On Case Markers in Late Mongolian and Early Modern Mongolian

On Case Markers in Late Mongolian and Early Modern Mongolian
Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
(59th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, 2016)

This paper investigates the case markers in Late Mongolian (17-19th centuries) and Early Modern Mongolian (20 th century~). Besides Köke Sudur and Manchu-Mongolian-Chinese Readers, data will also be drawn from existing Late Mongolian corpora compiled by the author.

Köke Sudur, with the full book title Yeke Yuwan ulus-un manduγsan törö-yin köke sudur (1871), is a historical novel written by Injannasi and his father. There are two versions with the same title. The language of Köke Sudur marked the end of Late Mongolian and beginning of Modern Mongolian. Manchu-Mongolian-Chinese Readers (1909, 1910) are a set of textbooks used in parts of eastern Inner Mongolia and Manchuria for students in primary and secondary schools. The textbooks were translated by Rongde from a set of Mandarin Chinese readers edited by JIANG Weiqiao and ZHUANG Yu. Jorigt and Stuart (1998) proposed that the development of Mongolian case system follows a complex-simple cycle. Jorigt and Stuart (1998) focused on the omission of case markers in Middle Mongolian, Genitive/Accusative interchangibility during 17th-18th centuries, and some other issues. The Middle Mongolian (13th-16th centuries) case markers are as below (Jorigt and Stuart 1998: 111):

  • Nominative : null
  • Genitive: -yin/-yın, -un/-ün, -u/-ü, -nu/-nü, -ın
  • Accusative: -yi, -i, -ni
  • Dative-Locative: -da/-de, -ta/-te, -dur/-dür, -tur/-tür, -a/-e, -na/-ne, -du/-dü, -tu/-tü
  • Ablative: -ča/-če, -ača/-eče. –nača/-neče, -yača/-yeče, -dača/-deče, -tača/-teče, -āša/-ēše
  • Instrumental: -bar/-ber, -iyar/-yer, -‘ar/-‘er, -i’ār/-i’ēr
  • Connective (Comitative): -luүa/-lüge, -lu’a/-lü’e, -lā/-lē
The Modern Mongolian case markers are as follows:
  • Nominative : null
  • Genitive: -iːn, -giːn, -iː
  • Accusative: -g
  • Dative-Locative: -d, -t
  • Ablative: -aːs/-eːs/-ɔːs/-өːs, -gaːs/-geːs/-gɔːs/-gөːs
  • Instrumental: -aːr/-eːr/-ɔːr/-өːr, -gaːr/-eːr/-ɔːr/-өːr
  • Comitative: -tai/-tei

In this paper we will study the the case markers in Late Mongolian (17-19th centuries) and Early Modern Mongolian. The purpose is twofold. First, try to chain a missing link between Late Mongolian and Modern Mongolian by investigating early Modern Mongolian data. Sececond, try to give our own account of how the Mongolian case system develops diachronically.