This paper examines the forms and usage of case markers in the Gan-Qing dialects, the Amdo Tibetan and
Altaic languages in the Gansu-Qinghai linguistic area (GQLA), including datives, accusatives, absolutives, comitatives,
instrumentals, ablatives, locatives, genitives, comparatives and reflexive possessives. We come to two conclusions: (1) most
markers in Gan-Qing dialects are widely distributed, but some are narrowly distributed and (2) case markers in Gan-Qing dialects
are overwhelmingly from the Chinese inventory rather than direct copied from Amdo Tibetan or Altaic languages. These findings
enable us to shed light on the situation of language contact in the GQLA and illustrate that there are two major strata of contact
in the GQLA.
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