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  • Internal Asymmetry of Disyllabic Coordinative Verbs in Mandarin Chinese and an Explanation
    2026, 25(2): 113. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202601.036964
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    We set four conditions to choose 400 disyllabic coordinative verbs in Mandarin Chinese (represented as XY) to investigate the (a)symmetry of X and Y. An annotation scheme is designed where semantic roles and lexical semantic features of the objects taken by X, Y and XY for all the 400 XYs are annotated. For each XY, after comparing the annotated results, we show that an H can be identified from X and Y, which behaves more like XY in terms of the annotated features of the objects. This means that the two roots X and Y inside each of the 400 XYs have unequal status in determining what kind of objects the XY takes and thus are asymmetrical. Based on statistical analyses of the annotation results, we find a generalization on the strategy of H identification: When the objects of X and those of Y have different numbers of semantic roles, the one whose objects have fewer semantic roles is more likely to be chosen as H. When the objects of X and those of Y have the same semantic roles, the identification of H is correlated with the similarity between the lexical semantics of X and that of Y. For an XY whose X and Y are more dissimilar in lexical semantics, the root with fewer annotated lexical semantic features is more likely to be identified as H. We provide an account for the generalization from the perspective of semantic composition, which is based on the fact that XYs came from coordinative phrases in history. We also provide an acoount for the XYs that do not conform to the generalization.
  • Two Dimensions of Mirativity: With a Discussion on the Chinese Words “Jingya” and “Yiwai” 
    Bao Xiaoting
    2026, 25(2): 128. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202601.037084
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    Mirativity has two aspects: Emotion event and emotion state. Emotion events refer to the new environment information that causes subject’s attention and emotion reaction, while the emotions state can be further deconstructed into two dimensions: Emotion valence (positive/negative evaluation) and emotion arousal (intensity of physiological/psychological activation). Both “yiwai” and “jingya” can be used to “translate” mirativity in Chinese: The noun form yiwai can denote emotion event, the adjective form yiwai can denote both emotion event and emotion state, while jingya can only denote emotion state, but jingya can characterizes stronger emotion arousal than yiwai. This study also investigates the relationship between counterexpectation emotion events and strong emotion state through two paradoxical structures: “yiwai but not jing” and “jing but not yiwai”. The former arises when an event deviates from expectations but fails to exceed the cognitive threshold required to trigger strong emotions, while the latter occurs when an event violates general-denoted expectations (e.g., societal norms) but aligns with individual-denoted expectations. These structures the interaction between the counterexpectation event and the subject’s cognitive schemata.  
  • Revisiting the Grammaticalization of “Man”
    Wang Huayun
    2026, 25(2): 140. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202601.037211
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    The subject-predicate and attributive-head structures composed of the noun“man”, which contains the semantic features \[+rude, tough\], gradually lexicalized into disyllabic adjectives starting from the Northern Song Dynasty; “man (蛮)” grammaticalized into an adjective with a degree scale in the Yuan Dynasty. When the adjective“man (蛮)” functions as an adverbial to modify qualitative adjectives, modal/psychological verbs, and verbs representing repeatable actions, it grammaticalizes into a degree adverb or a frequency adverb in dialects respectively, or is accompanied by sound changes that fill the gaps in the coordination of sound, rhyme and tone. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the degree adverb“man (蛮)” appeared in the central dialects and spread to the common language and surrounding dialects; the frequency adverb“man” has been found in the Hanzhong and Huanggang dialects so far, and its grammaticalization is believed to have started in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
  • The Historical Origin of 3D Classifier Semantic System in Southeastern Guangxi Yue Dialect
    Bi Yuanhao Qin Fengyu,
    2026, 25(2): 151. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202602.036942
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  • The Processing of Discrete uses of Separable Words: Evidence from ERP Experiments
    Sun Ao Yuan Yulin
    2026, 25(2): 164. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202601.035814
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    This article examines the processing responses in two EEG experiments, each assessing the use of separable words in two forms: combined and separated. The results indicate that, during isolated processing, separable words do not elicit significantly different EEG responses compared to compound words or verb-object phrases. However, during discrete processing, sentences containing pseudo-separable words induced a larger N400 component, while the P600 component did not show significant differences across the three sentence types. The article suggests that the lexical knowledge of separable words includes both combined and separated forms. When processing sentences with separable words, readers can directly process them using structural knowledge of the discrete form. Although sentences with pseudo-separable words have low predictability, lexical knowledge of separable words can still be accessed to process the structure. The experimental results suggest that the generation and processing of the discrete form may not involve complex syntactic derivation; instead, it may directly employ a metonymic application of various extended patterns within the cohesive verb-object structure. This simplifies the syntactic processing.
