The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator <i>zai</i>

Zhang Mengjie; Zhu Haiting; Lin Yunqing

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai

Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 3)

Received: 15 April 2021 Accepted: 4 May 2021 Published: 1 June 2021

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Abstract

Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
Page(s)	106-110
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Progressive Operator zai, Telicity, Atelicity, Singularity, Plurality

References

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[4]	Yang, J. and Wu, Y. (2015) Revisiting the (Non-) Existence of Accomplishments in Chinese. Modern Foreign Languages, 38 (6), 731-741 (in Chinese).
[5]	Ferreira, M. (2016) The Semantic Ingredients of Imperfectivity in Progressive, Habituals, and Counterfactuals. Natural language semantics, 24 (4), 353-397.
[6]	Smith, C. S. The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997.
[7]	Xiao, R. Z., & McEnery, A. M. Aspect in Mandarin Chinese: A Corpus-based Study. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2004.
[8]	Bach, E. (1986) The Algebra of Events. Linguistics and Philosophy, 9 (1), 5-16.
[9]	Rothstein, S. Structuring Events: A Study in the Semantics of Lexical Aspect. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
[10]	Krifka, M. “The Origins of Telicity”, in Events and Grammar, S. Rothstein, Eds. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1998.
[11]	Link, G. “The logical Analysis of plurals and mass terms: A lattice-Theoretical Approach”, in Formal Semantics-the Essential Readings, Portner, P. & Partee, B. H. Eds. Blackwell, 1983.
[12]	Li, X & Duan. W. A Reanalysis of the Telicity of Chinese accomplishment. (forthcoming).
[13]	Zhang, M. and Lin, Y. (2019) On Non-culminating Accomplishments in Mandarin Chinese. Modern Foreign Languages, 42 (5), 585-596 (in Chinese).
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[18]	Chierchia, G. (1998) Reference to Kinds across Language. Natural Language Semantics, (4), 339–405.
[19]	Landman, F and Rothstein, S. (2012) The Felicity of Aspectual for-Phrase Part 2: Incremental Homogeneity. Language and Linguistics Compass, (2): 85-96.

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Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing. (2021). The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(3), 106-110. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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Zhang Mengjie; Zhu Haiting; Lin Yunqing. The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(3), 106-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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AMA Style

Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing. The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(3):106-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17,
  author = {Zhang Mengjie and Zhu Haiting and Lin Yunqing},
  title = {The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {9},
  number = {3},
  pages = {106-110},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210903.17},
  abstract = {Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai
AU  - Zhang Mengjie
AU  - Zhu Haiting
AU  - Lin Yunqing
Y1  - 2021/06/01
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 106
EP  - 110
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
AB  - Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.
VL  - 9
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Zhang Mengjie

School of Foreign Languages, Beihang University, Beijing, China
Zhu Haiting

School of Foreign Languages, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
Lin Yunqing

English Department, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing. (2021). The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(3), 106-110. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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ACS Style

Zhang Mengjie; Zhu Haiting; Lin Yunqing. The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(3), 106-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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AMA Style

Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing. The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(3):106-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17,
  author = {Zhang Mengjie and Zhu Haiting and Lin Yunqing},
  title = {The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {9},
  number = {3},
  pages = {106-110},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210903.17},
  abstract = {Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai
AU  - Zhang Mengjie
AU  - Zhu Haiting
AU  - Lin Yunqing
Y1  - 2021/06/01
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 106
EP  - 110
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
AB  - Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.
VL  - 9
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download