1887
Volume 20, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1606-822X
  • E-ISSN: 2309-5067

Abstract

Abstract

This study re-examines Mandarin Placement verbs from a lexical-constructional perspective and redefines the class with semantic-to-syntactic properties pertaining to lexicalization patterns in Mandarin. It aims to show that Placement verbs lexicalize a cognitively salient causal chain that extends from an agentive motion to locational change and to resultant spatial configuration. The event chain serves as the conceptual basis for linking motion-triggered events and states that are syntactically distinct in profiling the three contingent stages: caused to move → caused to be → spatially grounded. Although English Placement verbs (put, hang, etc.) are typically taken to be exemplars of the caused-motion construction, this study shows that Placement verbs may be distinguished syntactically and semantically from pure Caused-Motion verbs and posture-based Spatial Configuration verbs. While the three classes of verbs may be viewed as demonstrating respectively the individuated stages of the proposed event chain, Placement verbs are the only class that encompasses all three event types in their meanings and are associated with a wide range of semantically compatible constructions. The three stages are discussed with graphical representations and collocational distinctions. Further sub-classifications of the Mandarin Placement verbs are provided with different semantic profiles for each subclass. Crucial to the analysis is the fact that location-profiled uses of Placement verbs outnumber path-profiled uses in Mandarin, indicating a categorical shift from motional to locational predication. By teasing out the language-specific and class-specific lexicalization patterns that are collo-constructionally definable, the study demonstrates the usefulness of a lexical-constructional approach in fine-tuning verbal semantic distinctions for cross-linguistic and cross-categorial comparisons.

Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00034.liu
2019-04-05
2024-12-05
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/lali.00034.liu.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00034.liu&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Ameka, Felix K. & Levinson, Stephen C.
    2007 Introduction: The typology and semantics of locative predicates: Posturals, positionals, and other beasts. Linguistics451. 847–872. doi:  10.1515/LING.2007.025
    https://doi.org/10.1515/LING.2007.025 [Google Scholar]
  2. Boas, Hans C.
    2003 A lexical-constructional account of the locative alternation. In Carmichael, Lesley & Huang, Chia-Hui & Samiian, Vida (eds.), Proceedings of the thirtieth Western Conference in Linguistics WELCO 2001, 27–42. Fresno: Department of Linguistics, California State University.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bowerman, Melissa & Gullberg, Marianne & Majid, Asifa & Narasimhan, Bhuvana
    2004 Put project: The cross-linguistic encoding of placement events. In Majid, Asifa (ed.), Field Manual Volume91, 10–24. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bresnan, Joan
    1990 The syntactic projection problem and the comparative syntax of locative inversion. Journal of Information Science and Engineering5(4). 375–396.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Chang, Jui-Ching
    2015 Verbal semantics and eventive inference: The case of fàng in Mandarin Chinese. Hsinchu: National Chiao Tung University. (Master’s thesis.)
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Chang, Jung-Hsing
    2003 State eventualities and aspect marker le in Chinese. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics1(1). 97–110.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Chao, Yuen-Ren
    1968A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Chen, Jidong
    2012 “She from bookshelf take-descend-come the box”: Encoding and categorizing placement events in Mandarin. In Anetta, Kopecka & Narasimhan, Bhuvana (eds.), Events of putting and taking: A crosslinguistic perspective, 37–54. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.100.06che
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.100.06che [Google Scholar]
  9. Chen, Ying & Jing-Schmidt, Zhuo
    2014 The Mandarin LVS construction: Verb lexical semantics and grammatical aspect. Cognitive Linguistics25(1), 1–27. 10.1515/cog‑2013‑0029
    https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2013-0029 [Google Scholar]
  10. Chen, Yi-Ling
    2009 On syntax and semantics of Placement verbs in Mandarin Chinese. Tainan: National Cheng Kung University. (Master’s Thesis.)
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Cheng, Shan-Shan
    2008 The comparative research of caused motion construction in English and Mandarin: Based on case study of English verbs of putting and their Chinese correspondents. Shanghai: Shanghai University. (Master’s thesis.)
