A Corpus-based Study of Aspect in Mandarin Chinese
Abstract
Aspect as an important linguistic feature has long been a subject intensively studied in
the areas such as language philosophy, language typology, language acquisition and
computational linguistics. Mandarin Chinese is generally recognised as an aspect
language, yet there are various problems with previous studies on aspect in Chinese.
One problem they have in common is that nearly all of them are void of attested
language data. This explains the focus of this thesis on a corpus-based approach to
aspect in Chinese.
This thesis adopted Smith’s (1997) two-component aspect theory as a starting point to
model aspect in Chinese. However, Smith’s model was significantly modified to
account for Chinese data. In this thesis I constructed a two-tiered model of situation
aspect, in which situation aspect was modelled at the lexical level as verb classes and
as situation types at the sentential level on the basis of a five-component classification
system and a set of rules governing the interaction between verbs and their arguments
and adjuncts. There are six attested verb classes and basic situation types:
 individual-level state (ILS)
 stage-level state (SLS)
 activity
 semelfactive
 accomplishment
 achievement
As situation aspect is a cognitive-semantic concept based on common human
experience, these verb classes and situation types, as well as their distinguishing
features, show great similarity cross-linguistically.
In contrast, viewpoint aspect as a grammatical category is language specific because
grammar varies across language. A system of viewpoint aspect was also established,
on the basis of an L1 Chinese corpus, for Mandarin Chinese, where eight basic
viewpoints were identified:
 the actual aspect marked by -le
 the experiential aspect marked by -guo
 the delimitative aspect marked by verb reduplication
 the completive aspect marked by RVCs
 the durative aspect marked by -zhe
 the progressive aspect marked by zai
 the inceptive aspect marked by -qilai
 the successive aspect marked by xiaqu
The eight viewpoints fit into two general categories: the first four are perfective and
the latter four are imperfective.
Most research on aspect has been conducted up to date without recourse to attested
language use. This thesis shows that it is not only necessary but also desirable to
provide a corpus-based account of aspect.
Table of Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..
Error! Bookmark not defined.
Acknowledgements ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Declaration…………………………………………………………………………...E
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Index of symbols and abbreviations used in the thesis Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... ii
Index of Tables Used in the Thesis ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Index of Figures Used in the Thesis.............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
Introduction ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Aspect as an important linguistic category in ChineseError! Bookmark not defined.
The problems with previous research on aspect in ChineseError! Bookmark not defined.
The theoretical framework of the current researchError! Bookmark not defined.
The aims and claims of this thesis ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The organization of this thesis ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 2
2.0
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.4.1
2.4.2
2.5
2.5.1
2.5.2
2.5.3
2.5.3.1
2.5.3.2
2.5.3.3
2.5.3.4
2.5.4
2.5.5
2.6
2.7
The Corpus Methodology........................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The corpus methodology: past and presentError! Bookmark not defined.
The modern corpus methodology ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Corpus-based vs. intuition-based linguisticsError! Bookmark not defined.
A practical approach to building a specialized research corpusError! Bookmark not defined
Representativeness and specialized corporaError! Bookmark not defined.
The rationale for using a small corpus ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The Weekly corpus .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The source of data .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Counting characters in the corpus ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Corpus annotation .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Word segmentation .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
POS tagging ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Corpus markup ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
A common form of annotation not needed for ChineseError! Bookmark not defined.
Post-editing .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The adequacy of the Weekly corpus ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The FLOB corpus .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 3
3.0
3.1
3.1.1
The Semantics of Aspect ............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Definitional issues .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Aspect vs. Aktionsart ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.2
Smith’s (1991; 1997) definition ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.3
The two-component aspect model ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2
Situation aspect ....................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.1
What to classify? ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.2
Three models of aspectual classification Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.2.1 Vendler’s (1967) verb classes ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.2.2 Moen’s (1987) aspectual network ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.2.3 Smith’s (1991; 1997) situation types ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3
Three traditional classifiers ..................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3.1 [Dynamic] ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3.2 [Durative] .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3.3 [Telic] ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.4
Two new distinguishing features: [result] and [bounded]Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.4.1 [Result] ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.4.2 [Bounded] ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.5
Lexical level: verb classes ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.5.1 Activity verbs vs. semelfactive verbs ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.5.2 Accomplishment verbs vs. achievement verbsError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.5.3 SLS verbs vs. ILS verbs .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.6
Rules for the three-level composition processesError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.6.1 The composition process at the lexical levelError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.6.2 The composition process at the core-sentence levelError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.6.3 The composition process at the full-sentence levelError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.7
Sentential level: situation types .............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.8
Situation aspect: summary ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3
Viewpoint aspect ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.1
The perfective/imperfective dichotomy: a central oppositionError! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.2
The perfective aspect .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.3
The imperfective aspect .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.4
Viewpoint aspect: summary.................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.4
Conclusion .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Chapter 4
4.0
4.1
4.1.1
4.1.2
4.1.3
4.1.3.1
4.1.3.2
The Perfective Aspect in Chinese ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The actual aspect: 了 -le ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The actual 了-le vs. the change-of-state (COS) 了 leError! Bookmark not defined.
The actual 了 -le: completion or termination?Error! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between 了 -le and situation typesError! Bookmark not defined.
