METAPHORICAL EXTENSIONS IN SEMANTIC CHANGE: A case study of zi nbin - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

METAPHORICAL EXTENSIONS IN SEMANTIC CHANGE:

A case study of zài nàbiān construction in spoken Taiwan Mandarin

Hsiao-Ling Hsu and Huei-Ling Lai

National Chengchi University, Taiwan Presented at The 21st Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop (CLSW2020), City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. May 28-30, 2020

Intr Introduction

• duction

■ Biq (2007) :

■ Zài nàbiān is significantly frequent in spoken Taiwan Mandarin. ■ Zài nàbiān, as a necessary component, refers to a place distal to a deitic center ■ Zài nàbiān in the zài nàbiān +VP construction, as an unnecessary component, does not refer to a place distal to a deictic center, but to emphasize an event or to keep a detached stance towards an event. ■ This detached/negative attitude emerges from the meaning of “那 nà (‘that’)”, which refers to an entity distal to a deictic center.

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Intr Introduction

• duction

■ Jiang (2014) :

■ Two corpora: – Spoken: NCCU Corpus of Spoken Taiwan Mandarin (Chui & Lai, 2008) – Written: Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese ■ Non-place-denoting zài nàbiān in spoken Mandarin would be better accounted for in terms of past imperfectivity (Comrie,1976:24).

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Intr Introduction

• duction

■ Biq (2007) versus Jiang (2014) – They focus on different aspects of non-place-denoting zài nàbiān: the former on the pragmatic aspect and the latter

• n the grammatical and semantic aspect.

■ The usage of zài nàbiān in spoken discourse can be better captured if the grammatical, semantic and pragmatic aspects are analyzed at the same time.

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Intr Introduction

• duction

■ Our aim to tease out the usage patterns of zài nàbiān in terms of the grammatical functions of zài and the semantic types and pragmatic uses of nàbiān in the two types of zài nàbiān

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The Theoretical

• retical Ba

Back ckgr ground

• und

Discour Discourse app se approach t

• ach to demonstrativ
• demonstratives i

es in Ma n Mand ndari arin n (T (Tao, 1 ao, 1999) 999) ■ In Chinese, zhè and ná are usually viewed as contrasting spatial distance, with the speaker at the center. – Xiandan Hanyu Babai Ci (Lu et al, 1981):

■ zhè refers to things that are close to the speaker ■ ná refers to things that are far from the speaker

■ Tao (1999) explores the distributions of demonstratives zhè and ná in conversational discourse and proposes that the spatial distance theory is not always the case for the use of zhè and ná.

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The Theoretical

• retical Ba

Back ckgr ground

• und

Discour Discourse app se approach t

• ach to demonstrativ
• demonstratives i

es in Ma n Mand ndari arin n (T (Tao, ao, 1999: 999:76-77)

Seman emantic ic Types pes of Ref eferenc erence e De Definition inition Ex Example ple Temporal reference Refer to the time 我那天去拿信。 Spatial reference Refer to the place 你來這裡做什麼？ Personal reference Concerning body parts or personal belongings of the speaker 我明天就穿這件。 Ordinary reference Refer to human/non-human entities 這個人；這個程序 Hypothetical reference The entity being referred to is hypothetical and non-specific 我很少看到警察抓了一個外國 人，在那要他的身分證。

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The Theoretical

• retical Ba

Back ckgr ground

• und

Di Discour scourse se ap appr proach

• ach to
• de

demonstrati monstratives es in in Ma Mand ndar arin in (T (Tao, ao, 1999:7 999:77-78) 78)

Usa sage ge ty type pes s of dem emons

• nstrati

trative e in disc scour urse se (Himm mmelma elmann nn, , 1994) 94) De Definition inition Ex Example ple Situational use Referring to to an entity present in utterance situation. 他當時坐在那邊。 Discourse/Textual use Referring to a proposition/ event in the discourse; text reference

• r extended reference

他那麽做是為什麼？ Tracking use Referring back to introduced specific referent Anaphoric or co-referential 他昨天來買了一朵花。 那朵花他送給了他媽媽。 Recognational use Referent are introduced with a demonstrative to show degrees

• f uncertainty

按照這個正常程序？

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Theoretical Background zai (Wang, 2015)

■ Comrie (1976) : continuous aspect can be further divided into progressive and nonprogressive. ■ Following Comrie(1976): zai can denote nonprogressive continuous state (狀態持續) and progressive activity (動作進行). ■ In Chinese, zài is a progressive marker (Tang, 2016; cf. Wang, 2015 ).

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Theoretical Background Construction Grammar

■ The major principle of constructionist approaches is to view all linguistic items no matter how small or abstract as pairings of form and function (Goldberg, 1995). ■ Pairings of form and function are treated as ‘constructions’ which serve as building blocks

• f languages.

■ Constructions comprise inheritance networks via inheritance links. ■ Four major types of inheritance links are proposed to capture the relations between constructions (Goldberg, 1995):  polysemy links (IP)  metaphorical extension links (IM)  subpart links(IS)  instance link(II)

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Theoretical Background Construction Grammar

■ In this present study, only metaphorical extension inheritance links are discussed, since they are closely related to the emergence of the non-place- denoting usage zài nàbiān. ■ Metaphorical extension links capture the metaphorical mapping between two constructions, as demonstrated in the following instances in Goldberg (1995:88). – (9) is inherited from (8) the cause-motion construction with the metaphorical extension inheritance link: change of location is change of state.

(9) Joe kicked the bottle into the yard. (8) Joe kicked Bob black and blue.

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Method Method

■ Corpus: Taiwan Mandarin Corpus – TalkBank, https://ca.talkbank.org/access/TaiwanMandarin.html

Chui, Kawai, Huei-ling Lai, and Hui-Chen Chan. 2017. The Taiwan Spoken Chinese Corpus. In Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistic, ed. by Rint Sybesma, pp. 257-259. Boston, USA: Brill.

– 36 spontaneous face-to-face conversations

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Met Method hod

■ Instances of zài nàbiān are extracted from the corpus along with the sufficient and necessary context (preceding and following turns) which is considered important information for the analysis. ■ According to the test that whether a referent can be identified, zài nàbiān is categorized into two groups : – the place-denoting zài nàbiān – the non-place-denoting zài nàbiān ■ Each usage is further analyzed based on the grammatical function of zài, the semantic type (Tao, 1999) and the pragmatic use (Himmelmann,1996) of nàbiān.

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Resu esults lts

Types Number of tokens Place-denoting zài nàbiān 61 (50.83%) Non-place-denoting zài nàbiān 59 (49.17%) Total 120 (100%)

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The distribution of place-denoting zài nàbiān and non-place-denoting zài nàbiān in Taiwan Mandarin Corpus

Resu esults lts pl

place ace-deno denoting ting zài nàbiān

■ Place-denoting zài nàbiān – Referents: mentioned place (九份、桌子、回收桶、我斜後方…) – Necessary component of the utterances ■ zài is a locative preposition ■ Semantic type of nàbiān : spatial reference (100%, n=61) ■ Pragmatic use of nàbiān : tracking use (93.4%, n=57), situational use (6.6%, n=4)

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Resu esults lts pl

place ace-deno denoting ting zài nàbiān

Resu esults lts non-place-denoting zài nàbiān

■ Non-place-denoting zài nàbiān

– Referents: cannot be identified – Not a necessary component of the utterances

■ zài in non-place-denoting zài nàbiān + VP serves as an aspect marker

indicating the VP is a progressive event or a continuous state

■ Semantic function of nàbiān : hypothetical reference (100%, n=59) ■ Pragmatic function of nàbiān : attitudinal use (100%, n=59)

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Resu esults lts non-place-denoting zài nàbiān

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Resu esults lts non-place-denoting zài nàbiān

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Dis Discussion cussion

■ With regard to the indexicality of the deictic expression zài nàbiān in our data from spoken Taiwan Mandarin – the indexical ground of place-denoting nàbiān is physically based – the indexical ground of non-place-denoting nàbiān is psychological in nature, which conveys ‘psychologically’ distal distance toward that event ■ The place-denoting zài nàbiān construction is used to make reference to mentioned places in the context. ■ The non-place-denoting zài nàbiān + VP construction is used to express speakers’ negative/disfavored attitude toward an ongoing event or a continuous state.

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Dis Discussion cussion

■ It is noteworthy that the development from place-denoting usage to non-place-denoting usage in spoken discourse demonstrates the mechanism of semantic extension. ■ The emergent non-place-denoting usage is developed from the conceptually concrete domains to less concrete domains: from the spatial zài to temporal (aspectual) zài, and from the concrete physical distance to the abstract psychological distance.

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Dis Discussion cussion

■ The notions of metaphorical extension inheritance links (Goldberg, 1995). ■ The non-place-denoting usage is developed/emerged from the central deictic construction to psychological deictic construction.

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Aspectual marker

Dis Discussion cussion

■ Speakers’ negative/disfavored attitude toward an event is developed from the context, speakers’ subjectivity toward that event and interlocutors’ inferences (Traugott 1989; 2010). ■ Traugott (1989:31): ‘meanings tend to become increasingly situated in the speaker's subjective belief state or attitude toward the proposition.’ ■ Traugott (1989:34-35) proposes the path of semantic change involving the following three closely-related tendencies:

■ Tendency I: Meanings based in the external described situation > meanings based in the internal (evaluative/perceptual/cognitive) described situation. ■ Tendency II: Meanings based in the external or internal described situation > meanings based in the textual and metalinguistic situation. ■ Tendency III: Meanings tend to become increasingly based in the speaker's subjective belief state/attitude toward the proposition.

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Dis Discussion cussion

■ The semantic change of the deictic expression zài nàbiān in spoken Taiwan Mandarin also follows Tendency I and Tendency III. ■ Following the path in Tendency I, the original place-denoting usage of zài nàbiān used to describe external situation develops into the emergent non- place-denoting usage of zài nàbiān used to describe the internal (evaluative/perceptual/cognitive) situation of an event. ■ The emergent non-place-denoting usages occur almost as frequent as the

• riginal place-denoting usage (place-denoting usage (50.83%) versus fifty-nine

non-place-denoting (49.17%)), which roughly demonstrates the path in Tendency III that ‘meanings tend to become increasingly based in the speaker's subjective belief state/attitude toward the proposition’.

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Conclusion

■ This study examines the usage patterns of zài nàbiān in spoken discourse in Taiwan Mandarin in terms of the grammatical functions of zài and the semantic types and pragmatic uses of nàbiān. ■ Two usages are found: place-denoting and non-place-denoting.

– For place-denoting usage, zài serves as a locative preposition, and nàbiān specifies a spatial reference, serving tracking use or situational use. – Non-place-denoting usages are all followed by verbal predicates in our data, formulating the non-place-denoting zài nàbiān +VP construction, where zài is an aspect marker indicating the VP is a progressive event or a continuous state (Tang, 2016; cf. Wang, 2015), and nàbiān refers to a hypothetical reference, serving attitudinal use, which expresses speakers’ negative attitude toward the event being talking about.

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Conclusion

■ The development/emergence of non-place-denoting zài nàbiān construction is inherited from the original place-denoting zài nàbiān construction via metaphorical extension links. ■ The development follows the tendencies of the semantic change as Traugott (1990) proposes: from external description toward the proposition to internal subjective evaluation toward the proposition.

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Ref eferences erences

1. Biq,Y.O. (2007). Lexicalization and phrasalization of na collocates in spoken Taiwan

• Mandarin. Contemporary Linguistics, 2.

2. Chui, K., Lai, H. L. & Chan, H. C. (2017). The Taiwan Spoken Chinese Corpus. In Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistic, ed. by Rint Sybesma, pp. 257- 259.Boston, USA: Brill. 3. Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect: An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems (Vol. 2). Cambridge university press. 4. Goldberg, A. E. (1995). Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument

• structure. University of Chicago Press.

5. Himmelmann, N. P. (1996). A Taxonomy of Universal Uses. Studies in anaphora, 33, 205- 254. 6. Jiang, H.W. (2014). What’s in there? On the non-place-denoting function of locative demonstratives in spoken Mandarin. Abstract Book of the 3rd International Symposium on Chinese Language and Discourse (ISCLD-3), 45–47. Birkbeck: Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication, University of London.

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Ref eferences erences

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• 10. Traugott, E. C. (1989). On the rise of epistemic meanings in English: An example of

subjectification in semantic change. Language, 31-55.

• 11. Traugott, E. C. (1990). From less to more situated in language: the unidirectionality of

semantic change. In Papers from the 5th international conference on English historical linguistics (p. 497). John Benjamins.

• 12. Traugott, E. C. (2010). Revisiting subjectification and intersubjectification. In Davidse,

Vandelanotte, and Cuyckens, eds., Subjectification, intersubjectification and grammaticalization, 29-71.

• 13. Wang, J. H. (2015). A Study of the Formation of Time Adverbs Zài and Zhengzài. Language

and Linguistics, 16(2), 187.

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THANK YOU!

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