Abstract
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE DIRECTIVE CASE IN TURKIC
This paper investigates the origin of suffixes in Turkic languages with forms similar to -?aru ~ -gärü and -ra ~ -rä, -ru, -rü, -r? ~ -ri, referred to in grammars as markers of a “directive case”. There has been considerable uncertainty about historical development of these suffixes as case markers, leading to a number of attempts to reconstruct their original form and function in both Proto-Turkic and Proto-Altaic, all of which have proven inconclusive. This study examines the problem from a new perspective. It begins with a reassessment of attempts at reconstruction, considering the various benefits and shortcomings of each approach. Then, based on morphological and syntactic data from Old-Turkic, it offers a reconstruction of the original form and function of the directive case in pre-Old Turkic.
Keywords
Turkic languages, Old Turkic, directive case, historical linguistics, morphosyntactic change
