Variant reduplication and four-character state adjectives in Yuan Zaju
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Lansheng Jiang
Abstract
In this paper, a thorough analysis is provided concerning the phonological structure types of four-character state adjectives related to variant reduplication in Yuan Zaju, some of which are shown to be formed via multiple variant reduplications of monosyllabic words. The multiple variant reduplications, which are motivated by linguistic iconicity, accelerated the lexicalization of reduplicative forms and enhanced their descriptiveness to best serve the need to depict the constancy and consistency of a state (i.e., a condition or way of being). The paper reveals that variant reduplication of a monosyllabic word can be done either in a forward way (i.e., from the left side) or in a backward way (i.e., from the right side), and further explains that the principle of syllabic initial changes in the forward reduplication and syllabic final changes in the backward reduplication aims to preserve the very original syllabic frame in the reduplicative forms. Furthermore, this paper elucidates with detailed examples the significance and practical applications of the Variant Reduplication Theory in the field of the diachronic study of the Chinese lexicon.
Abstract
In this paper, a thorough analysis is provided concerning the phonological structure types of four-character state adjectives related to variant reduplication in Yuan Zaju, some of which are shown to be formed via multiple variant reduplications of monosyllabic words. The multiple variant reduplications, which are motivated by linguistic iconicity, accelerated the lexicalization of reduplicative forms and enhanced their descriptiveness to best serve the need to depict the constancy and consistency of a state (i.e., a condition or way of being). The paper reveals that variant reduplication of a monosyllabic word can be done either in a forward way (i.e., from the left side) or in a backward way (i.e., from the right side), and further explains that the principle of syllabic initial changes in the forward reduplication and syllabic final changes in the backward reduplication aims to preserve the very original syllabic frame in the reduplicative forms. Furthermore, this paper elucidates with detailed examples the significance and practical applications of the Variant Reduplication Theory in the field of the diachronic study of the Chinese lexicon.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- List of Abbreviations IX
- Theory and fact – A study of the translated Buddhist scriptures of the Medieval Period from the perspective of language contact 1
- On the origin of the Chinese reflexive ziji from the perspective of the Medieval Chinese Buddhist scriptures 15
- The origin and development of negative exclusive particles in the Chinese language 41
- The postpositions suo 所 and bian 边 in translated Chinese Buddhist scriptures of the Medieval Period 75
- Variant reduplication and four-character state adjectives in Yuan Zaju 96
- The correlation between the Chinese purpose construction “VP + qu (去, ‘go’)” and SOV languages 125
- On the Han’er Yanyu of the Yuan Dynasty 149
- A study of the special syntactic features in Yuan baihua 168
- On the special syntactic features in the vernacular imperial edicts of the early Ming Dynasty (1368–1424) 191
- The influence of language contact on word order of some minority languages in Southern China 205
- Second language acquisition and contactinduced language change in the history of the Chinese language 237
- Postscript 254
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- List of Abbreviations IX
- Theory and fact – A study of the translated Buddhist scriptures of the Medieval Period from the perspective of language contact 1
- On the origin of the Chinese reflexive ziji from the perspective of the Medieval Chinese Buddhist scriptures 15
- The origin and development of negative exclusive particles in the Chinese language 41
- The postpositions suo 所 and bian 边 in translated Chinese Buddhist scriptures of the Medieval Period 75
- Variant reduplication and four-character state adjectives in Yuan Zaju 96
- The correlation between the Chinese purpose construction “VP + qu (去, ‘go’)” and SOV languages 125
- On the Han’er Yanyu of the Yuan Dynasty 149
- A study of the special syntactic features in Yuan baihua 168
- On the special syntactic features in the vernacular imperial edicts of the early Ming Dynasty (1368–1424) 191
- The influence of language contact on word order of some minority languages in Southern China 205
- Second language acquisition and contactinduced language change in the history of the Chinese language 237
- Postscript 254
- Index 255
