This paper describes a special case marking system in the Sinitic languages of Northwest China, by examining the materials from fieldwork and literature. This marking system represents a nominative-accusative system, in which A(gent) and S(ubject) are zero-marked while P(atient) is marked by the accusative marker. It is special in the sense that (1) it is neither the same as the nominative-accusative system in the Altaic languages nor akin to the ergative-absolutive system in Tibetan, let alone Mandarin Chinese, in which case markers are absent; and (2) the dative-accusative syncretism is not seen in the nearby Tibetan and Altaic languages. This paper points out that Hezhou is a district in Northwest China in which many languages have long been in contact with each other, creating a linguistic area. The special case marking system discussed in this paper is the outcome of the language contact in the very linguistic area.
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Chenlei Zhou (2019) studied this question.