From ‘Put’ to Object Marker

A Newly Found Lexical Source in Panshi Northeastern Mandarin 1

Datos Bibliográficos

ID19230773
AutoresShanshan Lu (0000-0002-2801-7141, Shanghai International Studies University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2026
Fecha de publicación2026-04-16
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTransactions of the Philological Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0079-1636 • E-ISSN: 1467-968X
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-968x.70027
OpenAlexW7154637007
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas35

This paper is devoted to a rarely reported function of the verb ge 搁 ‘put’ as an object marker in the Panshi dialect of Northeastern Mandarin spoken in Jilin Province, China. As in many other dialects of Northeastern Mandarin, the morpheme ge is a multifunctional word in Panshi. It can be realised as [kɤ 44 ] and [kɤ 213 ]. While kɤ 44 denotes ‘put’, instrumental ‘with’, conditional ‘as for’ and ‘if’, kɤ 213 is used to denote ‘be at’, ‘at’, ‘from’, ‘according to’, and an object marker. The current paper sets out to reconstruct the grammaticalisation pathway Panshi ge has taken from ‘put’ to an object marker. We propose here that the object marking function of ge in Panshi is derived from its locative use ‘at’. Our findings suggest a new lexical source and a new possible pathway of grammaticalisation for Sinitic object markers

Function (biology) · Grammaticalization · Locative case · Mandarin Chinese · Morpheme · Object (grammar) · Categorization, perception, and language · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation