The morphology of Chinese : a linguistic and cognitive approach = Goucifa

This ground breaking study dispels the common belief that Chinese 'doesn't have words' but instead 'has characters'. Jerome Packard's book provides a comprehensive discussion of the linguistic and cognitive nature of Chinese words. It shows that Chinese, far from being 'morphologically impoverished', has a different morphological system because it selects different 'settings' on parameters shared by all languages. The analysis of Chinese word formation therefore enhances our understanding of word universals. Packard describes the intimate relationship between words and their components, including how the identities of Chinese morphemes are word-driven, and offers new insights into the evolution of morphemes based on Chinese data. Models are offered for how Chinese words are stored in the mental lexicon and processed in natural speech, showing that much of what native speakers know about words occurs innately in the form of a hard-wired, specifically linguistic 'program' in the brain. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Figures 15 Tables 16 Abbreviations 18 1 Introduction 19 1.1 Rationale: why investigate Chinese words? 19 1.2 The scope of this work 22 2 Defining the word in Chinese 25 2.1 What is a ‘word’?: different views 25 2.1.1 Orthographic word 25 2.1.2 Sociological word 26 2.1.3 Lexical word 26 2.1.4 Semantic word 27 2.1.5 Phonological word 28 2.1.6 Morphological word 29 2.1.7 Syntactic word 30 2.1.8 Psycholinguistic word 31 2.2 The Chinese concept of ‘word’ 32 2.2.1 The reality of the ‘word’ in Chinese 34 2.3 How we will define ‘word’ in Chinese 36 3 Chinese word components 39 3.1 Describing the components 39 3.1.1 Possible descriptions 39 3.1.1.1 Relational description 39 3.1.1.2 Modification structure description 40 3.1.1.3 Semantic description 43 3.1.1.4 Syntactic description 45 3.1.1.5 Form class description 50 3.2 Form classes of the components 52 3.2.1 Form class identities within words 54 3.3 Criteria for determining form class of Chinese word components 82 3.4 Morphological analysis of Chinese word components 85 3.4.1 Distinguishing ‘free’ and ‘bound’ 85 3.4.2 Distinguishing ‘content’ and ‘function’ 87 3.4.3 Morpheme types 87 3.4.3.1 Two types of affix 88 3.4.3.2 Word-forming affixes vs. bound roots 89 3.4.4 Summary and some test cases 91 3.4.4.1 Determiners, classifiers and numerals 92 3.4.4.2 Location morphemes 93 3.5 The nature of the components 94 3.5.1 Affixes as word components 94 3.5.2 Bound roots as word components 95 3.5.3 Free (‘root’) words as word components 96 4 Gestalt Chinese words 98 4.1 Word types 98 4.2 Nouns 100 4.2.1 Noun types 100 4.2.1.1 Noun compound words 100 4.2.1.2 Noun bound root words 101 4.2.1.3 Noun derived words 102 4.2.1.4 Noun grammatical words 103 4.2.2 N1–N2 words: kinds of relations 103 4.3 Verbs 107 4.3.1 Verb types 107 4.3.1.1 Verb compound words 108 4.3.1.2 Verb bound root words 108 4.3.1.3 Verb derived words 110 4.3.1.4 Verb grammatical words 111 4.3.2 V1–V2: kinds of relations 111 4.3.3 Resultative verbs 113 4.3.3.1 Three classes of resultatives 116 4.3.3.2 Lexical resultatives vs.syntactic extent resultatives 118 4.3.3.3 Other properties of resultatives 119 4.3.4 Verb–Object words 124 4.3.4.1 The problem 125 4.3.4.2 Previous analyses 127 4.3.4.3 A proposed solution 133 4.3.4.3.1 The underlying lexical identity of V–O forms 133 4.3.4.3.2 Lexicalization and phrase criteria 136 4.3.4.3.2.1 Construal as either word or phrase 141 4.4 Nouns and verbs by component form class: statistical tendencies 143 4.5 Chinese words: special properties 147 4.5.1 Other word properties: Y.R. Chao’s insights 150 4.5.1.1 Versatile–restricted 150 4.5.1.2 Positionally free or bound 150 5 X-bar analysis of Chinese words 152 5.1 Basic X-bar properties 152 5.2 X-bar properties applied to words 153 5.2.1 Expectations regarding ‘X-bar’ notation applied to words 153 5.3 X-bar morphology: previous proposals 154 5.3.1 Selkirk 154 5.3.2 Sadock 162 5.3.3 Other proposals 166 5.3.3.1 Scalise 166 5.3.3.2 Di Sciullo and Williams 167 5.3.4 Discussion of Selkirk and Sadock 167 5.3.4.1 Problems with the Selkirk proposal 171 5.3.4.1.1 The limited role of X 171 5.3.4.1.2 Lexical listing of predictable information 174 5.3.5 Previous X-bar analyses of Chinese words 175 5.3.5.1 Tang 176 5.3.5.2 Sproat and Shih 181 5.4 An alternative proposal for Chinese X-bar morphology 181 5.4.1 Classification of primitives 183 5.4.1.1 Properties of word components 183 5.4.1.2 Why list ‘bound’ and ‘free’ in the lexicon? 184 5.4.2 Rules of word formation 186 5.4.3 Limiting lexical productivity: X as the sole recursive node 186 5.4.3.1 A note on universals 187 5.4.4 Predicted word forms 188 5.4.5 Single and multiple branching structures 191 5.4.5.1 Single branching 193 5.4.5.2 Multiple branching 195 5.4.5.2.1 Right branching 195 5.4.5.2.2 Left branching 201 5.4.5.2.3 Some examples of multiple embedding 210 5.5 The concept of ‘head’ applied to Chinese words 212 5.5.1 ‘Canonical head’ vs.‘virtual head’ 212 5.5.2 ‘Semantic head ’vs. ‘structural head’ 213 5.5.3 Headless words 214 5.6 The proposed analysis applied to English 214 5.6.1 Single branching 218 5.6.2 Right branching 220 5.6.3 Left branching 225 6 Lexicalization and Chinese words 234 6.1 Lexicalization and the relation between word and constituent 235 6.1.1 Semantic and grammatical reduction in lexicalization 235 6.1.2 Categories of lexicalization 237 6.1.2.1 Conventional lexicalization 237 6.1.2.2 Metaphorical lexicalization 238 6.1.2.3 Asemantic lexicalization 239 6.1.2.4 Agrammatical lexicalization 239 6.1.2.5 Complete lexicalization 240 6.1.2.6 Validity of ‘degree of lexicalization’ 241 6.1.2.7 Categories of lexicalization and lexical strata 241 6.1.3 Explaining exceptions to the Headedness Principle 243 6.1.3.1 Systematic exceptions 248 6.1.3.1.1 Phonetic loans 248 6.1.3.1.2 Neologisms 249 6.1.3.1.3 Left-modified verbs 251 6.1.3.1.4 Zero-derived complex nouns 252 6.1.3.1.5 Induced constituent reanalysis 253 6.1.3.2 Other exceptions 254 6.2 Lexicalization and the availability of word-internal information 255 6.2.1 Phonological information 256 6.2.2 Morphological information 263 6.2.3 Syntactic information: theta roles in complex verbs 268 6.2.3.1 Availability of resultative V2 argument structure 268 6.2.3.2 Availability of ‘object’ theta roles to [V–O]v verbs 276 6.2.3.3 A note on non-head opacity 278 6.2.4 Semantic information 278 6.3 Lexicalization and grammaticalization 280 6.4 Lexicalization and the formation of new words 283 6.4.1 Historical factors 283 6.4.2 The modern language 285 6.4.2.1 Abbreviation and combination (‘compounding’) 286 6.4.3 The creation of new morphemes in Chinese 293 6.4.3.1 Most new Chinese morphemes are bound roots 298 7 Chinese words and the lexicon 302 7.1 What is ‘the lexicon’? 302 7.2 The lexicon and lexical access 303 7.3 Lexical access in Chinese 304 7.3.1 Chinese speech comprehension and the lexicon 305 7.3.2 Chinese speech production and the lexicon 310 7.3.3 Experimental evidence demonstrating whole-word processing 312 7.4 The Chinese lexicon: what is ‘listed’? 314 7.4.1 What is ‘listed’?: a proposal 317 7.5 Chinese characters and the lexicon 322 7.5.1 Character sound and meaning come from the natural speech lexicon 322 7.5.2 How do characters access the lexicon? 323 7.5.3 Is Chinese writing ‘ideographic’? 327 8 Chinese words: conclusions 328 8.1 What have we discovered about words? 328 8.2 The reality of the ‘word’ 334 References 336 Index 346 Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Figures......Page 15 Tables......Page 16 Abbreviations......Page 18 1.1 Rationale: why investigate Chinese words?......Page 19 1.2 The scope of this work......Page 22 2.1.1 Orthographic word......Page 25 2.1.3 Lexical word......Page 26 2.1.4 Semantic word......Page 27 2.1.5 Phonological word......Page 28 2.1.6 Morphological word......Page 29 2.1.7 Syntactic word......Page 30 2.1.8 Psycholinguistic word......Page 31 2.2 The Chinese concept of ‘word’......Page 32 2.2.1 The reality of the ‘word’ in Chinese......Page 34 2.3 How we will define ‘word’ in Chinese......Page 36 3.1.1.1 Relational