The origin and development of the verbal measure word mao. (In Chinese)
动量词“卯”及其源流
Huayun Wang 汪化云；Yaling Jing 荆亚玲；Lixin Sun 孙立新
Abstract 摘要
It is not reflected expressly in the literature when “卯” evolved from a noun expressing time into a verbal measure word. It exists in two districts far away from each other: first, it is commonly used in the Hangzhou dialect，where it has grammaticalized into a suffix of time noun and diffused to Northern Wu; second，it is more widely distributed in dialects of Central Plains Mandarin and Jin in the vicinity of Henan，but with a limited range of functions. The period connecting these two groups of dialects lies in the transitional period between the Northern Song dynasty and Southern Song dynasty，implying that the word emerged in Southern Mandarin during the Northern Song dynasty at the latest，and transferred by migrants from Kaifeng to Hangzhou in the early Southern Song dynasty. Its grammaticalization pathway is also reflected in texts and dialects. The character word “卯” corroborates the views of Shuxiang Lü and Jerry Norman on the evolution of Southern Mandarin.
Subject Keywords 主题词
Verbal measure word “卯” 动量词“卯” Occurrence condition 产生的条件 Regional distribution 地域分布 Origin and development 源流
Journal of Chinese Linguistics vol.48, no.2 (June 2020): 438-455
Copyright © 2020 Journal of Chinese Linguistics. All rights reserved.