The Diachronic Development of Modal Expressions in Chinese
Description
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.
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Content
- Intro
- Acknowledgments
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The different modal categories in Late Archaic and Early Middle Chinese and their realization
- 2 The diachronic development of deontic modals in Early Middle Chinese
- 3 Modality and future marking in Late Archaic and Middle Chinese
- 4 Postverbal modals: The case of De
- 5 More on negation and polarity
- 6 A brief overview on the cross-linguistic development of modals
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
