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Part of
Cognitive Linguistics and the Study of Chinese
Edited by Dingfang Shu, Hui Zhang and Lifei Zhang
[Human Cognitive Processing 67] 2019
► pp. 95–120

Chapter 3
A corpus-based study of subjectification and the disposal construction in modern Mandarin

The BA construction vs. the BA-GE construction

| Hunan University
| Hunan University

The BA construction, also known as the ‘disposal’ construction, is a morphosyntactic phenomenon unique to the Chinese language. Based on the findings of a collexeme analysis of corpus data and in line with subjectification proposed by Langacker, we provide evidence that the BA-pattern and the BA-GE-pattern constitute different constructions and we uncover the dynamic processes of meaning change regarding the concept of ‘disposal’ in the two constructions. The BA construction does indeed focus on the description of disposal events, whereas, in the BA-GE construction, the objective meaning of ‘disposal’ is backgrounded and the speaker’s subjective perspective becomes foregrounded. Such changes in conceptual construal demonstrate the importance of subjectification, a crucial cognitive tool in the construction of meaning and syntactic structure.

Keywords: collexeme analysis, construal, meaning change
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research methodology and theoretical background
  • 3.BA0 and BA1 as near-synonymous constructions
    • 3.1Results of the collocation analysis
    • 3.2BA0 and BA1: From subjective disposal to subjective assessment
  • 4.Subjectification and the semantic and syntactic adjustment of BA1
    • 4.1Emphasis on modality by means of V-DE
    • 4.2The attenuation of properties of the proto-agent role and the meaning of ‘disposal’
    • 4.3The attenuation of the properties of proto-patient roles and the meaning of ‘disposal’
  • 5.BA1: Focusing on speaker’s modality
    • 5.1Expression of speaker’s belief
    • 5.2Expression of speaker’s perspective
    • 5.3Expression of speaker’s preference
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 20 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.67.05li
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