description......Page 39 3.1.1.2 Modification structure description......Page 40 3.1.1.3 Semantic description......Page 43 3.1.1.4 Syntactic description......Page 45 3.1.1.5 Form class description......Page 50 3.2 Form classes of the components......Page 52 3.2.1 Form class identities within words......Page 54 3.3 Criteria for determining form class of Chinese word components......Page 82 3.4.1 Distinguishing ‘free’ and ‘bound’......Page 85 3.4.3 Morpheme types......Page 87 3.4.3.1 Two types of affix......Page 88 3.4.3.2 Word-forming affixes vs. bound roots......Page 89 3.4.4 Summary and some test cases......Page 91 3.4.4.1 Determiners, classifiers and numerals......Page 92 3.4.4.2 Location morphemes......Page 93 3.5.1 Affixes as word components......Page 94 3.5.2 Bound roots as word components......Page 95 3.5.3 Free (‘root’) words as word components......Page 96 4.1 Word types......Page 98 4.2.1.1 Noun compound words......Page 100 4.2.1.2 Noun bound root words......Page 101 4.2.1.3 Noun derived words......Page 102 4.2.2 N1–N2 words: kinds of relations......Page 103 4.3.1 Verb types......Page 107 4.3.1.2 Verb bound root words......Page 108 4.3.1.3 Verb derived words......Page 110 4.3.2 V1–V2: kinds of relations......Page 111 4.3.3 Resultative verbs......Page 113 4.3.3.1 Three classes of resultatives......Page 116 4.3.3.2 Lexical resultatives vs.syntactic extent resultatives......Page 118 4.3.3.3 Other properties of resultatives......Page 119 4.3.4 Verb–Object words......Page 124 4.3.4.1 The problem......Page 125 4.3.4.2 Previous analyses......Page 127 4.3.4.3.1 The underlying lexical identity of V–O forms......Page 133 4.3.4.3.2 Lexicalization and phrase criteria......Page 136 4.3.4.3.2.1 Construal as either word or phrase......Page 141 4.4 Nouns and verbs by component form class: statistical tendencies......Page 143 4.5 Chinese words: special properties......Page 147 4.5.1.2 Positionally free or bound......Page 150 5.1 Basic X-bar properties......Page 152 5.2.1 Expectations regarding ‘X-bar’ notation applied to words......Page 153 5.3.1 Selkirk......Page 154 5.3.2 Sadock......Page 162 5.3.3.1 Scalise......Page 166 5.3.4 Discussion of Selkirk and Sadock......Page 167 5.3.4.1.1 The limited role of X......Page 171 5.3.4.1.2 Lexical listing of predictable information......Page 174 5.3.5 Previous X-bar analyses of Chinese words......Page 175 5.3.5.1 Tang......Page 176 5.4 An alternative proposal for Chinese X-bar morphology......Page 181 5.4.1.1 Properties of word components......Page 183 5.4.1.2 Why list ‘bound’ and ‘free’ in the lexicon?......Page 184 5.4.3 Limiting lexical productivity: X as the sole recursive node......Page 186 5.4.3.1 A note on universals......Page 187 5.4.4 Predicted word forms......Page 188 5.4.5 Single and multiple branching structures......Page 191 5.4.5.1 Single branching......Page 193 5.4.5.2.1 Right branching......Page 195 5.4.5.2.2 Left branching......Page 201 5.4.5.2.3 Some examples of multiple embedding......Page 210 5.5.1 ‘Canonical head’ vs.‘virtual head’......Page 212 5.5.2 ‘Semantic head ’vs. ‘structural head’......Page 213 5.6 The proposed analysis applied to English......Page 214 5.6.1 Single branching......Page 218 5.6.2 Right branching......Page 220 5.6.3 Left branching......Page 225 6 Lexicalization and Chinese words......Page 234 6.1.1 Semantic and grammatical reduction in lexicalization......Page 235 6.1.2.1 Conventional lexicalization......Page 237 6.1.2.2 Metaphorical lexicalization......Page 238 6.1.2.4 Agrammatical lexicalization......Page 239 6.1.2.5 Complete lexicalization......Page 240 6.1.2.7 Categories of lexicalization and lexical strata......Page 241 6.1.3 Explaining exceptions to the Headedness Principle......Page 243 6.1.3.1.1 Phonetic loans......Page 248 6.1.3.1.2 Neologisms......Page 249 6.1.3.1.3 Left-modified verbs......Page 251 6.1.3.1.4 Zero-derived complex nouns......Page 252 6.1.3.1.5 Induced constituent reanalysis......Page 253 6.1.3.2 Other exceptions......Page 254 6.2 Lexicalization and the availability of word-internal information......Page 255 6.2.1 Phonological information......Page 