Cover not available

Article published In: Review of Cognitive Linguistics
Vol. 20:2 (2022) ► pp.330–356

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Chinese adverbs

A Cognitive Grammar exploration

ORCiD logo with link | Nanjing University
Published online: 8 December 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00114.zha
Abstract
The category of adverbs in Chinese, as is its counterpart in English, is featured by morphological, syntactic and semantic heterogeneity. The heterogeneity poses the questions of the categorial coherence and the conflicting criteria in identifying adverbs. This paper starts with the definition of adverbs in Cognitive Grammar and analyzes degree adverbs, temporal adverbs, scope adverbs, manner adverbs, attitude adverbs and negation adverbs in Chinese. It is found that they all profile a relationship with a relational trajector, consistent with the proposal in Cognitive Grammar, but the precise relationship has to be specified. Some adverbs can also serve as mental space builders. Moreover, the morphological and syntactic behaviors of adverbs can be motivated to different degrees by their semantic functions. The paper attempts to establish the categorial status of adverbs. It develops the semantic account of lexical categories and motivates the formal aspects of language from meaning.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1The category of Chinese adverbs
    • 2.2The CG approach to lexical categories
    • 2.3The CG definition of adverbs
    • 2.4Going beyond the CG definition of adverbs
  • 3.Examining six types of Chinese adverbs
    • 3.1Degree adverbs
    • 3.2Temporal adverbs
    • 3.3Scope adverbs
    • 3.4Manner adverbs
    • 3.5Attitude adverbs
    • 3.6Negation adverbs
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (58)
References
Abney, S. (1987). The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Ph.D dissertation. MIT: Cambridge, MA.
Biq, Y. O. (2015). Adverbs. In W. S. Y. Wang & C. F. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese linguistics (pp. 414–428). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boogaart, R., & Reuneker, A. (2017). Intersubjectivity and grammar. In B. Dancygier (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 188–206). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Börjars, K. (2016). Syntax: Putting words together. In K. Allan (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of linguistics (pp. 118–134). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brenda, M. (2017). A cognitive perspective on the semantics of near. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 151,121–153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheung, C. C. H. (2016a). Parts of speech in Mandarin: The state of the art. Singapore: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016b). Chinese: Parts of speech. In S. W. Chan (Ed.), The Routledge encyclopedia of the Chinese language (pp. 242–294). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1970). Remarks on nominalization. In R. Jacobs & P. Rosenbaum (Eds.), Readings in English transformational grammar (pp. 184–221). Waltham, MA.: Ginn.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chung, S. (2012). Are lexical categories universal? The view from Chamorro. Theoretical Linguistics, 381, 1–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2000). Parts of speech as language universals and as language-particular categories. In P. M. Vogel & B. Comrie (Eds.), Approaches to the typology of word classes (pp. 65–102). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dancygier, B., & Sweetser, E. (2005). Mental spaces in grammar: Conditional constructions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Figurative language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delfitto, D. (2006). Adverb classes and adverb placement. In M. Everaert & H. van Riemsdijk (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to syntax (pp. 83–120). Oxford: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ernst, T. (2014). Adverbial adjuncts in Mandarin Chinese. In C. T. J. Huang, Y. H. A. Li & A. Simpson (Eds.), The handbook of Chinese linguistics (pp. 49–72). London: Blackwell Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G. (1994). Mental spaces: Aspects of meaning construction in natural language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1997). Mappings in thought and language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (1998). Conceptual integration networks. Cognitive Science, 221, 133–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gilquin, G. (2006). The place of prototypicality in corpus linguistics: Causation in the hot seat. In A. Stefanowitsch & S. Gries (Eds.), Corpora in Cognitive Linguistics: Corpus-based approaches to syntax and lexis (pp. 159–192). Berlin & New York: Mouton De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gleason, H. A. (1965). Linguistics and English grammar. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (2001). Word classes and parts of speech. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (pp. 16538–16545). Oxford: Pergamon Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in cross-linguistic studies. Language, 861, 663–687. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Word classes. In B. Aarts, J. Bowie & G. Popova (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of English grammar (pp. 281–300). