From caused-motion to spatial configuration
Placement verbs in Mandarin
This study re-examines Mandarin Placement verbs from a lexical-constructional perspective and redefines the class
with semantic-to-syntactic properties pertaining to lexicalization patterns in Mandarin. It aims to show that Placement verbs
lexicalize a cognitively salient causal chain that extends from an agentive motion to locational change and to resultant spatial
configuration. The event chain serves as the conceptual basis for linking motion-triggered events and states that are
syntactically distinct in profiling the three contingent stages: caused to move → caused to be → spatially grounded. Although
English Placement verbs (put, hang, etc.) are typically taken to be exemplars of the caused-motion construction, this study shows
that Placement verbs may be distinguished syntactically and semantically from pure Caused-Motion verbs and posture-based Spatial
Configuration verbs. While the three classes of verbs may be viewed as demonstrating respectively the individuated stages of the
proposed event chain, Placement verbs are the only class that encompasses all three event types in their meanings and are
associated with a wide range of semantically compatible constructions. The three stages are discussed with graphical
representations and collocational distinctions. Further sub-classifications of the Mandarin Placement verbs are provided with
different semantic profiles for each subclass. Crucial to the analysis is the fact that location-profiled uses of Placement verbs
outnumber path-profiled uses in Mandarin, indicating a categorical shift from motional to locational predication. By teasing out
the language-specific and class-specific lexicalization patterns that are collo-constructionally definable, the study demonstrates
the usefulness of a lexical-constructional approach in fine-tuning verbal semantic distinctions for cross-linguistic and
cross-categorial comparisons.
Article outline
-
1.Introduction
- 1.1Mandarin Placement verbs
- 1.2The database and methodology
- 2.Previous studies of Placement verbs
- 2.1Placement as a subtype of caused-motion event
- 2.2Studies on Mandarin Placement verbs
- 2.3Theoretical approach: Lexical-constructional approach
- 3.Redefining Mandarin Placement verbs: From caused-motion to spatial configuration
- 3.1Distinct properties of Mandarin Placement verbs
- 3.2Placement verbs vs. caused motion verbs and posture verbs
- 3.3Placement verbs encode an event chain
- 3.4Constructional features associated with the event chain
- 4.Further discussions
- 4.1Language-specific lexicalization pattern
- 4.2Lexical vs. typological properties
- 5.Potential subclasses of Placement verbs in Mandarin
- 5.1Subclass 1: Placing at a location
- 5.2Subclass 2: Placing into a container
- 5.3Subclass 3: Placing onto a surface
- 6.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
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Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Liu, Meichun & Jui-Ching Chang
2018.
Placement Verbs in Chinese and English: Language-Specific Lexicalization Patterns. In
Chinese Lexical Semantics [
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 11173],
► pp. 454 ff.

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