Chapter 11. Amdo Altaic directives and comparatives based on the verb ‘to see’

The Amdo or Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund consists of Mongolic and Turkic languages, as well as of many varieties of Amdo Tibetan and Northwestern Mandarin. This paper discusses the directive/allative markers and the comparative markers based on verbs of vision, as found in most of the Shirongol Mongolic languages and in the Turkic language Salar, as well as in Amdo Tibetan and aberrant varieties of Mandarin like Wutun. Comparable developments seem to be absent in Dongxiang, Eastern Yugur and Western Yugur. The forms found in the Mongolic and Turkic languages of Amdo will be compared with similar markers in Central Turkic languages, which developed them independently on the basis of different verbs.

• Affiliations: 1: Göttingen University