The Product of Language Contact Sentence Structure in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect and the Amdo Tibetan Dialect

This paper is mainly a comparative study between the Amdo Tibetan Dialect and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, especially in sentence structure. It is argued that Tibetan possibly influenced the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. In terms of genetic linguistics, the basis of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is in both Tibetan and Chinese languages. However, the sentence structure of Altaic languages is typologically similar to that of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect.


Introduction
The Hezhou Chinese Dialect is spoken in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province and some of their neighboring areas belonging to Qinhai Province. It is unique not only among the dialects of China"s Northwest but also among all the varieties of the Chinese language. Generally speaking, the differences among Chinese dialects are mainly in pronunciation and vocabulary, but not in grammar. However, the striking feature that differentiates the Hezhou Chinese Dialect from Northwest Chinese dialects is its grammar. Such a phenomenon (more difference in grammar than in pronunciation or vocabulary) is not common in the Chinese language.
How did the unique grammar of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect come into being? Is it a variation of Chinese grammar or another grammar completely different from Chinese? All these issues have begun to attract academic attention and inspire a lot of discussions. So far, articles on these issues tend to argue that the grammar of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is similar to that of Altaic and that it is possibly influenced by Altaic. It is stated that there must have been some historical relationships between the Hezhou Chinese Dialect and Altaic. ① between Han and Tibetan people in the area before those ethnic groups were formed.

Similarity in syntax
S-O-V pattern is the common sentence structure of Tibetan and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, in which some case auxiliaries and other auxiliary words are added to demonstrate different grammar meanings and denote grammar relations of sentence elements. The position and the grammar meaning of these case auxiliaries and auxiliary words are correspondent in Tibetan and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. Also, we can find some rules of change between them in pronunciation. The following are some comparative examples of Tibetan and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect given by the authors, who specially chose languages they are familiar with, namely, the Xiahe Tibetan Dialect of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and the Hanjiaji Chinese Dialect of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, which are marked by "[T]" (Amdo Tibetan Dialect) and "[H]" (Hezhou Chinese Dialect), respectively. Generally speaking, the additional part of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect that denotes the grammar meaning is in light tone, so its intonation is not marked in the following examples. To make things easier, some conventional Tibetan grammar terms are also borrowed in this paper. According to the derivation rules of Amdo Tibetan pronunciation, ɣə, kə, ngə are all the derivations of ki..
In Tibetan, a noun ending in a vowel can be directly followed by an agentive case to indicate it is agent, which is especially represented by the singular form of a personal pronoun. For instance, ŋa (I) -ŋə (I in agentive case). Thus, htɕaŋkə(wolf )and tɕhə tɕho(you )in the above examples can be directly followed by htɕaŋ ki and tɕhə tɕho instead of adding the case auxiliary "ɣə".
In the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, the agentive auxiliaries can sometimes be omitted if no misunderstanding occurs as a consequence.
2.1.2 Case Auxiliaries of State, Means, Instrument and Material In Tibetan, the phonetic representation of this kind of case auxiliary is usually the same as with agentive auxiliaries.

This butter make
"This is made of butter." [H] tʂʅ ʂʅ sujəu la tsu xa di.
this is butter made "This is made of butter." Conventional Tibetan grammar holds that the phonetic representation of case auxiliaries describing means, instrument, etc. is the same as in agentive auxiliaries. The same is true in the Modern Amdo Tibetan Dialect. However, in some written materials, the phonetic representation of the case auxiliary "kə" can also be replaced with "la". For example, there is an episode in a Tibetan fable The Stories of a Monkey and a Bird: khoŋ ɦdab tɕhags lɕhags la bzos pa min，ŋa sprueɦu mar la bzos pa min.
He bird iron make not, I monkey butter make not "They, the birds, are not made of iron and we, the monkeys, are not made of butter."

