Revisiting the Grammaticalization Path: Comitative > Conjunction

This chapter elaborates on the grammaticalization path from comitative verbs to coordinating conjunctions in Sinitic languages. It begins with an extensive survey of Yue from diachronic and synchronic perspectives (with data from 47 modern varieties of Yue and 19 early Cantonese colloquial texts). The reconstructed grammaticalization paths are verified with data from Sinitic varieties in other groups (113 dialects in total). It is observed that (i) there are three types of lexical sources, i.e., FOLLOW, MIX, CARE; (ii) the use of morphologically complex disyllabic conjunctions, in the form of [monosyllabic conjunction + verbal particle], is a common feature in southern Chinese dialects; and (iii) the conjunction he 和 in Chinese was grammaticalized from its [co-patient] function. This finding can help solve the debate over the direction of the development of he, i.e., [conjunction > comitative marker] or [comitative marker > conjunction].