The Emergence of Accusative Case in Copala Triqui

Abstract

This paper argues that the noun ‘body’, the accusative particle, and dative preposition man are synchronically three different parts of speech in modern Copala Triqui. However, in earlier recorded Copala Triqui (from about 1965-75), we find somewhat different grammatical patterns. In earlier Copala Triqui, the accusative particle and dative preposition man were not yet distinct. Thus, a distinct accusative case particle appears to have emerged out of a dative preposition in about the last sixty years. It is thus a contemporary example of a diachronic path from adposition to case-marker which has been proposed for several other languages.

Keywords

• case
• trique