The Topics Were Conditionals: The Origin and Evolution of a rGyalrong Topic Marker / 话题曾是条件：嘉戎语话题标记的来源与演变

Among the studies of possible sources topic markers can develop from, none has mentioned that topic markers can derive from conditionals. Haiman’s (1978) statement that “conditionals are topics” is well accepted, and based on related linguistic facts it has been further stated that “topics are not conditionals” (Shin 1987). The present paper, however, argues that the rGyalrong topic marker = mənaŋorə has derived from the conditional verb form that has the copula ŋôs as the stem: mə-na-ŋôs=rə [COND-PFV-COP=TOP]. We suggest that three factors have made this development possible. One is that the stem of the related conditional verb form is a copula, which is semantically empty. The second factor is that the conditional clause, like most other clause types in rGyalorng, is verb-final. The other concerns the fact that in the rGyalrong dialect examined for the present study, the conditional clause always precedes the main clause. With conditional marking, the copula signals nothing but the givenness of information conveyed by its complement. Since the relative position between the conditional and main clauses is fixed, the path has been paved for [Conditional clause+Main clause] to evolve into [Topic+Comment]. Based on the evidence as observed in rGyalrong as well as Turkic languages, it could be adequate to state: “The topics were once conditionals.”