256 6.2.2 Morphological information......Page 263 6.2.3.1 Availability of resultative V2 argument structure......Page 268 6.2.3.2 Availability of ‘object’ theta roles to [V–O]v verbs......Page 276 6.2.4 Semantic information......Page 278 6.3 Lexicalization and grammaticalization......Page 280 6.4.1 Historical factors......Page 283 6.4.2 The modern language......Page 285 6.4.2.1 Abbreviation and combination (‘compounding’)......Page 286 6.4.3 The creation of new morphemes in Chinese......Page 293 6.4.3.1 Most new Chinese morphemes are bound roots......Page 298 7.1 What is ‘the lexicon’?......Page 302 7.2 The lexicon and lexical access......Page 303 7.3 Lexical access in Chinese......Page 304 7.3.1 Chinese speech comprehension and the lexicon......Page 305 7.3.2 Chinese speech production and the lexicon......Page 310 7.3.3 Experimental evidence demonstrating whole-word processing......Page 312 7.4 The Chinese lexicon: what is ‘listed’?......Page 314 7.4.1 What is ‘listed’?: a proposal......Page 317 7.5.1 Character sound and meaning come from the natural speech lexicon......Page 322 7.5.2 How do characters access the lexicon?......Page 323 7.5.3 Is Chinese writing ‘ideographic’?......Page 327 8.1 What have we discovered about words?......Page 328 8.2 The reality of the ‘word’......Page 334 References......Page 336 Index......Page 346 "This innovative study dispels the common belief that Chinese 'doesn't have words' but instead 'has characters'. Jerome Packard's book provides a comprehensive discussion of the linguistic and cognitive nature of Chinese words. It shows that Chinese, far from being 'morphologically impoverished', has a different morphological system because it selects different 'settings' on parameters shared by all languages. The analysis of Chinese word formation therefore enhances our understanding of word universals. Packard describes the intimate relationship between words and their components, including how the identities of Chinese morphemes are word-driven, and offers new insights into the evolution of morphemes based on Chinese data. Models are offered for how Chinese words are stored in the mental lexicon and processed in natural speech, showing that much of what native speakers know about words occurs innately in the form of a hard-wired, specifically linguistic 'program' in the brain."--Page 4 of cover "Jerome Packard's book provides a comprehensive discussion of the linguistic and cognitive nature of Chinese words. It shows that Chinese, far from being 'morphologically impoverished', has a different morphological system because it selects different 'settings' on parameters shared by all languages. The analysis of Chinese word formation therefore enhances our understanding of word universals. Packard describes the intimate relationship between words and their components, including how the identities of Chinese morphemes are word-driven, and offers new insights into the evolution of morphemes based on Chinese data. Models are offered for how Chinese words are stored in the mental lexicon and processed in natural speech, showing that much of what native speakers know about words occurs innately in the form of a hard-wired, specifically linguistic 'program' in the brain."--Jacket

This book aims to dispel the myth that Chinese "doesn't have words" but instead "has characters." Jerome Packard challenges the common belief that Chinese has no morphology, demonstrating how analysis of Chinese word formation enhances our understanding of word universals in natural language. His book describes the intimate relationship between words and their components and offers new insights into their evolution. Models are offered for how Chinese words are stored in the mental lexicon and processed in natural speech.

Jerome Packard analyses the linguistic and cognitive nature of Chinese words, dispelling the common misconception that the Chinese language has no morphology. His ground-breaking study demonstrates how analysis of Chinese word formation enhances our understanding of the linguistic properties shared by all languages