This paper concentrates on the function, syntactic category, and layer of the sentence-final de in the left periphery in the Changde dialect. The sentence-final de is analyzed as the head of FocP, whose specifier can be occupied by a contrastive focus introduced by shi or identified by the stress it bears. A general hierarchy of the left periphery in the Changde dialect is “S.AspP < de (FocP) < iForceP < SQP < AttP”.

It is widely assumed that yi ‘one’-CL-NP phrases in Mandarin are consistently interpreted as indefinite, whereas numeral phrases with numbers greater than one can receive definite interpretations. This paper challenges that assumption, arguing instead that Mandarin numeral phrases do not intrinsically encode distinct semantic properties. The observed contrast in definiteness between yi-CL-NP and num(>1)-CL-NP phrases, as well as the apparent restrictions on the anaphoric use of yi-CL-NP, are best explained in terms of their competition with bare nouns. Adopting the principle Minimize DP! (Patel-Grosz & Grosz 2017), this paper proposes that when a yi-CL-NP phrase and a bare noun denote the same entity, and no independent factor licenses the former, the syntactically and semantically simpler bare noun is obligatorily preferred in definite contexts.

This paper describes the sentence-final particle keh in declarative and interrogative sentences in Jinhua Wu dialect. In declaratives, keh exclusively occurs in verbal predicate clauses but is barred from nominal predicate clauses, typically conveying confirmatory assertion. In interrogatives, keh optionally appears under pragmatic conditions to reinforce interrogative force, signalling high response expectations of the speaker. The study further compares functions of sentence-final de- type particles across seven Wu dialects, revealing their robust functional development in all cases, with Jinhua dialect being particularly prominent. Specifically, keh exhibits syntactic obligatoriness in assertions of confirmation, and its functionality has historically expanded to yes-no questions, alternative questions, and tag questions, serving to strenthen interrogative force and heighten interactive expectations.

Based on a tri-domain perspective (content, epistemic, and speech-act), this paper examines the differentiation of “V qilai” in modern Chinese and the generative mechanism of its connective function. Corpus analysis reveals that “V qilai” exhibits a progressive differentiation across the three domains. In the content domain, it functions as a verb-complement structure, connecting actions syntactically through temporal sequences. In the epistemic domain, it serves as the initial component of the “V qilai AP” construction, establishing a perspectivized evaluative framework for supra-sentential inferential connection. In the speech-act domain, it acts as a discourse marker, organizing text through stance negotiation. The study shows that the three domains of “V qilai” form a continuum across three parametric systems: syntactic hierarchy (syntactic → supra-syntactic → textual), subjectivity (objective → subjective → intersubjective), and functional orientation (propositional → inferential → discursive). The connective function of “V qilai” results from the interaction of cognitive domain shifts, subjectivization, and syntactic regulation.

The plural markers in the Guanzhong dialect primarily fall into four categories: the de type, the xie type, the men type, and the huo type. These plural markers exhibit certain differences in terms of geographical distribution, scope of application, and semantic expression. Among them, the plural marker men has the widest geographical distribution, while the plural marker xie has the narrowest. The plural markers men, de, huo, huoli, and xiege can only be attached to human-referring nominal elements to denote plurality, whereas the plural marker xie is not subject to this restriction and can also be attached to non-human-referring nominal elements to indicate plurality. The plural markers huo, huoli, and xiege can only express ordinary plural, while the plural markers men and de can express both ordinary plural and associative plural. The plural marker xie, on the other hand, can express ordinary plural, associative plural, and similative plural. The divergent origins of these plural markers are the primary reason for these observed differences.

The present study focuses on the syntax of the sentence-final particle gaa3 in Cantonese from a cartographic perspective. Gaa3 can be observed in three distinct constructions (exclamative, declarative and interrogative) with respect to five different contexts (plain statement, simple information-seeking question, exclamation, warning, and quick-answer-demanding question). By examining the grammatical properties and interpretations of each gaa3, this paper offers a unified syntactic analysis for the different occurrences of gaa3. We argue that Tang’s (2020) framework can well account for the different occurrences of gaa3, which involve different underlying movements. This adds weight to the neo-perfomative approach which aims at syntacticizing properties of speech acts with a fine-grained hierarchy at the left periphery.

