First person objects, antipassives, and the political history of the Southern Kirant

Abstract

Abstract Several Kiranti languages (Tibeto-Burman, Nepal) from different genealogical sub-groups show multiple parallel developments from antipassive constructions with generic, non-specific objects into agreement markers registering first person objects. The developments span a relatively contiguous geographical area in the southernmost part of the family. We explain the developments by contact with politeness strategies of speaker-effacement in Maithili (Indo-Aryan) formal style, with which southern Kiranti elites have been in intense contact in about the same time frame as can be assumed for the emergence of the antipassive-based agreement forms. These findings illustrate a particularly tight interaction between natural (functional) strategies of politeness with specific historical contingencies.