Meaning, function, and grammaticalization: The case of zaishuo. 李 懿 倫 Vincent Yi-lun Li 國 立 台 灣 師 範 大 學 英 語 研 究 所 語 言 組 ( 碩 士 班 )

Transcription

1 Meaning, function, and grammaticalization: The case of zaishuo 李 懿 倫 Vincent Yi-lun Li 國 立 台 灣 師 範 大 學 英 語 研 究 所 語 言 組 ( 碩 士 班 ) Abstract This paper proposes that Mandarin Chinese zaishuo( 再 說 ) can be classified into five categories according to its meaning and function: (1) a full-lexical meaning ( 我 再 說 一 遍 ), (2) a topic transition marker ( 緬 懷 臥 龍 公, 挾 策 事 琱 鑽, 一 談 收 猘 子, 再 說 走 老 瞞 ), (3) a quasi-correlative in sentence-final position ( 我 們 現 在 就 好 好 唱 歌 唱 個 夠 吧, 考 試 的 事 明 天 再 說 ), (4) a correlative ( 與 其 找 個 學 校 唸, 不 如 從 長 計 議 精 挑 細 選 再 說, 為 公 司 工 作 一 年, 也 談 不 上 對 公 司 有 什 麼 幫 助 ), and (5) an implicational denial of an invitation (A: 等 會 一 起 去 打 球 好 嗎? B: 再 說 ). These five categories reflect the stages of the grammaticalization of zaishuo, and the grammaticalization mechanisms and motivations are illustrated with respect to the following four perspectives: (1) semantic bleaching, (2) reanalysis, (3) decategorialization, and (4) subjectivity and subjectification.

2 1. Introduction Grammaticalization is a framework through which we try to account for various linguistic phenomena. The study of grammaticalization can be approached from two perspectives. Synchronic study of grammaticalization focuses on the structure of language at a single point on time axis of our history, while diachronic study is understood as the set of changes linking a synchronic state of a language to successive states of the same language (Hopper and Traugott 1993:2). The diachronic view concerns the sources of grammatical forms and the pathways of semantic and syntactic changes of grammatical forms. Generally speaking, in the process of grammaticalization, a lexical item becomes more grammatical, and a grammatical item becomes more grammatical. In other words, the semantic meaning of the lexical item is bleached, the syntactic construction in which the lexical item occurs is changed, the lexical category to which it belongs is different, and the subjectivity denoted by the speaker increases. The diachronic view of grammaticalization is the main approach adopted in this paper. The grammaticalization of shuo ( 說 ) has already been widely investigated; its related phrasal expression zaishuo ( 再 說 ), however, is not paid enough attention. This paper collects data from Cool Spring ( 寒 泉 ), Academia Sinica Tagged Corpus of Early Mandarin Chinese ( 近 代 漢 語 標 記 語 料 庫 ), and Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese ( 現 代 漢 語 平 衡 語 料 庫 ), with totally 313 tokens returned, including uses in Chinese Classical Literature from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty and uses in Modern Chinese. First, we review the uses of zaishuo in dictionary and compare them with previous studies, giving a classification of zaishuo according to its meaning and function. Second, we discuss the five uses of zaishuo respectively. Finally, we give a preliminary account for the grammaticalization of zaishuo in terms of semantic bleaching, reanalysis, decategorialization, and subjectivity and subjectification.

3 2. Zaishuo: An overview The verb phrase zaishuo ( 再 說 ) consists of an adverb zai ( 再 ) and a verb shuo ( 說 ). Shuo is a full lexical verb when it is used independently in sentences such as wo hai mei gen ta shuo wo yao qu mei guo ( 我 還 沒 跟 她 說 我 要 去 美 國 ). In this sentence, shuo means to tell somebody something, to talk about something, and it can be seen as denoting an event of talking/saying/telling. The adverb zai is semantically a little more complicated than the verb shuo. Zai denotes a repetitive event or the additivity of ordered events. Zai, as an aspectual adverb, modifies a verbal predicate and is sensible to the linear order of time of the event (Tovena and Donazzan 2008). For example, in sentence lao wang tui xiu de shi wo men hui jia zai shuo ( 老 王 退 休 的 事 我 們 回 家 再 說 ), there are two events presented: Going back home and talking about lao wang s retirement. The two events are ordered by the adverb zai, the event preceding zai ( 我 們 回 家 ) occurs first and the event following zai ( 老 王 退 休 的 事 ) occurs later, so this sentence can be replaced by 我 們 回 家 再 說 老 王 退 休 的 事. This is the first impression we get from the literal meaning of zai, shuo, and zaishuo respectively. Zaishou has been identified as a phrase having many meanings and functions in dictionaries. In Dictionary of Old Chinese function words ( 古 漢 語 虛 詞 詞 典,Wang 1986), zaishuo can denote a series of events, and can mean to talk about the same thing again, to continue to talk about something. Dictionary of Chinese ( 漢 語 大 詞 典,Luo 1997) gives zaishuo a clearer elaboration. The first meaning is literally presented: to say something again. For example, wo mei ting qing chu, qing ni zai shuo yi bian ( 我 沒 聽 清 楚, 請 你 再 說 一 遍 ). The event of shuo ( 說 一 遍 ) is repeated. The second meaning manifests a transition of topic of a discourse: Mian huai wo long gong, jia ce shi diao zuan, yi tan shou zhi zi, zai shuo zou lao man ( 緬 懷 臥 龍 公, 挾 策 事 琱 鑽, 一 談 收 猘 子, 再 說 走 老 瞞 ). Zaishuo presents the transition of topic from shou zhi zi ( 收 猘 子 ) to zou lao man ( 走 老 瞞 ). The third meaning is to do

4 something first and postpone another : Bu ting hua, xian zou le zai shuo ( 不 聽 話, 先 揍 了 再 說 ). Without considering another things, we do the action of zou ( 揍 ) first. The fourth meaning is rather different from the above three meanings, here zaishuo is used as a correlative to connect a discourse: Jiu, wo dou yu bei tuo dang le. Zai shuo, ji yao he jiu, bi yao shuo shuo hua er ( 酒, 我 都 預 備 妥 當 了 再 說, 既 要 喝 酒, 必 要 說 說 話 兒 ). Zaishuo functions as an element connecting two clauses (or sentences) with the same or different topic, meaning to put the current talking topic forward, to go deep into the discussion of something. The four meanings discussed above are clearly identified in the dictionary, and they also correspond to Luo and Niu s (2009) classification of the meanings and functions of zaishuo. However, we find that zaishuo is often used as a denial expression in daily conversation. For example: (1) A: 明 天 我 們 一 起 去 看 電 影 好 嗎? B: 再 說 In this example, B s reply zaishuo is syntactically simple, meaning that it is not followed by another clause, and furthermore it does not mean literally to talk or consider about it later. What it actually implies is a rejection to A s invitation. This rejection seems not to be so direct, and it reduces the hurt to A s face. The implicational use of zaishuo is what we identify as the fifth meaning, the denial of an invitation. Based on the meanings classified above, section 3 we will discuss, combining with the previous studies, the meanings and functions of five uses of verb phrase zaishuo respectively. The semantic and syntactic change of zaishuo from a verb phrase with full-lexical meaning to a correlative with bleached semantic meaning can be viewed as undergoing a process of grammaticalization. The semantic content of zaishuo is reduced, some of the propositions following zaishuo is truncated, and what emerges is the meaning

5 derived from the repetitive use in certain conversational context. Thus in section 4 we discuss the grammaticalization of zaishuo from four perspectives: (1) semantic bleaching, (2) reanalysis, (3) decategorialization, and (4) subjectivity and subjectification. 3. The meanings and functions of zaishuo For convenience s sake, zaishuo is marked with number 1 to zaishuo 1 : full-lexical meaning Zai and shuo are two separated morphemes in this meaning. The adverb zai exhibits a temporal relation and presupposes something happened before (Liu 1999): (2) a. 我 再 去 一 趟 b. 我 再 說 一 遍 (2a) presupposes that I made a trip before, and I will make another one someday. (2b) presupposes that I had said something before, and I may say the same thing again due to some reasons. In both sentences zai occurs before the main predicate, and the VP zai qu ( 再 去 ) and zai shuo ( 再 說 ) can be modified by adverbials denoting frequency ( 一 趟, 一 遍 ). This is the very beginning in the development of zaishuo, which denotes a full lexical meaning of shuo and the repetitive property of zai. More examples are given below: (3) a. 文 振 再 說 顏 子 好 學 一 章 ( 宋 朱 熹 朱 子 語 類 ) b. 人 作 好 事, 不 堪 再 說 說 著 便 不 中 ( 清 黃 宗 羲 全 祖 望 宋 元 學 案 ) c. 這 會 子 我 要 到 太 太 們 那 裏 去, 不 得 和 你 說 話 兒, 等 閑 了 咱 們 再 說 話 兒 罷 ( 清 曹 雪 芹 紅 樓 夢 第 11 回 ) d. 大 約 別 的 瞞 他 不 過, 不 如 打 發 他 去 了, 免 的 再 說 出 別 的 事 來 ( 清 曹 雪 芹 紅 樓 夢 第 33 回 ) One characteristic of the first meaning of zaishuo is that shuo is a full-lexical verb denoting yan shuo yi ( 言 說 義 ). Zaishuo is the main predicate in the clause, is often

6 followed by complements, and can be modified by adverb of negation or modals. This zaishuo exhibits most of the characteristics of verb phrases. The characteristics shown above imply that zaishuo 1 has not been grammaticalized, and both its syntactic occurrences and semantic meaning must change. 3.2 zaishuo 2 : topic transition marker Besides the full-lexical meaning, zaishuo is often used in classical literature as an element connecting two topics. Consider the following examples: (4) a. 戴 宗, 隨 後 跟 來, 探 聽 消 息 再 說 魯 智 深 武 松 兩 個, 來 到 ( 明 施 耐 庵 水 滸 傳 第 58 回 ) b. 守 城 池, 以 待 救 兵, 不 在 話 下 再 說 燕 順 王 英 等 眾 將 ( 明 施 耐 庵 水 滸 傳 第 58 回 ) Because plots and characters are important in novels such as Shui hu chuan ( 水 滸 傳 ), the function of zaishuo is to introduce next topic, telling the reader that we are going to talking about another things. This kind of zaishuo has two properties. The first is that it can be deleted. The deletion of zaishuo will not make the sentence ungrammatical, but it will affect the coherence of the whole discourse (Luo and Niu 2009). The second property is that it retains the meaning saying something, and at the same time it can direct the transition of topic in a discourse, roughly equivalent to as to, as for. The second property tells us that this kind of zaishuo is not as lexical as zaishuo 1, and furthermore it means that this may be a starting point of zaishuo s grammaticalization. 3.3 zaishuo 3 : a quasi-correlative in sentence-final position The first impression of this zaishuo 3 is that it usually occurs in sentence-final position. Consider the following examples:

7 (5) a. 我 們 現 在 就 好 好 唱 歌 唱 個 夠 吧, 考 試 的 事 明 天 再 說 b. 大 學 申 請 是 今 年 秋 天 的 事, 到 時 候 再 說 吧 (5a) suggests that what we should do now is singing, and we should not worry about the exam. One explanation is that the proposition following zaishuo is truncated, but it can still be inferred from the context. In (5a) what will be said is 考 試 的 事. If we think about it syntactically, it may be said that 考 試 的 事 is the complement (or object) of zaishou, and the complement is moved to preverbal position for some reason. Pragmatically speaking, the sentence-final zaishuo indicates speaker s personal attitude toward a thing, meaning subjectivity increases. In (5a) the speaker does not want to worry about the exam at the time of speaking, and in (5b) the speaker wants to postpone the worriness of the application for university to this autumn. This usage of zaishuo points out that the subjectivity denoted by the speaker has emerged to some extent. More examples are given below: (6) a. 不 要 一 開 口 就 批 評, 要 先 弄 清 楚 原 因 再 說 b. 買 房 子 是 大 事, 我 們 還 是 先 回 家 跟 爸 媽 商 量 商 量 再 說 吧 Both sentences in (6) to a greater extent denote the speaker s subjective meaning. Using the adverb xian ( 先 ), the speaker strongly suggests that the event preceding zaishuo ( 弄 清 楚 原 因, 回 家 跟 爸 媽 商 量 商 量 ) should be considered first, and other things ( 批 評, 買 房 子 ) can be postponed to some day in schedule. What is focused in this kind of zaishuo is the temporal relation between events (what should be done first and what should be done later). The lexical meaning of original zaishuo 1 is more bleached, and the subjectivity of speaker s use of zaishuo emerges. In sum, the distinction between zaishuo 1 (full-lexical meaning) and zaishuo 3 (sentence-final) is whther it can be deleted or not. Because of its full-lexical meaning, the deletion of zaishuo 1 would change the truth-condition of a sentence, while zaishuo 3,

8 with its weakened lexical meaning, is generally allowed to be deleted and would not change the truth-condition of a sentence (Luo and Niu 2009:75). Moreover, we can insert a modal adverbial or a manner adverbial between zai and shuo in zaishuo 1 ( 再 慢 慢 說, 再 仔 細 說 ), but zaishuo 3 is not allowed to insert anything. 3.4 zaishuo 4 : a correlative Following the line of zaishuo 3, which denotes a concrete temporal relation between events, zaishuo 4 denotes a more abstract logical relation between events. According to Heine et al. (1991), if two categories differ from one another only in the fact that one expresses a temporal relation whereas the other expresses some logical relation, then the latter is more grammaticalized. Zaishuo 4 seems to have this property. The correlative function of zaishuo has been identified in Chinese dictionary (Luo 1997) and previous studies (Luo 2007, Luo and Niu 2009, Zheng 2001, Zhou 2005). Luo (2007:66) proposes that zaishuo is a disyllabic correlative in Modern Chinese, and this usage is developed from the grammaticalization of the verb shuo, which has been grammaticalized in Ming and Qing Dynasty. The meaning distincion between zai and shuo becomes vague, and zaishuo is treated as a whole in use. This kind of zaishuo usually occurs at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence. According to Zheng (2001:32), there are three major discourse functions of correlative zaishuo: (1) It connects two related statements with the same or similar topic, (2) it connects two statements with different topics, and (3) it functions as a presupposition marker under certain circumstances. (7) 難 道 心 怡 就 不 會 累 呀? 再 說, 心 怡 的 身 子 又 不 好 (8) 找 個 學 校 唸, 不 如 從 長 計 議 精 挑 細 選 再 說, 為 公 司 工 作 一 年, 談 不 上 對 公 司 有 (9) 秋 絨 突 然 問 到 : 慶 兒 他 爹, 你 說, 那 是 會 不 會 是 冤 屈 了 桂 蘭 姐?

9 灰 灰 : 欸, 你 們 女 人 家, 都 過 去 了, 還 想 它 做 什 麼? 再 說 灰 灰 不 說 話 了, 只 是 溫 情 地 看 著 秋 絨, 秋 絨 似 乎 明 白 了 他 的 意 思, 緊 緊 地 依 偎 在 灰 灰 的 懷 裡 (Zheng 2001:37) The correlative zaishuo in (7) connects two sentences with the same topic 心 怡, and its function is to continue the topic. In (8) the clause preceding zaishuo and the clause following zaishuo have different topics. The former is about the consideration of making a determination of something, and the latter is about the consideration of going to work. The relation between the two propositions is not linear but juxtaposed. The whole discourse is about making a consideration of something, and there are a lot of options, the function of zaishuo is to juxtapose the various options. Example (9) is an authentic discourse. Although the proposition following zaishuo is omitted, it can be recovered or from the context by the hearer. Moreover, the omitted proposition seems to be mutually intelligible to the speaker and the hearer, thus the hearer can correctly infer the content of the proposition and make an appropriate reaction. This kind of usage of zaishuo in (9) is the preparative stage of the development of zaishuo which will be discussed in the next section. 3.5 zaishuo 5 : implying a denial In daily conversation, zaishuo sometimes can be used independently, namely, without taking any complement. For example: (10) A: 下 午 一 起 去 打 球 好 嗎? B: 再 說 A: 那 晚 上? B: 再 看 看 Note that zaishuo here can occur without its hosting sentence. The whole conversation is about going to play basketball. Speaker A invites hearer B twice, and both invitations

10 seem to be rejected. Although the propositions preceding and following zaishuo are omitted, they can still be inferred from the context. This use of zaishuo denotes an indirect denial of an invitation (instead of giving a direct rejection 不 要 ), and it is more like postponing playing basketball to a later time in schedule. In other words, the hearer does not want to play basketball at the time of speaking. The meaning of zaishuo at this stage is much more bleached, and it seems to be derived from the conversational implicature. With a high frequency of use, the meaning-form pair (denial-zaishuo) emerges. The following we discuss the grammaticalization mechanisms and motivations of zaishuo from four perspecitves: (1) semantic bleaching, (2) reanalysis, (3) decategorialization, and (4) subjectivity and subjectification. 4. Grammaticalization 4.1 Semantic bleaching The meanings and functions of zaishuo discussed in section 3 are ordered in accordance with the pathway of its grammaticalization. The aspectual adverb zai inherently contains the meaning again, and thus in turn zaishuo bears the denotation. Yan shuo yi ( 言 說 義 ) is the basic meaning of zaishuo. From zaishuo 1 to zaishuo 3, all of them share this meaning. Zaishuo 1 purely denotes the lexical meaning, zaishuo 2 can function as the marker of topic transition, zaishuo 3 implies doing something first and postponing another, and zaishuo 4 is treated as a correlative connecting two sentences. It can be easily seen in the path of semantic development of zaishuo that the lexical meaning is weakened from zaishuo 1 to zaishuo 4. It starts from denoting a physically ordered event to denoting a more abstract ordering of events in cognition. If we compare full-lexical zaishuo 1 with sentence-final zaishuo 3, we can find that the complement clause taken by zaishuo moves to the position before zaishuo, the

11 information of complement clause becomes the figure or the focus of attention, and the sentence-final zaishuo is backgrounded. Therefore, it can be said that figure salience is one of the motivations of zaishuo s grammaticalization, especially at the stage of zaishuo Reanalysis Another mechanism of grammaticalization is reanalysis. Hopper and Taugott (1993:41) argue that reanalysis is the result of abduction. For example, a construction [[back] of the barn] can be reanalyzed as [back of [the barn]]. The hearer has heard the output [[back] of the barn], but assigns to it a different structure [back of [the barn]] after matching it with possible nominal structures. In other words, the surface manifestation is the same, but the original structure is different. A new structure has emerged. Emergent grammar tells us that the linguistic structure encoded by the speaker is not necessarily decoded exactly the same by the hearer. When reanalysis takes place, it is likely to involve the grammaticalization of at least one morpheme within the structure undergoing reanalysis (Heine et al. 1991). The reanalysis of zaishuo can be schematized as zai (shuo X) zai shuo (X). (11) 康 姨 太 太 使 出 手 段 來, 先 收 伏 了 這 位 二 姨 太 太, 叫 他 以 後 非 但 不 敢 再 說 什 麼, 並 且 不 得 和 他 一 路 ( 清 張 春 帆 九 尾 龜 第 120 回 ) (12) 彩 雲 聽 著 唐 卿 的 話 來 得 厲 害, 句 句 和 自 己 的 話 針 鋒 相 對, 暗 忖 只 有 答 應 了 再 說 ( 清 曾 樸 孽 海 花 第 26 回 ) (13) 我 看 他 也 不 像 那 有 錢 的 人 啊, 再 說 了, 有 錢 也 不 至 於 買 酸 奶 給 羊 喝 吧 (Luo and Niu 2009:78) In (11) shuo denotes a full lexical meaning, taking the object 什 麼 as a whole VP. The structure is [ 再 [ 說 什 麼 ]]. Zaishuo in (12) is in the sentence-final position, without

