Cover not available
Article published In:
Language and Linguistics
Vol. 23:4 (2022) ► pp.743–777

Formation of Modern Chinese speech-quotative nǐ shuō ‘you say’ and feedback-seeking nǐ shuō ‘you tell me’

Two grammaticalizational pathways

| Sun Yat-sen University
| Beijing Language and Culture University
| Sun Yat-sen University

In Modern Chinese, four construction types involving nǐ shuō may be distinguished. In this study, it is argued that the prosodically unseparated speech-quotative nǐ shuō (S1) develops from the prosodically separated speech-quotation nǐ shuō (S3) through a hypothesized complementation pathway which makes the nǐ shuō predicate the matrix clause of the following content clause. Prosodically unseparated feedback-seeking nǐ shuō (S2), in contrast, develops from a prosodically separated feedback-seeking nǐ shuō (S4) via a hypothesized conjoining pathway which involves the loss of a prosodic gap between the feedback-seeking nǐ shuō predicate and the clause that it occurs with. Contrary to the common assumption in the literature, S2 does not develop from S1. Meaning difference influences the selection of each of the two pathways, and in the source construction when an S3 or S4 is prosodically separated from the clause it occurs with, it is not the matrix clause of the latter. The account given in this study may also be used to explain the formation of English parenthetical predicate you say.

Keywords: nǐ shuō , quotative, feedback-seeking, complementation, conjoining
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Modern Chinese nǐ shuō predicates
  • 4.Matrix clause perspective or parenthetical perspective
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Hypothesized complementation pathway and formation of speech-quotative nǐ shuō (S1)
    • 5.2Hypothesized conjoining pathway and formation of feedback-seeking nǐ shuō (S2)
    • 5.3Selection of the pathways
  • 6.Conclusion and further comments
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 12 October 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00121.wan
References
Aijmer, Karin
1997  I think – An English modal particle. In Swan, Toril & Westvik, Olaf Jansen (eds.), Modality in Germanic languages: Historical and comparative perspectives (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 99), 1–47. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas & Johansson, Stig & Leech, Geoffrey & Conrad, Susan & Finegan, Edward
1999 Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Brinton, Laurel J.
1996 Pragmatic markers in English: Grammaticalization and discourse functions (Topics in English Linguistics 19). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 The comment clause in English: Syntactic origins and pragmatic development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 Historical discourse analysis. In Tannen, Deborah & Hamilton, Heidi E. & Schiffrin, Deborah (eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis, 2nd edn., vol. 11, 222–243. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
2017 The evolution of pragmatic markers in English: Pathways of change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cao, Xiuling
2010 Cong zhuwei jiegou dao huayu biaoji – “wo/ni V” de yufahua ji xiangguan wenti [From subject-predicate structure to discourse marker – Grammaticalization of Wo/Ni V ]. Hanyu Xuexi [Chinese Language Learning] 2010(5). 38–50.Google Scholar
Chui, Kawai
1994 Grammaticalization of the saying verb wa in Cantonese. Santa Barbara Papers in Linguistics 51. 1–13.Google Scholar
Dehé, Nicole
2014 Parentheticals in spoken English: The syntax-prosody relation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W.
2006 Complement clauses and complementation strategies in typological perspective. In Dixon, R. M. W. & Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (eds.), Complementation: A cross-linguistic typology (Explorations in Linguistic Typology 3), 1–48. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dong, Xiufang
2003 “X shuo” de cihuihua [On the lexicalization of X shuo ]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 2(2). 46–57.Google Scholar
2008 Shiji yupian zhong zhijie yinyu yu jianjie yinyu de hunyong xianxiang [Blending of direct discourse and indirect discourse in actual texts]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 7(4). 367–376.Google Scholar
Fischer, Olga
2007 The development of English parentheticals: A case of grammaticalization? In Smit, Ute & Dollinger, Stephan & Hüttner, Julia & Kaltenböck, Gunther & Lutzky, Ursula (eds.), Tracing English through time: Explorations in language variation. A festschrift for Herbert Schendl on the occasion of his 65th birthday (Austrian Studies in English 95), 99–114. Vienna: Braumüller.Google Scholar
Fitzmaurice, Susan
2004 Subjectivity, intersubjectivity and the historical construction of interlocutor stance: From stance markers to discourse markers. Discourse Studies 6(4). 427–448. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt
1995 A functional theory of complementizers. In Bybee, Joan L. & Fleischman, Suzanne (eds.), Modality in grammar and discourse (Typological Studies in Language 32), 473–502. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Givón, Talmy
1980 The binding hierarchy and the typology of complements. Studies in Language 4(3). 333–377. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gu, Feng
2007 Cong yanshuo yi dongci dao yuqici – Shuo Shanggu Hanyu “yun” de yufahua [From saying verb to sentence-final particle: The grammaticalization of yun in Archaic Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2007(3). 231–236.Google Scholar
Guan, Zhibin
2011 Biao zhengxun de huayu biaoji “ni shuo” [On ni shuo as the discourse marker of inquiry]. Fuyang Shifan Xueyuan Xuebao (Shehui Kexue Ban) [Journal of Fuyang Teachers College (Social Science Edition)] 2011(3). 5–9. (Fuyang Teachers College was renamed as Fuyang Normal University from June 2019.)Google Scholar
Guo, Rui
2009 Xiandai Hanyu he Gudai Hanyu zhong de jieci xuankong he jieci shanchu [Preposition stranding and deletion in Mandarin and Classic Chinese]. In Guo, Xi-liang & Lu, Guo-yao (eds.), Zhongguo yuyanxue (Di er ji) [Chinese linguistics (Volume 2)], 23–36. Jinan: Shandong Education Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Alice C. & Campbell, Lyle
1995 Historical syntax in cross-linguistic perspective (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 74). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd
2013 On discourse markers: Grammaticalization, pragmaticalization, or something else? Linguistics 51(6). 1205–1247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Extra-clausal constituents and language contact: The case of discourse markers. In Kaltenböck, Gunther & Keizer, Evelien & Lohmann, Arne (eds.), Outside the clause: Form and function of extra-clausal constituents (Studies in Language Companion Series 178), 243–272. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania
2002 World lexicon of grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Kaltenböck, Gunther & Kuteva, Tania & Long, Haiping
2013 An outline of discourse grammar. In Bischoff, Shannon T. & Jany, Carmen (eds.), Functional approaches to language (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 248), 155–206. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania & Kaltenböck, Gunther
2014 Discourse grammar, the dual process model, and brain lateralization: Some correlations. Language and Cognition 6(1). 146–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Kaltenböck, Gunther & Kuteva, Tania & Long, Haiping
