Pan-Sinitic object markers: morphology and syntax.
Résumé
In Chinese languages, when a direct object occurs in a non-canonical position preceding the main verb, this SOV structure can be morphologically marked, for example, by kā 共 < ‘to accompany’ in Southern Min, lau11 㧯 < ‘to mix’ in certain Hakka dialects, pau11幫< ‘to help’ in many Huizhou dialects, or bă 把< ‘to hold’ in standard Mandarin and the Jin dialects. In general, these markers are used to highlight an explicit change of state affecting a referential object. For reason of their highly transitive nature, they are often called ‘disposal constructions’ or chùzhìshì 處置式in Chinese linguistics. This analysis addresses the issue of diversity in such object-marking constructions in order to examine the question of whether areal patterns exist within Sinitic languages.
There are five main parts to this analysis: the first section provides the theoretical background to the issue; the second identifies the principal lexical sources of these grammaticalized object markers in Sinitic while the third section proposes a set of corresponding grammaticalization pathways from source to object marker. The fourth part concentrates on the range of syntactic configurations for these disposal constructions in ten principal Sinitic languages. In conclusion, the fifth part presents preliminary findings in terms of an areal typology of four main linguistic zones. These are established on the basis of grammaticalization channels for object markers, attested in these Sinitic languages.
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