The spontaneous-autobenefactive prefix in Japhug Rgyalrong

Abstract

This paper documents the morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the autobenefactive-spontaneous prefix nɯ-. It describes the regular and irregular morphological and morphophonological alternations displayed by this prefix, as well as its three main semantic functions, namely spontaneous, autobenefactive and permansive. Finally, it discusses the historical relationship of the autobenefactive prefix with other derivations, in particular the vertitive nɯ- and the anticausative prenasalization.