A Special Case Marking System in the Sinitic Languages of Northwest China

This paper describes a special case marking system in the Sinitic languages of Northwest China, by examining the materials from fieldwork and literature. This marking system represents a nominative-accusative system, in which A(gent) and S(ubject) are zero-marked while P(atient) is marked by the accusative marker. It is special in the sense that (1) it is neither the same as the nominative-accusative system in the Altaic languages nor akin to the ergative-absolutive system in Tibetan, let alone Mandarin Chinese, in which case markers are absent; and (2) the dative-accusative syncretism is not seen in the nearby Tibetan and Altaic languages. This paper points out that Hezhou is a district in Northwest China in which many languages have long been in contact with each other, creating a linguistic area. The special case marking system discussed in this paper is the outcome of the language contact in the very linguistic area.

摘要:

本文利用田野调查和已有文献材料，通过跨语言比较，详细描述中国西北地区汉语方言中存在的一种特殊格系统。这种格标记系统大体上是主宾格系统，即及物句和不及物句的施事零标记，及物句的受事加宾格标记。该格标记系统的特殊之处在于：（1）不同于该地区的藏语（作通格）、阿尔泰语（主宾格，但领有者和感受者上不加标记）和汉语（没有格标记），是一种混合的状态；（2）宾格和与格标记同音，也不见于周边的藏语和阿尔泰语。文章指出古河州地区是我国西北地区特定的一个语言区域，多种语言在该地区发生接触，形成了一些特定的区域特征，这种特殊的格标记系统正是语言接触的产物。