CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF THE GRAMMATICALIZATION AND SEMANTIC NETWORKS OF CHINESE GUO AND LE A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics By Lihong Huang, M.A.T. Washington, D.C. November 10, 2017 Copyright 2017 by Lihong Huang All Rights Reserved ii CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF THE GRAMMATICALIZATION AND SEMANTIC NETWORKS OF CHINESE GUO AND LE Lihong Huang, M.A.T. Thesis Advisor: Andrea Tyler, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Due to their polysemous nature and inter-lexical polysemy (Evans, 2015), Chinese guo (過/过) and le (了) have proven to be two of the most closely related and most puzzling linguistic items for linguists to describe and L2 learners to master. Previous studies have made important findings on the semantics of guo and le (e.g., Chao, 1968; Lü, 1980; Li & Thompson, 1981; Huang & Davis, 1989; Smith, 1997); however, no satisfying, unified account has been offered. One major gap in the previous studies is the lack of systematicity. Moreover, none of the previous studies have tried to offer complete accounts for guo and le. In addition, the inter- lexical polysemy of guo and le has not been addressed as a polysemous phenomenon in a systematic fashion in the literature. With the aim of filling these gaps, this dissertation explores the semantics of guo and le from a cognitive, usage-based approach (e.g., Langacker, 1987, 2008). Specifically, by adopting Tyler and Evans’s (2003) methodology of Principled Polysemy, this study begins the exploration from the discussion of the proto-scenes or the primary senses of guo and le, and argues that the previous studies that treated the aspectual meanings of guo and le as their central senses and the starting point of their analyses are mostly wrong-headed. Through analyzing diachronic corpus data that cover a history of 3,000 years from the Western Zhou (1046-771 BCE) to modern times, this dissertation shows how guo and le have systematically evolved from their primary senses to today’s highly polysemous phenomena. Cognitive and usage-based explanations of meaning extension are an essential part of this dissertation. iii Furthermore, this study establishes semantic networks for guo and le, which not only represent the diachronic grammaticalization paths (Bybee et al., 1994) of the two particles, but also the synchronic interrelationship among the meanings. Finally, the inter-lexical polysemy, i.e., the seemingly interchangeable, but subtly different uses of guo and le, is analyzed with Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models (Evans, 2015). Overall, this dissertation provides a systematic, motivated and fuller account of the semantics of guo and le. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of many sincere, inspiring and generous people. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Andrea Tyler, who set my brain on fire and transformed me from an empty soul to a curious seeker of truth. I took all of the courses that Dr. Tyler offered at Georgetown University during the past seven years, enjoyed every single one, and learned a great deal from her. She brought me into the field of Cognitive Linguistics, and guided me from the most basic concepts to the complex analyses of different languages. In addition to her inspirational and informative lectures, I am very grateful for her detailed comments and edits on my homework assignments, tests, papers, and the drafts of this dissertation, which have not only deepened my learning and thinking on specific topics, but also constantly reminded me how to be a good teacher myself. During my moments of intense struggle, Dr. Tyler gave me her unflagging support and encouragement, which motivated me to persevere enthusiastically. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Xiaofei Lu and Dr. Dilin Liu. It was a great learning experience working with them. I admire their work in applied linguistics, corpus approaches, and Chinese linguistics, and feel extremely fortunate to have their help and support. I sincerely appreciate all their time reading and commenting on the chapters. Additionally, I need to express my gratitude to all the Linguistics professors who taught me: Dr. Hector Campos, Dr. Jeffrey Connor-Linton, Dr. Elena Herburger, Dr. Alison Mackey, Dr. John Norris, Dr. Lourdes Ortega, Dr. Rob Podesva, and Dr. Elizabeth Zsiga. Their expertise and teaching were unparalleled and have trained me to be a more critical thinker. And, of course, I must thank Ms. Erin Esch Pereira for her timely help and guidance for years. v A special thanks goes to my colleagues at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures of Georgetown University. Thank you, Dr. Philip Kafalas and Dr. Jingyuan Zhang, for giving me the opportunities to work as your Teaching Assistant over ten years ago. Since then, you have been my mentors and supportive colleagues. Thank you, Dr. Kevin Doak, for writing me a recommendation letter to the Department of Linguistics. Thank you, Dr. Wenhui Li, Peng Wang, Juei-Chen Hsiao, Yusheng Yang, Dr. Fei Ren, Di Qi, Dr. Pei-Shan Yu, and Chuan Lin, for chatting with me during my downtime and for your unfailing encouragement. I am also very grateful to all the students that I taught at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures – they are my true source of inspiration. I owe many thanks to my dear Hoya friends. To Hana Jan and Tyler True, who listened to my initial ideas about this dissertation and provided feedback during our CogLing meetings. To Julien Isaacs, who helped me with proofreading and always reminded me about the English article system and tense consistency. To Mariko Uno, Yunkyoung Kang, Natalia Jacobsen, and Vitaly Nikolaev, who accompanied or advised me during my Ph.D. study journey. To Raphael Angieri, who is a great listener and helped me prepare for the dissertation defense. Last but not least, I am very grateful to my family. My parents taught me to be an upright and kind person. They encouraged me to pursue what is worth aiming for. No matter where I am, their love and support are always with me. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Bing, and my daughter, Alice, for their tolerance of my absences during my doctoral studies. This dissertation is dedicated to them. vi For Bing and Alice vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The point of this dissertation.................................................................................. 1 1.2 Theoretical background ....................................................................................... 12 1.2.1 Some key tenets of Cognitive Linguistics .................................................. 12 1.2.2 Tyler and Evans’s Principled Polysemy Model .......................................... 22 1.2.3 Evans’s Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models ...................... 32 1.2.4 Grammaticalization ..................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2 On GUO ........................................................................................................ 41 2.1 Previous studies of GUO ..................................................................................... 42 2.1.1 Yue Ren Chao (1968) ................................................................................. 42 2.1.2 Shuxiang Lü (1980) .................................................................................... 46 2.1.3 Charles N. Li and Sandra A. Thompson (1981) ......................................... 49 2.1.4 Carlota S. Smith (1997) .............................................................................. 55 2.1.5 Summary of the previous studies ................................................................ 63 2.2 The corpus study of GUO .................................................................................... 63 2.2.1 The proto-scene of GUO ............................................................................. 67 2.2.2 Data and analysis of GUO .......................................................................... 75 Shijing 诗经 (Classic of Poetry) ................................................................. 75 Lunyu 论语 (Analects) ................................................................................ 78 Fengsu tongyi 风俗通义 (Folk Legend) ..................................................... 85 Renwuzhi 人物志 (Biographical Notes and Data) ...................................... 90 Sanguozhi 三国志 (Records of the Three Kingdoms) ................................ 94 Baopuzi 抱朴子 (The Master Embracing Simplicity) ................................ 95 Shishuo xinyu 世说新语 (New Account of the Tales of the World) ........ 120 Tongdian 通典 (Comprehensive Institutions) .......................................... 126 Sishu zhangju jizhu 四书章句集注 (A Collection of Comments viii on the Four Books).................................................................................... 130 Sanguo yanyi 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) ................... 131 Rulin waishi 儒林外史 (The Scholars) ..................................................... 154 The Corpus of Center for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University (Modern Chinese Section) ........................................................................ 167 2.3 The principled polysemy network of GUO ......................................................