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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 44:4 (2020) ► pp.917–963

Multiple functions of the Cantonese ‘wait’ verb dang2 and their historical development

ORCID logo | The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The diachronic development of morphemes meaning ‘wait’ has not been well documented. This paper describes multiple functions of the ‘wait’ verb dang2 in Hong Kong Cantonese: (a) a verb meaning ‘be in need of’, (b) a permissive verb meaning ‘let’, (c) a causative verb meaning ‘cause’, (d) a temporal marker meaning ‘at, when’, (e) a particle for giving notice of a coming event, and (f) a subordinating conjunction signifying someone’s surprise. Four development paths are proposed to account for the multifunctionality: ‘wait’ > (a); ‘wait’ > (d); ‘wait’ > (b) > (e); and ‘wait’ > (c) > (f). This case draws attention to the potential of ‘wait’ morphemes to be employed to express various other abstract concepts and, furthermore, highlights the role of indirect sources in the theory of grammaticalization.

Keywords: wait , Cantonese, diachrony, grammaticalization
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2. Dang2 ‘wait’
  • 3.‘Wait’ verb > ‘be in need of’ verb
    • 3.1 Dang2 as ‘be in need of’: Synchronic description
    • 3.2 Dang2 as ‘be in need of’: Diachronic analysis
  • 4.‘Wait’ verb > ‘at, when’ temporal marker
    • 4.1 Dang2 as ‘at, when’: Synchronic description
    • 4.2 Dang2 as ‘at, when’: Diachronic analysis
  • 5.‘Wait’ verb > ‘let’ permissive verb > particle for giving notice
    • 5.1 Dang2 as ‘let’: Synchronic description
    • 5.2 Dang2 as ‘let’: Diachronic analysis
    • 5.3 Dang2 as a particle for giving notice: Synchronic description
    • 5.4 Dang2 as a particle for giving notice: Diachronic analysis
  • 6.‘Wait’ verb > ‘cause’ causative verb > conjunction signifying someone’s surprise
    • 6.1 Dang2 as ‘cause’: Synchronic description
    • 6.2 Dang2 as ‘cause’: Diachronic analysis
    • 6.3 Dang2 as a conjunction signifying someone’s surprise: Synchronic description
    • 6.4 Dang2 as a conjunction signifying someone’s surprise: Diachronic analysis
  • 7.Conclusions and implications
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 4 September 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.19011.lai
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