Lexical Semantic Evolution of Polysemous Words in Ancient Chinese Taking Zǒu as an Example
Contents Introduction PART 1 Previous Studies PART 2 Data Collection & Analysis PART 3 Conclusion & Future Work PART 4 2
Introduction related Zǒu papers • Ancient Chinese • Explore the polysemy of Zǒu in Chinese “ 走 , walking” Ｍ odern from different Chinese angles closely related to our daily life 3
Previous Studies Zǒu Zǒu Xíng Ge, Ben-Yi. 走 行 “Introduction to Linguistics” striding away walking step by step walk with two arms on two feet alternately 4
Previous Studies Run Go Escape Move ↓ Leave through Walk Pǎo ( 跑 ) Líkāi Jīngguò Yídòng Táo ↓ ( 移動 ) ( 逃 ) ( 經過 ) ( 離開 ) Zǒu ( 走 ) 5
Research topics Research Question 1 To analyze the diachronic evolution of the polysemy “walk”( zǒu ) semantics, as well as the basic and extended meanings. Metaphor and Metonymy Research Question 2 The semantic relevance of the ancient Chinese word “walk”( zǒu ) and how is it extended? 6
Data Collection 1 2 3 Academia Sinica Academia Sinica Academia Sinica Tagged Corpus of Tagged Corpus of Early Tagged Corpus of Old Chinese Mandarin Chinese Middle Chinese http://lingcorpus.iis.sinica.edu.tw/ancient/ http://lingcorpus.iis.sinica.edu.tw/middle/ http://lingcorpus.iis.sinica.edu.tw/early/ 7
Data Collection 1 • pre-Qin to Western Han • The Records of the Grand Historian “ Shǐjì ” ( 史記 ) Academia Sinica Tagged Corpus of Old Chinese http://lingcorpus.iis.sinica.edu.tw/ancient/ 8
Data Collection • Eastern Han to the Wei, Jin, the 2 Southern and Northern Dynasties • Anecdotes About Spirits and Immortals “ Sōu shén jì ” ( 搜神記 ) • A New Account of Tales of the World Academia Sinica “ Shì shuō xīnyǔ ” ( 世說新語 ) Tagged Corpus of Middle Chinese http://lingcorpus.iis.sinica.edu.tw/middle/ 9
Data Collection 3 • after the Tang and the Five Dynasties Journey to the West ( 西遊記 ) • Academia Sinica Tagged Corpus of Early Mandarin Chinese http://lingcorpus.iis.sinica.edu.tw/early/ 10
Data Collection The Records of the Grand Journey to the West Historian “ Shǐjì ” ( 史記 ) “ Xīyóu jì ” ( 西遊記 ) 219 records 1171 records • Anecdotes About Spirits and Immortals “ Sōu shén jì ” ( 搜神記 ) • A New Account of Tales of the World “ Shì shuō xīnyǔ ” ( 世說新語 ) 51 and 7 records respectively 11
Data Analysis – The Lexical Semantic Evolution of Zǒu in Ancient Chinese 1.Walk 2.Leave 12 1.Escape 8 5 3.Move 2.Leave 1.Run 4.Escape 3.Go 2.Escape Early 5.Leak Middle Old 4.Seek refuge 3.Walk 6.Go Modern 5.Move Chinese 4.Move Chinese 7.Run Chinese 6.Run 5.Leave Corpus Corpus 8.Pass 7.Walk Corpus (51 and 7 records (219 records) 9.Lost respectively) 8.Attack (1171 records) 10.Go through 11.Dissipate 12.Change 12