Interrogatives can be categorized into polar questions and constituent questions based on the dichotomy of question types. The former seeks confirmation of the proposition put forth, while the latter seeks information specifically targeted by the interrogative constituent. In the Hanzhong dialect of Shaanxi, “…ba” interrogatives can also be divided into two types: the confirmation-seeking polar question with ba and the information-seeking constituent question “VP ba”. By analyzing the nature of ba and the usage, syntactic, and semantic characteristics of “VP ba”, we argue that “VP ba” essentially belongs to the category of A-not-A questions. Since the fact that the Hanzhong dialect is spoken in the transitional zone between Zhongyuan Mandarin and Southwest Mandarin, “VP ba” is inevitably influenced by multiple internal and external factors of the language system. There are four stages in the evolution from A-not-A questions to polar questions. “VP ba” is at the third stage of the evolution chain.

This paper investigates applicative constructions in Northwestern Chinese dialects and compares them with those found in Mandarin Chinese. As in Mandarin, the applicative marker in Northwestern Chinese dialects typically derives from the verb gěi ‘give’, which is suffixed to the verb and serves to increase verbal valency. When occurring with trivalent verbs of giving, however, the applicative marker is optional and does not give rise to a valency-increasing effect. Applicative constructions in different Northwestern Chinese dialects display both shared and dialect-specific properties. The semantic roles of applicative objects are mainly beneficiaries and recipients. Influenced by contact with minority languages, the word-order patterns of applicative constructions across dialects show both convergence and divergence, forming a continuum in their distribution. Overall, applicative constructions marked by the suffix gěi ‘give’ constitute a salient grammatical feature of Northwestern Chinese dialect grammar.

The diachronic evolution of “V→S” of Chinese motion events has received great attention. However, there is still a controversy regarding whether “V→S” has been completed or not in Chinese history. This study advocates that Chinese motion event has finished the change of “V→S”, displaying a cyclical pattern of “V→E→S→(V)” (V being in parentheses indicates that Modern Chinese has not become a typical V-language). Adopting both qualitative and quantitative research methodology, this study follows the grammaticalization cline of the PATH verbs in Chinese and constructs a model of “The Cyclical Change of Chinese Motion Events”. To test the feasibility of the model, we conduct a quantitative study of the diachronic change of the PATH verb lai. This paper reveals that the transition of “V→S” had already been completed during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and since then Chinese tended to change from S-language to V-language. V-framed representations are tending to be predominant in Modern Chinese. The cyclical change in the lexicalization pattern of Chinese motion events is the result of the interaction between “clarity” and “economy”, and also the outcome of the influence of multiple factors, such as disyllabification, grammaticalization, and lexicalization. This study is a preliminary attempt to observe the evolution pattern of Chinese language from the perspective of “linguistic cycle”, which will stimulate deeper understandings of the Chinese typology and its diachronic changes.

The particle [kɤ] (including its phonetic variants) is widely used as structural particles in southeastern Chinese dialects, showing a remarkable areal feature. [kɔ³³] in Yangchun Cantonese in western Guangdong can be used as classifier, demonstrative, structural particle, and sentence-final particle synchronically. In the construction “subject+copula+VP+[kɔ³³]+NP”, [kɔ³³] can be interpreted either as a structural particle or a sentence-final particle with the omission of the head NP. It has been conventionalized as a dedicated sentence-final particle eventually. Comparison with the other Chinese dialects and several non-Chinese languages in southeastern China indicates that allowing the omission of the head NP in the construction “subject+copula+VP+[kɤ]+NP” is the necessary but not sufficient condition for the formation of the sentence-final usage of [kɤ] as structural particles.

Through the analysis of dialect materials from the Tang and Song dynasties, the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the modern era in Northwest China, it is found that in the northwest dialects during the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasties, the de, mai, mo-II rhymes (three Middle Chinese rhyme categories) had already been merged, with the main vowel being [e]. In a few cases, [e] was raised to [i], which led to the merger with the zhi, xi, xi rhymes (three Middle Chinese rhyme categories). During the Western Xia period, after these vowels reached the highest degree of raising, they began to undergo breaking, following the pattern of e > i > iə > ie. Such phonetic changes continued and developed in the Lanyin Mandarin of the Ming and Qing dynasties and in the modern Jin dialect. From the perspective of the identity and difference of phonetic changes, this characteristic of the Northwest Chinese dialects is of a cognate nature, not a result of contact-induced convergence. Under the influence of the Central Plains Mandarin, this phonetic change in the northwest dialects gradually retreated. Nowadays, it is only limited to the Jin dialect and the Lanyin Mandarin, mostly involving labial initial characters, and shows a declining trend. Rounded syllables do not participate in this phonetic change, and the phonetic changes of yangsheng rhymes and rusheng rhymes are not synchronized.

Xiang serves as an incipient proximative marker in the Xuzhou dialect. Compared with fully grammaticalized proximative markers, it exhibits a wider range of syntactic and semantic properties characteristic of the early stages of grammaticalization. Drawing on the synchronic syntactic differences of xiang across its diverse semantic functions, a more comprehensive grammaticalization pathway from desiderative verbs to proximative markers can be constructed, enabling a deeper exploration of the evolutionary mechanism underlying this grammaticalization. Previous studies on proximative markers have rarely addressed the following syntactic features of xiang: (1) When the subject is a human and xiang is followed by a dynamic non-volitional situation, a distinction arises between subject-oriented and speaker-oriented readings, with the former encoding the subject’s perception; (2) When the subject is a human and xiang is followed by a dynamic volitional situation, xiang can convey the proximative reading only in highly constrained contexts, and in most cases retains its core desiderative meaning. According to feature (1), it is clear that the grammaticalization of desiderative verbs commences with the functional expansion of xiang to subsequent verbs. Taken together, features (1) and (2) demonstrate that the polysemous stage - where desiderative and proximative readings co-occur - emerges after the proximative has developed, rather than immediately following the desiderative verb stage.

There is a sentence-final particle [kəʔ] that expresses realis existence in Haimen dialect. The nature of the particle differs from the focal marker [kəʔ] and the modal particle [kəʔ]. Depending on the semantic type of the predicate, [kəʔ] can be divided into three forms: [kəʔ]_past, which expresses the existence of past events, [kəʔ]_static, which indicates the existence of static states, and [kəʔ]_habitual, which denotes the existence of habitual events. All three forms are used obligatorily. Notably, [kəʔ]_habitual can appear in negative sentences, while [kəʔ]_past and [kəʔ]_static cannot. Functionally, all three forms encode the “existence” aspect, with [kəʔ]_past also indicating past tense and [kəʔ]_static conveying an affirmative tone. The sentence-final particle [kəʔ] in Haimen dialect demonstrates that the sentence-final particle ge in Wu dialect has a tense-aspect function.

This article explores the phonology of the dialect spoken in the Ailing area of Yangzhou during the Qing Dynasty, based on the analysis of a newly discovered dialectal rhyme dictionary. Building upon this historical foundation, modern dialect materials are employed to systematically trace the phonological evolution of the Ailing dialect since the Qing Dynasty. The results reveal that over the past century, the evolution of Ailing dialect is intricate, encompassing changes driven by both internal and external factors. Internal factors encompass phenomena such as *ɻ>l/__Hongyin, *ɻ>∅/i___, *ɻ>∅/i____,*ts^ʰ、s>tɕ^ʰ、ɕ/i____,*iʔ>ieʔ. External factors, conversely, account for phenomena such as the loss of aspiration in voiced initials with the oblique tone, alterations in the pronunciation of colloquial and literary readings of Division-Ⅲ rhymes within the Jia (假) rhyme group, the disappearance of the colloquial pronunciation of Division-Ⅰ nasal coda rhymes in the Xian and Shan rhyme groups, and the reclassification of shangsheng tone with voiced initials into qusheng tone. Particularly noteworthy is the evolution of the dialect in the Ailing area, which has undergone a transition from the Tairu dialect region to the Hongchao dialect region.

The de-type compound marker gezai in early Wu dialect literature has tense-aspect functions. Compared to zai, gezai cannot report hot news in on-site context. In narrative discourse, VP+gezai can only show non-main event line and cannot advance the event chain forward, whereas VP+zai has no such restriction. This distinction indicates different tense-aspect meanings encoded by gezai and zai. Gezai denotes the relative-past tense and expresses the completion of an event before the reference time, while zai denotes the meaning of “change of event” besides relative-past tense.

Hang and me in the Wenshui (Hulan) dialect in Shanxi Province have many commonalities in syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. However, there are also obvious differences in expression function. Hang and me belong to the typical subjective evaluative morphology and are related to the subjective quantity, which is the relevant motivation behind the commonality of the two. Hang belongs to the subjective decrement and me belongs to the subjective increment, which lead to the difference in usage between the two.

The “A huqi A/A'” structure is a unique pattern in Chinese for expressing semantic intensification, persisting from the pre-Qin period to the present day. Based on a constructional perspective, this paper systematically examines its historical evolutionary trajectory. The study finds that the constructionalization of this structure began with the trans-layered juxtaposition of hu and qi in the ancient period. It progressed through the initial framing and reanalysis in the medieval period, the deepening of construction and expansion of productivity in the early modern period, culminating in the convergence of schemas, prominence of prototypes, and complete constructionalization in the modern period. The constructional meaning evolved from early state depiction to the intensification of subjective extreme quantity and emotional expression. The core features of this constructional system are: a three-tier hierarchy of construction types, strong solidification of constants, components primarily being relative qualitative adjectives, and the intensifying constructional meaning emerging through juxtaposition, contrast, comparison, and pragmatic inference. Reanalysis, analogical extension, and conventionalization are important mechanisms for its formation, while the dual expressive needs of “elegance” and “popularity” serve as its motivation. Its success mainly stems from the effective expansion of extreme quantity expression, and the rise of vernacular Chinese was the ultimate force driving its complete constructionalization. During the process of constructionalization, the constant huqi exhibits infix-like features in form, but its nature and function must be understood within the construction as a whole, and it can be regarded as a constructional infix marker. This paper argues that the constructional perspective can provide a new analytical approach to the study of Chinese infixes.

In a numeral-classifier phrase, the approximative duo has three possible syntactic positions: post-classifier, between the numeral and classifier, and within the numeral constituent. This paper terms this the floating phenomenon of approximative duo. Starting from this phenomenon and base on the cardinal-multiplier analysis and the phrase structure hypothesis for numerals, we proposes a novel analysis of the Chinese numeral-classifier structure: the Chinese “numeral” should be decomposed into a series of Cardinal Phrases (CardP), headed by a cardinal word (e.g., shi ‘ten’, bai ‘hundred’) and taking a multiplier word (e.g., yi ‘one’, er ‘two’) as its specifier. Within this analysis, the approximative duo is argued to be a special type of multiplier word, and classifiers are analyzed as special types of cardinal words. The essential nature of duo’s floating phenomenon is thus that duo functions as the multiplier for different cardinal words.

The disyllabic tentative marker kanqiao in the Nanjing dialect conveys meanings of both attempt and warning, each exhibiting distinct syntactic distributions. Kanqiao is derived from the contraction of kankanqiao and has undergone grammaticalization to become a tentative marker through syntactic reanalysis. Kanqiao mostly conveys the meaning of pseudo attempt (warning), showing functional differentiation from the monosyllabic tentative markers kan/qiao, which typically indicate genuine attempts. This phenomenon is prevalent in Chinese dialects, and its fundamental motivation lies in the different perspectives of human cognition and understanding of the attempted action.

The adverb guozhen carries an independent syntactic function. It deals with the relationship between the preceding information and the current sentence, whose core meaning is “the aforementioned information has been verified”. The semantic structure of guozhen includes three parts: the information to be verified, the act of verification, and the result of verification, which reflect respectively the speaker’s epistemic stance of uncertainty, intention to seek verification, and acceptance of the verified result. The information state therefore changes from unverified to verified. The difference between guozhen and guoran lies mainly in the speaker’s attitude and the semantic functions they perform. With guozhen, speakers tend to take a skeptical stance, intending to verify the preceding information. With guoran, speakers often assume a believing stance, and the subsequent propositions typically support the preceding information. In some discourses, the speaker’s attitude may be omitted and their stance is unknown, making guozhen and guoran interchangeable. However, the semantic structures they activate remain different.

This article explores the impact on the Chinese language of three major historical language contacts, using the formation of jialai/jiaqu ‘come home/go home’ as a guiding thread. The foreign languages involved in these contacts shared the same typological profile - all were SOV languages with case-marking systems. Consequently, their overall influence on Chinese grammar progressively deepened in a particular evolutionary direction. Via the Silk Road, ancient Indian languages - first introduced to China via Chinese translations of Buddhist sutras - exerted a profound influence on Chinese. Many syntactic features that later became characteristic of Chinese had already begun to emerge in these Buddhist translations, and were often more prominent than in contemporaneous native Chinese writings. Jialai/Jiaqu appeared only sporadically after the second contact, increased gradually during the third contact, and eventually became integrated into the common Chinese language. The emergence of jialai/jiaqu was subject to interference from postpositional locative words, which were themselves influenced by case marking in the contact languages. Once external influence waned, internal grammatical pressures within Chinese suppressed the further expansion of postpositional constructions; only then did jialai/jiaqu come into being.

