Abstract
This is a corpus-based study of the near-synonymous pair Guān 關 and Bì 閉 in Mandarin. We adopt the Module-Attribute Representation of Verbal Semantics (MARVS) to analyze the differences between this pair of words. There are three shared senses: ‘to close the opening of a specific object’ (hereafter ‘close an opening’), ‘to stop a machine by using a switch’ (hereafter ‘stop a machine’), and ‘to close stores or agencies’ (hereafter ‘close a store’). The event of ‘close an opening’ in Guān 關 is a composite event of a dual process-state, while Bì 閉 is a composite event of a completive resultative. The event relating to ‘stop a machine’ was not found for Bì 閉. The events of ‘close a store’ for both Guān 關 and Bì 閉 are simplex events of an inchoative state. However, Guān 關 often appears in collocates such as Guānchǎng 關廠, while Bì 閉 has collocates such as Bìguǎn 閉館. It is also discovered that Guān 關 emphasizes not only the process of the activity but also the state after the activity. However, Bì 閉 emphasizes only the state after the activity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Chinese WordNet: http://lope.linguistics.ntu.edu.tw/cwn2.
- 2.
Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese: http://asbc.iis.sinica.edu.tw/index_readme.htm.
- 3.
Shuowenjiezi《說文解字》: http://www.zdic.net/z/swjz/.
References
Chang, L., Chen, K.J., Huang, C.R.: A lexical-semantic analysis of Mandarin Chinese verbs: representation and methodology (漢語動詞詞彙語意分析:表達模式與研究方法). Int. J. Comput. Linguist. Chine. Lang. Process. 5(1), 19–46 (2000)
Chung, S.F.: A corpus-based study on figurative language through the Chinese five elements and body-part terms. Int. J. Comput. Linguist. Chin. Lang. Process. 14(2), 221–236 (2009)
Dai, X.-X.: Semantics features of modern Chinese synonymous verbs guan1, bi4, he2 (現代漢語近義動詞「關、閉、合」區別性語意特徵分析). Unpublished Master Thesis, Hebei Normal University, Hebei (2011)
Hsu, Y.-F., Chung, S.-F.: A corpus-based study of Chinese soaking verbs Jin4 and Pao4 (中文「泡」、「浸」之辨析——以語料庫為本). In: The Proceedings of the 12th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, pp. 301–308, (2011)
Huang, C.-R., et al.: The module-attribute representation of verbal semantics: from semantics to argument structure. Int. J. Comput. Linguis. Chin. Lang. Process. 5(1), 19–46 (2000)
Huang, Y.-C., Chen, X.-Y.: A lexical-semantic analysis of Mandarin Chinese near-synonym pair ‘fang4’ and ‘bai3’ (說「放」和「擺」:從事件訊息結構和身體動作動詞的詞彙語義進行初探). J. Chin. Lang. Teach. 3(1), 27–44 (2005)
Ma, Y.-H., Ying, Z.: Dictionary of Chinese Synonyms (漢語近義詞辭典). Beijing University Press, Beijing (2002)
Schleiner, L.: Cultural Semiotics, Spenser, and the Captive Woman. Lehigh University Press, Bethlehem (1995)
Tsai, M.-C.: “Convenient” during the process or as a result─event structure of synonymous stative verbs in TCSL (過程方便, 結果便利——狀態動詞事件結構與近義詞教學). J. Chin. Lang. Teach. 8(3), 1–22 (2011)
Yang, J.-Z., Jia, Y.-F. (eds.): 1700 groups of frequently used Chinese synonyms (1700對近義詞語用法對比). Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lin, MC., Chung, SF. (2018). A Corpus-Based Lexical Semantic Study of Mandarin Verbs: Guān and Bì. In: Hong, JF., Su, Q., Wu, JS. (eds) Chinese Lexical Semantics. CLSW 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11173. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04015-4_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04015-4_30
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04014-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04015-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)