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Chu, Chauncey
    2016 A study of “perfectivity”, “boundedness” and “the looming le1” from the interface of semantics, syntax and discourse (in Chinese). In Chin, Andy & Kwok, Bit-Chee & Tsou, Benjamin K. (eds.), The Commemorative Essays for Yuen Ren Chao, Father of Modern Chinese Linguistics, 161–172. Taipei: Crane.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Croft, William
    1990 Possible verbs and the structure of events. In Tsohatzidis, Savas L. (ed), Meanings and prototypes: Studies in linguistic categorization, 48–73. London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Croft, William & Cruse, Alan
    2004Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511803864
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803864 [Google Scholar]
  15. Dowty, David R.
    1979Word meaning and Montague grammar. Boston: Kluwer Academic. 10.1007/978‑94‑009‑9473‑7
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9473-7 [Google Scholar]
  16. Fillmore, Charles J.
    1968 The case for case. In Bach, Emmon & Harms, Robert T. (eds.), Universals in linguistic theory, 1–25: Holt Rinehart & Winston.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. 1982 Frame Semantics. InLinguistic Society of Korea (ed.), Linguistics in the Morning Calm, 111–138. Seoul: Hanshin.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Fillmore, Charles J. & Atkins, Beryl T.
    1992 Towards a frame-based organization of the lexicon: The semantics of RISK and its neighbors. In Lehrer, Adrienne & Kittay, Eva (eds.), Frames, fields, and contrasts: New essays in semantics and lexical organization, 75–102. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Gawron, Jean M.
    1986 Situations and prepositions. Linguistics and Philosophy9(3). 327–382. 10.1007/BF00630274
    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00630274 [Google Scholar]
  20. Goldberg, Adele E.
    1995Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. 2010 Verbs, constructions, and semantic frames. In Rappaport Hovav, Malka & Doron, Edit & Sichel, Ivy (eds.), Syntax, lexical semantics and event structure, 39–58. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199544325.003.0003
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199544325.003.0003 [Google Scholar]
  22. Halliday, Michael A. K.
    1967 Notes on transitivity and theme in English: Part 2. Journal of Linguistics3(2). 199–244. 10.1017/S0022226700016613
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700016613 [Google Scholar]
  23. Hansson, Kristina & Bruce, Barbro
    2002 Verbs of placement in Swedish children with SLI. International Journal of Communication Disorders37(4). 401–414. 10.1080/1368282021000007712
    https://doi.org/10.1080/1368282021000007712 [Google Scholar]
  24. Iwata, Seizi
    2004 Over-prefixation: A lexical constructional approach. English Language and Linguistics8(2). 239–292. 10.1017/S1360674304001388
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674304001388 [Google Scholar]
  25. 2005a Locative alternation and two levels of verb meaning. Cognitive Linguistics16(2). 355–407. 10.1515/cogl.2005.16.2.355
    https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2005.16.2.355 [Google Scholar]
  26. 2005b The role of verb meaning in locative alternations. In Fried, Mirjam & Boas, Hans C. (eds.), Grammatical constructions: Back to the roots, 101–118. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/cal.4.07iwa
    https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.4.07iwa [Google Scholar]
  27. Langacker, Ronald W.
    1987Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites, vol.11. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. 1990Concept, image, and symbol: The cognitive basis of grammar, vol.11. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110857733
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110857733 [Google Scholar]
  29. LaPolla, Randy J.
    1995 Pragmatic relations and word order in Chinese. In Downing, Pamela A. & Noonan, Michael (eds.), Word order in discourse, 297–329. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.30.11lap
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.30.11lap [Google Scholar]
  30. Lemmens, Maarten
    2006 Caused posture: Experiential patterns emerging from corpus research. In Gries, Stefan Th. & Stefanowitsch, Anatol (eds.), Corpora in cognitive linguistics: Corpus-based approaches to syntax and lexis, 261–296. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Levin, Beth
    1993English verb classes and alternations: A preliminary investigation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Levin, Beth & Rappaport Hovav, Malka
    1991 Wiping the slate clean: A lexical semantic exploration. Cognition41(1–3). 123–151. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010027791900342?via%3Dihub. 10.1016/0010‑0277(91)90034‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(91)90034-2 [Google Scholar]
  33. 1995Unaccusativity: At the syntax-lexical semantics interface. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. 1996 Lexical semantics and syntactic structure. In Lappin, S. (ed.), The handbook of contemporary semantic theory, 487–507. Oxford: Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Li, Charles N. & Thompson, Sandra A.