The resultative construction in the Haikou Min dialect predominantly adopts the “Verb-Object-Complement (VOC)” pattern, which significantly differs from Mandarin and most of the other Chinese dialects. This paper conducts a systematic investigation on the syntactic and semantic features, the applied range, and the nature of this construction. It is found that the VOC construction in the Haikou Min imposes relatively few restrictions on the object and allows flexible expression of modality, and that the construction is under the process of evolution, from a serial verb construction to a resultative construction, on a continuum of grammaticalization. Through cross-linguistic comparison and geographical distribution analysis, this paper reveals that the VOC construction in the Haikou Min bears a high degree of similarity to that of the neighbouring Kam-Tai languages such as Lingao. Moreover, it is widely distributed across multiple languages/dialects on the Hainan Island, having become an areal grammatical feature. The study demonstrates that the VOC construction in the Haikou Min dialect mainly derives from intense language contact with the Lingao language. The prevalence of the VOC construction in the Hainan region is a result of feature diffusion induced by language contact, rather than a simple retention of the split resultative construction in Archaic Chinese.

This paper provides a systematic analysis of the syntactic structure of the “NP₁ + V + you ‘have’ + NP₂” construction in the Jiyuan dialect, examining the grammatical functions of you ‘have’ and exploring its grammaticalization process and conditions. The research findings are as follows: (1) You ‘have’ serves multiple functions, including possession, existence, completion-persistence, and focus marking, forming a continuum that ranges from “spatial existence” to “temporal completion”. (2) It has undergone an evolution characterized by a progression from “possession > existence > completion-persistence > focus marking”. (3) In comparison to Mandarin, high transitive verbs such as duo ‘chop’, chi ‘eat’, and you ‘swim’ can freely enter this construction in the Jiyuan dialect. Additionally, the role of “NP₁” has expanded from locative expressions to include agent subjects. (4) The grammaticalization of you ‘have’ is influenced by several factors: the reduction of verb reduplication prompts a reanalysis of the structure (V^D + you ‘have’ →V⁰ + you ‘have’), semantic appropriateness facilitates its transition from spatial contexts to temporal ones, and frequent usage accelerates its grammaticalization process. The multifunctionality of you ‘have’ in the Jiyuan dialect illustrates its evolutionary trajectory from being spatially driven to temporally driven.

We discuss a method of identifying verbal classifiers in archaic and early medieval Chinese based on the analysis of two groups of words: zā, zhuàng, bèi and fā, hé, xíng. We point out that the task of identifying verbal classifiers is to decide whether X in the sequence “Verb (+Obj) + Numeral + X” is a verbal classifier. We provide the syntactic structure of the sequence when X is a noun, a nominal classifier, a verb, or a verbal classifier respectively as the basis for deciding the grammatic identity of X. In contrast to previous work that views the two groups of words as verbal classifiers, we argue that the first group should be identified as nouns and the second group should be identified as verbs to better account for their distributions. Based on the analyses of the two groups of words, we suggest that one should rely on syntactic analysis instead of semantic interpretation of the sequence above to decide whether X is a verbal classifier.

This study employs sociolinguistic methods to examine the use of erhua words in the spoken language of 205 Beijing residents. It is found that erhua words are still active in the daily conversations of contemporary Beijing residents, although with significant individual differences in usage. Age and education are important social factors influencing the use of erhua words. Females, teenagers, and students use fewer erhua words, and their expressions are relatively standardized. Over the past 40 years, the use of erhua words has experience a noticible decline, with some vulgar erhua words nearly disappearing. Additionally, interpersonal differences in usage have also significantly decreased. However, the standardization of language use and the positive attitude of Beijing residents towards erhua words still ensure its continued use.

This paper investigates the grammatical and semantic-pragmatic features of the sentence-final particle de in the Wuhan dialect. The study reveals two distinctive usages of de in the Wuhan dialect that differ from Standard Mandarin: First, the confirmative de in the Wuhan dialect exhibits a broader functional scope, serving both to affirm the truthfulness of a proposition and to verify the occurrence of past events. Second, de can function as a tense marker, indicating either the immediate future or general future tense. The article also compares de with another sentence- final particle le in the Wuhan dialect, noting that although these particles permit interchangeable usage in certain contexts, they maintain distinct grammatical and pragmatic boundaries. Finally, employing the cartographic approach, the paper delineates the syntactic hierarchical relationships among different types of de in the Wuhan dialect.

Based on spoken dialogue, this study discusses the stance-taking function of the “Lao A le” structure from an interactional perspective. The findings show that the adjectives used this structure are qualitative and comparative in nature, primarily consisting of monosyllabic and disyllabic words. “Lao A le” reflects the speaker’s distinct epistemic stance, including incremental expression, evaluative expression, and counter-expectation expression. It also conveys a clear affective stance, typically expressing positive emotions. Furthermore, it demonstrates the speaker’s attitudinal stance, that is, inviting the hearer to align with their stance, thereby achieving stance alignment. The analysis of epistemic, affective, and especially attitudinal stance in this article offers a new perspective on the study of stance-taking in Chinese discourse.

The plural markers of the Yixian dialect in Anhui Province are nong and wu. Nong is essentially an associative plural marker derived from nouns denoting people. It usually follows highly identifiable personal pronouns or proper nouns, indicating a group of people associated with the core noun. Wu is essentially a similative plural marker originating from nouns referring to objects. It typically follows non-specific inanimate nouns or verb phrases, denoting a category of items or events sharing similar characteristics with the core noun. Nong and wu can be regarded as two different manifestations of the same plural function, with their differences arising from their distinct etymological sources.

The coordinative converb and the juxtaposed conjunction in Tongren Bonan language of Qinghai share the same form, ʥi, which can link VPs, NPs, clauses, and complex sentences. The coordinative converb -ʥi is a common form in Mongolic languages, but the juxtaposed conjunction ʥi did not arise through anti-grammaticalization of the converb. Rather, it developed through the deletion of ɡə from ɡəʥi, where ɡə is a verbalizer marker and ʥi a coordinative converb. ɡəʥi has long been used to construct juxtapositions of nominal derivative verbs, which, influenced by conjunction structures of local Amdo Tibetan, caused confusion over the nature of the juxtaposed constituents and the occurrence of reanalysis. The emergence of coordinate conjunctions has led to a transformation of the entire coordination type of Tongren Bonan, shifting it from a WITH-type language to an AND-type language.

The article examines the corresponding particle of de in Penang Hokkien, a Southern Min variety used in Malaysia, which is [e¹³]. We first distinguish three usages of the sentence-final particle [e¹³] in Penang Hokkien: as a modifier marker, used in clefts, and in sentence-final position. We then examine the syntactic level of the sentence-final [e¹³] in Penang Hokkien while also discussing the system of sentence-final particles in Mandarin. We find that the sentence-final [e¹³] is within the CP layer, specifically in AssertionP. This projection is higher than OnlyP, but lower than Degree SFPs, including focus particles. Despite being in the same projection, Mandarin’s sentence-final de and Penang Hokkien’s sentence-final [e¹³] differ both grammatically and semantically. The article also demonstrates the periphery structure of Penang Hokkien through the order and co- occurrence of sentence-final particles.

In Standard Mandarin, when the sentence-final particles de and le₂ co-occur, examples can be found where de precedes le, as well as where de follows le. After differentiating between various uses of de and le through independent syntactic evidence, these distributions can be explained. However, in Chaoyang Min, the order of the elements seemingly corresponding to Mandarin’s de and le does not at all align with predictions based on the syntactic-functional analysis in Mandarin. When the A-not-A questions with de’s dialectal counterparts in Wu and Cantonese are also taken into comparision, it is all the more obvious that the de counterpart in Chaoyang Min shows a strong tendency to position itself close to the predicate. Based on the conjunction analysis of sentence-final particles, these differences can be generalized as a single parameter: whether the initial internal conjunction always chooses de.

