Himalayan Linguistics

Abstract: This paper presents the case-marking system of Khengkha, an East Bodish language spoken in Bhutan, which employs case markers for a variety of functions. A monologue, a conversation among three native Khengkha speakers (two males, aged 27 and 41, and one female, aged 58) and an interview were audio recorded to gather data. The study found that the A argument is primarily marked with ergative markers while the S argument is unmarked. But some S arguments which are associated with emphasis and contrastive focus are seen marked. With regard to the O argument, there is one set of bivalent verbs that requires the O argument to be unmarked and there is another set of verbs which always mark the O argument. Similarly, the case marker of the instrumental, genitive, locative, allative and ablative are also discussed, followed by a detailed discussion on the case marking of the dative subject, which follows a similar process to Indo-Aryan languages.