Abstract
This paper is an attempt to discover cognates for the Ryukyu locative-directive case suffixes gari/*ri/*ra and gati/*ti in Old Japanese, Old Korean, Manchu-Tungus, Mongolian, and Old Turkic.
The Ryukyu locative-directive case suffixes gari/*ri/ra are compared to the fossilized Old Japanese directive case suffixes gari, dative-locative *ri/*ra; Old Korean lative case suffix *ryu, directive case suffix *ri; Ma-Tg directive case suffix ri; Mongolian directive case suffix ru;and Old Turkic locative-directive case suffixes ru/ra/ry, directive case suffix gärü.
The other Ryukyu directive case suffixes gati/ti are compared with the fossilized Old Japanese directive case suffix *ti, the Manchu-Tungus directive *ti, the fossilized Mongolian directive *ti, and the Old Turkic dative-locative *ti.
All these pieces of evidence lead us to the conclusion that the Ryukyu locative-directive case suffixes and directive case suffixes are of Altaic origin.
