When lexicalization meets grammaticalization : the development of ‘wang+Path’ adverbials in Northern Chinese
Résumé
This paper discusses a productive compounding pattern, which combines preposition 往 wàng (or wǎng) ‘towards’, with a path-expressing element P, either a monosyllabic localizer, e.g. wǎnglǐ 往里 ‘in’, or a path verb, e.g. wǎnghuí 往回 ‘back’ or wǎngqǐ 往起 ‘up’. Wang-P compounds, like directional complements, express the core path meanings of a spatial motion event (‘up’, ‘down’, ‘in’, ‘out’, ‘across’ etc.), but they appear before the verb. Directional complements follow the verb, and have a bounding effect on the clause, like resultative complements (eg. 拿进去ná-jinqu ‘take in’ or ná-qilai 拿起来 ‘take up’). We argue that one important motivation for this lexicalization process is the need for two complete symmetric sets of path-marking elements sharing the same path meanings but with different aspectual implications for the clause. The development of the second type of compounds (WANG+directional verb), which appears later in history, fills up the gaps existing in the repertory of core path meanings provided by localizers: huí ‘back’, qǐ ‘up (source-oriented)’, guò ‘over’ etc.. We also discuss the respective part of lexicalization and grammaticalization in this evolution.
Origine : Publication financée par une institution
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