The verb of giving in Thai and Mandarin Chinese as a case of polysemy: A comparative study  

Oleh:

Thepkanjana, Kingkarn ; Uehara, Satoshi

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language Sciences (Full Text) vol. 30 no. 6 (2008), page 621-651.
Topik: Verb of giving; Polysemy; Metonymy; Inferencing; Grammaticalization
Fulltext: vol. 30 issue 6 November, 2008. p. 621-651.pdf (422.83KB)

Isi artikel

It is generally known that the words corresponding to GIVE in serializing languages including haˆy and ge? i in Thai and Mandarin Chinese, respectively, tend to have multiple uses. Since these two words exhibit similarities and differences in synchronic usage and diachronic development toward grammaticalization, they will be examined in a comparative manner in this study. This study has two objectives, namely, (i) to identify the similarities and differences in usage between haˆy and ge? i at the present time and (ii) to argue that the multiple meanings of haˆy and ge? i are related, i.e. they are cases of polysemy. It is found that haˆy in Thai has the following uses: (1) a main verb use to indicate an action of possession transfer, (2) a dative use, (3) a benefactive use, (4) a causative use, (5) a malefactive use and (6) a connective use in purposive, jussive and complementation constructions. On the other hand, ge? i has the following uses: (1) a main verb use, (2) a dative use, (3) a benefactive use, (4) a causative use, (5) a passive use and (6) a ditransitive use. These different uses of haˆy and ge? i arguably constitute cases of polysemy. It is found that the process of metonymy which involves pragmatic inferencing plays a primary role in semantically extending the meaning of GIVE in both languages.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali