Revisiting the Tangut Directional Prefix ·jij 1

Abstract

Directional prefixes, prevalent in Tangut and modern Qiangic languages, play a crucial role in expressing tense-aspect-modality and spatial meanings. Tangut directional prefixes are classified as belonging to either perfective (Dir1) or optative (Dir2) paradigms, but polyfunctional prefixes have puzzled scholars. The prefix  ·jij1 -, traditionally viewed as optative, has been observed since Kepping (1985) to also express the durative aspect. Drawing evidence from Tangut internal sources, in particular from an under-explored indigenous text, The Ode on Monthly Pleasures, this paper proposes the existence of a Dir1 prefix ·jij1 -, potentially related to the yod unspecified directionals found in modern Gyalrongic. The proposed Dir1 prefix ·jij1 - is homophonous with the optative (Dir2) prefix ·jij1 - and would have served as the source for the grammaticalization of the durative  ·jij1 -. This work refines previous reconstructions of Tangut directional paradigms, and offers insights into the diachrony of tense-aspect-modality in Gyalrongic.