1 / 2017-03-06 20:18:26

VERBAL CLASSIFIERS IN THE XIANG DIALECTS OF CHINA

13011,13010,13009,13008

Verbal classifiers (VCLs) have been much less studied in linguistic typology than the better-known category of numeral classifiers, and even less so in the case of the non-Mandarin branches of Sinitic such as Xiang, the topic of this paper. In the first part of this presentation, we define the term of verbal classifiers in Sinitic languages from the aspects of morphological locus, semantics, function and distribution. Next we briefly describe and exemplify ten types of verbal classifiers in Xiang dialects and assign them to four major semantic profiles. These are vector, aktionsart, valency and manner. For example, many manner VCLs have their source in body part nouns or instrumental nouns:
(1) 口
(Changsha dialect 长沙方言)
我伢子捞／听／把得狗牙哒一口
ŋo41 ŋa13tsɪ lau33/thin45/pa41tɤ24 kəu41
1SG. son PASS.marker dog
ŋa45 ta21 i24 khəu41
to bite ASP one VCL:mouth
'My son was bitten by the dog.' (WU Yunji 2006:36 )
(2) 擂槌
(Yueyang Miluo dialect 岳阳汨罗长乐方言)
打 一 擂槌
tɑ45 i43 la13 tɕy13
to strike one VCL:hammer
'To strike something with a hammer.'(CHEN Shanqing 2006:304)

In the second and main part, we present some important issues relating to verbal classifiers in Xiang dialects. These include the problem of overlapping functions of certain verbal classifiers and nominal classifiers in verb phrases; the different syntactic and semantic roles for the verbal classifier XIA下 when used as a verbal classifier to express frequency or transitoriness; special structures identified in Xiang dialects for verbal classifiers (reduplication forms for verbal classifiers), and finally the parameter of restrictions on the value of the numeral used with the verbal classifier.