Edited by Kunio Nishiyama, Hideki Kishimoto and Edith Aldridge
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 250] 2018
► pp. 157–180
Chapter 8Resultative and termination
A unified analysis of Middle Chinese VP-YI
This paper proposes an account of the reanalysis of the Chinese morpheme 已yǐ from an intransitive verb meaning ‘end, terminate’ into a functional category marking completive aspect. We posit that this grammaticalization was triggered by the loss of aspectual affixes, prompting YI to be reinterpreted from a lexical verb to a secondary predicate supplying the endpoint to an event expressed by a preceding predicate. The use of YI as a secondary predicate was made possible in part by changes in Chinese VP structure which allowed an endpoint-denoting secondary predicate to occupy a VP-internal position in this period.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Aspect in Late Archaic Chinese
- 3.Evolution of YI from verb to secondary predicate
- 3.1Late Archaic Chinese YI
- 3.2Structural reanalysis
- 4.Extension of aspectual YI as a native development
- 5.Conclusion
-
Notes -
References
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.250.09ald
References
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 05 january 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.