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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.106–137

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Word order variation in Chinese existential constructions with V-măn

A corpus-based analysis

 | Tunghai University
Published online: 14 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.20010.chi
Abstract
Under Talmy, Leonard (2000a). Toward a cognitive semantics: Concept structuring systems, volume 11. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar framework of Figure and Ground segregation, this paper examines the word order variation between constructions [NPFigure V-măn NPGround] and [NPGround V-măn NPFigure] regarding Chinese existential phenomenon, that is, Mìfēng fēi-măn le huāyuán. ‘Bees swarm in the garden.’ and Huāyuán fēi-măn le mìfēng. ‘The garden swarms with bees.’
In this data-driven study, 263 monosyllabic verbs are investigated and 1456 news texts are collected for a quantitative analysis. This study has successfully identified linguistic factors that can better account for the distributional patterns of the word order alternation in the corpora. Results of the VARBRUL analysis indicate that topicality of the post verbal NP and definiteness of Figure NP play a relatively crucial role in determining the word order choice, while semantic type of verb and animacy of Figure NP are less influential. This paper presents a variationist perspective on the motivations that trigger the use of Chinese existential construction [NPGround V-măn NPFigure].
Abstract (Chinese)
根據 Talmy（Talmy, Leonard (2000a). Toward a cognitive semantics: Concept structuring systems, volume 11. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar）所提出之主體-背景(Figure and Ground) 概念，本文檢視漢語存現句式 [NPGround V-măn NPFigure] 如「花園飛滿了蜜蜂」與非存現句式 [NPFigure V-măn NPGround] 如「蜜蜂飛滿了花園」所出現的上下文，探討各種語言變項對於存現句式出現與否的影響。
本研究透過中文詞彙特性速描系統(the Chinese Word Sketch)以及聯合知識庫(Udn.data)檢視263個高頻動詞，蒐集了1456 筆真實語料，以應用軟體 VARBRUL 進行迴歸分析，並以遞增(step-up)和遞減(step-down) 方式，找出最適合的自變項組合來解釋存現句出現的語境。
研究結果顯示，動詞後名詞的主題性(topicality of the post-verbal NP)以及主體名詞的定指性(definiteness of Figure NP)對於語序變異的影響最大; 相較之下，動詞的語義類別以及主體名詞的生命性(animacy of Figure NP) 的影響則較輕微。本研究透過語序變異分析，針對漢語存現句式的出現條件提出了基於真實語料的量化觀點。
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Focus of this study
  • 3.Literature review
    • 3.1Topicality of the post-verbal NP
    • 3.2Discourse familiarity of the two NPs
    • 3.3Word length of the two NPs
    • 3.4Animacy of the Figure NP
    • 3.5Definiteness of the Figure NP
    • 3.6Semantic type of the verb
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Data sources
    • 4.2Sampling
    • 4.3Statistical tools
    • 4.4Coding
    • 4.5Research questions
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1General distribution of the two constructions
    • 5.2Significant factors identified
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Topicality of post-verbal NP
    • 6.2Definiteness of figure NP
    • 6.3Discourse familiarity of two NPs
    • 6.4Animacy of figure NP
    • 6.5Semantic type of verb
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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Links of the Corpora
Chinese Word Sketch: [URL]
Sinica Corpus: [URL]
Udndata [URL]
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