The Diachronic Development of Modal Expressions in Chinese

From Late Archaic to Middle Chinese

Barbara Meisterernst (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

XIII, 372 Seiten

2024
de Gruyter Mouton (Verlag)
978-3-11-073778-3 (ISBN)

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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.

Erscheinungsdatum	25.10.2024
Reihe/Serie	Studies in Language Change [SLC] ; 18
Zusatzinfo	2 b/w ill., 13 b/w tbl.
Verlagsort	Basel/Berlin/Boston
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 230 mm
Gewicht	684 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
Schlagworte	Historical Linguistics • Historische Linguistik • Modalität • modality • Syntax
ISBN-10	3-11-073778-7 / 3110737787
ISBN-13	978-3-11-073778-3 / 9783110737783
Zustand	Neuware