2017 Cooptation as a discourse strategy. Linguistics 55(4). 813–855. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hooper, Joan B.
1975 On assertive predicates. In Kimball, John P. (ed.), Syntax and semantics, vol. 41, 91–124. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J.
1991 On some principles of grammaticalization. In Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Heine, Bernd (eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization: Volume I. Theoretical and methodological issues (Typological Studies in Language 19:1), 17–35. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hu, Wenjing
2011 “Ni shuo” de yuyi yanbian ji qi yinfa de yuyong gongneng [The semantic evolution of ni shuo and its pragmatic functions]. Qiqihaer Daxue Xuebao (Zhexue Shehui Kexue Ban) [Journal of Qiqihar University (Philosophy & Social Science Edition)] 2011(3). 134–137.Google Scholar
Huang, Shuanfan
2013 Chinese grammar at work (Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse 1). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huddleston, Rodney & Pullum, Geoffrey K.
2002 The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kou, Xin & Yuan, Yulin
2019 Gongyongyi dui guanxi xiaoju jiegou leixing he jiedu qingxiang de yingxiang – Cong Xiandai Hanyu gongju, cailiao, chusuo chengfen guanxihua de xianzhi tiaojian tanqi [The role of telic features in the formation and interpretation of relative clauses: Constraints on oblique relativization in Mandarin Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2019(6). 693–708.Google Scholar
Kuteva, Tania & Heine, Bernd & Hong, Bo & Long, Haiping & Narrog, Heiko & Rhee, Seongha
2019 World lexicon of grammaticalization. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lehmann, Christian
1985 Grammaticalization: Synchronic variation and diachronic change. Lingua e Stile 20(3). 303–318.Google Scholar
Li, Xin
2013 Hanyu kouyu huayu biaoji “woshuo/nishuo” yanjiu [Studies of the Chinese oral discourse marker woshuo/nishuo ]. Jinzhou: Bohai University. (Master’s thesis.)
Long, Haiping
2017 Xiandai hanyu biao tixing “woshuo” de xingcheng [On the formation of Modern Chinese attention-getting ni shuo]. In Wu, Fuxiang & Chen, Qianrui (eds.), Yufahua yu yufa yanjiu (Ba) [Grammaticalization and Grammatical Studies (volume VIII)], 267–280. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Long, Haiping & Heine, Bernd & Ruan, Gui-Jun & Wu, Mengyue
2018 The grammaticalizational relation between two Modern Chinese wo xiang ‘I think’ constructions. Language Sciences 661. 212–225. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Long, Haiping & Xu, Xiaoxian & Wu, Mengyue & Ursini, Francesco-Alessio
2019 Formation of the Modern Chinese clause-taking imperative ni kan ‘you see’: A conjoining pathway account. Lingua 2321. 1–24. (Article 102745.) DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Long, Haiping & Wu, Fang & Ursini, Francesco-Alessio & Qin, Zhijun
2021 On the formation of a conjecturing clause-taking predicate in Modern Chinese: A conjoining account of huaiyi . Functions of Language 28(2). 183–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noonan, Michael
2007 Complementation. In Shopen, Timothy (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, volume 2: Complex constructions, 2nd edn., 52–150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norde, Muriel
2009 Degrammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quirk, Randolph & Greenbaum, Sidney & Leech, Geoffrey & Svartvik, Jan
1985 A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Sheng, Jiyan
2013 Ye tan huayu biaoji “ni shuo” [A study of the discourse marker ni shuo ]. Hanyu Xuexi [Chinese Language Learning] 2013(3). 31–36.Google Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A.
2002 “Object complements” and conversation towards a realistic account. Studies in Language 26(1). 125–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A. & Mulac, Anthony
1991 A quantitative perspective on the gramaticization of epistemic parentheticals in English. In Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Heine, Bernd (eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization: Volume II. Types of grammatical markers (Typological Studies in Language 19:2), 313–329. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Bogaert, Julie
2011  I think and other complement-taking mental predicates: A case of and for constructional grammaticalization. Linguistics 49(2). 295–332. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yu-Fang & Katz, Aya & Chen, Chih-Hua
2003 Thinking as saying: Shuo (‘say’) in Taiwan Mandarin conversation and BBS talk. Language Sciences 25(5). 457–488. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xian, Lixia
2012 Huayu biaoji “nishuo” de yujing ji qi gongneng [The context and functions of discourse marker ni shuo ‘you say’]. Sichuan Shifan Daxue Xuebao (Shehui Kexue Ban) [Journal of Sichuan Normal University (Social Sciences Edition)] 2012(5). 50–56.Google Scholar
Xu, Yulong
2012 Mingci duanyu de kejixing yu guanxihua – Yixiang leixingxue shiye xia de Ying Han duibi yanjiu [Noun phrase accessibility and relativization in Chinese and English: A contrastive study from the perspective of linguistic typology]. Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu (Waiguo Yuwen Shuangyuekan) [Foreign Language Teaching and Research (Bimonthly)] 44(5). 643–657.Google Scholar
Yao, Zhanlong
2008 “Shuo, xiang, kan” de zhuguanhua ji qi youyin [The subjectivization and its incentives on shuo, xiang, kan ]. Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies] 2008(5). 47–53.Google Scholar
Yu, Xiaodong
2015 “Nishuo” huayu biaoji yanjiu [Study on the discourse marker of ni shuo ]. Jilin: Jilin University. (Master’s thesis.)
Zhang, Jinjuan & Xiao, Renfei
2016 Hanyu kouyu huihua zhong yinyu guanlingci de fushuo xianxiang [The repetition of quotation-introducing elements in conversational Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2016(3). 315–328.Google Scholar