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The polysemy of modal auxiliary construction in modern Mandarin: evidence from the multi-interactions and constructional network of [yào+VP]
Boek - Dissertatie
Korte inhoud:Chinese modal auxiliary is a complicated, and contentious “problematic word class”. Along with the publication of China’s first systematic grammar book Ma Shi Wen Tong (1989), come ongoing debates by Chinese grammarians about the word class, grammatical status, and syntactic relationship of Chinese modal auxiliaries. It is hardly surprising that thus far, there has rarely been an in-depth study of the ecological status and development of Chinese modal polysemy. This can rightly be attributed to the fact that reductionist philosophy has a powerful impact on previous studies and evoked an irresistible urge to classify the Chinese language into verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs among structuralists. This structuralist theory may be responsible for the controversy over the grammatical status and syntactic relationships of Chinese modality in previous studies since most of them employ the building-block model and “verbcentric” view, focusing too much on verbs in the linguistic analysis.
After dwelling on the fundamental causes of the above disputes, this study seeks to find a potential resolution by starting from the roots of ideology and theoretical approaches, focusing on yào-MAC, i.e., [yào+VP], as a case study. It adopts Construction Grammar (CxG), which is based on Sophisticated Holism and Gestalt psychology, as the primary theoretical framework for reanalyzing long-standing disputes in Chinese modality studies. The research questions of this study are as follows:
(1) What is the form and meaning of Chinese yào-MAC ?
(2) How does the polysemy of yào-MAC realize its multi-interactions in the constructional network from a synchronic dimension?
(3) Diachronically, how does the polysemy of yào-MAC come into being and develop?
First of all, to address the questions above, in light of CxG this study starts with a rethinking of the basic issues of Chinese modal auxiliaries, including the word class, grammatical status, and syntactic relationships between yào and VP. Second, the study constitutes a multi-interaction-based explanatory framework of the constructional networks. It has the merit of better interpreting the root cause of the polysemy of yào-MAC. Third, this study makes a diachronic investigation on the developing process of the polysemy of yào-MAC, exploring its semantic sources, evolutionary path, cognitive motivations, and emerging mechanisms, to provide historical evidence for synchronic analyses.
This study adheres to the usage-based view of CxG, with all instances being natural linguistic materials mainly from CCL (Center for Chinese Linguistics, Peking University), BCC (Beijing Language and Culture University Corpus Center), and CNC (Chinese National Corpus). Some instances comes from other literatures or real dialogues in daily life with sources indicated.
This study can safely arrive at the following conclusions:
(1) The Modern Chinese modal auxiliary construction, which can be formalized into [MAUX+VP], is a prototypical case of eventive complex predicate constructions, that is, a construction in which two eventive concepts cohere into a single predicate. Hence, yào-MAC, i.e., [yào+VP], is a subschema of MAC, i.e., [MAUX+VP]. Characterized by holism and gestalt, Chinese yào-MAC is comprised of two slots: the modal component in the slot of MAUX, which occupied by the modal auxiliary yào, provides grammatical or functional content for the construction; the contentful component in the slot of VP offers specific meaning and information for the construction. Both of two components make different contributions to the semantic and formal information packaging of MAC while sharing the same role as a part of complex predicative function in a clause. It is believe that MAC holds the same status to a simple verb predicate combined with the grammatical elements in Chinese or any other languages. The symbolic relations between yào and VP is treated as head-dependency. Additionally, the constructional meaning of Chinese yào-MAC can be generalized as a relation of CAUSATION, essentially encoding a conceptualization of human experience of causative relationship between two distinct sub-events in the real world and the irrealis world. Whilst the modal auxiliary yào in the MAUX slot profiles the causing event in the real world, the verbal phrase in the VP slot profiles the caused event happening in the irrealis situations. This study classifies Chinese yào-MAC into three subcategories, i.e., psychological-causation modality, sociophysical-causation modality, and epistemic-causation modality. Precisely speaking, psychological-causation modality corresponds to the causative relationship between “id” and “superego” of the participant in psychological domain, sociophysical-causation modality to the causative relation between the participant and the outside in sociophysical domain, and epistemic-causation modality to the causative relation between the participant and events in epistemic domain. The polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC demonstrates the cross-linguistic universality of information packaging in human languages: constructional recruitment strategy, that is, the same construction can be recruited to express denote different semantic information and functions.
