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Dynamic existential constructions and constructional changes in Chinese

  • 인문논총
  • 2023, 61(), pp.133-157
  • DOI : 10.33638/JHS.61.6
  • Publisher : Institute for Human studies, Kyungnam University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : April 29, 2023
  • Accepted : May 27, 2023
  • Published : June 30, 2023

NAM RYANG WOO 1

1경남대학교 인문사회대학 중국학과

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper raised a question about a fact that many previous studies acknowledge the dynamics such as ‘天上飞着一只鸟’, but at the same time, this type of sentence is included in the category of existential sentence. And it is assumed that this problem can be solved when explaining that the dynamic existential construction is formed based on the static existential construction. In order to test this hypothesis, we analyzed the changes in the static existential construction and the dynamic existential construction from a diachronic perspective, and tried to explain the expansion from the static existential construction to the dynamic existential construction through constructional changes of Traugott & Trousdale (2013). The results can be summarized as follows. First, if the dynamic existential construction is formed based on the static existential construction, the dynamic existential construction must appear later than the static existential construction in time. As a result of analysis through CCL, the Vzhe-static existential construction appeared in the Song Dynasty and their use increased rapidly in the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction appeared in part in the Ming Dynasty, and the frequency of appearance increased in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, it can be said that the dynamic existential construction appeared later than the static existential construction in time. Second, the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction began to appear in the Ming Dynasty. However, the verbs that make up the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction existed before that. Also, the use for progressive of 'zhe' existed before the Ming Dynasty. From this fact, it can be assumed that the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction began to be used by some innovative language users in the Ming Dynasty. Third, it can be seen that the Vzhe-static existential construction of intransitive verb has served as a bridge from the Vzhe-static existential construction to the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction. This is because the Vzhe-static existential construction of intransitive verb represents static, and at the same time, the intransitive verb was used in the V-zhe existential construction like the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction. Fourth, the appearance of the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction is a kind of constructional change. Fifth, the reason why Chinese native speakers recognize the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction that represent dynamics as existential construction is because the Vzhe-dynamic existential construction are based on Vzhe-static existential construction. Because what the construcion in the form of 'NL+V着+NP' represents is 'being' based on strong statics, so one constructional unit, 'NL+V着+NP', causes a statics or existence for Chinese language speakers. For this reason, Chinese language speakers recognize a sentence like ‘天上飞着一只鸟’ which is dynamic as an existential construction because its dynamics is largely diluted by the internal force of the construction ‘NL+V着 +NP’.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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