Medieval Chinese zì as a flexible phasal adverb: semantic unity and force-dynamic origins
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Ryan Ka Yau Lai
Abstract
In Early Medieval Chinese, 自 zì came to convey ideas related to phasal polarity. This paper describes how zì expresses three meanings: unexpectedly early already, unexpectedly late still, and the idea that a positive phase at reference time began earlier than expected. These uses are argued to derive from an abstract phase extension meaning: zì denies the occurrence of a change of state, causing the situation to hold true for a more extended period than expected. This meaning is argued to account for the appearance of zì in adverb-zì sequences. Finally, the meaning is shown to have derived metonymically from an earlier force-dynamic use of zì denying that an additional force impinged upon the situation, which in turn originates from zì’s reflexive-emphatic uses.
撮要
自早期中古漢語以來, 「自」字在古漢語中偶爾展現出近似於「階段極性」 (phasal polarity) 的語義現象。 本文旨在說明「自」如何表達三種含義: 一是表示比預期更早發生的「已然」; 二是表示比預期更晚結束的「仍然」; 三是表示某階段比預期更早開始的「素自」。 本文主張, 這些用法源自一種可稱為「階段延伸」的語義特徵: 即「自」否定了狀態轉變的發生, 使得某一情況持續的時間超出預期。 此語義亦有助於解釋若干副詞 +「自」的雙音節結構的形成。 最後, 本文又提出, 這種「階段延伸」義可以溯源至「自」字在先秦古籍裏已經出現的否定外力介入的力量動態 (force dynamics) 用法, 該用法原本由反身代詞與強調副詞的語義演變而來, 並經由轉喻機制進一步發展到與階段極性相鄰的語義。
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Lidia Federica Mazzitelli and Bastian Persohn for organizing the workshop that this special issue originated from and for editing this issue (especially to Bastian for the extensive and valuable help with consolidating and correcting my ideas about phasal polarity), as well as to the two anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly shaped the work. Additionally, thanks to Marianne Mithun for comments on an earlier version of this paper, and to Bernard Comrie for some earlier discussions about terminology.
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