A comitative source for object markers in Sinitic languages: 跟kai55 in Waxiang and 共kang7 in Southern Min

• Published in: Journal of East Asian linguistics Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 291 - 338
• Main Authors: Chappell, Hilary, Peyraube, Alain, Wu, Yunji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.11.2011
• Subjects: Chinese; Comparative Linguistics; Japanese; Language and Literature; Linguistics; Social Sciences; Theoretical Linguistics; 共; disposal constructions; Comitatives; Direct object markers; Context-induced grammaticalization; Sinitic; Southern Min; Waxiang; 跟
• ISSN: 0925-8558; 1572-8560
• DOI: 10.1007/s10831-011-9078-z

This analysis sets out to specifically discuss the polyfunctionality of 跟[kai 55 ] in Waxiang (Sinitic), whose lexical source is the verb ‘to follow’. Amongst its various uses, we find a preposition ‘with, along’, a marker of adjuncts and a NP conjunction, thus superficially resembling its Mandarin cognate 跟 gēn ‘with’. Curiously, however, it has also evolved into a direct object marker in Waxiang, with a function similar to that of the preposition 把 bǎ < ‘hold, take’ as found in the S- bǎ -OVP or so-called ‘disposal’ form in standard Mandarin. The pathways of grammaticalization for 跟[kai 55 ] inWaxiang are thus discussed in order to determine how it has developed this unusual grammatical function in one of the linguistic zones of China where verbs of giving or taking are, in fact, the main source for grammaticalized object markers in ‘disposal’ constructions. On the basis of sixteenth and seventeenth century Southern Min literature (Sinitic), a comparison is also made with analogous developments for comitative 共 kang 7 (Mandarin gòng ) ‘with’ to provide support for our hypothesis that the direct object marking use has evolved from the oblique function of a benefactive or dative, and is clearly separate from the crosslinguistically well-attested pathway that leads to its use as a conjunction. We would thus like to propose that these data contribute a new pattern to the stock of grammaticalization pathways, specifically, comitative > dative/benefactive > accusative (direct object marker).