A multi-dimensional approach to the category ‘verb’ in Cantonese

Francis, Elaine J.; Matthews, Stephen

doi:10.1017/s0022226705003270

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…Similarly, between ages 2 and 3, Sophie frequently uses an uninflected verb followed by already: Here the child is pointing out a change of state: instead of pink she is now wearing red. This is again consistent with the semantics of the Cantonese perfective aspect marker zo2, which gives an inchoative sense when used with a stative verb (Francis and Matthews 2005).…”

Section: Already In Bilingual Developmentsupporting

confidence: 83%

Contact-induced grammaticalization

Matthews

Yip

2009

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It is widely acknowledged that developments in bilingual individuals parallel, and ultimately underlie, those taking place in the course of contact-induced change. In this paper we address the poorly understood relationship between the individual and community-level processes, focusing on the process of grammaticalization in circumstances of language contact and the corresponding developmental processes in bilingual acquisition. The phenomena chosen for discussion are drawn from Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) and from the Hong Kong Bilingual Corpus (Yip & Matthews 2000, 2007). Parallel developments in SCE and bilingual acquisition are analysed as cases of contact-induced grammaticalization as defined by Heine and Kuteva (2003; 2005), with some modifications. The emergence ofalreadyas a marker of aspect presents a case of ‘ordinary’ contact-induced grammaticalization, while the development of grammatical functions ofgiverepresents a case of replica grammaticalization. One implication of these findings is that bilingual first language acquisition is a possible route for substrate influence, both in general and specifically in the development of contact languages such as pidgins and creoles.

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Section: Already In Bilingual Developmentsupporting

confidence: 83%

Contact-induced grammaticalization

Matthews

Yip

2009

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“…[30]Francis & Matthews (2005: 274) show that these processes cannot apply to non-verbal predicates such as predicate nominals without the support of a copular verb. Thus, they are an appropriate diagnostic for verbhood.…”

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confidence: 99%

A multi-modular approach to gradual change in grammaticalization

Francis

Yuasa

2008

J. Ling.

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Examining four constructions in three languages (English quantificational nouns, Japanese subordinating conjunctions, Cantonese coverbs, Japanese deverbal postpositions), this paper shows that semantic properties can change faster than syntactic properties in gradual processes of grammaticalization. In each of these cases, the syntactic properties of one category become associated with the semantic properties of a different category when an item undergoes semantic change, leading to the appearance of mixed categorial properties. We propose that this sort of change is best captured using a multi-modular framework (Sadock 1991, Yuasa 2005), which allows changes to affect semantics independently of syntax, and which shows clearly that the relevant items and constructions still conform to the separate structural constraints of syntax and semantics, despite the unusual combination of properties. These findings are important for theories of grammaticalization because they suggest that the cover term ‘decategorialization’ (the loss of grammatical properties associated with the source category) must be understood in terms of at least two separate processes: (1) the effects of semantic change on an item's distribution; and (2) the effects of frequency (Bybee & Hopper 2001) and Pressure for Structure–Concept Iconicity (Newmeyer 1998) on an item's syntactic categorization. Our case studies show that the first kind of decategorialization effects can occur even in the absence of the second kind. Implications of these findings, including possible reasons for both the instability and the long-term retention of mismatch constructions, are also considered.

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“…on a comparative interpretation, as in (17a) (Zhu 1956, Sybesma 1997), but stative verbs do not, see (17b), as is also the case in Cantonese (Francis & Matthews 2005 Researchers have been careful to note that the comparative reading for putative adjectives without degree modification, as in (17a) above, does not arise in all contexts. In certain contexts, such as embedding, negation, or where two adjectival predication sentences are juxtaposed, the 'positive ' reading is available without degree modification (Zhu 1956.…”

Section: The Presence Of Degree Modificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As is well known, the presence of hěn ‘very’ in (14a) above need not have an intensifying effect, but may simply provide a positive interpretation for the adjective (Li & Thompson 1981: 143–144; Huang 2006; Gu 2008; Liu 2010; Grano 2012). In the absence of degree modification, putative adjectives take on a comparative interpretation, as in (17a) (Zhu 1956/1980, Sybesma 1997), but stative verbs do not, see (17b), as is also the case in Cantonese (Francis & Matthews 2005). Sānmáo gāoSanmao tall‘Sanmao is taller.’ Not: ‘Sanmao is tall.’Sānmáo xǐhuān māoSanmao like cat‘Sanmao likes cats.’ Not: ‘Sanmao likes cats more.’This points to some kind of contrast between the two classes (although Francis & Matthews 2005 do not argue for a class of adjectives in Cantonese distinct from verbs).…”

Section: Diagnosing Adjectives In Mandarinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change of state verbs and result state adjectives in Mandarin Chinese

Tham

2013

J. Ling.

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This paper investigates the derivational relationship between adjectives and verbs in Mandarin Chinese describing related state, change of state (COS) and caused COS meanings. Such paradigms have been observed in various languages to fall into two categories : One in which a word naming a property concept state constitutes the derivational base for the related COS verbs, and another in which a COS verb forms the basis from which the stative word -a ' result state' predicate -is derived. I show that in Mandarin, the distinction between morphological paradigms based on property-concept words versus eventive verbs is also found, but the actual derivational relations between verbs and adjectives are influenced by language-particular morphological properties of Mandarin. Specifically, I argue that a gradable property concept adjective systematically alternates to a related COS verb. This alternation, which can be tapped by degree modification and negation contexts, distinguishes adjectives from stative verbs, which do not have consistent COS counterparts, and from underived intransitive COS verbs, which do not have systematic stative counterparts. That is, I show that COS verbs do not lend themselves to the systematic derivation of result state adjectives. Rather, I argue that result state adjectives in Mandarin arise from conceptual-pragmatic factors : The nominal modified by such a result state adjective should be understood as describing a culturally or contextually salient class of entities.

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A multi-dimensional approach to the category ‘verb’ in Cantonese

Abstract: Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0022226705003270How to cite this article: ELAINE J. FRANCIS and STEPHEN MATTHEWS (2005). A multi-dimensional approach to the category 'verb' in

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

Contact-induced grammaticalization

Contact-induced grammaticalization

A multi-modular approach to gradual change in grammaticalization

Change of state verbs and result state adjectives in Mandarin Chinese

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