John Benjamins Publishing Company
Grammaticalization in Chinese
Abstract
The present paper shows that constructions are the driving force of grammaticalization in Chinese. It will be argued that this is due to two typological properties: the relative freedom with which a lexical item can be assigned to different grammatical functions (precategoriality in Late Archaic Chinese) and the ease with which one and the same surface structure can be subject to different syntactic analyses (Bisang 2009 on “hidden complexity”). The constructions that are relevant for grammaticalization in Chinese consist of slots that are associated with certain grammatical categories. Processes of reanalysis take place within these slots – a given lexical item is assigned the function associated with the syntactic slot in which it occurs. Such a construction-based account excludes continuity because the occurrence in a particular slot always leads to a discrete interpretation that is determined by the function associated with that slot. Continuity is only possible if two or more constructions are combined into a larger structure or if a new construction emerges. The former case will be illustrated by verbs in adpositional functions (coverbs), the latter by the resultative construction as it emerged in the 1st centuries AD. Finally, the constructional approach will also show that Aarts’s (2004, 2007) distinction between subsective and intersective gradience cannot be maintained.
Abstract
The present paper shows that constructions are the driving force of grammaticalization in Chinese. It will be argued that this is due to two typological properties: the relative freedom with which a lexical item can be assigned to different grammatical functions (precategoriality in Late Archaic Chinese) and the ease with which one and the same surface structure can be subject to different syntactic analyses (Bisang 2009 on “hidden complexity”). The constructions that are relevant for grammaticalization in Chinese consist of slots that are associated with certain grammatical categories. Processes of reanalysis take place within these slots – a given lexical item is assigned the function associated with the syntactic slot in which it occurs. Such a construction-based account excludes continuity because the occurrence in a particular slot always leads to a discrete interpretation that is determined by the function associated with that slot. Continuity is only possible if two or more constructions are combined into a larger structure or if a new construction emerges. The former case will be illustrated by verbs in adpositional functions (coverbs), the latter by the resultative construction as it emerged in the 1st centuries AD. Finally, the constructional approach will also show that Aarts’s (2004, 2007) distinction between subsective and intersective gradience cannot be maintained.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface 1
- Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization 19
- Grammaticalization, the clausal hierarchy and semantic bleaching 45
- Grammatical interference 75
- Category change in English with and without structural change 105
- Features in reanalysis and grammaticalization 129
- How synchronic gradience makes sense in the light of language change (and vice versa) 149
- What can synchronic gradience tell us about reanalysis? 181
- A paradigmatic approach to language and language change 203
- Grammaticalization and the it-cleft construction 221
- Grammaticalization in Chinese 245
- Grammaticalization and models of language 279
- Language index 301
- Subject index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface 1
- Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization 19
- Grammaticalization, the clausal hierarchy and semantic bleaching 45
- Grammatical interference 75
- Category change in English with and without structural change 105
- Features in reanalysis and grammaticalization 129
- How synchronic gradience makes sense in the light of language change (and vice versa) 149
- What can synchronic gradience tell us about reanalysis? 181
- A paradigmatic approach to language and language change 203
- Grammaticalization and the it-cleft construction 221
- Grammaticalization in Chinese 245
- Grammaticalization and models of language 279
- Language index 301
- Subject index 303
