Wendan Li
List of John Benjamins publications for which Wendan Li plays a role.
2017 Aspectual coercion: Interpretations of V- le in Mandarin Chinese International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 4:1, pp. 22–61 | Article
Dynamic verbs followed by the perfective aspect morpheme -le (V-le) in Chinese typically designate bounded events but can also encode states. This article proposes that the eventive designations are at the basic level and the stative interpretations are at the derived level through aspectual… read more
2016 The many faces of adverbial margins Chinese Language and Discourse 7:1, pp. 23–65 | Article
This study analyzes adverbial margins as a functional category in Chinese and, through the analysis, elucidates a graded distinction between subordination and coordination. Adverbial margins, which describe circumstances of situations in sentence nuclei, involve a varying of structural devices,… read more
2014 Perfectivity and grounding in Mandarin Chinese Studies in Language 38:1, pp. 128–170 | Article
This paper analyses the encoding of perfectivity in Chinese, focusing on its form, interpretation, and grounding functions. Three major points are made based on examinations of narrative text. First, perfectivity is indicated not only by the perfective marker -le, but also by an array of “bounding… read more
2014 Clause structure and grounding in Chinese written narrative discourse Chinese Language and Discourse 5:2, pp. 99–145 | Article
This study examines the grounding functions of eight basic clause types in Chinese written narrative. It demonstrates that variations in constituent order and clause structure are a major means to designate events versus states at the clause level and ultimately a device to encode foregrounding… read more
2014 The pragmatics of existential-presentative constructions in Chinese: A discourse-based study International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1:2, pp. 244–274 | Article
This study examines the pragmatic and discourse properties of Chinese existential-presentative constructions in written narrative discourse. It demonstrates how the constructions are used in real communicative context. Two sub-types are distinguished: existential constructions and presentative… read more