[Lingtyp] Locative-comitative homophony

[Yi-Yang Cheng]

 Dear colleagues,

I am working with a colleague of mine on Matu'uwal (Mayrinax Atayal), a
Formosan language showing a lot of case homophony. When looking at spatial
locatives, we noticed an interesting case of homophony where markers that
indicate *location* are formally identical to what can be analyzed as
*comitatives*.

This is specifically seen in the markers *ki (proper noun)* and *cku
(referential common noun)*. In the following sentences, they indicate
participants construed as goals/recipients. To save space, I will not
include more examples, but the two markers can indicate location and source
as well.

   - *Muway kuing cu gaghap ki Hayung*. 'I gave some seeds *to Hayung.*'
   - *Pabuway kuing cu gaghap cku ulaqi' hani*. 'I will give some seeds *to
   this child*.'

The two markers can also be used to indicate accompaniment, but this is
possible only when the agent/actor is a first-person plural pronoun. Notice
that the proper noun vs. common noun distinction is maintained, although
the latter allows still another marker *kinku* as well. (It looks like
*kinku* only has the comitative function. It is still unclear whether there
is any semantic or functional difference between *kinku* and *cku*, though.)

   - *Mitaal cami ki Lawsing cu sinku'*. 'We checked on the hunting traps *with
   Lawsing*.' (We = me and Lawsing)
   - *Maglu cami cku/kinku xuil musa' i ragiyax*. 'We went into the
forest *with
   the dog*.' (We = me and the dog)

We have been wondering whether we should posit two separate case categories
here --- spatial locative vs. comitative --- and were wondering if anyone
can offer us some suggestions or directions.

Is it common for spatial locatives and comitatives to be formally
identical? Is this an unusual case of case homophony?

Also, if anyone can recommend any readings pertaining to whether a morpheme
should be analyzed as a case marker instead of a preposition, it would be
very helpful as well!

Thank you all very much in advance for this!

Best regards,
Yi-Yang


-- 
Yi-Yang Cheng (he/him)
Ph.D. Candidate in Linguistics | University of California, Santa Barbara
Visiting Scholar | Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University
Graduate Student Affiliate | Center for Taiwan Studies, UC Santa Barbara
http://cheng-yiyang.org
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