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huddleston, R. (1984). Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1988). English grammar: An outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. (1990). Semantic structures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jia, G. Q. (2016). Xiandai hanyu shijian fuci de xingshi yuyi yanjiu [Formal semantics of time adverbs in modern Chinese]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jing-Schmidt, Z., & Gries, S. (2009). Schematic meaning and pragmatic inference: The Mandarin adverbs hai, you and zai. Corpora, 41, 33–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (1987). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Cognitive Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Investigations in Cognitive Grammar. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Conceptual semantics, symbolic grammar, and the day after day construction. In P. Sutcliffe, W. J. Sullivan & A. Lommel (Eds.), LACUS forum 36: Mechanisms of linguistic behavior (pp. 3–24). Houston: LACUS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, C. N., & Thompson, S. A. (1981). Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, J. M., & Ma, Z. (1999). Xiandai hanyu xuci sanlun [Functional words in modern Chinese]. Beijing: Language and Culture Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, W. L. (2019). When constructions meet context: The polysemy of Mandarin hai revisited. In D. F. Shu, H. Zhang & L. F. Zhang (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics and the study of Chinese (pp. 47–72). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyu, S. X. (1979). Hanyu yufa fenxi wenti [Issues in analysis of Chinese grammar]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marr, D., & Vaina, L. (1982). Representation and recognition of the movements of shapes. In Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences Vol. 214, No. 1197 (pp. 501–524). London: The Royal Society Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matsuoka, M. (2013). On the notion of subject for subject-oriented adverbs. Language, 891, 586–618. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nakamura, W. (1997). A cognitive approach to English adverbs. Linguistics, 351, 247–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pittner, K., Elsner, D., & Barteld, F. (2015). Introduction. In K. Pittner, D. Elsner & F. Barteld (Eds.), Adverbs: Functional and diachronic aspects (pp. 1–17). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramat, P., & Ricca, D. (1994). Prototypical adverbs: On the scalarity/radiality of the notion ADVERB. Rivista di Linguistica, 61, 289–326.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rauh, G. (2015). Adverbs as a linguistic category (?) In K. Pittner, D. Elsner & F. Barteld (Eds.), Adverbs: Functional and diachronic aspects (pp. 19–46). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shen, J. X. (2015). Zouchu “dou” de lianghua mitu: Xiangyou bu xiangzuo [Leftward or rightward? The quantifying direction of dou]. Studies of the Chinese Language, (1), 3–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, M. (2015). Word categories. In J. R. Taylor (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the word (pp. 175–195). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stowell, T. (1981). Origins of phrase structure. Ph.D. dissertation. MIT: Cambridge, MA.
Taylor, J. R. (2003). Linguistic categorization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Why Construction Grammar is radical. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 21, 321–348. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019a). Prototype effects in grammar. In E. Dąbrowska & D. Divjak (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics: Key topics (pp. 127–147). Berlin & Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019b). Cognitive Linguistic approaches. In B. Aarts, J. Bowie & G. Popova (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of English grammar (pp. 86–105). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Auwera, J., & Du Mon, D. (2015). Negation, Lingusitics of. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 404–414). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, W. B. (2019). The conceptual spatialization of actions or activities in Chinese: The adjective + verb construction. In D. F. Shu, H. Zhang & L. F. Zhang (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics and the study of Chinese (pp. 157–184). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (2000). Lexical prototypes as a universal basis for cross-linguistic identification of “parts of speech.” In P. M. Vogel & B. Comrie (Eds.), Approaches to the typology of word classes (pp. 285–320). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. S. (2000). Xiandai hanyu fuci yanjiu [Research of modern Chinese adverbs]. Shanghai: Xuelin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Xiandai hanyu fuci tansuo [Investigations in modern Chinese adverbs]. Shanghai: Xuelin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhu, D. X. (1982). Yufa jiangyi [Lecture notes of grammar]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zou, H. Q. (2011). Xiandai hanyu shijian fuci de gongneng yanjiu [A functional research of temporal adverbs in modern Chinese]. Beijing: World Book Inc.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue