The Grammaticalization of Taboo-Based Intensifiers in Mandarin Chinese: A Case Study of the X deyàosǐ Construction

This study focused on one of the commonly used taboo-based intensifiers in Mandarin Chinese, the X deyàosǐ construction, investigating its grammaticalization process and the mechanisms and motivations behind its evolution. With data retrieved from the BCC corpus, the grammaticalization process was diachronically divided into four stages. Within each stage, the meaning and the collocational features of the construction were analyzed synchronically. On this basis, the impetus that potentially drove the grammaticalization process was also analyzed. For the mechanisms, reanalysis and analogy functioned at the syntactic level while metaphor, metonymy, and subjectification operated at the semantic level. For the motivations, pragmatic inference and frequency were identified as the internal factors while cultural and psychological effects were recognized as external ones.

關鍵字

X deyàosǐ construction ； taboo-based intensifier ； grammaticalization ； reanalysis and analogy

並列摘要

本文的焦點是華語中常用的禁忌語強化副詞“X得要死構式”。我們從BCC語料庫中擷取語料進行分析，研究其語法化之過程及其演進背後的機制與動因。從歷時的角度看，“X得要死構式”的語法化過程可分為四個階段。在每個階段內部，我們從共時的視角分析其整體構式意義以及相應的組配特徵。在此基礎上，再進一步分析此構式語法化過程背後的機制與動因。重新分析（reanalysis）與類推（analogy）是句法層面的主要機制，譬喻、換喻以及主觀化則在語義層面發揮作用。再者，語用推理和使用頻率是“X得要死”構式（X deyàosǐ construction）語法化的內部動因，而文化與語言使用者的心理因素則是外部動因。

並列關鍵字

“X得要死”構式；基於禁忌語的強化副詞；語法化；重新分析與類推

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