Chapter 7. Chinese near-synonyms jian (建), zao (造), gai (蓋) ‘to build’ revisited
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Chenhsuan Huang
Abstract
This study reexamines Mandarin Chinese near-synonyms jian (建), zao (造), gai (蓋) ‘to build’ and their shared patterns in written and spoken genres. Three independent variables – including word length of the object NP, preverbal locative phrase, and building purpose – were tested by a logistic regression analysis (Rbrul) to account for the multiple crosscutting and interacting factors that influence language usage. Multivariate analyses show that word length and building purpose can account for the differences among these verbs in both genres. The analyses suggest that the use of jian (建) and zao (造) possess more written properties, while gai (蓋) favors the spoken genre. The current study contributes to a growing number of studies in Chinese near-synonyms by focusing on genre variation.
Abstract
This study reexamines Mandarin Chinese near-synonyms jian (建), zao (造), gai (蓋) ‘to build’ and their shared patterns in written and spoken genres. Three independent variables – including word length of the object NP, preverbal locative phrase, and building purpose – were tested by a logistic regression analysis (Rbrul) to account for the multiple crosscutting and interacting factors that influence language usage. Multivariate analyses show that word length and building purpose can account for the differences among these verbs in both genres. The analyses suggest that the use of jian (建) and zao (造) possess more written properties, while gai (蓋) favors the spoken genre. The current study contributes to a growing number of studies in Chinese near-synonyms by focusing on genre variation.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Chapter 1. Chinese discourse from diverse perspectives 1
- Chapter 2. New words in contemporary Chinese language use 5
- Chapter 3. Usage based language change and exemplar representations in Beijing Mandarin Chinese 27
- Chapter 4. Contextual variations of internal and external modifications in Chinese requests 57
- Chapter 5. Some interactional functions of Yinwei -clauses in Mandarin Chinese conversation 81
- Chapter 6. Preliminaries to delicate matters 105
- Chapter 7. Chinese near-synonyms jian (建), zao (造), gai (蓋) ‘to build’ revisited 137
- Chapter 8. Constraints on the collocational behaviors of Chinese near-synonyms 155
- Chapter 9. Genericity and sentences with an AP state complement in Mandarin Chinese 177
- Chapter 10. Kinship metaphors in the Chinese construction A shi B zhi fu/mu 199
- Chapter 11. The classification of Chinese time expressions from Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspectives 221
- Chapter 12. Being a Kam in China 245
- Chapter 13. Specialised corpora for Chinese language education in Singapore 265
- Index 297
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Chapter 1. Chinese discourse from diverse perspectives 1
- Chapter 2. New words in contemporary Chinese language use 5
- Chapter 3. Usage based language change and exemplar representations in Beijing Mandarin Chinese 27
- Chapter 4. Contextual variations of internal and external modifications in Chinese requests 57
- Chapter 5. Some interactional functions of Yinwei -clauses in Mandarin Chinese conversation 81
- Chapter 6. Preliminaries to delicate matters 105
- Chapter 7. Chinese near-synonyms jian (建), zao (造), gai (蓋) ‘to build’ revisited 137
- Chapter 8. Constraints on the collocational behaviors of Chinese near-synonyms 155
- Chapter 9. Genericity and sentences with an AP state complement in Mandarin Chinese 177
- Chapter 10. Kinship metaphors in the Chinese construction A shi B zhi fu/mu 199
- Chapter 11. The classification of Chinese time expressions from Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspectives 221
- Chapter 12. Being a Kam in China 245
- Chapter 13. Specialised corpora for Chinese language education in Singapore 265
- Index 297