    1981Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. 1982 The discourse motivation for the perfect aspect: The Mandarin particle le . In Hopper, Paul J. (ed.), Tense-aspect: Between semantics and pragmatics, 19–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.1.05li
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.1.05li [Google Scholar]
  37. Liu, Feng-Hsi
    1997 An aspectual analysis of BA. Journal of East Asian Linguistics61. 51–99. 10.1023/A:1008287920948
    https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008287920948 [Google Scholar]
  38. Liu, Meichun
    2002 Verbs of surface contact in Mandarin: A lexical semantic study. In Su, Lily I-wen & Lien, Chinfa & Chui, Kawai (eds.), Form and function: Linguistic studies in honor of Shuanfan Huang, 275–303. Taipei: Crane.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. 2003 Motion, direction and spatial configuration: A lexical semantic study of ‘hang’ verbs in Mandarin. In Shay, Erin & Seibert, Uew (eds.), Motion, direction and location in languages: In honor of Zygmunt Frajzyngier, 177–187. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.56.14liu
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.56.14liu [Google Scholar]
  40. 2017 The Chinese mind: What can Chinese tell us about grammar--a non-English biased view. (Paper presented at the 62nd Annual Conference of International Linguistic Association , Hong Kong, 26–28 May, 2017).
    [Google Scholar]
  41. 2018 Kuang jia wei ben gou shi wei yong ji yu yu liao ku shi zheng de han yu dong ci yu yi fen xi yu fen lei框架為本,構式為用:基於語料庫實證的漢語動詞語義分析與分類 [A frame-based morpho-constructional approach to verbal semantics]. In Kit, Chunyu & Liu, Meichun (eds.), Empirical and corpus linguistic frontiers. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Liu, Meichun & Chang, Che-Wei
    2015 A lexical-constructional approach to verbal semantics: The case of Mandarin ‘hang’ verbs. International Journal of Knowledge and Language Processing6(4). 1–19.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Liu, Meichun & Chang, Jui-Ching
    2015a Redefining locative inversion in Mandarin Chinese: A lexical-constructional approach. In Tao, Hongyin & Lee, Yu-Hui & Su, Danjie & Tsurumi, Keiko & Wang, Wei & Yang, Ying Yang (eds.), Proceeding of the 27th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (27th NACCL), 439–461. Los Angeles: UCLA.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. 2015b Semantic profile as a source of polysemy: Insight from the spatial-configuration verb fàng in Mandarin. In Lu, Qin & Gao, Helena Hong (eds.), Chinese lexical semantics (CLSW15), 24–32. Switzerland: Springer. doi:  10.1007/978‑3‑319‑27194‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27194-1 [Google Scholar]
  45. 2017 From placement to positioning: Spatial configuration verbs in Mandarin. (Paper presented at the25th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL 25), Budapest, 25–27 June, 2017).
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Liu, Meichun & Chang, Jui-ching
    2018 Placement verbs in Chinese and English: A contrastive study of lexicalization patterns. In Hong, Jia-Fei & Su, Qi & Wu, Jiun-Shiung (eds.), Proceedings of the 19th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop (CLSW 2018), 163–197. Switzerland: Springer. 10.1007/978‑3‑030‑04015‑4_38
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04015-4_38 [Google Scholar]
  47. Liu, Meichun & Tsai, Hsin-shan & Hu, Chia-yin & Chou, Shu-ping
    2015 The proto-motion event schema: Integrating lexical semantics and morphological sequencing. Journal of Chinese Linguistic43(2). 503–547. 10.1353/jcl.2015.0015
    https://doi.org/10.1353/jcl.2015.0015 [Google Scholar]
  48. Luo, Yun-Pu
    2011The study of the polysemous verb ‘fang4’ in Mandarin Chinese. Hsinchu: National Tsing Hua University. (Master’s thesis.)
