Schematic meaning and pragmatic inference: the Mandarin adverbs hai, you and zai

Corpora ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing-Schmidt Zhuo ◽  
Th. Gries Stefan
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Multifactorial Analysis ◽  
Pragmatic Inference ◽  
Discourse Type ◽  
Cognitive Semantic ◽  
Corpus Data

In this study, we provide a unitary account for three functionally complementary adverbs in Mandarin Chinese: hai, you and zai. Contrastive schematic meanings are proposed as core semantic input from which various pragmatic inferences are derived in context. A multifactorial analysis based on corpus data reveals collocation patterns both in terms of discourse type and linguistic structure. The quantitative findings confirm semantic coherences predicted on the basis of the proposed schematic meanings. The study demonstrates the analytical strengths of cognitive semantic schemata over the fractional view of meaning.

scholarly journals A Character-Based Constructional Approach to Chinese Imperfective Aspect Markers 在Zai and 着Zhe

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-79
Author(s):  
Liulin ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Aspect Markers

在zai and着zhe are commonly recognized imperfective aspect makers in Mandarin Chinese, though there are noticeable differences between their distributions and functions. By resorting to origins, historical evolutions, and corpus data for the meanings and functions of these two characters, it can be observed that they are both polysemies displaying semantic networks organized around a central sense respectively and the characters 在 and 着 are distinct form and meaning pairings. 在 is a construction indicating presence within a certain range while 着generally denotes ‘reach to’. Related to their basic meanings, 在 and 着 exhibit some constraints respectively when marking imperfective aspect. From this character-based constructional account, 在’s and 着’s qualifications as Chinese imperfective aspect markers are theoretically arguable.

scholarly journals Encoding individuals in language using syntax, words, and pragmatic inference

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh Srinivasan ◽  
David Barner
Keyword(s):  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Pragmatic Inference ◽  
Recent Developments

How does linguistic structure relate to how we construe reality? In many languages, countable individuals like objects are typically labeled by count nouns (e.g., two rabbits, every truck, etc.), while unindividuated masses like substances are typically labeled by mass nouns (e.g., much mud, barrel of oil, etc.). These facts have led researchers to propose that learning mass‐count syntax affects how speakers perceive objects and substances, or alternatively that an understanding of this distinction – or one between individuals and non‐individuals – scaffolds the acquisition of mass and count nouns. Here, we evaluate these ideas and describe how recent developments in the literature have fundamentally changed our understanding of the mass-.‐count distinction and how it relates to individuation. Across three sections, we show that a simple distinction between countable individuals and non‐individuals cannot provide a foundation for the mass‐count distinction (e.g., because many mass nouns like furniture and luggage can denote individuals). Further, we show that mass‐count syntax does not shape whether items are construed as individuals or not, but instead allows speakers to select from a set of universally available meanings (e.g., because speakers of all languages quantify objects and substances similarly). We argue that a complete understanding of how mass‐count syntax encodes reality requires understanding how different aspects of language – syntax, lexical roots, word meanings, and pragmatic inference – interact to encode abstract, countable individuals.

scholarly journals Can pragmatic inference benefit from topic prominence? ERP evidence from Mandarin Chinese

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Lijuan Chen ◽  
Xiaodong Xu ◽  
Qingrong Chen ◽  
Phaedra Royle
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Pragmatic Inference

scholarly journals The Norwegian lexical item akkurat and the Polish akurat: a cognitive semantic analysis

2014 ◽  
pp. 219-235
Author(s):  
Ewa Data-Bukowska
Keyword(s):  
Complex Networks ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Semantic Difference ◽  
Cognitive Semantic ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The Norwegian lexical item akkurat and the Polish akurat: a cognitive semantic analysisThe aim of the article is to demonstrate to what extent the Norwegian akkurat and the Polish akurat show similarities and differences in their conceptual content (meaning). Adopting the perspective of cognitive semantics (CS), as described in Langacker (1987) and Lakoff (1987), I shall try to show that the meanings ascribed to these etymologically and formally related words constitute complex networks of senses, rooted in a prototypical centre in each of the languages under discussion. In addition to this, the findings will be interpreted with reference to the process of pragmaticalization (a language unit’s development of increasing pragmatic functions). Within this theoretical framework I shall demonstrate that subjectification/intersubjectification and pejoration/melioration motivate the main semantic difference between akkurat and akurat. The analysis is based on Norwegian and Polish monolingual corpus data.

