Publications

Publication details [#63754]

Peng, Rui. 2017. Pivotal Constructions in Chinese. Diachronic, synchronic, and constructional perspectives. (Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse 8). John Benjamins. xix, 243 pp.
Publication type
Book – monograph
Publication language
English

Annotation

This book presents a detailed analysis of the Chinese pivotal constructions (PVCs) and their diachronic developments from a constructionalist perspective, with the focus on the growth of the constructional hierarchies of these constructions and the changes with respect to both the form and meaning properties over time. The most important enabling factor behind the diachronic developments of the PVCs has been the sanction of the new instances conflicting with the constructions’ specifications. Throughout history the PVCs have grown along the two dimensions, i.e., inclusiveness and multileveledness, leading to a steady increase in the sizes of their constructional hierarchies. The two-dimensional expansion of the PVCs’ constructional hierarchies has been accompanied by the gradual relaxation of the conditions constraining the earliest instances, on multiple schematicity levels.