On the Mandarin Chinese Disposal Construction with Yi(PDF)
《南京师大学报》(社会科学版)[ISSN:1006-6977/CN:61-1281/TN]
- Issue:
- 2018年05期
- Page:
- 143-
- Research Field:
- 语言文学研究
- Publishing date:
Info
- Title:
- On the Mandarin Chinese Disposal Construction with Yi
- Author(s):
- XU Zheng-kao; YANG Peng-fei
- Keywords:
- disposal construction with yi; meaning; construction
- PACS:
- -
- DOI:
- -
- Abstract:
- The disposal construction with yi以 in Mandarin Chinese was formed in the pre-Qin period. Itsformation experienced three stages: i.e. from serial verb construction to instrumental construction to disposalconstruction. In the serial verb construction“ yiverb+N1+V+N2”, when the verb yi means“ use”, N1 canbe understood as an instrument involved in the action indicated by“ V+N2”, and then yi was graduallygrammaticalized from a verb into an instrumental preposition. In the instrumental construction“ yipre+N1+V+N2”,yi can be regarded as a focus marker of N1. Under the influence of the double object construction, theinstrumental construction with yi as a focus marker then developed into a disposal construction. Because thedisposal construction involving yi evolved from the instrumental construction with yi, the meaning of yi isambiguous in that it can be either an instrumental preposition or a disposal preposition. This ambiguity hinderedthe development of the disposal construction with yi, thus making it possible to be replaced by the generalizeddisposal constructions involving jiang 将 and ba 把.
Last Update: 2018-09-25