The inventory structure of Person in the Chinese dialect of Puxian

Bibliographic Data

ID21757004
AuthorsJianming Wu (0000-0002-6136-7469, Shanghai International Studies University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Pages634-659
Publication date2022-07-05
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage and Linguistics 語言暨語言學 (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1606-822X • E-ISSN: 2309-5067
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/lali.00052.wu
OpenAlexW2976986175
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited28

One way to classify person systems across languages is by means of the semantic category of person and/or number, where person forms, with distinct referential values, are supposed to be in complementary distribution to each other. However, when we look into some finer details in a language-particular person system, i.e. that of the Puxian dialect in Chinese, there are person forms or expressions that are engaged in supplementary distribution and have meanings beyond what is literally said ( Grice 1989 ). Different from previous approaches, which tended to analyze a person system into separate domains of study, e.g. reflexivity, intensification, logophoricity, empathy, etc., the author proposes that all the person-related meanings (semantics & pragmatics) constitute a “function inventory”, which has a stable structure called “inventory structure”. In the structure, each of the overtly expressed person meanings is assigned to a choice of node, from which multiple outcomes can be developed. The significance of this approach is that it tries to circumvent some pre-established categories and focuses instead on meaningful differences in a system (Sausurre 1983)

Empathy · First person · Grice · Linguistics · Pragmatics · Reflexivity · Sociology · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism

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