Ronald Fong

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Department of English, University of Macau, Macau, China.
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Abstract: Although there have been various studies on the Chinese ba-construction, this article presents some unconventional views. Most studies do not treat ba as a verb. This article argues that ba is a verb, although it has some non-typical verbal properties. Firstly, the argument establishes that it is a verb based upon the “gradient” analysis, which has not been applied to ba before. Secondly, having been treated as a verb, ba shows special properties of its own such as marking subordination. Apart from this non-traditional view, ba is shown to be highly transitive, which is also a verbal feature. Different from previous analyses, this article argues that ba is a radial category showing various associated meanings. Finally, ba is shown to produce blending with other verb complements, such as the resultative construction, through its ability to create mental spaces.

Keywords: ba, Gradience, Subordination, Radial Category, Mental Space

Cite this paper: Fong, R. (2015) The Chinese ba as a Verb: A Constructional-Cognitive Approach. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 5, 48-64. doi: 10.4236/ojml.2015.51005.

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