{"title":"A corpus-based study on semantic and cognitive features of bei sentences in Mandarin Chinese","authors":"Yonghui Xie, Ruochen Niu, Haitao Liu","doi":"10.1515/cllt-2024-0031","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<jats:italic>Bei</jats:italic> sentences in Mandarin Chinese with SOV word order have attracted extensive interest. However, their semantic features lacked quantitative evidence and their cognitive features received insufficient attention. Therefore, the current study aims to quantitatively investigate the semantic and cognitive features through the analysis of nine annotated factors in a corpus. The results regarding <jats:italic>bei</jats:italic> sentences show that (i) subjects exhibit a tendency to be definite and animate; non-adversative verbs have gained popularity over time, and intransitive verbs are capable of taking objects; (ii) subject relations tend to be long, implying heavy cognitive load, whereas the dependencies governed by subjects are often short, suggesting light cognitive load; and (iii) certain semantic factors significantly impact cognitive factors; for instance, animate subjects tend to govern shorter dependencies. Overall, our study provides empirical support for the semantic features of <jats:italic>bei</jats:italic> sentences and reveals their cognitive features using dependency distance.","PeriodicalId":45605,"journal":{"name":"Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2024-0031","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Bei sentences in Mandarin Chinese with SOV word order have attracted extensive interest. However, their semantic features lacked quantitative evidence and their cognitive features received insufficient attention. Therefore, the current study aims to quantitatively investigate the semantic and cognitive features through the analysis of nine annotated factors in a corpus. The results regarding bei sentences show that (i) subjects exhibit a tendency to be definite and animate; non-adversative verbs have gained popularity over time, and intransitive verbs are capable of taking objects; (ii) subject relations tend to be long, implying heavy cognitive load, whereas the dependencies governed by subjects are often short, suggesting light cognitive load; and (iii) certain semantic factors significantly impact cognitive factors; for instance, animate subjects tend to govern shorter dependencies. Overall, our study provides empirical support for the semantic features of bei sentences and reveals their cognitive features using dependency distance.
汉语普通话中带有 SOV 词序的 Bei 句子引起了广泛关注。然而,其语义特征缺乏量化证据,认知特征也未得到足够关注。因此,本研究旨在通过分析语料库中的九个注释因素,对其语义和认知特征进行定量研究。有关 bei 句子的研究结果表明:(i) 主语表现出确定和有生命的倾向;随着时间的推移,非谓语动词越来越受欢迎,而不及物动词则可以带宾语;(ii) 主语关系往往较长,这意味着认知负荷较重,而主语所支配的从属关系往往较短,这意味着认知负荷较轻;(iii) 某些语义因素对认知因素有显著影响,例如,有生命的主语往往支配较短的从属关系。总之,我们的研究为 bei 句子的语义特征提供了实证支持,并利用依存距离揭示了其认知特征。
期刊介绍:
Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory (CLLT) is a peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality original corpus-based research focusing on theoretically relevant issues in all core areas of linguistic research, or other recognized topic areas. It provides a forum for researchers from different theoretical backgrounds and different areas of interest that share a commitment to the systematic and exhaustive analysis of naturally occurring language. Contributions from all theoretical frameworks are welcome but they should be addressed at a general audience and thus be explicit about their assumptions and discovery procedures and provide sufficient theoretical background to be accessible to researchers from different frameworks. Topics Corpus Linguistics Quantitative Linguistics Phonology Morphology Semantics Syntax Pragmatics.