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Article published In: Functions of Language
Vol. 26:2 (2019) ► pp.139–176

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The development of the Chinese copula shì construction

A diachronic constructional perspective

 | City University of Hong Kong
 | Stanford University
Published online: 2 August 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.16001.zha
Abstract
This paper investigates the development of the copula shì construction in Chinese from the perspective of diachronic construction grammar (Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Trousdale, Graeme. 2013. Constructionalization and constructional changes. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In prior work the development has been conceptualized in a grammaticalization framework, with focus on the individual expression shì, rather than on its development in the context of both the immediate syntactic frame and also of other constructions such as the demonstrative shì construction and the copula wéi construction. We show that the copula shì construction went through various types of expansion and reduction. The change was not unidirectional in the way predicted by a grammaticalization model such as is proposed in e.g. Lehmann (. 1995. Thoughts on Grammaticalization. Munich: LINCOM EUROPA (2nd, rev. edn. of Thoughts on grammaticalization: a programmatic sketch, 1982).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2004. Theory and method in grammaticalization. Zeitschrift für germanistische linguistik 321. 152–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and . 2004. On directionality in language change with particular reference to grammaticalization. In Olga Fischer, Muriel Norde & Harry Perridon (eds.), Up and down the cline: The nature of grammaticalization, 17–44. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The perspectives on grammar and change adopted
    • 2.1Construction grammar
    • 2.2Constructionalization
    • 2.3Comparison of constructionalization with grammaticalization
  • 3.Data and methodology
  • 4.The development of the copula shì
    • 4.1The copula shì in Modern Chinese
    • 4.2The situation in Archaic Chinese
    • 4.3The emergence of the copula shì construction
    • 4.4Probable motivations and mechanisms for constructionalization of shì as a copula
  • 5.Expansion of the copula shì construction
    • 5.1The gain of the copula shì construction and reduction of the copula wéi construction
    • 5.2The increase of adverbs preceding shì
    • 5.3Generalization of the copula shì construction without final particle
    • 5.4Changes in the type of np in [np1 shì np2]
    • 5.5The intertwining of expansion and reduction
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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