Potentials for grammaticalization

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-402
Author(s):  
Fuyin Thomas Li ◽  
Na Liu
Keyword(s):  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Event Type ◽  
Semantic Account ◽  
Syntactic Position ◽  
Event Theory ◽  
Cognitive Semantic ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Directional Complements ◽  
New Hypothesis

Abstract This paper discusses the grammaticalization of motion verbs in Mandarin. A class of motion verbs in Mandarin that regularly appears at either V1 or V2 position in the V1+V2 construction is only grammaticalized at the V2 position, where the verb becomes a directional complement. We provide a cognitive semantic account and propose a new hypothesis that we call the syntactic position and event type sensitivity hypothesis in grammaticalization. We analyze corpus data across five historical stages for 11 simplex directional complements. The analysis draws on Talmy’s macro-event theory and Lehmann’s grammaticalization parameters. It is concluded that motion verbs at the V1 position are most likely to have agentive subjects, which foregrounds the idea of motion in V1, while V2 focuses on the Agent’s purpose. Motion verbs at V2 are relatively more likely to have non-agentive subjects, which foregrounds the Path element in V2 and complements the action of V1, rather than the purpose of the Agent. What triggers the grammaticalization of the V2 is the foregrounding of the Path element in V2, which complements the action of V1, and its non-agentive subject.

Passive constructions in English and Chinese

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Xiao ◽  
Tony McEnery ◽  
Yufang Qian
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Systematic Account ◽  
British English ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Contrastive Linguistics ◽  
Corpus Data

This article combines the corpus-based and contrastive approaches, seeking to provide a systematic account of passive constructions in two typologically distinct languages, namely British English and Mandarin Chinese. We will first explore, on the basis of written and spoken corpus data, a range of characteristics of passives in the two languages including various passive constructions, long vs. short passives, semantic, pragmatic and syntactic features as well as genre variations. On the basis of this exploration, passive constructions in the two languages are contrasted in a structured way. Methodologically, this study demonstrates that comparable monolingual corpora can be exploited fruitfully in contrastive linguistics.

French liaison in the light of corpus data

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
JACQUES DURAND ◽  
CHANTAL LYCHE
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Theoretical Account ◽  
Testing Ground ◽  
Variable Character ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Intrinsic Variable ◽  
Experimental Phonetics

ABSTRACTFrench liaison has long been a favourite testing ground for phonological theories, a situation which can undoubtedly be attributed to the complexity of the phenomenon, involving in particular phonology/syntax, phonology/morphology, phonology/lexicon interfaces. Dealing with liaison requires stepping into all the components of the grammar, while at the same time tackling the quick sands of variation. The data on which a number of formal analyses are based have often been a source of concern since liaison, in part because of its intrinsic variable character, requires extensive and robust data. In the wake of the results from the study of other corpora, we present here extensive results based on the PFC database (Phonologie du français contemporain: usages, variétés et structures) and point to their implications for models of linguistic structure. While we do not believe that a motivated theoretical account can be mechanically extracted from the data, we conclude that future analyses will have to take explicitly into account the results of extensive corpus work as well as sociolinguistic surveys, acquisition studies, experimental phonetics and (neuro-)psycho-linguistic investigations, including the relationship between speech and writing. As stressed in Chevrot, Fayol and Laks (2005), these analyses will have to acknowledge that French liaison is not a homogeneous locus but a multi-faceted phenomenon requiring us to accept, without demur, the crossing of disciplinary boundaries.

The Relevance of the principle of Relevance for Word Order Variation in Complex Referring Expressions in Mandarin Chinese

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Chen ◽  
Tao Ming ◽  
Xiangyu Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Corpus Data

AbstractWord order variation in Mandarin Chinese results in two constructions consisting of a noun phrase (NP), a cluster of a demonstrative and a classifier (DM), and a relative clause (RC): the OMN with the RC+DM+NP order and the IMN with DM+RC+NP order. This study used corpus data to show correlational patterns of constructional choices. Specifically, OMN is associated with new and inanimate NPs serving the grammatical role of object in the relative clause that serves the discourse function of identification. By contrast, for IMN, the head NP tends to carry given information, tends to be an animate entity, tends to serve the grammatical role of subject in the relative clause, and tends to have an RC that serves the discourse function of characterization. We suggest that the usage patterns can be interpreted in terms of the cognitive and communicative principles of relevance (Sperber and Wilson 1995).

scholarly journals Predicting syntactic choice in Mandarin Chinese: a corpus-based analysis of ba sentences and SVO sentences

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-250
Author(s):  
Yu Fang ◽  
Haitao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
The Other ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Large Length ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
The One ◽  
Parallel Construction

Abstract This paper investigates the effects of 10 factors on the choice between alternative ba sentences and SVO sentences in Mandarin Chinese. These factors are givenness, definiteness, animacy and pronominality of NP2s, NP2 length, VP length, verb sense, syntactic parallelism, dependency distance, and surprisal. Using corpus data and mixed-effects logistic regression modeling, we find that on the one hand, givenness, syntactic parallelism, and the log-transformed ratio of NP2 length and VP length are significant predictors of the choice between ba sentences and SVO sentences. A new NP2, a large length ratio and a parallel construction predict an SVO sentence rather than a ba sentence. On the other hand, dependency distance and surprisal estimated by the trigram model are effective in predicting the choice between naturally occurring ba/SVO sentences and their alternatives. Naturally occurring sentences are more likely to have shorter dependency distances and smaller surprisal values than the converted sentences. The effects of these five factors on syntactic choice are congruent with results of previous studies, which suggests that some determinants of syntactic choice are shared among languages.

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