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Article published In:
Constructions and Frames
Vol. 9:1 (2017) ► pp.70–100

The polysemy network of Chinese ‘one’-phrases in a diachronic constructional perspective

| University of California, Berkeley

This study investigates the development of a polysemy network within a constructional framework. The synchronic variation of Chinese ‘one’-phrases is explained by diachronic developments. The results of a quantitative corpus analysis show that each of the senses of the ‘one’ phrase tends to occur in specific syntactic constructions due to inheritance from extant constructions. The results contribute to explaining the formation of a diachronic polysemy network by investigating the hierarchical structure of its constructions, thus allowing a deeper understanding of how semantic extensions have been formed through gradual constructional association.

Keywords: numeral phrases, polysemy network, information structure, polarity items, constructionalization, Chinese, corpus study
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Synchronic polysemy
  • 3.Diachronic construction-based changes
    • 3.1 Dian ‘dot’ in Old Chinese and Middle Chinese: counting and measuring
    • 3.2The ‘one’-phrase in Early Mandarin
      • 3.2.1The development of the PPI sense of ‘one’-phrases in Early Mandarin Chinese
      • 3.2.2The development of the NPI sense of ‘one’-phrases in Early Mandarin Chinese
        • 3.2.2.1The minimizer sense in preverbal position
        • 3.2.2.2The minimizer sense in the postverbal position
      • 3.2.3Category expansion: Adverbials
  • 4.Expansion of the polysemous network across periods
    • 4.1A constructional perspective on diachronic changes
    • 4.2Diachronic association of the ‘one’-phrase with extant constructions
    • 4.3Directionality in productivity, schematicity, and compositionality
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 20 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cf.9.1.03che
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