A Semantic Study of the Adverb Jiu in Mandarin Chinese

    Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary WorksRGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)peer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This paper investigates the semantics of the adverb jiu in Mandarin Chinese. In the spirit of Paris [6], we claim that the nuclear meaning of jiu is to build up a relation between two units; more precisely, between the asserted value and its alternatives, between the actual value and the reference value, between the asserted value and the relevant open sentence, and/or between two successive events. Based on this, we argue that according to its semantics the adverb jiu can be classified into three: focus adverb jiu, sufficiency operator jiu and jiu with the ‘close to’ meaning. Focus adverb jiu can be further divided into exclusive adverb jiu, scalar adverb jiu and jiu indicating emphatic assertion according to its semantic properties. When jiu takes the ‘close to’ meaning, it either acts as a temporal adverb or implies two events happened/will happen in quick succession.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationChinese Lexical Semantics
    Subtitle of host publication14th Workshop, CLSW 2013, Revised Selected Papers
    EditorsPengyuan Liu, Qi Su
    PublisherSpringer 
    Pages318-327
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-642-45185-0
    ISBN (Print)978-3-642-45184-3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2013
    Event14th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop (CLSW 2013) - Zhengzhou, China
    Duration: 10 May 201312 May 2013

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence)
    PublisherSpringer
    Volume8229
    ISSN (Print)0302-9743
    ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

    Conference

    Conference14th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop (CLSW 2013)
    Country/TerritoryChina
    CityZhengzhou
    Period10/05/1312/05/13

    Research Keywords

    • emphatic assertion
    • exclusive adverb
    • focus adverb
    • scalar adverb
    • sufficiency operator

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