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In:Semantic-Pragmatic Change from Intersubjective to Textual Meanings
Edited by Giulio Scivoletto and Ryo Takamura
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 353] 2025
► pp. 104–128

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Chapter 4
Bidirectional changes between modal and conditional in Mandarin

Published online: 27 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.353.04kuo
Abstract
This paper discusses cases of change involving modals of advisability and conditional protasis connectives in the history of Mandarin. The central question is whether the change from modal to conditional constitutes evidence of the directionality from intersubjective to textual meaning. Two perspectives are considered: formal semantics and cognitive semantics, but it is argued that the opposite direction of change, from conditional to modal, is necessary for a fuller understanding, regardless of one’s semantic theory. The bidirectional nature of the changes undermines the conceptual basis of the trajectory from intersubjective to textual meaning, namely unidirectionality.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
  • 3.Three case studies
    • 3.1Bì
    • 3.2Xū
    • 3.3Xūshì
  • 4.Discussion: Semantics
    • 4.1A formal perspective
    • 4.2A cognitive perspective
  • 5.Discussion: Bidirectionality
    • 5.1Two cases of conditional > modal
    • 5.2Against unidirectionality as the directionality
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Non-Leipzig gloss
  • References
References (58)
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Kuo, Yueh Hsin
2025. On the directionality from temporal to conditional. Folia Linguistica DOI logo

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