Abstract
The conjunctions Jiùshì (就是) and Jiùsuàn (就算) are not always interchangeable. This paper describes the differences between the two words in terms of syntax and semantics. Syntactically, there are five differences between the two words; Semantically, Jiùshì has the multifuctionality, while Jiùsuàn has a single function and strong subjectivity. The differences in semantics bring about the differences in syntax. The mechanisms of the differences between the two words need to be explored from the diachronic perspective of lexicalization and grammaticalization. We find that the evolutionary paths of Jiùshì and Jiùsuàn are different. Although they have all experienced lexicalization, the use of Jiùshì as a conjunction is gradually grammaticalized by decategorialization. Jiùsuàn developed directly from the adverbial phrase to the conjunction of the hypothesis and concession through the abduction. The multifuctionality of Jiùshì affects its use as a conjunction, and Jiùsuàn has a single function, it has produced a strong subjectivity under the action of persistence and abduction, and it is more easily used in rhetorical questions and transitional complex sentence. It can be used together with Nándào (难道) Dànshì (但是) and so on. The paper ends with discussion of the usage of the two words in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The data proves once again that the synchronic differences are brought about by diachronic evolution. It can be seen that diachronic evolution can be well used to analyze synchronic differences.
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.
For the convenience of comparison and analysis, most of the corpora in modern Chinese in this article are self-designed. For the retrieval of ancient Chinese corpora, we used the CCL corpus and Ancient Chinese Corpus of Chinese Electronic Literature of Academia Sinica.
- 2.
In the translation process, due to the multifuctionality of Jiùshì, we choose possible understandings other than Zòngyǔ, which will help us compare Jiùshì and Jiùsuàn.
- 3.
Due to space limitations, we only show the translation of the correct sentence.
- 4.
The function of Jiùshì as a conjunction is closely related to its function as an adverb, but not to its function as an auxiliary word. Therefore, the article does not discuss the use of auxiliary words too much. Jiùsuàn can be used as an adverbial phrase, which affects its conjunction function.
- 5.
[16] believes that when a form undergoes grammaticalization from a lexical to a grammatical item, some traces of its original lexical meanings tend to adhere to it, and details of its lexical history may be reflected in constraints on its grammatical distribution. This phenomenon has been called “persistence”.
- 6.
[16] pointed out that abduction is to infer from the observed results, according to the law, that something may be a case of the law. Compared with inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning, abduction is more important for grammaticalization.
- 7.
[19] pointed out that the process of evolution from a form of greater than a word to a word is generally called “lexicalization” in the Chinese academic circle, regardless of whether the resulting word is lexical or grammatical. This is good for examining Chinese vocabulary (content words and function words) as a whole, otherwise many function words will be excluded. We accept this view and believe that Jiùshì has experienced both lexicalization and grammaticalization from phrase to adverb.
- 8.
We don’t count the usage of Jiùshì and Jiùsuàn as phrases here. Although their use of phrases is also common in corpus surveys, their syntax and semantics are obviously different from those of Zòngyǔ conjunctions, so they are not discussed.
References
Xi, J.: Modern Chinese Conjunctions, pp. 368–371. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing (2010). (in Chinese)
Zhang, Y.S.: The Cohesive Function of Jiùshì and Its Grammaticalization. Chin. Teach. World. (3), 80–90 (2002). (in Chinese)
Ling, Y.: A Case Study of Concession Conjunction Evolution and Grammatical Function. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (2007). (in Chinese)
Zhang, L.L.: On the Production of the Zòngyǔ Conjunctions Ji(即), Bian(便) and Jiù(就). Humanitas Taiwanica (71), 136–138 (2009). (in Chinese)
Shang, G.W.: Characteristics and lexicalization of the usage of “X Suàn(算)”. J. Chin. Lang. Hist. (13), 26–29 (2013). (in Chinese)
Xie, Y.L.: Comparison of concession conjunctions Jiùshì and Jiùsuàn. J. Minxi Vocat. Tech. Coll. (2), 50–53 (2013). (in Chinese)
Lü, S.X.: 800 Words of Modern Chinese, pp. 319–322. Shangwu Press, Beijing (1980). (in Chinese)
Zhou, G.: Conjunctions and Related Issues, p. 137. Anhui Education Press, Anhui (2002). (in Chinese)
Wu, F.X.: Multifuctional morphemes and semantic map model. Stud. Lang. Linguist. (1), 25–26 (2011). (in Chinese)
Compiled by the Dictionary Editing Office of Institute of Linguistics, CASS. Modern Chinese Dictionary, 7th edn, p. 701. The Commercial Press, Beijing (2018). (in Chinese)
Lyons, J.: Semantics 2 vols, p. 739. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1977)
Shen, J.X.: A survey of studies on subjectivity and subjectivisation. Foreign Lang. Teach. Res. (4), 268–269 (2001). (in Chinese)
Shi, J.S., Sun, H.Y.: Internal differences and formation mechanisms of “Dàn (Shì)但(是)” transition conjunctions. Linguist. Res. (4), 34–40 (2010). (in Chinese)
Mei, Z.L.: The Origin of the Syntax of Alternative question in Modern Chinese. Mei Zulin’s Linguistic Essays, pp. 10–11. The Commercial Press, Beijing (2007). (in Chinese)
Ota, T.: A Historical Grammar of Modern Chinese, pp. 309–310 (S.Y. Jiang and C.H. Xu Transl.). Peking University Press, Beijing (2003). (in Chinese)
Hopper, P.J., Traugott, E.C.: Grammaticalization, 2nd edn, pp. 42–107. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2003)
Peng, R.: On the interaction between critical context and grammaticalizing elements. Linguist. Sci. (3), 278–290 (2008). (in Chinese)
Dong, X.F.: Further grammaticalization of “Shì”: from functional word to word-internal element. Contemp. Linguist. (1), 40–41 (2004). (in Chinese)
Jiang, S.Y.: Overview of Chinese Historical Lexicology. The Commercial Press, Beijing (2015). (in Chinese)
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers of CLSW 2021 for helpful suggestions and comments. The work was supported by the Social Science Foundation of Beijing, China (Grant No.17YYC019) and Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program (Grant No. 2019THZWLJ28).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bian, W. (2022). The Differences Between Jiùshì and Jiùsuàn as Conjunctions and Their Formation Mechanisms. In: Dong, M., Gu, Y., Hong, JF. (eds) Chinese Lexical Semantics. CLSW 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13249. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06703-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06703-7_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-06702-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-06703-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)