LinguaPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104118
Haoran Yang , Andrew H.C. Chuang
{"title":"Form, function, and change in chinese two-plus-two idioms: a diachronic corpus analysis","authors":"Haoran Yang , Andrew H.C. Chuang","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104118","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104118","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the two-plus-two (2 + 2) construction in Chinese four-character idioms (FCIs) from the perspective of Radical Construction Grammar (<span><span>Croft, 2001</span></span>), with a focus on the relationship between internal structure and propositional act functions—namely reference, predication, and modification. Specifically, it examines the syntactic and functional distinctions between interchangeable and non-interchangeable idioms, and how these differences have evolved diachronically from the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) to the Minguo period (1912–1949 CE). Drawing on data from the <em>Xinhua Dictionary of Idioms</em> (XDI), the BLCU Corpus (BCC), and the PKU Centre for Chinese Linguistics (CCL), the study analyses 428 interchangeable and 428 non-interchangeable idioms, totalling over 17,000 occurrences across historical stages. Statistical modelling—including chi-square tests, conditional inference trees, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA)—reveals that interchangeable idioms tend to exhibit structural symmetry, enabling word-order flexibility, while non-interchangeable idioms more frequently display asymmetry, often constrained by iconicity, particularly in verb-phrase constructions. Diachronic analysis further shows that interchangeable idioms undergo a linear functional shift, increasingly serving as modifiers in Modern Mandarin, whereas non-interchangeable idioms follow a non-linear trajectory, favouring predication over time. These findings demonstrate that structural properties and cognitive constraints play a significant role in shaping idiom flexibility and functional evolution. By combining corpus-based methods with a constructional approach, this study advances our understanding of how idiomatic constructions participate in discourse and change over time, contributing to theoretical debates on symmetry, compositionality, and the discourse functions of fixed expressions in Chinese.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 104118"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146174772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104120
Joanna Zhuoan Chen, Kathleen Ahrens
{"title":"When scalarity meets cross-domain mapping: A corpus-based lexical-conceptual analysis of metaphorical hyperbole","authors":"Joanna Zhuoan Chen, Kathleen Ahrens","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104120","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104120","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Metaphor and hyperbole are traditionally treated as distinct tropes, yet they frequently co-occur in discourse, raising theoretical questions about the nature of metaphorical hyperbole. Despite increasing scholarly interest, the structural relationship between metaphor and hyperbole, particularly how they interact within a single lexical unit, remains an open question. Addressing this gap, the present study develops a lexical–conceptual account of metaphorical hyperbole and examines its linguistic realization in a corpus of promotional hospitality discourse. Through systematic lexical analysis, we identify the frequency, source domains, and linguistic realizations of metaphorical hyperbole in authentic texts. We demonstrate that metaphorical hyperbole arises when the metaphorical mapping provides the basis for scalar modification. We further distinguish two subtypes of metaphorical hyperbole based on whether encyclopedic knowledge is required to interpret the mapping. By elucidating the structural properties and usage patterns of metaphorical hyperbole, the study broadens the typological scope of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and underscores the importance of examining composite tropes that operate simultaneously rather than in isolation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 104120"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146174771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104119
Yohei Mishima
{"title":"Phonetic and phonological variation in Romance dialects: lenition, lexical conditioning, and a frequency-based mapping of /b β v/","authors":"Yohei Mishima","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104119","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104119","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates how phonological contrast in Romance may be preserved, weakened, or neutralised under certain conditions, focusing on the phenomenon of <em>betacism</em>, a process whereby /b/ and /v/ (or /β/) tend to merge into a single phoneme. Whereas structural models have tended to treat betacism as a uniform shift, the findings suggest that the erosion of this contrast reflects interacting phonetic, lexical, and sociolinguistic pressures, including lenition, lexical conditioning, and contact-induced change. The analysis focuses on the realisation of /b β v/, showing how phonetic overlap and irregular patterns emerge through positional asymmetries and specific lexical items. The dataset draws on regional linguistic atlases from Romania, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal. It applies a frequency-based mapping approach by integrating these atlases to document how the /b/-/v/ (or /b/-/β/) contrast varies across dialects and between word-initial and intervocalic contexts. Lexical identity and prosodic position appear to condition outcomes, which may be compatible with usage-based and contact-sensitive models of sound change. These findings also suggest the potential role of lexical irregularity in shaping phonological outcomes. The research provides a comprehensive empirical account of /b β v/ variation and outlines a framework that can serve as a replicable model for examining phonological contrast weakening through combined structural, lexical, and areal perspectives. It offers methodological tools that may inform broader discussions of phonological contrast beyond betacism, particularly through quantitative geolinguistic mapping.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 104119"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146174770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104116
Shiqi Zhu, Li Chen
