Cover not available
Article published In:
Chinese Language and Discourse
Vol. 14:2 (2023) ► pp.209–231

Reconsidering the shi…(de) construction in spoken Mandarin

| The University of Queensland

This paper revisits the use of the shi…de construction, based on the analysis of structures with predicative adjectives in a 500,000-character corpus of spoken Mandarin assembled from transcripts of a popular Chinese chat show. Overall, de was omitted more than 40% of the time with a predicative adjective, a significantly higher rate than that found in previous studies. The data reveal a number of factors that may all play a role in determining the likelihood of de omission or retention: the time dependency of the adjective, the particular intensifier chosen to modify the adjective, the discourse function of the utterance and the presence of certain markers of epistemic modality. The findings also lend support to the hypothesis that shi is grammaticalizing to a bound morpheme in some so-called ‘conventionalised forms’ involving epistemic and evidentiality markers.

Keywords: spoken Mandarin, the shi…de construction, grammaticalisation, corpus linguistics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Accounts of shi…de in the literature
  • 3.Methodology and design
  • 4.Research findings
    • 4.1Patterns of shi…de with intensifiers
    • 4.2Functions of shi…de
    • 4.3Use of shi…de with different adjective classes
    • 4.4Use of shi…de with epistemic markers
    • 4.5Grammaticalisation of shi
  • 5.Discussion and Conclusions
    • 5.1Omission and retention of de in the shi…de construction
    • 5.2Conventionalised forms / Grammaticalisation of shi
    • 5.3Summary
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 30 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.18003.coo
References
Arche, María J., Antonio Fábregas, and Rafael Marín
2017 “Towards a Unified Treatment of Spanish Copulas.” In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 11: Selected Papers from the 44th Linguistics Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), ed. By Silvia Perpin͂án, David Heap, Itziri Moreno-Villamar and Adriana Soto-Corominas: 33–52, John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chao, Yuen-Ren
1968 A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen
2008 “Deconstructing the shì de Construction.” The Linguistic Review 25(3–4): 235–266. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dong, Xiufang
2004 “ ‘Shi’ de jinyibu yufahua: you xuci dao cinei chengfen [The further grammaticalisation of shi: from empty word to word-internal element].” Dangdai Yuyanxue 6 (1): 35–44.Google Scholar
Fang, Mei
1995 “Hanyu duibi jiaodian de jufa biaoxian shouduan [The syntactic expression of contrastive focus in Chinese].” Zhongguo Yuwen 41: 281–282.Google Scholar
Hedberg, Nancy
1999 “The Discourse Function of English Clefts and Mandarin shi…de Constructions.” Workshop on the Discourse Function of Clefts. Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, Oct 1–3.
Huang, C-T. James
1982 Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar. PhD dissertation, MIT.
Jing-Schmidt, Zhuo
2019 “Grammatical Constructions and Chinese Discourse.” In The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Discourse Analysis, ed. by Chris Shei, 102–115. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Huichi
2005 “On DE in Shi…DE Construction.” University System of Taiwan Working Papers in Linguistics 11: 131–160.Google Scholar
Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson
1981 Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Li, Na, Sandra A. Thompson, and Bojiang Zhang
1998 “Cong huayu jiaodu lunzheng yuqici ‘de’ [A discourse approach to the particle de ].” Zhongguo Yuwen 263 (2): 93–102.Google Scholar
Li, Titi
2010 “ ‘Shi…de’ liang zhong jushi jiaodian wenti de zai fenxi [Reanalysis of focus in two types of shi…de ].” Xiandai Yuwen 61: 32–34.Google Scholar
Liu, Tao and Ming Zhao
2015 “Jiyu huayu gongneng de Hanguo liuxuesheng ‘shi…de’ ju pianwu [A discourse functional analysis of the errors in shi…de sentences produced by Korean students in China].” Zhongguo Kuangye Daxue Xuebao (Shehui Kexue Ban) 31: 106–110.Google Scholar
Liu, Yuehua, Wenyu Pan, and Wei Gu
2001 Shiyong xiandai Hanyu yufa [New practical Chinese grammar]. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Paul, Waltraud, and John Whitman
2008 “ Shi … de Focus Clefts in Mandarin Chinese.” The Linguistic Review 25 (3–4): 413–451. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Requena, Pablo. E.
2020 “Spanish Copula Selection with Adjectives at Age Three.” Journal of Child Language (2020): 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ross, Claudia
1983 “On the Functions of Mandarin de .” Journal of Chinese Linguistics 11 (2): 214–246.Google Scholar
Shi, Dingxu
1994 “The Nature of Chinese Emphatic Sentences.” Journal of East Asian Linguistics 3 (1): 81–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shi, Yuzhi
2005 “Lun panduan, jiaodian, qiangdiao yu duibizhi guanxi – ‘shi’ de yufa gongneng he shiyong tiaojian [The relationship of copula, focus, emphasis, and comparison: the function and usage of shi ].” Yuyan Yanjiu 25 (4): 43–53.Google Scholar
Su, Danjie and Hongyin Tao
2018 “Jiyu zhenshi yuliao de ‘shi…de’ goushi chuji Hanyu jiaoxue sheji [Teaching the shi…de construction with authentic materials in elementary Chinese].” CASLAR 7 (1): 111–140.Google Scholar
Tang, Ting-chi
1983 “Focusing Constructions in Chinese: Cleft Sentences and Pseudo-cleft Sentences.” In Studies in Chinese Syntax and Semantics – Universe and Scope: Presupposition and Quantification in Chinese, ed. by Ting-chi Tang, Robert Cheng, and Ying-che Li, 127–226. Taipei: Student Book Co.Google Scholar
Teng, Shou-hsin
1979 “Remarks on Cleft Sentences in Chinese.” Journal of Chinese Linguistics 7 (1): 101–114.Google Scholar
Wu, Aaron Yao-Ren, and Yung-O. Biq
2011 “Lexicalization of Intensifiers: Two X-shi Constructions in Spoken Mandarin.” Chinese Language & Discourse 2 (2): 168–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Yi
2014 “A Corpus-based Functional Study of shi…de Constructions.” Chinese Language and Discourse 5 (2): 146–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, Yulin
2003 “Cong jiaodian lilun kan juwei ‘de’ de jufa yuyi gongneng [On the syntactic and semantic function of de in the sentence final position: from the viewpoint of modern focus theory].” Zhongguo Yuwen 292 (1): 3–16.Google Scholar
Zhan, Fangqiong and Chaofen Sun
2013 “A Copula Analysis of shi in the Chinese Cleft Construction.” Language and Linguistics 14 (4): 755–789.Google Scholar
Zhang, Wei
2016 “Jiyu yuliaoku de xiandai Hanyu biaoshi panduan yiyi ‘shi…de’ jushi fazhan [A corpus-based analysis on the evolvement of Chinese judgmental shi…de structure].” Waiyu Yu Waiyu Jiaoxue 290 (5): 20–31.Google Scholar
Zhang, Zhe
2016 “Liuxuesheng ‘shi…de’ juxing de xidexing pianwu [Analysis of overseas students’ acquisition errors on the construction of shi…de ].” Xiamen Ligong Xueyuan Xuebao 24 (2): 48–53.Google Scholar
Zhongguo she hui ke xue yuan
2016 Xiandai Hanyu Cidian [Contemporary Chinese Dictionary]. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Zhu, Yao
1996 The Focus-marking Function of shi in Mandarin Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota.