The possessive can be interpreted as agent inside a DP but a noun in noun-incorporation is limited to the theme reading. While each fact has been analyzed in the literature, their contrast is yet to receive due attention. In fact, no coherent account can be given to the contrast within the current theoretical framework whether one regards head-movement as the exclusive means for word-formation or takes words to be formed independently of syntax. The proposed solution consists of two components: a) Integrate the strengths of the syntactic and lexicalist models by appreciating the fact that direct merger of word-internal components is inevitable in every version of syntactic word-formation. b) Realize that the θ-criterion is the only licensing principle when syntax merges two heads to produce a new head. It is further shown that the means for θ-saturation must include θ-composition.

Starting from the conceptual structure of question and answer acts, this paper illustrates that due to the prominence of the epistemic status of speakers' experiential dimension (for example: I don’t understand; I want to know), relevant epistemic verbs and nouns can independently put up the umbrella of questions by replacing and overriding the interrogative verbs, and thereby licensing different interrogative forms. Furthermore, from the perspective of concept-driven language production and macro-and-micro language planning, it explains why the licensers of interrogative forms can distribute across grammatical units (e.g. words and phrases) and categories (e.g. verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and conjunctives), and why interrogative forms can freely appear and disappear within the predicate-object constructions introduced by the epistemic verb and property noun.

Phantom Reference structure is a general expression, including the storyteller’s generalization of events that have already happened or about to be told, or generalization of events that are weakly related or irrelevant to the current course of the story.From the perspective of syntactic distribution and semantic features, Phantom Reference structure often appears in the subject position, the object position and attributive position. When it appears in the above syntactic position, Phantom Reference structure has the tendency of reduced procedurality and weak temporality. The typical semantic feature of Phantom Reference structure is ［+generality］, and the structure generalizes a group of plural events. The Phantom Reference structure is the general expression of the narrator in the process of telling the story, and it is the narration way of the narrator standing outside the book, reflecting the typical characteristics of the narrator stepping out of the story. In essence, the essence of using phantom reference is that the narrator deliberately compresses the specific state of background information and the entire narrative process, so as to highlight the foreground information in the narrative process.

The use of the word men  (们) in the Gansu-Qinghai region is quite distinctive, on which there has been plenty of research. Previous studies have provided excellent surveys and descriptions of characteristics of men. However, whether men has the function of indicating plurality (Associative) in certain contexts has been less explored. Based on actual language data, this paper presents some views that differ from previous analyses. Meanwhile, this study also finds that the use of plural markers in some Tibetan dialects within Qinghai Province shows some characteristics of generalization. Compared to Tibetan dialects like Lhasa Tibetan, these dialects have fewer restrictions, which may be influenced by Altaic languages or may have spread through Chinese as an intermediary language. In any case, this feature shows a strong regional commonality.

Compared to the voluminous literature of sound change and variation across speakers and generations, much less is understood about change and variation within individuals across the lifespan. Based on the acoustic experimental data of 2010 and 2020 from 4 participants, this study reports an exploratory analysis of the acoustic characteristics of tonal variation of Chongqing Mandarin from real time perspective. The longitudinal results suggest that individual differences are systematically associated with the developmental trajectories of individual adults.

In the rhyme book Yunjing, the second words in “fanqie” spelling for the “qin” and “yan” divisions are reciprocal, which reflects that the arrangement of “chongniu” is unclear and obscures their divisional assignment. From their phonological origin, Chongniu A should belong to Division IV but is placed in Division III instead, while Chongniu B should belong to Division III but is placed in Division IV instead. In the rhyme book Yunjing, Chongniu A and Chongniu B in the qin and yan divisions are assigned to opposite sections from where they would normally be expected. Such inconsistency indicates that their phonetic values were likely indistinguishable.

The Zeng Hou Yi Bamboo Slips contain 173 instances of the character (zao). Among these, five cases are explicitly used as造 (zao, meaning “to make/manufacture”), while the remaining 168 cases-all appearing in the structure “noun + ” -should be interpreted as 簉 (zao, meaning “subsidiary” or “auxiliary”), referring to a situation where “the associated items were fully equipped or provisioned with their necessary attachments”. The word 赅 (gai, meaning “complete/fully prepared”) is used in the Chu inventory slips from Tianxingguan and Angang to convey this same meaning. This provides corroborating evidence for the usage of  in the Zeng Hou Yi Bamboo Slips .

In the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, some phrases like “chan mou ming”“chan ming”, etc., are found, specifically “chan wokao womu ming” as on the bronze ritual vessel Wunian Diaosheng Gui, “chan ming” as on the bronze ritual vessel Liunian Diaosheng Gui and “chancheng gongming” as on the bronze plate Baji Pan. There has been no consensus over the meaning of the character “chan” among relevant scholars. Now it seems that there is no need to reinterpret the character “chan”, which should be read as “chan”, encompassing both the meanings of walking on and following. “Chan mou ming” means to follow and fulfill someone’s command, which is equivalent to phrases like “cheng mou ming”,  “cheng mou ming” or “zhi mou ming”. Other phrases related to the character “chan” in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions can also be reasonably explained, such as “chan you fumu” as on the bronze plate Shuduofu Pan, meaning to follow the virtues of one’s parents, and “chan shang jue wenmu” as on the bronze tripod Shuai Ding, meaning to follow and promote the virtues of one’s moral mother. The use of “chan” as “chan” is also evidenced in the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, such as in Tang Chuyu Tangqiu, Wuji, Dafu Shili and Weitian Yongshen. This shows that the usage of “chan” has been consistent during the period from the Western Zhou to the Warring States.

Excavated and classical texts have systematically revealed that the characters “kai” and “qi”, representative verbs meaning “to open” in the Old Chinese, can refer “to inspect”. This article specifically demonstrates that the character “qi” in classical texts and bronze inscriptions of the West Zhou period simultaneously conveys the meaning of “to inspect”, and infers that other characters containing the “xi” phonetic component in Warring States bamboo slips are also used to record the same word. Furthermore, it reveals that characters “jian（[XC<SQS6.jpg>;%10%10]）”“jian（[XC<SQS5.jpg>;%13%14]）” and “jian（訮）” with “jian” as phonetic component on bamboo slips during Warring States, Qin and Han dynasties originally denoting “to inspect” also concurrently expresses the meaning of “to open”, arguing that these can corroborate with the character “kai” in classical texts which also concurrently expresses the meaning of “to inspect”. It discusses the relationship between the meanings of “to open” and “to inspect” and its mechanism and explores other cognate words with the meaning of “to inspect” which also denotes “to open” based on this mechanism.