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Article published In: Chinese Language and Discourse
Vol. 9:1 (2018) ► pp.46–74

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Single-word English prepositions in Hong Kong Cantonese

A cognitive-constructionist approach

 | University of Macau |
Published online: 27 August 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.17013.cha
Abstract
This paper proposes a structural borrowing account for a lexicogrammatical phenomenon whereby, in on ongoing Cantonese discourse, the use of a single-word English preposition triggers and activates an English construction, specifically an NP COP P NP sequence, and brings it into that discourse. The borrowed structure eventually converges with Cantonese, with the English preposition reanalyzed as a verb or a coverb. It is further suggested that these processes of structural borrowing and convergence are semantically motivated. Drawing on Cognitive Grammar, the borrowed structure np cop p np profiles a location as a relationship (whereas in Cantonese it is profiled as a thing by a postposition), and the pp (i.e., p np ) is profiled as a property of the subject or trajector (whereas in Cantonese a coverb phrase is always associated with a process). The converged constructions – in which an English preposition is reanalyzed as a verb or coverb – profile more dynamic and specific processes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Single-word English prepositions in Hong Kong Cantonese
  • 2.Accounting for the syntax of the patterns
    • 2.1Syntactic models of code-switching
    • 2.2The pattern np cop p np as structural borrowing
  • 3.A cognitive-constructionist approach to structural borrowing
    • 3.1Structural borrowing and the lexicon-syntax division
    • 3.2Motivation for structural borrowing: The borrowed structure gives a different construal
    • 3.3The meaning of the np cop pp construction
  • 4.Structural convergence and reanalysis: A cognitive-constructionist approach
    • 4.1English preposition reanalyzed as a verb
    • 4.2English preposition reanalyzed as a coverb
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Chan, Brian Hok-Shing
2022. Constructional Borrowing From English in Hong Kong Cantonese. Frontiers in Communication 7 DOI logo
Chan, Brian Hok-Shing
2025. Borrowing or code-switching? Single-word English prepositions in Hong Kong Cantonese. Open Linguistics 11:1 DOI logo

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