Article

Name: The comparative marker -DAl in Buryat: The “extraordinary adventures” of a small particle

Authors: Elena K. Skribnik, Nadezhda B. Darzhaeva

Ludwig Maximilian University, München, Germany; Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

This paper investigates the marker -DAl in the Buryat language, which has been variously interpreted in Mongolic studies as a comparative suffix/particle or as a fusion of the dative-locative suffix -DA and the focus particle le/l. Based on a corpus-driven analysis, the study demonstrates that both forms coexist in modern Buryat, representing distinct stages of a reanalysis and grammaticalization process (moving from “less grammatical” to “more grammatical” status). The evolutionary trajectory is reconstructed as follows: NP-DA adli (‛similar to NP’) > NP-DA-l adli (‛so similar to NP’ / ‛exactly like NP’) > NP-DAl (‛like NP’). This transition is accompanied by a semantic shift from equative to metaphorical comparison. Furthermore, the study explores how various morpheme combinations involving -DAl have achieved independent grammatical status. For event comparison, -DAl attaches to participial predicates via the nominalizer jüüme(n) (‛the thing that’), forming the postposition yüüme(n)del (‛as if’). When combined with the past participle -hAn, it creates the comparative “quasi-converb” -hAndAl. Specifically, the form gehendel (derived from the citation verb ge-) has grammaticalized into a conjunction meaning ‛as if saying’. This conjunction allows the speaker to interpret the motivations of others by framing them as internal speech. The article concludes that the “adventures” of -DAl. highlight the dynamic nature of Buryat morphology and its capacity for complex functional expansion.

Keywords: Buryat language, morphology, comparative constructions, grammaticalization, comparative markers, nominalizer, focus particle, an equative-similative comparison, metaphorical comparison

Bibliography:

Cheremisov K. M. Buryatsko-russkiy slovar’ [Buryat-Russian vocabulary] Moscow, Sov. entsikl., 1973, 803 p.

Evans N. Insubordination and its uses. In Finiteness: theoretical and empirical foundations. Nikolaeva I. (Ed.). Oxford, Oxford Uni. Press, 2007, pp. 366–431.

Grammatika buryatskogo yazyka: Fonetika i morfologiya [Buryat grammar. Phonetics and morphology]. Moscow, Vost. lit., 1962, 336 p.

Grammatika buryatskogo yazyka: Sintaksis [Buryat grammar. Syntax]. Moscow, Vost. lit., 1962, 317 p.

Heine B., Kuteva T. World lexicon of grammaticalization. Cambridge, Cambridge Uni. Press, 2002, 387 p.

Janhunen Juha A. Mongolian. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, Philadelphia, 2012, 320 p. (London Oriental and African Language Library, 19)

Nevskaya I. Evidentials, miratives and indirectives in Shor. In Scholarly depth and accuracy: a festschrift to Lars Johanson. Demir Nurettin and Fikret Turan (Eds.). Ankara, Grafiker, 2002, pp. 307–23.

Shagdarov L. D., Cheremisov K. M. Buryatsko-russkiy slovar’: V 2 t. [Buryat-Russian dictionary: In 2 vols.]. Ulan-Ude, Resp. tip., 2006, vol. 1: A–N, 636 p.

Skribnik E. K., Darzhaeva N. B. Buryatskie “odnokratnoe” i “postoyannoe” prichastiya v tipologicheskoy perspektive [Buryat “semelfactive” and “constant” participles in typological perspective]. Voprosy Jazykoznanija [Topics in the study of language]. 2022, no. 3, pp. 132–154.

Skribnik E. K., Darzhaeva N. B. Buryatskie ekvativno-similyativnye konstruktsii so skazuemym adli ‘pokhozhiy; takoy zhe’ [Buryat equative-similative constructions with the predicate adli ‘similar, same’]. Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal [Siberian Journal of Philology]. 2024, no. 3, pp. 63–79.

Skribnik E. K., Darzhaeva N. B. Grammatika buryatskogo yazyka. Sintaksis slozhnogo (polipredikativnogo) predlozheniya [Buryat grammar. Syntax of complex (polypredicative) sentences]. Ulan-Ude, 2016, vol. 1, 315 p.

Tybykova A. T. Issledovaniya po sintaksisu altayskogo yazyka: Prostoe predlozhenie [Studies on syntax of Altai language: Simple sentence]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1991, 224 p.

Tsydypov Ts.-Zh. Ts. Analiticheskie konstruktsii v buryatskom yazyke [Analytical constructions in the Buryat language]. Ulan-Ude, 1972, 298 p.

Ubryatova E. I. Issledovaniya po sintaksisu yakutskogo yazyka. Slozhnoe predlozhenie [Studies on syntax of Yakut language. Complex sentence]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1976, 257 p.