The Case Auxiliary gis and Its Variations
Apart from the two case auxiliaries we have discussed, there is another one that is attached to words or phrases describing cause. This grammatical function can find its correspondence in la in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. rain fall go not "(Implied subject) didn"t go because of the rain." [H] ju xa tʂə mə tɕhə xa. 雨 下 没 去 下 rain fall not go "(Implied subject) didn"t go because of the rain." If words of cause are added, the sentence can be (6") [T] hnam wap no htap kə shoŋ ne ma wa ta. rain fall cause go not "(Implied subject) didn"t go because of the rain." [H] ju xa liɔ di juan ku la mə tɕhə xa. 雨 下 了 的 缘 故 没 去 下 rain fall cause not go "(Implied subject) didn"t go because of the rain." If words denoting cause are removed, the sentence can be (6"") [T] hnam wap no ɣə shoŋ ne ma wa ta. rain fall go not "(Implied subject) didn"t go because of the rain." [H] ju xa liɔ di la mə tɕһə xa.

Case Auxiliary of Coordinate Predicates, Cause, Direction and Time
This kind of case auxiliary is attached to verbs or verb-object structures to refer to cause and coordinate predicates. On the other hand, it can be attached to nouns, interrogative words or demonstratives to describe direction and time. In Tibetan, its phonetic representation is "ne" while in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect it is "tʂə", denoting cause and coordinate predicates, and "ta", depicting cause and time.

The Product of Language Contact: Sentence Structure in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect and the Amdo Tibetan Dialect
Macrolinguistics (2009)  89 "(Implied subject) went to the street and came back with a piece of clothes he bought." [H] kɛ ʂaŋ tɕhə tʂə me liɔ kə ji ʂaŋ tʂə lɛ liɔ. The case auxiliary that describes time combined with "ke" denotes the same meaning both in Tibetan and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. In Tibetan, the consonant /k/ sound is assimilated into the foregoing nasal as "ng". For instance, last year come not once "(implied subject) hasen"t been here since last year." [H] ȵan ʂʅ kə ta mə lɛ kuə. 去 年 没 来 过 last year not come "(implied subject) hasen"t been here since last year." The case auxiliary of time "ne" means "since". Its opposite meaning "until" can also be found both in Tibetan and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, the phonetic representations being "thək she" in Tibetan and "tha la" in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. (According to Amdo Tibetan grammar, thək she<thugs su is derived from "thugs la". In Amdo and other places, a simple "la" might be spoken.) (11) [T] tʂe dʑa thək she (la) ȵa taŋ. Last year ( from) this year (till) "from last year till this year" [H] ȵan ʂʅ kə ta tɕin ȵan ha la.
last year (from) this year (till) "from last year till this year"

Case Auxiliary of Contrast
The word before this case auxiliary is the object to be compared with. Its phonetic representation is "le" in Tibetan, derived from "las" . In the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, it is "la ʂʅ", which is obviously similar to "las". For example, In Tibetan, the same meaning can also be expressed by combining "hte" (look) with "la", to form a new structure of "…la hte ɣə". Its correspondent form "…la khan ʂʅ" can also be found in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect . For example, (13") [T] ʂaŋ mo la the ɣə a tɕe jak kə. younger sister elder sister pretty "The elder sister is prettier than the younger sister." [H] mei tsɿ la khan ʂʅ a tɕiɛ tɕun 妹 子 阿 姐 俊 younger sister elder sister pretty "The elder sister is prettier than the younger sister."

Case Auxiliary of Patient
The phonetic origin of this kind of case auxiliary is "la", which has many variations with the tail vowel of the last syllable in Ambo Tibetan pronunciation. It is closely attached to the singular form of a pronoun both in Tibetan and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. If we use surface and depth to describe pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, the surface form of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is that of Chinese, but affected by non-Chinese deep structure, because the first and second person singular in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect have fallen into the case category.
The first person pronoun "ŋə" (I) and the second person pronoun "ȵi" (you) have double meanings: one refers to the original form, while the other refers to the agentive case of pronoun, distinguished from their patient case "ŋa" and "ȵa". For example,

