A study on the Genitive-Accusative case in Eastern Yugur Language
东部裕固语的领宾格研究

摘要

本文探讨东部裕固语名词的领宾格特征及其在蒙古语族语言中的特殊性。东部裕固语将传统蒙古语中分立的领格与宾格合并为单一领宾格形式，兼具领属与宾格功能，附加成分为-iːn、-n、-ə。通过与蒙古语族其他语言（如达斡尔语、东乡语）对比，分析领宾格可能源于共同蒙古语的分化或合并，并探讨其形式与蒙古语领格、宾格附加成分的对应关系。语义上，领宾格可表达领属范围、整体部分、质料、时间属性及时位概念；语法功能上，其既可充当定语修饰名词，也可作为直接宾语。领宾格的“省略”现象认为无显性标记时可通过主格或其他格形式表达相同意义，并涉及格交替现象。本研究基于结构主义方法论证领宾格形态句法特征的独立性，尝试通过该个案为阿尔泰语系格系统演变研究补充新的类型学观察。

Abstract

This paper investigates the genitive-accusative case features of nouns in Eastern Yugur and their distinctive characteristics within the Mongolic language family. Eastern Yugur exhibits a unique syncretic case form, combining the separate genitive and accusative cases of Classical Mongolian into a single morphological unit, marked by the suffixes - iːn,-n, and -ə, which simultaneously encode possessive and accusative functions. Through comparative analysis with other Mongolic languages (e.g. Dagur and Dongxiang), this study explores the potential origins of this syncretism, suggesting it may result from either the divergence or convergence of case markers in Proto-Mongolic, while also examining the formal correspondences between these suffixes and the genitive/accusative markers in Mongolian. Semantically, the genitive-accusative case expresses a range of meanings, including possession, part-whole relations, material composition, temporal attributes, and locative-temporal concepts. Syntactically, it serves dual functions as both a nominal modifier and a direct object. The phenomenon of “omission” is analyzed as a case alternation, where the absence of overt marking allows nominative or other case forms to convey equivalent semantic roles. Adopting a structuralist framework, this study establishes the morphosyntactic independence of the genitive-accusative case and, through this analysis, contributes new typological perspectives to the study of case system evolution in the Altaic language family.