In:The Development of the Chinese Cleft Construction: A diachronic constructional approach
Fangqiong Zhan
[Constructional Approaches to Language 41] 2026
► pp. 69–92
Chapter 4The development of the Chinese copular construction
Published online: 5 February 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.41.c4
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.41.c4
Article outline
- 4.1Introduction
- 4.2Data and methodology
- 4.3Classical copular clauses in Old Chinese
- 4.4The development of the copula shi construction
- 4.4.1The topic-comment construction in Old Chinese
- 4.4.2The emergence of the copula shi construction
- 4.4.3Probable motivations and mechanisms for constructionalization of shi as a copula
- 4.5Expansion of the copula shi construction
- 4.5.1The gain of the copula shi construction and reduction of the copula wei construction
- 4.5.2The increase of adverbs preceding shi
- 4.5.3Generalization of the copula shi construction without final particle
- 4.5.4Changes in the type of NP in [NP shi NP]
- 4.5.5The intertwining of expansion and reduction
- 4.6Summary
Notes