12 taking any object, and zaishuo as a whole is lexicalized. By means of reanalysis, zaishuo in (13) is a correlative used to connect two sentences. The new structure becomes [[ 再 說 ]sentence]. As a consequence, the emergence of new structure suggests that zaishuo has undergone grammaticalization. 4.3 Decategorialization The idea of decategorialization is that the grammaticalized element has a cline of structural properties, from a morphologically heavier unit to one that is lighter, that is, from one that tends to be phonologically longer and more distinct to one that tends to be less distinct and shorter. For a language like English, the decategorization of a category (e.g. verb) can be identified through properties such as tense, aspect, and person/number agreement. However, for a language lacking morphology, such as Chinese, a category (e.g. verb) is usually identified through functions such as the ability to serve as certain kinds of predicates (Hopper and Traugott 1993:103). Notice that when we ascribe decategorialization to a form, we are not tracing the decay or deterioration of that form, but its functional shift from one kind of role to another in the organization of discourse (Hopper and Traugott 1993:104). In the case of zaishuo, its full-lexical meaning still exists today, but it has more functions in addition to the verb phrase. This shows that zaishuo represents a categoty shift on the continuum of catergorization. Recall that we have identified zaishuo 3 as a sentence-final predicate. For example, in 大 學 申 請 是 今 年 秋 天 的 事, 到 時 再 說 吧, zaishuo means that we can postpone 大 學 申 請 的 事 to this autumn, and there is no need to worry about it now. This zaishuo is labelled as zaishuo 3a for the time being. There is another type of sentence-final zaishuo different from zaishuo 3a in distribution, and we call it zaishuo 3b for the moment. The following examples illustrate the different distributions of zaishuo 3a and zaishuo 3b.

13 Zaishuo 3a : (14) a. 蘇 興 旺 說 : 有 什 麼 問 題 [ 喝 了 酒 ][ 再 說 ] b. 蘇 興 旺 說 : 有 什 麼 問 題 [ 再 說 ] c. * 蘇 興 旺 說 : 有 什 麼 問 題 [ 喝 了 酒 ] (Yu and Liu 2006:28) Zaishuo 3b : (15) a. 農 業 和 生 活 用 水, 各 地 大 都 採 取 先 下 手 為 強 的 策 略, [ 先 把 水 引 進 來 ][ 再 說 ] b. * 農 地 和 生 活 用 水, 各 地 大 都 採 取 先 下 手 為 強 的 策 略,[ 再 說 ] c. 農 業 和 生 活 用 水, 各 地 大 都 採 取 先 下 手 為 強 的 策 略, [ 先 把 水 引 進 來 ] (Yu and Liu 2006:28) Example (14) and (15) is a test for the grammatical status by deletion. 喝 了 酒 is the predicate in (14), and 再 說 is also treated as a predicate. However, (14) shows that the grammatical status of 再 說 seems to be higher than that of 喝 了 酒, therefore the deletion of 再 說 in (14c) leads the sentence into ungrammaticality. The same method is applied to (15). (15c) shows that 先 把 水 引 進 來 is more important than 再 說, and the deletion of 先 把 水 引 進 來, as in (15b), will make the sentence ungrammatical. This means that in (15) the grammatical status of 再 說 is lower than that of 先 把 水 引 進 來. The grammatical status asymmetry between 再 說 in (14) and (15) is manifested in (16) and (17) as well. Zaishuo 3a : (16) a. 聚 餐 的 事 以 後 再 說, 你 先 忙 準 備 期 末 考 吧 b. 以 後 再 說 聚 餐 的 事, 你 先 忙 準 備 期 末 考 吧 c. 你 先 忙 準 備 期 末 考 吧, 聚 餐 的 事 以 後 再 說 d. 你 先 忙 準 備 期 末 考 吧, 以 後 再 說 聚 餐 的 事 Zaishuo 3b : (17) a. 張 三 拿 著 照 片 說 : 我 已 經 看 到 了, 仔 細 瞧 瞧 再 說 b. * 張 三 拿 著 照 片 說 : 我 已 經 看 到 了, 再 說 仔 細 瞧 瞧 c. * 張 三 拿 著 照 片 說 : 仔 細 瞧 瞧 再 說, 我 已 經 看 到 了 d. * 張 三 拿 著 照 片 說 : 再 說 仔 細 瞧 瞧, 我 已 經 看 到 了 Zaishuo 3a occurs relatively free in a sentence than zaishuo 3b does. Zaishuo 3a can appear