(2) The performance and formation of the polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC are jointly promoted by the whole constructional network. In the three-dimensional explanatory framework of constructional network built in this study, the result of the analysis showcases that:
At the micro-constructional level of the network, not only is the polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC affected by the interaction between the MAUX and VP slots inside the complex predicate construction, but also immensely circumscribed by other grammatical categories, including NP and TAMP. First of all, the animacy of the topic is closely linked to the polysemy tendency of Chinese modality. As the animacy degree of the topic gradually decreases from left to right in the hierarchical continuum, the polysemy of the Chinese yào-MAC also presents the following left-to-right transition tendency: psychological-causation modality > sociophysical-causation modality > epistemic-causation modality. Secondly, the Aktionsart properties of VP slot in Chinese yào-MAC also have a great influence on its polysemy. The two-dimensional geometric model of Aktionsart properties is more convincing than the traditional dichotomy in explaining the polysemy tendency of Chinese yào-MAC. Additionally, the co-occurrence and interactions between Chinese yào-MAC and other grammatical categories at the micro-constructional level, such as tense, aspect, mood, and polarity, also play a pivotal role in differentiating the polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC.
Beyond the micro-constructional level, the study focuses on the multiple inheritance interactions at the meso-constructional level and the macro-constructional level. First, horizontally, among the three subcategories of Chinese yào-MAC at the meso-constructional level, the psychological-causation modality is the prototype construction; the epistemic-causation modality evolves from the non-epistemic-causation modality at the working mechanisms of conceptual metaphor. The inheritance mode is the metaphorical extension link and the polysemy link. Second, at the vertical dimension, judging from the inheritance relationship between yào-MAC and other argument structure constructions, the psychological-causation modality is mainly inherited from the transitive construction by virtue of instance link; the sociophysical-causation modality derives from causative serial verb construction in the model of subpart-inheritance; the epistemic-causation modality stems from motion serial verb construction by dint of the subpart inheritance link; Chinese yào-MAC may further develop into a complex sentence construction with the main inheritance model being subpart inheritance link. In addition, this study finds that there are multiple links in the inheritance process. For instance, the epistemic-causation modality of yào-MAC can be traced to both the psychological-causation modality and motion serial verb construction. Moreover, in terms of the inheritance model, the epistemic-causation modality is the most complicated one, involving the subpart inheritance link, metaphorical extension link, and polysemy link. Lastly, in terms of multi-dimension, Chinese yào-MAC shows ambiguity in the pragmatic functions, which is believed to be the result of various interactions between Chinese yào-MAC and the pragmatic purposes, social culture, or discourse context.
（3）The diachronic investigation on the development of polysemous Chinese yào-MAC provides substantial evidence for the above synchronic analytic result. Three subcategories of Chinese yào-MAC emerge in the following order: the psychological-causation modality > the sociophysical-causation modality > the epistemic-causation modality. Different modal senses of Chinese yào-MAC are diverse in semantic sources and evolution paths. The constructional network plays a crucial role in the constructional change and constructionalization of Chinese yào-MAC. Analogical thinking and invited inference are the cognitive motivations of its evolution, while reanalysis, metaphorical extension, and subjectification are its main mechanisms of its emergence. Typologically speaking, it can be clarified that the developing process of polysemous Chinese yào-MAC holds not only the above cross-linguistic universalities but also the individual characteristics of the Chinese language. It is noteworthy that the historical evidence from the evolution of polysemous Chinese yào-MAC provides a challenge to the universal hypothesis of “one gram-one modality” proposed by Bybee et al. (1994).
In essence, this study provides a new solution to the related issues in the study of Chinese yào-MAC in light of Construction Grammar. The research results have certain reference significance at both theoretical and practical perspectives.
First, the theoretical value mainly lies in supplementing and revising the relevant concepts of CxG and the linguistic view of modality, as presented below:
(1) Based on sophisticated holism, the study develops the traditional view of the constructional network in mainstream schools of CxG. Especially, in light of the multi-interactional view, this study improves the three-dimensional model of Traugott (2018) and applies it to the investigation on the polysemy-related issues of yào-MAC, which further expands the research scope of constructional approaches, providing new linguistic materials and typological evidence for CxG. Hence, it makes a certain contribution to the development and improvement of the theory.
(2) The results of this study modify the typological hypothesis of “one gram-one modality” about modal semantics put forward by Bybee et al. (1994).
