TY - JOUR
T1 - Conceptualization of containment in Chinese
T2 - A corpus-based study of the Chinese space particles lĭ, nèi, and zhōng
AU - Su, Hung Kuan
AU - Chen, Alvin Cheng Hsien
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by funds from Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology (104-2410-H-003-134) and National Taiwan Normal University (T10607000102), granted to the second author. This work was based on the master thesis project of the ꀀsrt author completed under the supervision of the second author. The authors would like to thank the committee members for their constructive feedback. We are also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and the editors for their very helpful suggestions on the previous versions of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University.
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - This study investigates the semantic variations of three near-synonymous space particle constructions of containment in Chinese: [zai NP l./nei/ zh.ng]. While previous work has mostly applied qualitative analyses of the semantic differences between these particles, this study presents a corpusbased analysis examining the relationship between space particles and their co-occurring landmarks in the locative construction. Two quantitative analyses were conducted: a multiple distinctive collexeme analysis and a post-hoc semantic analysis. Our results suggest the following. First, l. is a more unmarked particle in encoding containment, co-occurring with both canonical landmarks and a wider range of entities. Second, nei shows a strong preference for landmarks denoting temporal concepts; this metaphorical use often implies a preplanned objective in the proposition, with the landmark as an intended deadline. Finally, zh.ng shows a strong connection to landmarks denoting high-dynamicity events. This extended use often comes with a marked aspectual reading of the landmark.
AB - This study investigates the semantic variations of three near-synonymous space particle constructions of containment in Chinese: [zai NP l./nei/ zh.ng]. While previous work has mostly applied qualitative analyses of the semantic differences between these particles, this study presents a corpusbased analysis examining the relationship between space particles and their co-occurring landmarks in the locative construction. Two quantitative analyses were conducted: a multiple distinctive collexeme analysis and a post-hoc semantic analysis. Our results suggest the following. First, l. is a more unmarked particle in encoding containment, co-occurring with both canonical landmarks and a wider range of entities. Second, nei shows a strong preference for landmarks denoting temporal concepts; this metaphorical use often implies a preplanned objective in the proposition, with the landmark as an intended deadline. Finally, zh.ng shows a strong connection to landmarks denoting high-dynamicity events. This extended use often comes with a marked aspectual reading of the landmark.
KW - Cognitive semantics
KW - Collostructional analysis
KW - Containment
KW - Distinctive collexeme
KW - Quantitative corpus linguistics
KW - Space particles
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U2 - 10.1075/consl.00009.su
DO - 10.1075/consl.00009.su
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093516924
VL - 45
SP - 211
EP - 245
JO - Concentric: Studies in Linguistics
JF - Concentric: Studies in Linguistics
SN - 1810-7478
IS - 2
ER -