From spatial noun to addressee-oriented demonstrative

Abstract Khalkha Mongolian has recruited two new, addressee-oriented demonstratives from the spatial nouns naa - ‘close side of’ and caa - ‘remote side of’ with the attribute- or argument-referring suffix - d . With proximal naa-d , the addressee is close to and can sense the referent; with distal caa-d , the referent is somewhat distant from the addressee. In their demonstrative function, naa-d / caa-d usually combine with either the second person possessive clitic = čin or with a second person subject and the reflexive-possessive clitic = AA , so as to render orientation towards the addressee explicit (e.g., naa-d xüŋ=čin ‘the person on your remote side’), though these markers can be left out under certain circumstances. Distributionally, demonstrative naa-d / caa-d resemble the speaker-centered demonstratives en ‘this’ and ter ‘that’ rather than other spatial nouns such as dee-d ‘upper’. Among other spatial cases forms, the locatives naa-n / caa-n can express addressee-orientation, while allatives in -š(AA) cannot. Naa-d / caa-d also fulfill discourse-deictic anaphoric uses.