{"title":"Children interpret simple disjunction conjunctively: evidence from Mandarin Chinese","authors":"Shiqi Zhu, Li Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104116","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2026.104116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It has been proposed that children often exhibit non-adult-like interpretations of simple disjunction. However, their precise comprehension of simple disjunction remains controversial. Early studies found that children interpret simple disjunction as conjunction. Conversely, later studies argued that this conjunctive interpretation arises from experimental artifacts, suggesting that children actually interpret simple disjunction inclusively when experiments incorporate prediction statements and additional objects. This study investigated Mandarin-speaking children’s comprehension of the simple disjunction <em>huò ‘</em>or’ through two experiments. Experiment 1 replicated the inclusive-result experiment, incorporating a conjunction control group. The results revealed an experimental artifact that led children to interpret both conjunction and disjunction inclusively. Experiment 2 introduced a new paradigm featuring three reward conditions, each corresponding to conjunctive, exclusive, and inclusive interpretations, thereby operationalizing the inclusive interpretation as an independent condition. The results indicated that children interpret the Mandarin Chinese simple disjunction <em>huò</em> conjunctively rather than inclusively. Furthermore, we proposed four accounts for children’s conjunctive interpretation: phonological similarity, conjunctive default, pre-exhaustification, and Innocent Inclusion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 104116"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146116658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104095
Zhurun Li, Ying Huang
{"title":"Adverb placement by Chinese EFL learners: A MuPDAR(F) approach","authors":"Zhurun Li, Ying Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104095","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104095","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates stance adverb placement in academic argumentative writing by Chinese EFL learners compared to native English speakers. Previous work has mainly examined overall distribution or misplacement, with little focus on learners’ positional preferences. Traditional statistical methods assuming data independence also limit analysis of the multifactorial nature of adverb placement. To address this, the study applies Multifactorial Prediction and Deviation Analysis using Regression or Random Forests (MuPDAR(F)) to the placement of epistemic and style stance adverbs, by integrating syntactic, semantic, and discourse-level variables such as semantic coherence and sentiment value. The results show systematic learner deviations, most evident in M3 (the position following the main lexical verb), influenced by −ly suffixation, auxiliary presence, and L1 transfer from Chinese. Learners also overuse clause-initial high-certainty adverbs (e.g., <em>absolutely</em>), indicating less syntactic flexibility. Positive sentiment promotes more native-like placement, especially in M3 contexts. Findings highlight how syntactic and discourse factors interact in shaping stance adverb placement, refine second language (L2) morphosyntactic models, and suggest pedagogical strategies for mitigating L1 transfer and raising pragmatic awareness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"332 ","pages":"Article 104095"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145929249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-14DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104106
Shaoshuai Wang, Yunqiu Zhang
{"title":"A study on the acquisition of shape classifiers by Mandarin-speaking children","authors":"Shaoshuai Wang, Yunqiu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104106","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104106","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the acquisition of shape classifiers in Mandarin Chinese through a longitudinal analysis of spontaneous speech from two typically developing children. Despite individual differences, both children exhibited similar developmental patterns in the structural and functional use of classifiers. The findings reveal a three-stage developmental trajectory—emergence, expansion, and stabilization—characterized by increasing accuracy, diversification of co-occurrence patterns, and the gradual extension of classifier functions from basic counting to categorization, referential identification, and pragmatic marking of definiteness. Furthermore, analysis of error patterns, including substitution with the general classifier gè, overgeneralization, and semantic mismatches, highlights the interplay between input frequency and cognitive development in the acquisition process. Drawing on the usage-based framework, this study proposes a triadic input model that integrates linguistic form, communicative function, and contextual usage as the driving mechanism of classifier acquisition. These findings demonstrate that classifier acquisition is a dynamic process shaped by perceptual experience, linguistic input, and discourse context, offering empirical evidence for understanding the development of early Mandarin classifiers and important implications for instructional strategies in Mandarin classifier teaching.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"332 ","pages":"Article 104106"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-02DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104105
Chase Wesley Raymond , Guodong Yu
{"title":"Politeness as a participants’ matter: the interactive construction of apologies in Mandarin Chinese conversation","authors":"Chase Wesley Raymond , Guodong Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104105","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104105","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study aims to expand our understanding of apologies in Mandarin Chinese by taking a conversation analytic (CA) approach to their use in naturally occurring discourse. In the context of debates about “Eastern” vs. “Western” worldviews and conceptualizations of politeness, and where Chinese politeness has arguably been transformed into a “testing ground” for Western politeness theories, CA offers an alternative path forward that is based in the demonstrated perspectives of the participants. Drawing on a collection of over 100 apology turns in natural interaction, we exemplify CA’s data-driven approach, first by describing our process of building a collection of apology actions from naturally occurring Chinese conversational corpora, and then through detailed examination of empirical examples. We bring together a range of sorts of evidence in support of a ‘principle of proportionality’ with regard to the construction of apology actions. The paper overall seeks to present a sort of methodological ‘primer’, exemplifying the use of CA methods to explore politeness-related phenomena in Chinese, with apology actions (and the sequences they engender) offering a concrete case-in-point for methodological reflection and illustration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"332 ","pages":"Article 104105"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104096