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Narasimhan, Bhuvana & Gullberg, Marianne
    2011 The role of input frequency and semantic transparency in the acquisition of verb meaning: Evidence from Placement verbs in Tamil and Dutch. Journal of Child Language38(3). 504–532. 10.1017/S0305000910000164
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000910000164 [Google Scholar]
  50. Narasimhan, Bhuvana & Kopecka, Anetta & Bowerman, Melissa & Gullberg, Marianne & Majid, Asifa
    2012 Putting and taking events: A crosslinguistic perspective. In Kopecka, Anetta & Narasimhan, Bhuvana (eds.), Events of putting and taking: A crosslinguistic perspective, 1–18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.100.03nar
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.100.03nar [Google Scholar]
  51. Newman, John
    2002 A cross-linguistic overview of the posture verbs ‘sit’, ‘stand’, and ‘lie’. In Newman, John (ed.), The linguistics of sitting, standing and lying, 1–24. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.51.02new
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.51.02new [Google Scholar]
  52. Pan, Haihua
    1996 Imperfective aspect zhe, agent deletion, and locative inversion in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory14(2). 409–432. 10.1007/BF00133688
    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133688 [Google Scholar]
  53. Pauwels, Paul
    2000Put, set, lay, and place: A cognitive linguistic approach to verbal meaning. Munich: Lincom.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Pinker, Steven
    1991Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Piñón, Christopher
    2001 A finer look at the causative-inchoative alternation. In Hastings, Rachel & Jackson, Brendan & Zvolenszky, Zsofia (eds.), Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory, Vol.111, 346–364. Ithaca: Cornell University.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Pustejovsky, James https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(91)90032-Y [Google Scholar]
  57. Schäfer, Florian
    2009 The causative alternation. Language and Linguistics Compass3(2). 641–681. doi:  10.1111/j.1749‑818X.2009.00127.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00127.x [Google Scholar]
  58. Serra Borneto, Carlo
    1996 Liegen and stehen in German: A study in horizontality and verticality. In Casad, Eugene H. (ed.), Cognitive linguistics in redwoods: The expansion of a new paradigm in linguistics, 459–505. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110811421.459
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110811421.459 [Google Scholar]
  59. Shi, Ziqiang
    1990 ‘Decomposition of perfectivity and inchoativity and the meaning of the particle le in Mandarin Chinese’. Journal of Chinese Linguistics181. 95–124.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Slobin, Dan I. & Bowerman, Melissa & Brown, Penelope & Eisenbeiß, Sonja & Narasimhan, Bhuvana
    2011 Putting things in places: Developmental consequences of linguistic typology. In Bohnemeyer, Jürgen & Pederson, Eric (eds.), Event representation in language and cognition, 134–165. New York: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Smith, Carlota S.
    1991The parameter of aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. 10.1007/978‑94‑015‑7911‑7
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7911-7 [Google Scholar]
  62. Sybesma, Rint
    1992 Causatives and accomplishments: The case of Chinese ba. Leiden: Leiden University. (PhD dissertation).
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Tai, James H-Y.
    2006Jingtai kongjian guanxi zai Zhongwen jufa de chengxian靜態空間關係在中文句法的呈現 [Representation of stative spatial relation in Mandarin syntax]. Xiandai Zhongguoyu Yanjiu [Comtemporary Chinese Studies] 81. 1–7.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Talmy, Leonard
    1985 Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. In Shopen, Timothy (ed.), Language typology and syntactic descriptionvol.31: Grammatical categories and the lexicon, 57–149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Tham, Siao Wei
    2012 Result in Mandarin verb compounds. In Guevara, Ana Aguilar & Chernilovskaya, Anna & Nouwen, Rick (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 16, vol.21, 599–612.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. 2013 Change of state verbs and result state adjectives in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Linguistics49(3). 647–701. 10.1017/S0022226713000261
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226713000261 [Google Scholar]
  67. Tsao, Feng-Fu
    1978 Subject and topic in Chinese. In Cheng, Robert L. & Li, Yingzhe & Tang, Tingchi (eds.), Proceedings of Symposium on Chinese Linguistics, 1977 Linguistic Institute of the Linguistic Society of America, 165–196. Taipei: Student Book.
    [Google Scholar]
  68. 1979A functional study of topic in Chinese: The first step towards discourse analysis. Taipei: Student Book.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Vallduví, Enric & Engdahl, Elisabet
    1996 The linguistic realization of information packaging. Linguistics34(3). 459–519. 10.1515/ling.1996.34.3.459
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1996.34.3.459 [Google Scholar]
  70. Vendler, Zeno
    1967Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 10.7591/9781501743726
    https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501743726 [Google Scholar]
  71. Wang, William S-Y.
    1965 Two aspect markers in Mandarin. Language41(3). 457–470. 10.2307/411788
    https://doi.org/10.2307/411788 [Google Scholar]
  72. Xu, Feng
    1998aXiandai Hanyu zhifang dongci peijia yanjiu現代漢語置放動詞配價研究 [The valency of Placement verbs in Modern Chinese]. Yuyan Jiaoxue Yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies] 31. 86–101.
    [Google Scholar]
  73. 1998bXiandai Hanyu zhifanglei dongci jiqi yuyi cifanchou現代漢語置放類動詞及其語義次範疇 [Placement verbs in Modern Chinese and the their sub-classifications]. Hanyu Xuexi [Chinese Language Learning] 21. 19–23.
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Yang, Su-Ying & Pan, Haihua
    2001 A constructional analysis of the existential structure. In Pan, Haihua (ed.), Studies in Chinese Linguistics II, 189–208. Hong Kong: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Yong, Shin
    1993The aspectual phenomena of the BA construction. Madison: University of Wisconsin. (PhD dissertation.)
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00034.liu
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00034.liu
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error