title_body: Is it attested for noun classifiers to be coopted for directionality? A noun classifier marks on the verb some information about the form of one of its arguments. For example, Atili has a handful of &quot;stationary&quot; classifiers that produce semantic distinctions:
  Emanyo bu-vahkin-us azven&lt;k&gt;o.
  Emanyo ball-cook-P/3;PFV cow&lt;3&gt;
  Emanyo cooked the meatball.
  
  vs
  Emanyo mal-vahkin-us azven&lt;k&gt;o.
  Emanyo board-cook-P/3;PFV cow&lt;3&gt;
  Emanyo cooked the brisket.
  
  Atili also has &quot;motile&quot; classifiers that indicate manner of motion:
  Yeredol many-az-a ranhal&lt;k&gt;o la.
  Yeredol run-go-P;IPFV beach&lt;3&gt; to
  Yeredol runs to the beach.
  
  vs
  Yeredol ib-az-a ranhal&lt;k&gt;o la.
  Yeredol climb-go-P;IPFV beach&lt;3&gt; to.
  Yeredol climbs (down) to the beach.
  
  Is it attested for a language to use a similar system for encoding whether motion is towards or away from the speaker, as in the following hypothetical examples?
  Yeredol ko-az-a ranhal&lt;k&gt;o la.
  Yeredol go-go-P;IPFV beach&lt;3&gt; to
  Yeredol goes (away) to the beach.
  
  vs
  Yeredol kom-az-a ranhal&lt;k&gt;o la.
  Yeredol come-go-P;IPFV beach&lt;3&gt; to
  Yeredol comes to the beach.
upvoted_answer: Such a system is indeed attested! And not only that, it’s actually surprisingly common. Usually the category is called andative and venitive, for ‘going’ and ‘coming’ respectively (though I prefer ‘translocative’ and ‘cislocative’). Here’s an example from Komnzo (Döhler 2018):
  
  Yfathwroth.
  They hold him away.
  y-          fath     -wr -o   -th
  3SG.MASC.α- hold.EXT -ND -AND -2|3NSG
  
  
  And one from Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec (Oto-Manguean, Anderson 2017):
  
  Rata rsily rityug Lia Petr gyia.
  Every morning Petra goes and cuts flowers.
  rata  rsily   r-  i-  tyug Lia  Petr  gyia
  every morning HAB-AND-cut  Miss Petra flowers
  
  
  Many languages have even more elaborate systems, distinguishing many different directions beyond just ‘coming’ and ‘going’. For instance, Yagua distinguishes ‘upriver’ and ‘downriver’ directions (Payne 1997):
  
  Sąąnaa suutiimuníí.
  Wash him/her downriver.
  sąąna -a   suuti -imu -níí
  2DL   -IRR wash  -DR  -3SG
  
  
  While Southern Pomo has an exceedingly large array of around 15 directional suffixes, which may be applied to verbs of motion (Walker 2013):
  
  ʔapʰ꞉alméčʼin
  climb down from above
  ʔapʰː -alamečʼ -Vn
  carry -DIR     -SG.IMP