Diachrony and Polysemy of the Japonic Ablative

Abstract The goal of this paper is to consider the spatial polysemy patterns of the Japonic ablative *-kara from diachronic and typological perspectives. The cognates of the ablative *-kara are present in all known modern Japonic topolects. I discuss the Proto-Japonic origins of *-kara as the modifier *-a-form of the verb *(a)karu ‘to leave, to separate’. An analysis of the polysemy of descendants of *-kara in Old Japanese and modern Japonic languages shows that the most widespread pattern is that of Source and Trajectory, or the syncretism of ablative and perlative, while Kyushu-Ryukyuan lects also use *-kara to encode motion instrumental (Vehicle), and the Tottori topolect displays an ablative-locative syncretism. I argue that the diachronic order of polysemy development has been Source > Trajectory > Vehicle. Moreover, the Japonic ablative is in an interplay with spatial uses of the accusative, resulting in differential Source and differential Trajectory marking. In the case of the former, the accusative encoding of Source in itive, [+volitional] events is labeled as dissociative, whereas for the latter, the choice of ablative or accusative relies on the distinction between, respectively, prolative and perlative.