Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/tV-

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *tV- (Pons, 2021)

The indefinite possessor prefix is only transparent in East rGyalrongic and Ao, but fossilized in certain Tibetan, West rGyalrongic, and Old Chinese words. In Tibetan, the prefix varies between d- and g- depending on the place of articulation of the following consonant.

Pons believes that the nominalizer and second-person-marking functions of this prefix can be derived from the indefinite possessor function.^[1] The verbal nominalizer would be derived from a novel application of the indefinite possessive to denote a contextually understood argument of the verb. Such indirect-argument constructions would come to also be used for referring to second-person arguments for pragmatic reasons, leading to *tə- also becoming a second-person marker.

Pons also believes that the association of the indefinite possessive with inalienability was a secondary development.

*tV-

1. Indefinite possessor prefix; obligatory on inalienably possessed nouns.
2. Nominalizer of verbs.
3. Indexes a second-person argument on a verb.

For languages where the prefix only leaves fossilized traces, a list of such fossil forms is given.

• Chinese: 妐 (OC /*t-qoŋ/, “father-in-law”), 肘 (OC /*t-[k]<r>uʔ/, “elbow”), 齒 / 齿 (OC /*t-[k]ʰə(ŋ)ʔ/, “tooth”), 喙 (OC /*t-l̥o[rʔ]-s/, “snout”)
• Bodish
  • Tibetic
    • Tibetan: དམྱིག (dmyig, “eye”), དཔུང (dpung, “shoulder, upper arm”), དཔྱི (dpyi, “hip bone”), གདོང (gdong, “face”), དབུ (dbu, “head”)
• rGyalrongic
  • East rGyalrongic
    • Japhug: tɯ-
    • Situ: tə-
• Central Naga
  • Ao: te-