Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64511

As demonstrated by extant studies, the Khalkha Mongolian suffix -x can be attached to some case suffixes or the postposition xürtel 'up to, as far as,' and the words formed with this suffix can be used as nominals or adnominals. This article aims to review the previous works on this suffix, and to demonstrate the following four points. (i) -x can also be attached to -tal, one of the converb suffixes (a group of verbal conjugational suffixes that are employed to form adjunct clauses) as well as to case suffixes and the postposition xürtel. (ii) Although -tal has two meanings, namely, “until” and "after, as soon as" (e.g., gar-tal can express "until someone goes out" and "after someone has gone out"), -x can only be attached to the -tal with the meaning "until." (iii) It is pointed out in the literature that when a verb functions as the predicate of an adnominal clause, it must appear in a verbal-nominal form. In our observation, however, V-tal-x can also form adnominal clauses. (iv) Kullmann and Tserenpil (1996) classify -x as a "case-bound suffix," and Janhunen (2012) names it "marked nominative ending/case." However, given the fact provided in (i), (i.e., the fact that -x can also appear after the converb suffix -tal), these terms and analyses should be re-examined and revised.