Polyfunctionality of ‘Give’ in Hui Varieties of Chinese

A Typological and Areal Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID21236258
AuthorsWen Lu (0000-0002-0347-8021, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, corresponding author), Pui Yiu Szeto (0000-0001-8444-4060, Ca' Foscari University of Venice)
Year2023
Volume8
Issue3
Pages217
Publication date2023-09-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages8030217
OpenAlexW4386779001
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited48

The morpheme ‘give’ is among the most well-studied lexical items in the realm of grammaticalization. This study sets out to provide a typological and areal analysis of the distinct forms and multiple functions of ‘give’ in 27 varieties of Hui Chinese, a lesser-known group of Sinitic languages. Making use of both primary and secondary data, we have identified ten different functions of GIVE, namely (i) lexical verb ‘give’, (ii) recipient marker ‘to’, (iii) benefactive marker ‘for’, (iv) purpose marker, (v) permissive marker, (vi) passive marker, (vii) pretransitive disposal marker, (viii) allative marker, (ix) locative marker ‘at/in’, and (x) temporal marker ‘till’. The Hui varieties covered in this study generally showcase the syncretism of a minimum of five of the functions above simultaneously. Semantic extension, polygrammaticalization, and cooptation are shown to be the major mechanisms behind the polyfunctionality or polysemy sharing of the morpheme ‘give’. Our study contributes to the understanding of the role that grammaticalization, especially contact-induced grammaticalization, plays in forming linguistic areas. In addition, it casts doubt on the basicness of ‘give’ in assessing the genetic relatedness of languages in the world

Discourse marker · Grammaticalization · Linguistics · Morpheme · Polysemy · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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