More on areal distinctions in Sinitic: focus on Northern China

Chinese ‘dialects’ are characterised by a considerable degree of diversity, and some major differences within Sinitic follow areal patterns, in which contact is often claimed to play a crucial role. Following Hashimoto’s (1976) hypothesis on the ‘Altaicisation’ of Northern Chinese, and the ‘Taiisation’ of Southern Chinese, several other studies have proposed further areal distinction within Sinitic. Szeto, Ansaldo, and Matthews (2018) showed that a North-South divide exists not only in Sinitic, but also within the Mandarin group; Szeto & Yurayong (2021) identify four major areal groups for Sinitic languages, and Northern China is seen as the least diverse region within Sinitic. However, recent research (Arcodia 2021) has shown that there is an area within Northern China, spread over the Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, and Shandong provinces, in which we find Sinitic languages possessing some features not seen (or uncommon) elsewhere: nonconcatenative morphology, object markers based on speech act verbs, and structural particles with an l-initial. In a subset of those varieties, we find also (proto-)markers of tense (Arcodia 2023). In this paper, we shall discuss those features in the context of the areal typology of Northern China, and we shall offer a comparative analysis of parallel features in Central and Southern Sinitic varieties, showing how they are clearly differentiated from what is found in the North (see e.g. Chappell 2023). Also, we shall assess the role that contact (with Sinitic and non-Sinitic languages) may have played in the development of the features considered here.