Second, it is of practical significance for solving the existing controversies over Chinese MAC. Grounded on the holism view of CxG, this study analyzes “yào+VP” as a modal construction for the first time, and formalizes the Chinese modal auxiliary construction as “MAUX+VP”, which provides new insights into the two basic issues vexed by Chinese MAC. Within the framework of the constructional network based on multi-interactional view, the study has cogent explanatory power for matters pertinent to Chinese modal polysemy and reference value for other studies of Chinese grammar.
Keywords: [yào+VP]; Chinese modal auxiliary constructions; polysemy; multi-interaction; constructional network
After dwelling on the fundamental causes of the above disputes, this study seeks to find a potential resolution by starting from the roots of ideology and theoretical approaches, focusing on yào-MAC, i.e., [yào+VP], as a case study. It adopts Construction Grammar (CxG), which is based on Sophisticated Holism and Gestalt psychology, as the primary theoretical framework for reanalyzing long-standing disputes in Chinese modality studies. The research questions of this study are as follows:
(1) What is the form and meaning of Chinese yào-MAC ?
(2) How does the polysemy of yào-MAC realize its multi-interactions in the constructional network from a synchronic dimension?
(3) Diachronically, how does the polysemy of yào-MAC come into being and develop?
First of all, to address the questions above, in light of CxG this study starts with a rethinking of the basic issues of Chinese modal auxiliaries, including the word class, grammatical status, and syntactic relationships between yào and VP. Second, the study constitutes a multi-interaction-based explanatory framework of the constructional networks. It has the merit of better interpreting the root cause of the polysemy of yào-MAC. Third, this study makes a diachronic investigation on the developing process of the polysemy of yào-MAC, exploring its semantic sources, evolutionary path, cognitive motivations, and emerging mechanisms, to provide historical evidence for synchronic analyses.
This study adheres to the usage-based view of CxG, with all instances being natural linguistic materials mainly from CCL (Center for Chinese Linguistics, Peking University), BCC (Beijing Language and Culture University Corpus Center), and CNC (Chinese National Corpus). Some instances comes from other literatures or real dialogues in daily life with sources indicated.
This study can safely arrive at the following conclusions:
(1) The Modern Chinese modal auxiliary construction, which can be formalized into [MAUX+VP], is a prototypical case of eventive complex predicate constructions, that is, a construction in which two eventive concepts cohere into a single predicate. Hence, yào-MAC, i.e., [yào+VP], is a subschema of MAC, i.e., [MAUX+VP]. Characterized by holism and gestalt, Chinese yào-MAC is comprised of two slots: the modal component in the slot of MAUX, which occupied by the modal auxiliary yào, provides grammatical or functional content for the construction; the contentful component in the slot of VP offers specific meaning and information for the construction. Both of two components make different contributions to the semantic and formal information packaging of MAC while sharing the same role as a part of complex predicative function in a clause. It is believe that MAC holds the same status to a simple verb predicate combined with the grammatical elements in Chinese or any other languages. The symbolic relations between yào and VP is treated as head-dependency. Additionally, the constructional meaning of Chinese yào-MAC can be generalized as a relation of CAUSATION, essentially encoding a conceptualization of human experience of causative relationship between two distinct sub-events in the real world and the irrealis world. Whilst the modal auxiliary yào in the MAUX slot profiles the causing event in the real world, the verbal phrase in the VP slot profiles the caused event happening in the irrealis situations. This study classifies Chinese yào-MAC into three subcategories, i.e., psychological-causation modality, sociophysical-causation modality, and epistemic-causation modality. Precisely speaking, psychological-causation modality corresponds to the causative relationship between “id” and “superego” of the participant in psychological domain, sociophysical-causation modality to the causative relation between the participant and the outside in sociophysical domain, and epistemic-causation modality to the causative relation between the participant and events in epistemic domain. The polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC demonstrates the cross-linguistic universality of information packaging in human languages: constructional recruitment strategy, that is, the same construction can be recruited to express denote different semantic information and functions.
(2) The performance and formation of the polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC are jointly promoted by the whole constructional network. In the three-dimensional explanatory framework of constructional network built in this study, the result of the analysis showcases that:
At the micro-constructional level of the network, not only is the polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC affected by the interaction between the MAUX and VP slots inside the complex predicate construction, but also immensely circumscribed by other grammatical categories, including NP and TAMP. First of all, the animacy of the topic is closely linked to the polysemy tendency of Chinese modality. As the animacy degree of the topic gradually decreases from left to right in the hierarchical continuum, the polysemy of the Chinese yào-MAC also presents the following left-to-right transition tendency: psychological-causation modality > sociophysical-causation modality > epistemic-causation modality. Secondly, the Aktionsart properties of VP slot in Chinese yào-MAC also have a great influence on its polysemy. The two-dimensional geometric model of Aktionsart properties is more convincing than the traditional dichotomy in explaining the polysemy tendency of Chinese yào-MAC. Additionally, the co-occurrence and interactions between Chinese yào-MAC and other grammatical categories at the micro-constructional level, such as tense, aspect, mood, and polarity, also play a pivotal role in differentiating the polysemy of Chinese yào-MAC.
