On construction of ke-VP interrogatives with you in Chinese dialects (in Chinese)
汉语方言中的 “可有VP?” 问句
Lin Su'e 林素娥
Abstract 摘要
This paper discusses the construction of ke可-VP interrogatives with you有,in which you is used as the past tense marker. The ke you可有-VP interrogatives distribute in northern Wu dialects, Southwest Mandarin, Central plain Mandarin, and Jiang Huai Mandarin, which include the types of a阿you有VP, ge格you有VP and the combined sound of ke you. ke you-VP interrogatives in Chinese dialects have long been under pressure to yield to the construction of“ke VP-past aspect marker”expressing the same meaning. Its distribution reflects that it is not a burgeoning past tense marker but derived from the northern Wu dialects of Yuan and Ming dynasty and spread into other dialects before the late Ming Dynasty. you as the past tense marker developed from the existence verb you after the re-analysis in the ke you-NP interrogative; it not only conforms to semantic change principle but also to the typology tendency that “marker usually appears on the marked items before unmarked ones.” (Shen 1997) According to the functions and meanings of you before VP in Chinese dialects, we get the implicational universal: if you in one dialect can be used as the affirmative sign in declarative sentence, then it can be used as the past tense marker in interrogatives. So in our view, it is more reasonable to analyze the dynamic nature of you before VP in Chinese dialects.
Subject Keywords 主题词
Vernacular of Hexin township (Liyang, Jiangsu) 溧阳河心乡方言(江苏) ‘a阿you-VP’ interrogatives “阿有VP”问句 ‘you’ as the past tense marker “有”表已然 Residue 残留
Journal of Chinese Linguistics vol.45, no.2 (June 2017): 290-312
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