Time in Khitan
Abstract
Khitan was the language of the homonymous people who founded the Chinese Liao dynasty. It is a Para-Mongolic language, mainly attested by sources in Khitan Small Script and Khitan Large Script. Most verbal suffixes identified so far are inflectional suffixes marking finite predicate forms, participles, and converbs. The aspecto-temporal values of inflectional suffixes are underexplored. So far, only generic and tentative labels, like past and perfective, were given. In my paper, I will share some thoughts on methodology, and then focus on selected critical issues concerning tense in Khitan.
Submitted: March 4, 2024 | Accepted: Aug. 15, 2024 | Published Feb. 20, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Para-Mongolic • Verb • Khitan • Tense • Aspect
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Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-913-9/003