VS: query: Where are you going?

[Fabre Alain]

In Nivacle, a Mataco-Mataguayo language spoken in western Paraguay (Chaco), the guest or person coming is asked:
lh-n-am?
2S-cislocative-go
'(did) you came (here)?'
To which the person coming replies:
ja-n-am
1S-cislocative-go
'I came/come (here)'
Another option, with the same line of thought:
lh-nach-shi'na?
2S-come-around.here
'are you around here?'
The reply being:
ja-nach-shi'na
1S-come.around.here

Regards,
Alain Fabre
Tampere University of Technology
Tampere (Finland)
________________________________________
Lähettäjä: Discussion List for ALT [LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] käyttäjän David Gil [gil at EVA.MPG.DE] puolesta
Lähetetty: 2. kesäkuuta 2011 14:24
Vastaanottaja: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Aihe: query: Where are you going?

Dear all,

One of the most common greetings in many languages of mainland and
insular Southeast Asia is a phrase whose literal meaning is "Where are
you going?", eg. Thai /pai nai?/, Indonesian /mau ke mana?/  Crucially,
it is not necessarily meant to be taken literally, any more than the
English "How do you do?", and the most appropriate response will
typically be something vague and non-committal, such as "just walking"

I am interested in mapping the geographical distribution of the "Where
are you going?" greeting.  I would thus be grateful for information from
as many languages as possible, answering the simple question:

In language(s) that you are familiar with, is "Where are you going?" (or
an alternative "Where are you coming from?") used as a common greeting,
without necessarily being meant to be taken literally as an expression
of interest in the direction of the addressee's movements?

I am equally interested in negative data, asserting that your language
does not have such a usage, as I am in data of a positive nature.

In addition to confirming the presence of this greeting thoughout
mainland and insular Southeast Asia, I am particularly interested in
ascertaining the geographical boundaries of the greeting, to the west in
the Indian subcontinent, to the north in China and Northeast Asia, and
to the east and south, in New Guinea and Australia.  I am also
interested to find out whether it occurs in other parts of the world, or
whether it unique to Southeast Asia.  (A recent trip to Ethiopia
suggests that it might also be found there.)

Looking forward to your responses,

Thanks,

David

--
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/