I (agent) you (patient) speak you (agent) I (patient) speak
"I speak to you/you speak to me." If the predicate verbs in Tibetan mean "to exist", "to have", etc., the subject will be in patient form. The same is true in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. For example, If there are other verbs apart from the predicate verb that mean "to exist" and "to have", the subject can appear both in agentive case and patient case and the meaning remains the same. For example, In sentences without the predicate verbs "to exist" and "to have", the agentive case and the patient case cannot be interchanged, for the meaning will be changed into the patient. For example,

Case Auxiliary of Direction and Place
The phonetic origin of this kind of case auxiliary is "la" and its variations. In the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, the case auxiliary of direction is usually omitted, but the phonetic representation of the case auxiliary of place is the same as that in Tibetan.

case auxiliary "la" and its variations
In Tibetan, the case auxiliary "la" and its variations are used frequently and they can also be used in the form of adverbial structures combined with other phrases in a sentence. This grammatical use can also be found in the Hezhou Dialect. For example, (21) [T] ˀo tɕho ȵam nbe ndʑo.

Case Auxiliary of Defining
The phonetic representation of the case auxiliary of defining is "na" in Tibetan and "ʂʅ" in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. It seems that "ʂʅ" is derived from the Chinese defining word "shi". However, its grammatical function is the same as the Tibetan defining case auxiliary "na". For example, (22) [T] ŋə hte na rək kə.

Other Case Auxiliaries
In the above section, we have discussed the corresponding case auxiliaries which denote the relationships between sentence elements in Tibetan as well as in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. Apart from these, there are some modals and other auxiliaries whose number and grammatical functions are both correspondent in Tibetan and in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect. For example,

Command Modals
In Tibetan, the command modal "ɣə ɕhək" is attached to the end of a sentence to refer to the meaning of "letting….do…". In the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, "ki" or "di" or "ki di" refers to the same meaning. For example,

Modals of Imperative
In Tibetan, the imperative mood is expressed by adding "ɣə ɕhək ʐa" to the end of a sentence. In the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, "ki ʂa" or "di ʐa" describes the same meaning. For example, (24) [T] ŋa ra ndʑo ɣə ɕhək ʐa.

Auxiliaries of Reported Speech
Tibetan uses "zer" to indicate reported speech while the Hezhou Chinese Dialect uses "ʂʅ". The meaning of "zer" in Tibetan is "to say", while "ʂʅ" in the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is the variation of "ʂuə" (say). So, "ʂʅ" can be replaced by "ʂuə". For example,

Means of Expressing the Causative
Tibetan verbs have two causative forms: one is inflectional and the other is analytic. The Hezhou Chinese Dialect has no inflections, but it has an analytic form of verbs, whose structure is the same as in Tibetan.

Determiners
The usage of a determiner in the Hezhou dialect is the same as in Chinese. It is put before its head noun. However, if it is used in generic reference, like in Tibetan, it should be put behind the head noun. In addition, the Chinese "V-V" refers to a temporary behaviorwhile the Hezhou Chinese Dialect uses "-V" to refer to a temporary behavior, which is the same usage as in Tibetan. For example: "Have a look, and then I will come immediately."

Analysis for the origin of such phenomena
Through the above given comparative analysis, we can see that the main sentence structure of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is extraordinarily similar to that of Tibetan, not only in the grammatical models but also in the phonetic representation. The Han and Tibetan people lived together exclusively for a long time in history. In view of this, we can make a bold assumption that under the special historical conditions of that time, Chinese, as a new and borrowed language, had a certain impact on the local vernacular language, through forced assimilation or natural penetration.
However, this impact has only affected the surface structure of the vernacular language instead of the deep structure which is firmly established and unchanged. Through a long interaction, the Hezhou Chinese Dialect eventually came into being, as a new lingua franca mixing Tibetan sentence structure and Chinese pronunciation and vocabulary. In terms of genetic linguistics, the basis of the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is established in both the Tibetan language and the Chinese language. Nevertheless, the fact that Altaic and the Hezhou Chinese Dialect are similar in sentence structure should be incorporated in typological study. It is certain that we cannot exclude the possibility of the influence of Altaic on the Hezhou Chinese Dialect, for the Hezhou Chinese Dialect is the communication mean used by all the people who belong to different ethnic groups.