Previous assumptions .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Corpus evidence for the interaction of the actual -le and situation
types ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.3.2.1 ILSs and SLSs ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.3.2.2 Activities and semelfactives ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.3.2.3 Accomplishments and achievements ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.4
The actuality of the actual aspect ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.4.1 The present reference time ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.4.2 The past reference time ........................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.4.3 The future reference time ........................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.5
The holisticity of the actual aspect.......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.6
4.1.7
4.1.8
4.2
4.2.1
4.2.2
4.2.3
4.2.4
4.2.5
4.2.6
4.3
4.3.1
4.3.2
4.3.2.1
4.3.3.2
4.3.2.3
4.3.3
4.3.4
4.3.5
4.3.6
4.4
4.4.1
4.4.1.1
4.4.1.2
4.4.2
4.4.3
4.4.4
4.4.5
4.4.6
4.5
Chapter 5
5.0
5.1
5.1.1
5.1.1.1
5.1.1.2
5.1.1.3
5.1.2
5.1.3
5.1.3.1
5.1.3.2
5.1.3.3
5.1.3.4
5.1.3.5
5.1.3.6
5.1.4
5.1.5
5.1.6
The dynamicity of the actual aspect ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The change-of-state (COS) marker 了 le Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the actual aspect ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The experiential aspect: 过 -guo ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The experiential 过 -guo vs. the RVC 过 guoError! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the experiential aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not de
The experientiality of the experiential aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The holisticity of the experiential aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
The dynamicity of the experiential aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the experiential aspect ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The delimitative aspect: verb reduplicationError! Bookmark not defined.
The forms and meanings of verb reduplicationError! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the delimitative aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not de
ILSs and SLSs ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Activities and semelfactives ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Accomplishments and achievements ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The delimitativeness of the delimitative aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The holisticity of the delimitative aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
The dynamicity of the delimitative aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the delimitative aspect ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The completive aspect: RVCs ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
RVCs in Chinese ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Completive RVCs and result-state RVCs Error! Bookmark not defined.
Directional RVCs .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the completive aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not def
The completiveness of the completive aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The holisiticity of the completive aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
The dynamicity of the completive aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the completive aspect ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The Imperfective Aspect in Chinese ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The durative aspect: 着 -zhe ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The major functions of 着 -zhe ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Durativity ................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Backgrounding ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Existential ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
着 -zhe: a marker of the resultative aspect?Error! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the durative aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not defin
ILSs ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
SLSs ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Activities ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Semelfactives .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Accomplishments .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Achievements .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The durativeness of the durative aspect .. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The non-holisticity of the durative aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
The dual dynamicity/stativity of the durative aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
5.1.7
5.1.7.1
5.1.7.2
5.1.8
5.2
5.2.1
5.2.2
5.2.2.1
5.2.2.2
5.2.2.3
5.2.2.4
5.2.2.5
5.2.2.6
5.2.3
5.2.4
5.2.5
5.2.6
5.3
5.3.1
5.3.2
5.3.2.1
5.3.2.2
5.3.2.3
5.3.2.4
5.3.2.5
5.3.3
5.3.4
5.3.5
5.3.6
5.4
5.4.1
5.4.2
5.4.2.1
5.4.2.2
5.4.2.3
5.4.2.4
5.4.2.5
5.4.2.6
5.4.3
5.4.4
5.4.5
5.4.6
5.5
5.6
Chapter 6
6.0
6.1
6.1.1
The interchangeability of 着 -zhe and 了 -leError! Bookmark not defined.
Backgrounding ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Existential constructions ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the durative aspect .............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The progressive aspect: 在 zai ................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The progressive 在 zai vs. the durative 着 -zheError! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the progressive aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not de
ILSs ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
SLSs ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Activities ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Semelfactives .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Accomplishments .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Achievements .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The progressiveness of the progressive aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The non-holisticity of the progressive aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The dynamicity of the progressive aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the progressive aspect ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The inceptive aspect: 起来 -qilai ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
起来 -qilai as an aspect marker .............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the inceptive aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not defin
ILSs and SLSs ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Activities ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Semelfactives .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Accomplishments .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Achievements .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The inceptiveness of the inceptive aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
The non-holisticity of the inceptive aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The dynamicity of the inceptive aspect .. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the inceptive aspect ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The successive aspect: 下去 -xiaqu ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
下去 -xiaqu as an aspect marker ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The interaction between the successive aspect and situation typesError! Bookmark not def
ILSs ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
SLSs ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Activities ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Semelfactives .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Accomplishments .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Achievements .......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The successiveness of the successive aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The non-holisticity of the successive aspectError! Bookmark not defined.
The dynamicity of the successive aspect Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of the successive aspect .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The zero aspect: covert aspectual markingError! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
A summary of the thesis ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Situation aspect ....................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
6.1.2
6.2
6.2.1
6.2.2
6.2.3
6.2.4
6.3
6.3.1
6.3.2
6.3.3
6.3.4
6.4
Viewpoint aspect in Mandarin Chinese .. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The contributions and limitations of this thesisError! Bookmark not defined.
The methodological breakthrough .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The contributions to aspect theory .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The contributions to Chinese linguistics . Error! Bookmark not defined.
The limitations of this thesis ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Suggestions for future work .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Variation across genres, registers, dialects and varietiesError! Bookmark not defined.
Typological studies of aspect in Asian languagesError! Bookmark not defined.
A contrastive study of aspect in English and ChineseError! Bookmark not defined.
Computational implementation of the model developed in this thesisError! Bookmark not
A final remark ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Bibliography ................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix 1: CLAWS C7 tagset for English ................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix 2: Modified CKIP tagset for the Weekly corpusError! Bookmark not defined.