query chinese grammatical markers interested information regarding diachronic development following grammatical markers various chinese languages apologies emailmutilated transcriptions 1 mandarin de genitive relative marker 2 mandarin ge general numeral classifier 3 shanghainese ge genitive relative marker 4 hokkien e genitive relative marker b general numeral classifier 5 teochew kai genitive relative marker b general numeral classifier 6 cantonese ge genitive relative marker go general numeral classifier dik ligature specifically question 1 markers historically etymologically related others ie deriving diachronically reconstructable common source eg mandarin de cantonese dik diachronically related etc etc question 2 specific hokkien teochew native speakers hokkien teochew also speakers mandarin opinion two distinct markers exhibiting accidental homophony genitive relative e kai corresponding mandarin de classifier e kai corresponding mandarin ge question 2a demonstrably case e kai respective products diachronic coalescence distinct forms earlier stage language question 2b valid synchronic arguments positing two distinct lexical items ie two e hokkien two kai teochew consider choice characters conventionally used represent markers irrelevant note general linguist sinologist nt read speak chinese would greatly appreciate either views questions references published works addressing questions however references happen chinese would extremely grateful could provide synopsis contents thanks david gil national university singapore ellgild nusvm bitnet