Publications

Publication details [#59853]

Zhiqun Xing, Janet. 2015. A comparative study of semantic change in grammaticalization and lexicalization in Chinese and Germanic languages. Studies in Language 39 (3) : 593–633.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Journal DOI
10.1075/sl

Annotation

This study explores the typological regularity of semantic change in grammaticalization and lexicalization in Chinese and Germanic languages. Earlier studies, mostly done on Indo-European languages (e.g. Heine et al. 1991, Traugott & Dasher 2002), suggest that semantic change follows the cline A>A, B>B. Based on numerous case studies of semantic change in grammaticalization and lexicalization in Chinese, this paper provides evidence that semantic change in Chinese follows a somewhat different pattern: A>A, B>A,B,C. The key factors responsible for this, as it will be argued, are twofold: Chinese grammar is typologically structured without inflections and Chinese words have become increasingly disyllabic. Indo-European languages, which exhibit quite different grammatical and morphological structures and diachronic evolution, therefore show a different tendency.