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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 43:3 (2019) ► pp.668–714

The grammatical-lexical distinction in Chinese aspectual markers

ORCID logo | Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
| University of Copenhagen

This paper discusses the grammatical-lexical distinction based on Boye and Harder (2012) in the class of aspectual markers in Chinese and aims to decide whether these markers are grammatical or lexical in a theoretically anchored sense. To accomplish this, the language-general criteria proposed in Boye and Harder (2012) are translated into Chinese-specific criteria for diagnosing grammatical vs. lexical status, and these translated criteria are then applied to Chinese aspect markers in a questionnaire-based survey in order to test whether these markers are lexical or grammatical. Our classification of the Chinese markers tested is then compared with a traditional classification based on grammaticalization features (Lehmann 2015). The results support an integration of the two ways of approaching the grammatical-lexical distinction.

Keywords: grammatical-lexical distinction, Boye & Harder (2012) , Chinese aspect markers
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The grammatical-lexical distinction in Boye and Harder (2012)
  • 3.Chinese tests for distinguishing between grammatical and lexical status
    • 3.1Means of marking focus in Chinese
    • 3.2Means for addressing in Chinese
    • 3.3Summary: The focus and addressability tests in Chinese
  • 4.Chinese aspect markers
    • 4.1Aspectual marking by V2 in the V1V2 resultative constructions
    • 4.2Aspectual marking by directional verbs
    • 4.3The durative aspect marker zhe
    • 4.4The perfective aspect marker le
    • 4.5The progressive aspect marker zài
  • 5.A questionnaire survey of the focus and addressability tests in Chinese
    • Participants
    • Procedures
    • Materials
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Test results for durative zhe and perfective le
    • 6.2Test results for the resultative components wán ‘finish’ and guò ‘cross’
    • 6.3Test results for experiential guo
    • 6.4Test results for progressive zài
    • 6.5Evaluation of the results
  • 7.Grammaticalization features
    • 7.1Lehmann’s grammaticalization features
    • 7.2Grammaticalization features and grammatical vs. lexical status
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 18 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.18006.sun
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