Source of the accusative/dative marker[a]/[xa](啊/哈)in languages of the Gansu-Qinghai region
This paper attempts to trace back the source of accusative/dative marker[a]/[xa]in languages of the Gansu-Qinghai region.Data is collected from Hua'er(花儿)published from the 1920s to the 1950s and from linguistic investigations completed during the 1960s.The analysis indicates that early Hua'er presents the VO word order and no case marker is required when the rare OV order occurs.The same phenomenon is also attested in linguistic investigations of the 1960s.The occurrence of"case marker"seems to be triggered by the use of topic markers which come from model particles or interjections,such as the ha(哈),la(啦),ma(吗/嘛),ya(呀)in Hua'er.In today's Hua'er of Hezhou,case marking has become full-fledged and different accusative/dative markers have been unified into the common writing form ha(哈).Such diachronic change attested in Hua'er provides significant proof for the source of case marking in languages of the Gansu-Qinghai region.The correlation between topic marker and accusative/dative marker reveals a universal significance in typology.
Hua'er(花儿)case markertopic markerlanguages in the Gansu-Qinghai region
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