  • The Predicative Possession of Xibo: The Relationship between Possession and Existence in Natural Language
    Tong Mengyuan Lu Fangxin
    2026, 25(2): 177. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202511.037170
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    This paper presents a systematic description of predicative possession in the Xibo language, elaborating how the concept of “PR has PE” is encoded. The basic construction is “PR-t PE pi”, in which the possessor (PR) appears as an oblique marked by the locative -t, the possessee (PE) functions as the core argument (the subject), and /pi/ is an intransitive existential verb. Typologically, this corresponds to a locational possession construction, with the literal meaning “at the PR, the PE exists.” Building on this description, the paper explores the relationship among predicative possession, existential constructions, and locative constructions in Xibo, with particular attention to the syntactic isomorphism between predicative possession and existential predication. This isomorphism is argued to arise from the notion that “existence underlies possession”, a diachronic pathway supported by human cognitive foundations and cross-linguistic evidence.
  • Semantic Evolution and Cognitive Motivation of Several High-Degree Morphemes in Kam-Tai Languages
    Tan Xiangyi
    2026, 25(2): 187. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202511.037055
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    Both the morphemes “finish” “die” indicating the meaning of end and the morpheme “many” indicating the meaning of large quantity in Kam-Tai languages have developed the meaning of high degree. The evolution of “finish>extreme degree meaning” has undergone a transition from \[quantity\] to \[degree\], while “die>extreme degree meaning” has shifted from \[state\] to \[degree\]. Both processes are the result of the functioning of the terminal metaphor mechanism. The relatively high degree meaning of “many” derives from its sense of large quantity, representing an instance of the incremental metaphor. Cross-linguistic evidence and cognitive processing patterns indicate that morphemes with terminal meanings are more likely than those with the meaning of large quantity to develop a high-degree semantic function. This finding aligns with the principles of cognitive iconicity.
  • Khalkha Mongolian Free Choice Expressions
    Wang Yaxuan
    2026, 25(2): 199. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202601.037004
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    The Free Choice structure in Khalkha Mongolian consists of a wh-word combined with the particles l and bol. A formal semantic analysis reveals that bol serves as a conditional marker and introduces a possibility modal, while l functions as an exclusive focus marker, sequentially restricting alternative options in the antecedent of the conditional clause. Additionally, the imperfective aspect which is consistent with FCI universally quantifies over possible situations, thereby generating a free choice interpretation. The interaction of these morphemes forms a structure capable of expressing universal free choice meaning. Cross-linguistic comparison indicates that indirect universal quantification over individuals is an effective strategy for deriving free choice meanings, as evidenced by the parallels with the concessive copula construction in Tibetan.
  • The Newly Study on “Ru Yi” in the Shangshu
    Cheng Hao
    2026, 25(2): 218. https://doi.org/10.7509/j.linsci.202602.037204
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    The newly discovered phrases from the Tsinghua bamboo slips indicate that the traditional interpretation of “ru yi”（如台）in the Shangshu as “nai he”（奈何）is difficult to sustain. “ru yi” is a fixed collocation composed of the verb “ru”（如）and the proximal demonstrative pronoun “yi”（台）, semantically similar to “ru shi”（若时）or “ru shi”（如时）, roughly equivalent to “ru ci”（如此）in modern Chinese. Syntactically, “ru yi” primarily functions as a predicate and can convey either affirmative or interrogative mood depending on context.