What is a Chinese word? Lexical constructionalization in Chinese
-
Liulin Zhang
Abstract
The Chinese language is defined on the basis of Chinese characters, which stabilize monosyllabic root morphemes across the countless varieties. As subsyllabic linguistic forms such as derivational morphology can hardly be represented by Chinese characters, compounding is preferred over derivation in Chinese. Compounds do not have fixed word boundaries. The wordhood of compounds pertains to the level of conventionality in language use, which is a continuum instantiated by synchronic gradience and diachronic gradualness. A perennial archaizing aesthetics further complicates the determination of Chinese words by preserving classical linguistic forms in formal and literary writing, thus making every synchronic stratum heterogeneous by blurring the distinction between historical strata. Therefore, the boundaries of words have always been fluid in native speakers’ mental lexicon.
Funding source: Interdisciplinary Research Team in Humanities and Social Sciences at Soochow University
Award Identifier / Grant number: 5033720623
Acknowledgment
This study is supported by the Interdisciplinary Research Team in Humanities and Social Sciences at Soochow University (Grant No. 5033720623).
Abbreviations
- CL
-
classifier
- DE
-
the function word 的 de in Modern Mandarin that links a nominal element with its modifiers
- JIANG
-
the function word 将 jiāng in Classical Chinese that adds to verbs to indicate the direction of action
- LE
-
the function word 了 le in Modern Mandarin that adds to verbs to indicate the completion of action
- SFP
-
sentence final particle
- SUO
-
the function word 所 suǒ in Classical Chinese that nominalizes verbal elements
- ZHI
-
the function word 之 zhī in Classical Chinese that links a nominal element with its modifiers
Appendix: Word segmentation test
请根据自己对于 “词” 的理解， 给下面的段落分词： 在词和词之间填入数字 1， 如果认为相邻的几个字组成一个词， 这几个字中间就什么都不用填。
例如: 我 1 叫 1 张 榴 琳。
请根据直觉划分， 不需查阅任何资料。
| 今 天 之 所 以 区 别 于 昨 天， 恰 恰 是 因 为 昨 天 的 感 受 依 然 在 我 们 心 中。 上 个 世 纪 8 0 年 代 中 期， 北 京 又 迎 来 了 一 个 寒 冷 漫 长 的 冬 季。 已 过 而 立 之 年 的 作 家 方 言 正 在 家 中 与 朋 友 刘 会 元 和 吴 胖 子 等 人 兴 致 勃 勃 地 玩 着 扑 克 牌， 忽 然 接 到 传 达 室 打 来 的 电 话， 说 有 一 封 南 方 某 城 市 发 来 的 加 急 电 报。 方 言 撂 下 手 里 的 牌， 按 电 报 上 的 指 示 来 到 了 熙 熙 攘 攘 的 北 京 火 车 站。 他 怎 么 也 想 不 起 自 己 曾 认 识 这 对 突 如 其 来 的 新 婚 夫 妇， 只 得 举 了 个 接 人 的 牌 子， 迎 着 出 站 的 人 流 像 个 傻 子 似 的 一 直 在 车 站 守 候 了 两 个 小 时， 仍 不 见 和 他 接 头 的 这 对 新 婚 夫 妇。 他 又 重 新 查 看 了 列 车 时 刻 表， 才 发 现 是 自 己 搞 错 了 时 间， 原 来 距 离 接 站 时 间 尚 早， 方 言 只 好 百 无 聊 赖 地 来 到 一 家 临 时 改 成 舞 厅 的 菜 市 场， 并 很 快 就 加 入 了 跳 舞 的 行 列。 在 舞 会 上， 方 言 不 失 时 机 地 捕 到 了 一 个 “ 猎 物 ”。 当 他 把 这 个 胖 姑 娘 带 回 家 时， 他 万 万 没 想 到， 三 个 便 衣 警 察 已 经 在 他 家 恭 候 他 多 时。 于 是， 方 言 和 警 察 进 行 了 很 长 时 间 的 促 膝 谈 心。 双 方 唇 枪 舌 剑 、 你 来 我 往 地 展 开 了 一 番 智 斗。 方 言 急 于 想 知 道 警 察 来 找 他 的 真 正 动 机， 当 警 察 告 之 他 的 儿 时 伙 伴 高 洋 已 经 离 开 了 人 世， 并 怀 疑 是 被 人 谋 杀 时， 方 言 大 惊 失 色， 痛 苦 万 状。 |
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Distinguishing Hawai‘i Creole neva and néva: prosodic evidence from podcast interviews
- What is a Chinese word? Lexical constructionalization in Chinese
- Encoding indefinite human reference without indefinite pronouns: the case of Chinese presentationals
- Constituents, arrays, and trees: two (more) models of grammatical description
- Toponymic unity of the Carpathian region
- Gender agreement in Italian compounds with capo-
- In search of a semiotic model for onomatopoeia
- Book Reviews
- Dirk Geeraerts, Dirk Speelman, Kris Heylen, Mariana Montes, Stefano De Pascale, Karlien Franco & Michael Lang: Lexical Variation and Change: A Distributional Semantic Approach
- Bernd Heine: The Grammar of Interactives
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Distinguishing Hawai‘i Creole neva and néva: prosodic evidence from podcast interviews
- What is a Chinese word? Lexical constructionalization in Chinese
- Encoding indefinite human reference without indefinite pronouns: the case of Chinese presentationals
- Constituents, arrays, and trees: two (more) models of grammatical description
- Toponymic unity of the Carpathian region
- Gender agreement in Italian compounds with capo-
- In search of a semiotic model for onomatopoeia
- Book Reviews
- Dirk Geeraerts, Dirk Speelman, Kris Heylen, Mariana Montes, Stefano De Pascale, Karlien Franco & Michael Lang: Lexical Variation and Change: A Distributional Semantic Approach
- Bernd Heine: The Grammar of Interactives
