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Space and Quantification in Languages of China pp 233–247Cite as

Chinese Semelfactives and Body Movements

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Abstract

In searching for internal evidence for a class of semelfactive predicates in Standard Mandarin, we investigate an aspect-sensitive marker, preverbal yī ‘one’, that exhibits strong affinity with semelfactive predicates. The verbs that typically enter this pattern show a striking similarity with those labeled as semelfactives in other languages, mostly body movements and facial expressions, likely to be construed as atomic, countable events. Preverbal yī is mainly used in narratives to express past punctiliar events with no consequent state in a chain of actions, and conveys a nuance of “suddenness”. Associated with other types of predicates, it activates the semantic features linked with semelfactivity, i.e. punctiliarity and atelicity. The “yī V” pattern discussed here is to be distinguished from another pattern where yī functions as a connector and means ‘as soon as’, which is compatible with various types of predicates.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Xiao and McEnery (2004b: 45–56) propose a more fine-grained feature system where temporal endpoints (boundedness) are kept separate from spatial endpoints. We do not discuss this issue here.

  2. 2.

    List of the abbreviations used in the glosses: 1, 2, 3 : 1st and 2nd and 3rd person of personal pronoun; cl: Classifier; cont: Continuative aspect; crs: Current relevant state (sentence-final particle le); disp: Disposal marker; gen: Genitive particle de ; inch: Inchoative; int: Interrogative marker; pfv: Perfective aspect suffix le; pl: Plural; quot: Quotative (after ‘say’ verbs); red: Reduplication; sg: Singular; sta: Stativizing suffix zhe ; sub: Subordinative particle de ; suf: Suffix de marking predicative use; v:Verb; vp : Verb phrase

  3. 3.

    In the first pattern, [ʔiʔ4 tɕi24] corresponds to connector yī in “yī V1 jiù VP2” ‘as soon as V1 then VP2’, but in Standard Mandarin this pattern is felicitous with activities. The second pattern V-[tɕi24]-V-[tɕi24] corresponds to the Standard Chinese multiplicative pattern “yī V yī V”. The third pattern, where [tɕi24] is inserted between a verb and a resultative, is used in hortative sentences, and has no corresponding form in Standard Mandarin.

  4. 4.

    Chinese used numerals located before the verb to express frequency (including ‘once’) before it developed verbal classifiers located after the verb. Some studies link preverbal yī to this very old pattern (Yin 1999; Chen and Wang 2006).

  5. 5.

    We found one exception: the Chinese-Japanese dictionary (Hakusuisha Chūgokugo jiten p. 1738) provides a separate meaning for yī as an adverb, mentioning that it is used for punctiliar bodily movements, and translates it with Japanese ideophonic adverbs patto, satto, sutto ‘suddenly, in a flash, quickly’.

  6. 6.

    These studies attributed various aspectual values to preverbal yī: perfective, perfect, a starting point, telicity, punctual completion, realization, result of an action completed one time etc.

  7. 7.

    Chen’s list provides verbs, not sentences. For the purpose of our investigation, we built a corpus of several hundreds of sentences where yī cannot be interpreted as a connector. Along with various Chinese novels, we used the CCL online corpus to check which verbs were frequently used in the “yī V” pattern, with which body parts, in which syntactic environments (disposal construction, Verb-object construction etc.).

  8. 8.

    We follow Li (2000) and Yang (2000) and categorize resultative and directional compounds as achievements. They cannot co-occur with imperfective aspect markers (progressive and stativizing markers). Verbs followed by a spatial endpoint (a goal phrase) also become achievements.

  9. 9.

    Dai (1997: 13) set up two distinct categories for these two types of predicates. Li (2000) called them “mixed telic-stative verbs”, Chen Ping (1988) lists them in states and achievements (and in activities in the case of placement verbs).

  10. 10.

    Goal phrases introduced with zài may also encode a stative resultant state, while dào only marks spatial endpoints in a motion event.

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  1. Département Chine, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, 65 rue des Grands Moulins, 75013, Paris, France

    Christine Lamarre

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Correspondence to Christine Lamarre .

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  1. INALCO, Paris, France

    Dan Xu

  2. Dept. of Int'l Languages & Cultures, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, Maryland, USA

    Jingqi Fu

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Lamarre, C. (2015). Chinese Semelfactives and Body Movements. In: Xu, D., Fu, J. (eds) Space and Quantification in Languages of China. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10040-1_12

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