Beyond the micro-constructional level, the study focuses on the multiple inheritance interactions at the meso-constructional level and the macro-constructional level. First, horizontally, among the three subcategories of Chinese yào-MAC at the meso-constructional level, the psychological-causation modality is the prototype construction; the epistemic-causation modality evolves from the non-epistemic-causation modality at the working mechanisms of conceptual metaphor. The inheritance mode is the metaphorical extension link and the polysemy link. Second, at the vertical dimension, judging from the inheritance relationship between yào-MAC and other argument structure constructions, the psychological-causation modality is mainly inherited from the transitive construction by virtue of instance link; the sociophysical-causation modality derives from causative serial verb construction in the model of subpart-inheritance; the epistemic-causation modality stems from motion serial verb construction by dint of the subpart inheritance link; Chinese yào-MAC may further develop into a complex sentence construction with the main inheritance model being subpart inheritance link. In addition, this study finds that there are multiple links in the inheritance process. For instance, the epistemic-causation modality of yào-MAC can be traced to both the psychological-causation modality and motion serial verb construction. Moreover, in terms of the inheritance model, the epistemic-causation modality is the most complicated one, involving the subpart inheritance link, metaphorical extension link, and polysemy link. Lastly, in terms of multi-dimension, Chinese yào-MAC shows ambiguity in the pragmatic functions, which is believed to be the result of various interactions between Chinese yào-MAC and the pragmatic purposes, social culture, or discourse context.
（3）The diachronic investigation on the development of polysemous Chinese yào-MAC provides substantial evidence for the above synchronic analytic result. Three subcategories of Chinese yào-MAC emerge in the following order: the psychological-causation modality > the sociophysical-causation modality > the epistemic-causation modality. Different modal senses of Chinese yào-MAC are diverse in semantic sources and evolution paths. The constructional network plays a crucial role in the constructional change and constructionalization of Chinese yào-MAC. Analogical thinking and invited inference are the cognitive motivations of its evolution, while reanalysis, metaphorical extension, and subjectification are its main mechanisms of its emergence. Typologically speaking, it can be clarified that the developing process of polysemous Chinese yào-MAC holds not only the above cross-linguistic universalities but also the individual characteristics of the Chinese language. It is noteworthy that the historical evidence from the evolution of polysemous Chinese yào-MAC provides a challenge to the universal hypothesis of “one gram-one modality” proposed by Bybee et al. (1994).
In essence, this study provides a new solution to the related issues in the study of Chinese yào-MAC in light of Construction Grammar. The research results have certain reference significance at both theoretical and practical perspectives.
First, the theoretical value mainly lies in supplementing and revising the relevant concepts of CxG and the linguistic view of modality, as presented below:
(1) Based on sophisticated holism, the study develops the traditional view of the constructional network in mainstream schools of CxG. Especially, in light of the multi-interactional view, this study improves the three-dimensional model of Traugott (2018) and applies it to the investigation on the polysemy-related issues of yào-MAC, which further expands the research scope of constructional approaches, providing new linguistic materials and typological evidence for CxG. Hence, it makes a certain contribution to the development and improvement of the theory.
(2) The results of this study modify the typological hypothesis of “one gram-one modality” about modal semantics put forward by Bybee et al. (1994).
Second, it is of practical significance for solving the existing controversies over Chinese MAC. Grounded on the holism view of CxG, this study analyzes “yào+VP” as a modal construction for the first time, and formalizes the Chinese modal auxiliary construction as “MAUX+VP”, which provides new insights into the two basic issues vexed by Chinese MAC. Within the framework of the constructional network based on multi-interactional view, the study has cogent explanatory power for matters pertinent to Chinese modal polysemy and reference value for other studies of Chinese grammar.
Keywords: [yào+VP]; Chinese modal auxiliary constructions; polysemy; multi-interaction; constructional network
Aantal pagina's: 240
Jaar van publicatie:2023
Toegankelijkheid:Closed