Typological Study of Coordinating Conjunctions in Silk Road Languages

Kin Wing Kevin Chan; Chenxuan Li

doi:10.65961/crcl-2026-0020

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Current Research in Chinese Linguistics ›› 2026, Vol. 105 ›› Issue (2) : 395-420. DOI: 10.65961/crcl-2026-0020

Special Topic: International Symposium on Silk Road Linguistics

Typological Study of Coordinating Conjunctions in Silk Road Languages

Kin Wing Kevin Chan, Chenxuan Li

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Abstract

The issue of how lexical words become coordinating conjunctions through grammaticalization has always interested scholars in linguistic typology, and, in recent years, many have examined the universal patterns of conjunction grammaticalization using cross-linguistic comparisons. This study is based on fieldwork from 2010 to 2025 and covers 1,533 coordinating conjunctions drawn from 426 languages and 367 Chinese dialects along the Silk Road, aiming to analyze their grammatical features and grammaticalization pathways. Two main findings are reported. (1) The grammaticalization pathways of coordinating conjunctions in Silk Road languages can be divided into “co-agent type” - which tends to link animate nouns - and “co-patient type” - which tends to combine inanimate nouns. (2) Many conjunctions in these languages are homophonous with numerals, leading to two subtypes: one where “and” corresponds to the numeral “one” (such as Georgian -dan ertad, Uyghur bilan), and the other where “and” aligns with the numeral “two” (such as Dongxiang guala in Gansu and Qinghai, and lia, liangge in some Mandarin dialects of the area). This research demonstrates the diversity of conjunctions in Silk Road languages, supplying important data and fresh insight for typological studies.

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coordinating conjunction / co-agent / co-patient / typology / grammaticalization

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Kin Wing Kevin Chan, Chenxuan Li. Typological Study of Coordinating Conjunctions in Silk Road Languages[J]. Current Research in Chinese Linguistics. 2026, 105(2): 395-420 https://doi.org/10.65961/crcl-2026-0020

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