The Syntactic and Semantic Analysis of Hěn X Constructions in Spoken Corpora

Abstract

To understand how daily usages can shape the gradual changes of both hěn, a prototypical intensifier in Mandarin Chinese, and the construction hěn X, the study aims to investigate the syntactic and semantic behaviors of hěn X constructions in spoken corpora. The conversational data from the NCCU Corpus of Spoken Chinese and a Taiwan Public Television show Bring Up Parents are extracted and analyzed, focusing in particular on the syntactic categories of X, the grammaticalization of hěn, and the lexicalization of hěn X. Several findings are found. First, the syntactic and semantic distributions of the data from both corpora are quite consistent. While adjectives and stative verbs still claim the majority of X, new categories are discovered, showing host expansion of X. In addition to words, phrases and clauses can play the role of X. The increase of the flexibility and complexity of X demonstrates the gradual grammaticalization of hěn. Moreover, some instances of hěn X can be used as a unit to modify other grammatical constituents, showing a certain degree of lexicalization. When hěn X is fused as a unit, hěn is obligatory, not only indicating a degree but also highlighting the characteristics of X. The analysis shows that the nature of spoken materials enhances the subjectivity of hěn X. The findings of hěn X in spoken corpora can be applied to linguistic studies and Mandarin teaching.