Corpus Evidence for the Development of YOU-MEI-YOU Wenfeng Li Purdue University
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Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations January 2016 A historical and sociolinguistic approach to language change in Mandarin Chinese: Corpus evidence for the development of YOU-MEI-YOU Wenfeng Li Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Recommended Citation Li, Wenfeng, "A historical and sociolinguistic approach to language change in Mandarin Chinese: Corpus evidence for the development of YOU-MEI-YOU" (2016). Open Access Dissertations. 1255. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1255 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School Form 30 Updated PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Wenfeng Li Entitled A HISTORICAL AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACH TO LANGUAGE CHANGE IN MANDARIN CHINESE: CORPUS EVIDENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOU-MEI-YOU For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Is approved by the final examining committee: Atsushi Fukada Co-chair John Sundquist Co-chair Elaine Francis Felicia Roberts To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material. Approved by Major Professor(s): Atsushi Fukada, John Sundquist Approved by: Felicia Roberts 7/26/2016 Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date A HISTORICAL AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACH TO LANGUAGE CHANGE IN MANDARIN CHINESE: CORPUS EVIDENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOU-MEI-YOU A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Wenfeng Li In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2016 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii For my family and friends iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my great appreciation to my two co-advisors, Professor Atsushi Fukada and Professor John Sundquist, who have provided thorough and constructive suggestions and comments throughout my dissertation research. I am also greatly indebted to Professor Felicia Roberts for her continuous guidance and support through my PhD years at Purdue and for reading and revising the very first draft of the first two chapters of my dissertation. Many thanks are also owed to Professor Elaine Francis, who has provided valuable feedback on the dissertation and on a related project I conducted for a class I took with her. Secondly, I would like to offer my special thanks to April Grotberg, who has helped me in many different ways with my dissertation as an editor and friend. Without her help, I would not have been able to meet all the deadlines for my dissertation. Finally, I feel especially indebted to my family, who have been supportive throughout my dissertation writing. I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues for their kindness, patience and encouragement over the years. The completion of my studies and this work would not have been possible without them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ xi ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... xiii 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background on the Construction ............................................................................... 3 1.2 Theoretical Assumptions about the Origin and Nature of Preverbal YOU-MEI- YOU ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2.1 YOU-MEI-YOU+VP Developed from YOU MEI YOU+NP ........................... 7 1.2.2 Alternative Analysis #1: YOU-MEI-YOU+VP Developed from YOU+VP ... 10 1.2.3 Alternative Analysis #2: YOU-MEI-YOU+VP Developed from MEIYOU+VP ................................................................................................................................... 13 1.2.4 YOU-MEI-YOU as a Single Unit .................................................................... 17 1.3 RQ1: What Is the Grammatical Status of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU? ................. 19 1.3.1 Grammaticalization as Gradual Change ........................................................... 19 1.3.2 Auxiliaries and the Verb-to-TAM Grammaticalization Chain ......................... 21 1.4 RQ2a: What Stage of Development is Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU Currently in? . 24 v Page 1.5 RQ2b: What Is the Distribution of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU over Time? .......... 29 1.6 Chapter Summary and the Organization of the Dissertation................................... 30 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 31 2.1 Previous Research on Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU.................................................. 31 2.1.1 Grammatical Status of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU in Earlier Research .......... 36 2.1.2 Development of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU: Results and Findings from Previous Research...................................................................................................... 39 2.1.3 Linguistic Analysis of YOU-MEI-YOU+VP in Previous Studies ................... 42 2.2 Grammaticalization: Definition and Measurement ................................................. 48 2.2.1 What Defines a Particular Grammatical Category? ......................................... 51 2.2.2 Gradient-based Approaches to Linguistic Categorization ................................ 54 2.2.3 Characterizing Stages of Grammaticalization: Features and Parameters ......... 61 2.2.4 Frequency of Grammaticalized Forms ............................................................. 64 2.2.5 Grammaticalization of Periphrastic Perfect: Cross-linguistic Evidence .......... 68 2.3 Aspect: A Semantic Account .................................................................................. 70 2.3.1 Viewpoint Aspect and Situation Aspect: Expression, Classification and Relation ...................................................................................................................... 73 2.3.2 Perfective Viewpoints and Perfective Morphemes in Standard Mandarin: GUO, LE, and MEI(YOU) ................................................................................................... 77 2.4 Word-class Categorization in Standard Mandarin .................................................. 83 2.5 Chapter Summary .................................................................................................... 88 3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 91 vi Page 3.1 Data Collection ........................................................................................................ 91 3.1.1 The CCL Database ............................................................................................ 92 3.1.2 The CNC Database ........................................................................................... 94 3.2 Data Processing: Initial Filtering ............................................................................ 96 3.3 Data Processing: Second Filtering .......................................................................... 98 3.4 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 105 3.4.1 Data Analysis to Determine the Formal Status of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU ................................................................................................................................. 105 3.4.2 Data Analysis to Identify the Developmental Stage of YOU-MEI-YOU+VP114 3.4.3 Data Analysis to Present the Distribution of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU ...... 123 3.5 Chapter Summary .................................................................................................. 127 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................. 129 4.1 Status of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU in Standard Mandarin ................................ 129 4.1.1 The Function of YOU-MEI-YOU in the Marking of Sentence Type ............ 132 4.1.2 The Role of YOU-MEI-YOU in the Expression of Viewpoint Aspect .......... 136 4.2 Developmental Stage of Auxiliary YOU-MEI-YOU: Evidence from Diachronic Comparisons ................................................................................................................ 143 4.2.1 Desemanticization: A Diachronic Comparison of Preverbal YOU-MEI-YOU ................................................................................................................................. 144 4.2.2 Decategorialization: A Diachronic Comparison of the Complements of YOU- MEI-YOU ................................................................................................................ 147 vii Page 4.2.3 Types