Case polysemy, which refers to a single case carrying multiple related functions, constitutes a central topic in studies of case. This study aims to systematically examine the polysemous relationships among cases in Altaic languages spoken in China. We extensively collect markers for 19 cases from 21 Chinese Altaic languages and conduct a quantitative analysis of their polysemous relationships. Based on this analysis, we generate a frequency table of polysemous relationships and construct a conceptual map of Altaic cases. The conceptual map reveals that Altaic cases organize into three primary clusters: the source (ablative) cluster, the destination (allative) cluster, and the patient cluster. The source cluster comprises the ablative, comparative, causal, instrumental, comitative, perlative, and semblative cases. The destination cluster consists of the allative, locative, target, recipient, benefactive, passive agent, and purposive cases. The patient cluster includes the patient, theme, genitive, and object cases. Cases within the same cluster share a closer relationship and are more likely to use the same marker. The formation of the clusters emerges from the dynamic interaction between two opposing forces. We subsequently elucidate the operational mechanisms underlying these competing forces. The concluding section presents a comparative analysis of polysemy patterns between Altaic languages in China and their neighboring languages, with a discussion of the reasons behind these differences.
This paper studies the disposal construction marked by the disposal marker nᴇ52 (‘hold’ 拿 , henceforth nᴇ52-construction) in Shanghainese, an understudied construction within languages in the Wu family in general. We argue that the object marked by nᴇ52 is in fact structurally identical to a bare object in an SOV order, which is one of the basic word orders for the language. Objects marked by nᴇ52 exhibit a particular semantic profile (definiteness, affectedness, and sensitivity to animacy) and distribution familiar from languages that exhibit differential object marking (DOM); accordingly, we propose that nᴇ52 is a differential object marker marking a subset of preverbal objects, and go on to elucidate the precise conditions under which a preverbal object might be marked by nᴇ52. The DOM analysis accounts for the word order interactions between the nᴇ52-NP and constituents such as subjects, vP-peripheral adverbs as well as with other functional elements like aspectual markers. It also captures the referential properties exhibited by the nᴇ52-NP, as compared to unmarked objects. We show further that possible alternative analyses, based on the well-studied disposal construction in Mandarin marked by bǎ, do not capture the key empirical properties of the nᴇ52-construction and therefore further motivate a DOM analysis as proposed here.
This paper reconstructs the “stolen” liquid preinitials in Khroskyabs, a feature that has been lost in Khroskyabs but is preserved in other Gyalrongic and Sino-Tibetan languages. The reconstruction uncovers an ancient contrast between the preinitials *Lɯ̆.C- and *Lə̆.C- in Gyalrongic, which likely dates back to Proto-Sino-Tibetan. By highlighting the disappearance of this syllable, the paper demonstrates that studying losses of segments, sequences of segments or features can be just as crucial for proto-language reconstruction as analysing preserved features. Therefore, this paper argues that greater attention should be given to the role of losses implicitly implying archaic features, rather than focusing solely on overt preservation in the reconstruction of proto-languages.
Passive constructions marked by bèi/gěi/ràng are the predominant strategy to indicate passive voice in Mandarin Chinese. These passive variants are in principle well-studied, but the alternation has yet to be fully analyzed using variationist techniques to explore the probabilistic grammatical knowledge that language users have about the long passives. To explore the variation in contemporary Chinese, the present study taps into the Chinese Web Corpus (zhTenTen17). The objective is to identify what the language-internal factors are that predict the choice between Chinese bèi/gěi/ràng long passives and to establish if variant choice differs as a function of language variety. To determine the combined effect of multiple linguistic factors, mixed-effects logistic regression is used, following best practice in variationist (socio)linguistics. The results reveal that in atypical passive constructions, the marker bèi is preferred. Both gěi and ràng passives convey a more colloquial tone, while ràng passives inherit the attribute of avoidable events from ràng causatives, favoring an inanimate NP1 to avoid ambiguity. Compared to Mainland Chinese, we show that in Taiwan Chinese, the typical passive marker bèi aligns more closely with old-before-new information structure and is favored by adversative contexts; ràng serves as a substitute for bèi when the semantic prosody is positive, whereas the usage of gěi is influenced by the use of hoo in Taiwanese and also conditioned by the cognitive complexity principle. This analysis confirms the complexity of languageinternal and external linguistic conditioning on Chinese long passive constructions and paves the way for further research in Chinese passive constructions.
A fairly thorough discussion has taken place between Ho Dah-an (2016) and Baxter and Sagart (2025) regarding the work Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction (Baxter and Sagart 2014). One of the key points of debate is whether transcriptional evidence supports the reconstruction of an *-r coda in Old Chinese. By examining transcribed words in Eastern Han Buddhist scriptures, this paper demonstrates that these materials do not support reconstructing an *-r coda for certain characters that ended with a -n coda in Middle Chinese. This paper argues that early transcriptional materials should be divided into two categories: (1) transcriptions of foreign proper nouns, such as place names, toponyms and official titles, recorded in ancient Chinese texts, and (2) transcriptions of proper nouns, akṣaras (Sanskrit syllables), and dhāraṇīs found in Chinese Buddhist scriptures. The latter category is of greater value for the study of Old Chinese phonology. Furthermore, any materials that may reflect Old Chinese phonological information should be utilized to the fullest extent possible, provided their nature is clearly understood. In other words, even a river flowing with sand and silt can still reflect.
