Demonstrative pronouns in Old Iranian languages: main types of usage and the reconstruction of the Proto-Iranian system

Artyom Badeev (School of Linguistics of the Higher School of Economics / Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow); badeev@iling-ran.ru)

Journal of Language Relationship, № 22/1-2, 2024 - p.75-105

Abstract: In this paper I discuss the use of demonstratives in Old Iranian languages. On the basis of the deictic semantics of demonstratives, the boundaries of suppletive paradigms are defined. For the first time, the correspondence of each paradigm to a particular type of deixis is established on Old Iranian data. Using this data, as well as data from other Iranian languages and its comparison with Old Indian, I present a systematic reconstruction of the Proto-Iranian system of demonstratives.

Keywords: Iranian languages, Old Iranian languages, Avestan language, Old Persian language, deixis, demonstratives, Proto-Iranian language

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