14 in positions other than the sentence-final position, whereas zaishuo 3b is rather restricted in its syntactic position, it can only appear in sentence-final position. The observations in (14)-(17) can be summarized as follows: First, the grammatical status of zhaishuo 3a and zaishuo 3b is asymmetrical. Zaishuo 3a is more important than zaishuo 3b in its grammatical status in a sentence. Second, zaishuo 3a appears relatively free than zaishuo 3b in a sentence. Zaishuo 3a can occur in other positions while zaishuo 3b can only occur in sentence-final position. From this observation, we can propose that zaishuo 3a is more lexical than zaishuo 3b, that is, the meaning of zaishuo 3b is more bleached than zaishuo 3a. If we agree that zaishuo 3a is more like a verb phrase functioning as a core predicate in a sentence, zaishuo 3b is likely to be a peripheral or intermediate element between the process of grammaticalization from a full lexical zaishuo to a correlative zaishuo. Therefore, the change from zaishuo 3a to zaishuo 3b can be seen as the decategorialization of zaishuo. 4.4 Subjectivity and subjectification Propositions do not only express objective meanings, but also subjective meanings. As Traugott (1989:31) suggests, meanings tend to become increasingly situated in the speaker s subjective belief state or attitude toward the proposition. In other words, the speaker s epistemic meaning is focussed. If the subjectivity is encoded in certain grammatical form in a language, it is called subjectification, a shift from a relative objective construal of some entity to a more subjective one (Langacker 2000:297). Yu and Liu (2006) suggest that compared with full-lexical zaishuo, the bleached zaishuo expresses more information, denoting higher subjectivity and greater speaker s meaning. In this case, zaishuo in (18b) denotes a greater extent of speaker s subjective attitude toward an expression than (18a):

15 (18) a. 走, 先 上 醫 院 止 住 血 再 說 別 的, 不 然 流 血 過 多 b. 走, 先 上 醫 院 止 住 血 再 說, 不 然 流 血 過 多 (Yu and Liu 2006:28) Zaishuo in (18a) is a pure verb phrase, meaning saying another thing later, while in (18b) zaishuo denotes the speaker s strong belief that we should do 先 上 醫 院 止 血 first, and leave other things aside. From this observation, we can postulate that zaishuo in (18b) occurs at the later stage of grammaticalization, and it might become an independent element in usage. Consider another example: (19) a. A: 晚 點 跟 我 一 起 去 打 球 好 嗎? B: 再 說 b. A: 明 天 張 三 的 生 日 派 對 你 會 來 嗎? B: 再 說 / 再 看 看 Speaker A in (19) makes an invitation to speaker B, but speaker B rejects the invitations. The invitation in (19a) is a little different from that in (19b). Speaker A s request in (19a) is directed to a thing about himself, but the request in (19b) is directed to a thing about other person. We may have a feeling that speaker B s denial in (19a) is stronger than the deial in (19b). What is common in both instances is that zaishuo can be used independently, and the speaker s meaning is denoted by the implication of the conversation. In other words, the meaning of zaishuo in this example is mainly derived from the conversational implicature through pragmatic inferencing, and with repetitive use of this zaishuo, its subjective meaning may be conventioalized in the lexicon, thus being grammaticalized. 5. Conclusion This paper gives a preliminary investigation of the meaning, function, and grammaticalization of zaishuo. First we classify zaishuo into five categories according to

16 its meaning and function: (1) full lexical meaning, (2) the function of topic transition, (3) a quasi-correlative in sentence-final position, (4) a correlative, and (5) an implicational denial to an invitation. These five categories are roughly arranged in accordance with the pathway of zaishuo s grammaticalization. The second category (zaishuo 2 ) is at an earlier stage of grammaticalization, while the fifth category (zaishuo 5 ) is seen as at a later stage of grammaticalization. The evidence is that the extent of semantic bleaching increases from zaishuo 1 to zaishuo 5, and the function of zaishuo is getting more and more abstract. The second part of this paper discusses the grammaticalization of zaishuo from four perspectives: (1) semantic bleaching, (2) reanalysis, (3) decategorialization, and (4) subjectivity and subjectification. These insights are evidenced by our discussion in the previous section. Even though a preliminary account of the grammaticalization of zaishuo provided in this paper is not enough, we believe that we have identified some interesting phenomena of zaishuo, and more elaborated works can be done in the future.

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