Cover not available
Article published In:
Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.106–137

Word order variation in Chinese existential constructions with V-măn

A corpus-based analysis

| Tunghai University

Under Talmy’s (2000a) framework of Figure and Ground segregation, this paper examines the word order variation between constructions [NPFigure V-măn NPGround] and [NPGround V-măn NPFigure] regarding Chinese existential phenomenon, that is, Mìfēng fēi-măn le huāyuán. ‘Bees swarm in the garden.’ and Huāyuán fēi-măn le mìfēng. ‘The garden swarms with bees.’

In this data-driven study, 263 monosyllabic verbs are investigated and 1456 news texts are collected for a quantitative analysis. This study has successfully identified linguistic factors that can better account for the distributional patterns of the word order alternation in the corpora. Results of the VARBRUL analysis indicate that topicality of the post verbal NP and definiteness of Figure NP play a relatively crucial role in determining the word order choice, while semantic type of verb and animacy of Figure NP are less influential. This paper presents a variationist perspective on the motivations that trigger the use of Chinese existential construction [NPGround V-măn NPFigure].

Keywords: existential construction, word order variation, syntactic variation, corpus analysis, cognitive linguistics, usage-based model, Chinese, VARBRUL
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Focus of this study
  • 3.Literature review
    • 3.1Topicality of the post-verbal NP
    • 3.2Discourse familiarity of the two NPs
    • 3.3Word length of the two NPs
    • 3.4Animacy of the Figure NP
    • 3.5Definiteness of the Figure NP
    • 3.6Semantic type of the verb
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Data sources
    • 4.2Sampling
    • 4.3Statistical tools
    • 4.4Coding
    • 4.5Research questions
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1General distribution of the two constructions
    • 5.2Significant factors identified
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Topicality of post-verbal NP
    • 6.2Definiteness of figure NP
    • 6.3Discourse familiarity of two NPs
    • 6.4Animacy of figure NP
    • 6.5Semantic type of verb
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 February 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.20010.chi
References
Anderson, Stephen R.
(1971) On the role of deep structure in semantic interpretation. Foundations of Language, 71, 387–396.Google Scholar
Bayley, Robert, & Preston, Dennis R.
(Eds.) (1996) Second language acquisition and linguistic variation, volume 10 1. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Birner, Betty J.
(1994) Information status and word order: An analysis of English Inversion. Language, 701, 233–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bock, Kathryn, Loebell, Helga, & Morey, Randal
(1992) From conceptual roles to structural relations: Bridging the syntactic cleft. Psychological Review, 99(1), 150–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Branigan, Holly P., Pickering, Martin J., & Tanaka, Mikihiro
(2008) Contributions of animacy to grammatical function assignment and word order during production. Lingua, 118, (2), 172–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bresnan, Joan
(1994) Locative inversion and the architecture of universal grammar. Language, 701, 72–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan
(1985) Morphology: A study of the relation between meaning and form. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan, & Thompson, Sandra
(1997) Three frequency effects in syntax. In Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 23(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan
(2006) From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Language, 821, 711–733. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan, & Hopper, Paul J.
(2001) Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chafe, Wallace
(1987) Cognitive constraints on information flow. In Russell S. Tomlin (Ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse (pp. 21–51). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Rong
(2003) English inversion: A ground-before-figure construction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Croft, William, & Cruse, D. Alan
(2004) Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dong, Cheng-ru
(2009) Cunzaiju de renzhi yanjiu: Jiyu canzhaodian de xingweilian moshi [Toward a cognitive study of the existential-presentational construction: A reference point-based Action Chain Model]. Suzhou: Suzhou University Press.Google Scholar
Dowty, David
(2000) ‘The garden swarms with bees’ and the fallacy of ‘argument alternation’. In Yael Ravin & Claudia Leacock (Eds.), Polysemy: Theoretical and computational approaches (pp.111–128). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2001) The semantic assymmetry of ‘argument alternations’ (and why it matters). In G. van der Meer, & ter Meulen, A. G. B. (Eds), Groninger Arbeiten zur germanistischen Linguistik [Making Sense: From Lexeme to Discourse] (pp. 171–86). Groningen: Center for Language and Cognition.Google Scholar
Doyle, Arthur Conan, & Rathbone, Basil
(1895) A scandal in Bohemia. Chicago: Donohue, Henneberry.Google Scholar
Foley, William A.
(1994) Information structure. In Ronald E. Asher (Ed.), The encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 1678–1685). New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Givón, T.
(2001) Syntax: An introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E.
(1995) Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hawkins, John A.
(1994) A performance theory of order and constituency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hu, Wenze
(1995) Verbal semantics of the presentative sentences. Linguistics Study, 100–112.Google Scholar