Teri An Joy Magpale
{"title":"A probabilistic phonology of the Philippine English mesolect: an optimality-theoretic and MaxEnt account","authors":"Teri An Joy Magpale","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104096","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104096","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Phonological variation in Philippine English (PhilE) mesolect remains underexplored, particularly in how speakers adapt phonological choices across social domains like home, workplace, church, mall, and restaurant. This study examines how PhilE mesolect speakers alternate between acrolectal and basilectal forms. Using natural conversation data and stimuli-based elicitation, it analyzes phonological patterns through Optimality Theory (OT) to model constraint interactions and Maximum Entropy Grammar (MaxEnt) to quantify probabilistic variation. The findings reveal that domain-specific phonological shifts result from interactions between markedness and faithfulness constraints, with formal settings favoring marked forms and informal domains favoring unmarked forms. Probabilistic modeling highlights the gradient nature of these shifts, illustrating how PhilE mesolect speakers navigate linguistic norms to meet sociolinguistic expectations. This study advances the understanding of phonological variability in postcolonial Englishes and emphasizes the strategic adaptability of PhilE mesolect speakers in negotiating cultural and social identities within the framework of World Englishes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"332 ","pages":"Article 104096"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145904028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-06DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104094
Jiao Du , Stephanie Durrleman , Xiaowei He , Haopeng Yu
{"title":"The digital coloring page task for examining comprehension of passives in Mandarin-speaking children with DLD and autistic children","authors":"Jiao Du , Stephanie Durrleman , Xiaowei He , Haopeng Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104094","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104094","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prior cross-linguistic investigations have reported that children diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often struggle with long passive constructions, whereas results concerning children on the autism spectrum remain less conclusive. This study assessed passive sentence comprehension through a digital coloring task across four groups: children with DLD, children on the autism spectrum without language deficits (ALN), those with co-occurring language impairments (ALI), and age-matched typically developing controls (TD). Accuracy analyses confirmed clear group differences and a robust short-over-long passive advantage. Children with DLD and ALI exhibited significant syntactic and semantic difficulties in passives. Children in the ALN group achieved comprehension scores that were on par with their TD peers. Thematic role reversals were the most common errors, though observer errors occurred disproportionately in DLD and ALI. At the individual level, above-chance performance only on long passives was observed in a subset of children with ALI but not in DLD. The advantage for short over long passives can be accounted for by the Edge Feature Underspecification Hypothesis (EFUH), which predicts that intervention effects in long passives disrupt children’s ability to establish the required dependencies. Both children with DLD and those with ALI showed syntactic and semantic vulnerabilities, but only the latter group benefited from the presence of an overt post-bei agent. These findings demonstrate that the EFUH provides a principled account of the asymmetry between long and short passives in both DLD and ALI, while the observed divergences between these two groups offer clinically relevant insights for differential diagnosis and the design of tailored intervention approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"332 ","pages":"Article 104094"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145904029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2026-01-02DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104092
Jiayu Yang , Fuyin Thomas Li
{"title":"The evolutionary order of the macro-events: a case study of the diachronic evolution of 过-Guò in Chinese","authors":"Jiayu Yang , Fuyin Thomas Li","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104092","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104092","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the diachronic evolutionary order of the macro-events by investigating the evolution of 过-<em>Guò</em> in Chinese. Through a comprehensive analysis of corpus data spanning from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin, with a particular focus on Modern Chinese, this study elucidates a tangible evolutionary order of the macro-events, which can be roughly described as: motion events > events of state change/events of realization > events of temporal contouring. Notably, events of state change and events of realization are coordinate with each other, both deriving from motion events and subsequently grammaticalizing into events of temporal contouring. Additionally, 过-<em>Guò</em> in the “V+过-<em>Guò</em>” construction encoding events of temporal contouring further grammaticalized into an experiential marker. Events of action correlating have distinct origins, underscoring their unique evolutionary trajectories. Not only does the proposed evolutionary sequence of macro-events align with the common path of grammaticalization, but it is also substantiated by the concrete evidence of successive contexts that are well-documented in the corpus.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"331 ","pages":"Article 104092"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145885892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}