Table 1. Lexical Semantic distribution of Zǒu “ 走 , walking” in ancient, middle and modern times. Journey to the Corpus The number Anecdotes About Spirits and Immortals “ Sōu shén jì ” The Records of the Grand West Historian “ Shǐjì ” A New Account of Tales of the World “ Shì shuō xīnyǔ ” of occurrences (early modern (old Chinese corpus) (middle Chinese corpus) Semantis Chinese corpus) bùxíng ( 步行 , walk) 4 5 464 líkāi ( 離開 , leave) 22 1 311 yídòng ( 移動 , move) 8 1 208 táo ( 逃 , escape) 147 15 105 xièlòu ( 洩漏 , leak) 0 0 24 qiánwǎng ( 前往 , go to) 15 0 18 pǎo ( 跑 , run) 12 36 16 jīngguò ( 經過 , go through) 0 0 10 diūshī ( 丟失 , lost) 0 0 6 chuándì ( 傳遞 , pass) 0 0 3 gōngjí ( 攻擊 , attact) 4 0 3 sànshī ( 散失 , dissipate) 0 0 2 zhuǎnbiàn ( 轉變 , change) 0 0 1 tóubēn ( 投奔 , seek refuge) 7 0 0 Total 219 58 1171
Data Analysis – The Metaphor and Metonymy of Ancient Zǒu “ 走 , walking” Table 2. metaphor and metonymy of Zǒu “ 走 , walking” in ancient, middle and modern times Core-meaning Metaphor Metonymy Old Chinese leave, go to, escape attack, seek refuge run, move, walk corpus Middle Chinese escape, move, run corpus walk, leave Early Modern leak, lost, pass, leave, move, escape, walk go to, run, go through Chinese corpus dissipate, change 14
Data Analysis – The Metaphor of Ancient Zǒu “ 走 , walking” 「 走 」 只說是他自不小心，走了火，將我禪堂都燒了。 了 （西遊記 / 第十六回） “Zhǐ shuō shì tā zì bù xiǎoxīn , 火 zǒule huǒ , jiāng wǒ chántáng dōu shāole. ”(Xīyóu jì/dì shíliù huí) “leak” (All he said was that he was careless, putting a fire and burning my Zen Hall.) （ The Journey to The West/The 16th chapter) 15
Data Analysis – The Metaphor of Ancient Zǒu “ 走 , walking” 「 走 」 了 行者道：「老官，走了牛也！走了牛也！」 牛 （西遊記 / 第五十二回） “Xíngzhě dào: Lǎo guān , zǒule niú yě ! Zǒule niú yě!”(Xīyóu jì/dì wǔshí'èr huí) (The pedestrian said, “Old man, you have lost the “lost” cow! You have lost the cow!” ) （ The Journey to The West/The 52nd chapter ） 16
Data Analysis – The Metonymy of Ancient Zǒu “ 走 , walking” 分 南 有二赤蛇，可長二尺，分南北走。（新校搜神記 / 卷九） 北 “Yǒu èr chì shé, kě cháng èr chǐ , fēn nánběi zǒu.” (Xīn 「走」 xiào sōu shén jì/ juǎn jiǔ ) (Two red snakes, about two feet long, crawled south and north respectively. ) （ Anecdotes About Spirits and “leave” Immortals/Vol. 9th ） 17
Data Analysis – The Metonymy of Ancient Zǒu “ 走 , walking” 向 西 乃兩個狼頭妖怪，朗朗的說著話，向西北上走。 北 （西遊記 / 第八十九回） “Nǎi liǎng gè láng tou yāoguài , 上 lǎnglǎng de shuōzhe huà, xiàng xīběi shàng zǒu. ” ( Xīyóu jì/dì bāshíjiǔ huí) 「走」 (The two wolf-headed monsters spoke loudly and headed northwest. ) （ The Journey to The West/The “move” 89th chapter ） 18
Conclusion & Future Work The metonymy of Zǒu “ 走 , walking” conforms to some part of "starting From ancient times to point → path → end point“ The metaphor of Zǒu “ 走 , walking modern times, the meaning of walking evolved from includes the whole process of running to walking "start point → path → end point" Future Work Conclusion Modern Complete Corpus understanding of the semantic context changes of Zǒu “ 走 , walking” 19
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