Huang, C. T. James
(1987) Existential sentences in Chinese and (in)definiteness. In Eric Reuland & Alice ter Meulen (Eds.), The representation of (in)definiteness (pp. 226–253). Cambridge: MIt Press.Google Scholar
Huang, Chu-Ren, Kilgarriff Adam, Yiching Wu, Chih-Ming Chiu, Simon Smith, Pavel Rychly, Ming-Hong Bai & Keh-Jiann Chen
(2005) Chinese Sketch Engine and the extraction of grammatical collocations. Paper presented to the the Fourth SIGHAN Workshop on Chinese Language Processing, Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, 2005.
Kilgarriff, Adam, Rychly, Pavel, Smrz, Pavel, & Tugwell, David
(2004) The sketch engine. Paper presented to the Euralex, Lorient, 2004.
Labov, William
(1972) Sociolinguistic patterns, No. 4. University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W.
(1987) Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites, volume 1 1. Stanford, CA: Stanford university press.Google Scholar
(2001) Cognitive linguistics, language pedagogy, and the English present tense. In Martin Pütz, Susanne Niemeier and René Dirven (Eds.), Applied cognitive linguistics: Theory and language acquisition (pp. 3–39). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levin, Beth
(1993) English verb classes and alternations. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Li, Charles N., & Thompson, Sandra A.
(1975) The semantics function of word order: A case study in Mandarin. In Charles Li (Ed.), Word order and word order change (pp. 163–195). Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Liu, Feng-hsi
(2007) Word order variation and ba sentences in Chinese. Studies in Language, 31(3), 649–682. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Yue-hua, Wen-yu Pan, & Wei Gu
(2001) Shiyong xiandai HanYu yufa [Modern Chinese grammar for teachers of Chinese as a second language and advanced learners of Chinese]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
McDonald, Janet L., Bock, Kathryn, & Kelly, Michael H.
(1993) Word and world order: Semantic, phonological, and metrical determinants of serial position. Cognitive Psychology, 25 (2), 188–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pan, Haihua
(1996) Imperfective aspect ZHE, agent deletion, and locative inversion in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 141, 409–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prince, Ellen F.
(1992) The ZPG letter: Subjects, definiteness and information structure. In Sandra Thompson & William Mann (Eds.), Diverse analyses of a fundraising text (pp. 295–325). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quirk, Randolph
(1972) A grammar of contemporary English. London: Longman Group.Google Scholar
Sabar, Nadav
(2010) Existentials as existentials: On topic-comment structure in existential sentences. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Safir, Kenneth
(1982) Syntactic chains and the definiteness effect. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Särndal, Carl-Erik, Swensson, Bengt, & Wretman, Jan
(2003) Model assisted survey sampling. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Seoane, Elena
(2009) Syntactic complexity, discourse status and animacy as determinants of grammatical variation in Modern English. English Language and Linguistics 13 (3), 365–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sornicola, Rosanna
(2006) Interaction of syntactic and pragmatic factors on basic word order in the languages of Europe. In Giuliano Bernini & Marcia L. Schwartz (Eds.), Pragmatic organization of discourse in the languages of Europe (pp. 357–544). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tagliamonte, Sali
(2006) Analysing sociolinguistic variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tai, James H-Y.
(1985) Temporal sequence and word order in Chinese. In John Haiman (Ed.), Iconicity in syntax (pp. 49–72). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Conceptual structure and conceptualizations in Chinese. Language and Linguistics, 6, (4) 539–574.Google Scholar
Talmy, Leonard
(2000a) Toward a cognitive semantics: Concept structuring systems, volume 1 1. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
(2000b) Toward a cognitive semantics: Typology and process in concept structuring, volume 2 1. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tang, Ting-chi
(1979) Guoyu yufa yanjiu lunji [Collection of studies on Mandarin grammar]. Taipei: Student Book.Google Scholar
Ute, Römer
(2009) The inseparability of lexis and grammar. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7 (1), 140–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xing, Janet Zhiqun
(2006) Teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language: A pedagogical grammar, volume 1 1. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Xu, Lie-jiong, & Liu, Dan-qing
(2007) Huati de jiegou yu gongneng [Topic: structural and functional analysis]. Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Publishing House.Google Scholar
Yang, Suying, & Pan, Haihua
(2001) A constructional analysis of the existential structure. In Haihua Pan (Ed.), Studies in Chinese Linguistics II (pp. 189–208). Hong Kong: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Yao, Yao
(2014) Predicting the use of BA construction in Mandarin Chinese discourse: A modeling study with two verbs. In Wirote Aroonmanakun, Prachya Boonkwan, & Thepchai Supnithi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computing (PACLIC28). Thailand: Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.Google Scholar
Zhang, Lan
(2008) Locative inversion and aspect markers le and zhe in Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the North American Conference Chinese Linguistics-20, The Ohio State University.

Links of the Corpora

Chinese Word Sketch
[URL]
Sinica Corpus
[URL]
Udndata
[URL]