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The Diachronic Development of Modal Expressions in Chinese
From Late Archaic to Middle Chinese, Studies in Language Change [SLC] 18
ISBN/EAN: 9783110737783
Umbreit-Nr.: 8208312
Sprache:
Englisch
Umfang: 350 S., 2 s/w Illustr., 12 s/w Tab., 2 b/w ill., 1
Format in cm:
Einband:
gebundenes Buch
Erscheint am 09.12.2024
Auflage: 1/2024
- Zusatztext
- The present study is the first to apply a syntactic approach to the grammaticalization of Chinese modals, based on hypotheses on cross-linguistic diachronic developments of modals from lexical to functional categories as upward movement on a functional spine. The temporal framework of the study covers Late Archaic and Middle Chinese. Early Middle Chinese is a crucial turning point for the development of Chinese from a more synthetic to a more analytic language. This change is attributed e.g. to the loss of a former morphology, which also affects the modal system. Against this background, the negative cycle of Chinese, the relevance of polarity contexts, and the development of a new system of deontic, epistemic and future markers are analyzed. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of the syntactic processes involved in the diachronic changes of the Chinese modal system, the study also provides a comparison with the syntax of grammaticalization of the thoroughly discussed Germanic modals. This constitutes a broad basis for further analyses of the changes in the Chinese language during its long written history, but also for cross-linguistic studies on the syntax of grammaticalization and on linguistic universals.
- Autorenportrait
- Barbara Meisterernst, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.