

The grammaticalization of motion verbs into deictic auxiliaries is a common phenomenon in Tibeto-Burman languages. DeLancey (1985) notes that this is a cyclic process, the directive category being regularly reinvented in the Tibeto-Burman languages, and almost as regularly lost again. This paper will explicate the semantics of two sets of deictic auxiliaries in Burmese. The first set comprises swa 1 which is related to the verb 'go', and la, which is related to the verb 'come'. The second set comprises lok, related to the verb 'follow, accompany', and khcii, which is of uncertain origin. Burmese allows verbs to be freely concatenated and this has led to an extensive system of versatile verbs (cf. Matisoff 1969; Smeall 1975) that can be classified according to varying degrees of grammaticalization. The degree of grammaticalization is largely determined by the semantics of the interaction between the auxiliary and the main verb. In the case of deictic auxiliaries like la and swd, which are synchronically attested as main verbs, the degree to which they are metaphorically extended depends on the semantics of their interaction with various categories of verbs. This synchronic continuum in the degree of grammaticalization is due to the semantic stability of their meanings as main verbs.