Linguistic Innovations in Chinese

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Linguistic Innovations in Chinese LINGUISTIC INNOVATIONS IN CHINESE: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS by XINJIA PENG A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2017 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Xinjia Peng Title: Linguistic Innovations in Chinese: Internal and External Factors This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures by: Zhuo Jing-Schmidt Chair Lucien Brown Core Member Kaori Idemaru Core Member Scott DeLancey Institutional Representative and Scott L. Pratt Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2017. ii © 2017 Xinjia Peng iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Xinjia Peng Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures June 2017 Title: Linguistic Innovations in Chinese: Internal and External Factors This dissertation seeks to deepen understanding towards language change by answering three questions: What is the unit of change? What is the manner of change? What are the factors of change? Three cases of linguistic innovation in the Chinese language are examined. Adopting a usage-based approach, I analyze the language data of these three linguistic innovations, and the results provide unanimous answers to the three questions. First, the basic unit of language change is a construction, and it can be of any length, such as phrasal, clausal or discourse-length. Second, these cases of linguistic innovation present a scenario of change led by high-frequency exemplars, demonstrating that language change can be abrupt rather than gradual. Third, the external factors giving rise to the exemplars prove crucial in reconstructing language change in progress. All three case studies present linguistic innovation as a response to a changing material reality. I thus advocate a usage-based constructionist approach that considers external factors in the investigation of language change, as it allows us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the process. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Xinjia Peng GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Chinese Linguistics, 2017, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Language Teacher Specialization, 2013, University of Oregon Master of Arts, East Asian Linguistics and Language Pedagogy, 2013, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, English, 2009, Beijing Foreign Studies University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Chinese Linguistics Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 2011-2014; 2015-2016 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowship, Univerity of Oregon, 2016-2017 Graduate Teaching Fellow, EALL, Univerity of Oregon, 2011-2014; 2015-2016 CLTA Peking University Press Publication Award, Chinese Language Teacher Association, 2015 Best Presentation Award, Chinese Language Teacher Association-California Spring Conference, 2015 v CAPS Small Professional Grant, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Univerity of Oregon, 2013; 2014; 2015 Siegel Graduate Travel Endowment Fund Scholarship, EALL, Univerity of Oregon, 2012; 2014 Second-class Scholarship, Beijing Foreign Studies University, 2008 First-class Scholarship, Beijing Foreign Studies University, 2006 PUBLICATIONS: Peng, X. (2017). Book review: Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Curriculum Design & Instruction, by Xiaohong Wen. Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). In production. Jing-Schmidt Z. and Peng, X. (2017). Winds and tigers: Metaphor choice in China’s anti-corruption discourse. Lingua Sinica, 3:2. DOI: 10.1186/s40655- 016-0017-9 Jing-Schmidt, Z. and Peng, X. (2016). The emergence of disjunction: A history of constructionalization in Chinese. Cognitive Linguistics, 27(1), 101-136. Peng, X. (2016). Book review: A Handbook of Tasks and Rubrics for Teaching Mandarin Chinese, by Miao-fen Tseng. Chinese as a Second Language (漢語 教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報), 51(2), 218-224. Jing-Schmidt, Z, Peng X. and Chen, J. (2015). From Corpus Analysis to Grammar Instruction: Toward a usage-based constructionist approach to constructional stratification. Journal of Chinese Language Teacher Association, 50(2), 1-30. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been fortunate enough to have many guìrén as companions on my odyssey towards the doctoral degree, all of whom have made the arduous journey picturesque and joyous. I am most indebted to my academic advisor and mentor Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, who gives me continuous inspirations and encouragement during my time in the program. In the countless meetings we have in her office, online and elsewhere, new ideas are always being spontaneously generated, my frustration and procrastination are unnoticeably curbed. As many of my other previous and continuous projects, the completion of this manuscript has benefited tremendously from her guidance, suggestions, timely feedbacks, and especially her patience to work with me through multiple revisions. And such generous guidance in my academic research and career points to a future I am still about to fathom and witness. My gratitude also goes to all my committee members. All of them gave me insightful suggestions to improve the manuscript. Specifically, I would like to acknowledge Lucien Brown for his encouragement to rethink the pragmatic function of ye-shi-zui-le in Chapter IV, Kaori Idemaru’s suggestion to streamline the presentation of research methods, and Scott DeLancey who offers an areal and historical perspective to all three case studies examined in this dissertation. I would like to thank audiences at the 19th WEAL conference and the EALL Colloquium at the University of Oregon where part of the manuscript was presented. Colette Grinevald has also read an early draft of Chapter II and given me my critique. Among the many fellow camaraderie graduate students who never fail me with their vii uncompromising encouragement and ingenious ideas, I would like to specifically thank Matt Stave, who introduced programming to me. Our collaboration on another project has greatly improved my programing skills, without which data collection and data analysis in this dissertation would be much more strenuous. The completion of this manuscript would not have been possible without Holly Lakey. She carefully and thoroughly edited my manuscript under time pressure, and gave me many sharp-witted critiques as a fellow linguist, which prepares me for future publications of this manuscript. The last year of my work was supported by the College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowship awarded by the University of Oregon. It has allowed me to concentrate on finishing this manuscript at the final stage. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my dear friends on the West Coast and across the Pacific Ocean that keep me accompany, especially Amy, Grace, Hsin-chin, Ningning, Teresa, Weijun and Yiqing, I would like to thank my parents for supporting me in pursuing an academic career, and my husband Zhen, who is my peace haven, my fortress, my reliable source of strength and inspirations. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 Background of the Current Study ...........................................................................1 Construction Grammar as the Framework .............................................................3 Language Change from a Constructionist Perspective ...........................................9 Overview of the Dissertation ................................................................................11 II. EMERGENCE OF A PHRASAL CONSTRUCTION: THE CASE OF THE EMERGENCE OF NUMERAL CLASSIFIERS .................................................... 14 Introduction ..........................................................................................................14 The Establishment of Numeral Classifiers as a Grammatical Category ..............17 Data and Methods .................................................................................................20 Data ...............................................................................................................20 Methods.........................................................................................................22 Findings in Oracle-bone Inscriptions ..................................................................24 Contexts of Occurrence .................................................................................24 The QUANTIFICATION Construction ........................................................27 Findings in Bronze Inscriptions ..........................................................................31 Contexts of Occurrence .................................................................................31 The QUANTIFICATION Construction ........................................................32 The Case of “Ma (numeral) pi,” Chariots and Horses ..................................36 Discussion ...........................................................................................................38 Summary
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