On the basis of an extensive investigation of historical literature in Cantonese, it is proposed that the adverbs referring to cai in the Guangzhou dialect has undergone two diachronic substitutions of the dominant word since the early Qing dynasty. Zheng was the primary expression form, which was replaced by zhi by the early 19th century, and then by xian in the mid-20th century. The disyllabic word xianzhi has seen an increase in usage frequency since its emergence, but it has always been in a secondary position. The replacement and diffusion of the adverbs like cai in Cantonese have created a geographical distribution pattern of such adverbs in modern Yue dialects. This study has enlightening significance in examining the kinship, evolution speed, evolution mechanism, and literature nature of Chinese dialects.

Echo reduplication is widely used in the Altaiс language family. Based on data from 40 Altaiс languages, this paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of its forms and functions. The forms are categorized into three types: C-type (consonant replacement), V-type (vowel alternation), and CV-type (initial syllable modification), among which C-type is the most common and exhibits different patterns depending on whether the base form begins with m-. Its primary function is to express similarity or plurality, which has extended to convey negative evaluative meanings, and it can be used across different word classes. Drawing on internal and external linguistic evidence, this paper hypothesizes that echo reduplication initially emerged in the Turkic branch and was subsequently borrowed into the Mongolic and Tungusic branches through language contact.

The modern Chinese sentence-final particle na has two origins: first, it derives from a phonetic change of a when the preceding word has an “-n” coda, denoted as na₁; second, it originates from the syllabic fusion of the sentence-final particles ne and a, denoted as na₂. Drawing on a series of Ho-Kian Fu dialect documents compiled by late Qing missionaries, and supplemented by Beijing dialect documents and contemporary Hebei dialect data, this study demonstrates from multiple perspectives the existence of the consecutive use of the sentence-final particles ne and a, thereby substantiating the plausibility of the syllabic fusion theory for na₂. After ne a fused into na₂, the mood expressed by na₂ has also developed from superimposed mood to composite mood. Specifically, in non-interrogative sentences, na₂ conveys a strong reminding mood; in interrogative sentences, it conveys a mitigated pragmatic force of reminder and inquiry (in information-seeking questions), or the speaker’s critical or reproachful stance (in rhetorical questions). Owing to its multifunctionality and high frequency, na₂ likely exerted an assimilative effect on na₁, which is homonymous and occupies the same syntactic position. This ultimately led to the merger of this portion of na₁ with na₂, together constituting the sentence-final particle na in modern Chinese.

Guided by Semantics Grammar and based on corpus and logic, this study limits the syntactic environment of the preposition lun to the anti-expectation discourse of “quadratic contrast”, extracts its grammatical meaning as “expectation based on order”, and summarizes its construction feature as “interaction and juxtapositon”. Firstly, reviewing previous research, it is proposed that the preposition usage of lun needs to be described more delicately. Secondly, the syntactic-semantic structuring of lun is reconstructed at the level of discourse and it is pointed out that the lun construction must be placed in an anti-expectation discourse to become an utterance, be it in a typical turning discourse or an atypical out-turning-and-in-causal discourse. Thirdly, the syntactic collocation and semantic selection of lun are described and verified from the level of sentence, where it is pointed out that the requirement of anti-expectation discourse could be attributed to the construction’s one-sidedness, which is reflected in the “orderliness” of the fact-clause and the “preference” of the opinion-clause. Fourthly, the grammatical meaning of lun is generalized as “expectation based on order”, i.e. by positioning things within a certain frame of reference, a preferred expectation is generated, which in turn creates the need for quadratic contrast in communication. Therefore, all lun constructions arise from the question-answer interaction. Finally, this study reflects on the semantics research of prepositions.

The jiaomo-type words, functioning as verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions, occur in various forms. The most common form is the verb “jiao (pro) mo”, which derives from dissuasive-interrogative constructions of the pattern “jiao pro mo VP”, originally meaning “to allow to proceed unhindered”. Historically, these forms were carried into central regions by migrants from Jiangxi who settled in present-day Hunan and Hubei. Through grammaticalization, the verbal construction underwent syntactic reanalysis in certain contexts, evolving into a concessive conjunction equivalent to jinguan ‘despite’. These migrants outnumbered the local population in areas such as Huangzhou and De’an, leading to a contiguous distribution of jiaomo-type words in northeastern Hubei, while other regions exhibit a more scattered distribution. With further grammatical development in the Changyi dialect of Xiang, jiaomo-type verbs have been reanalyzed via inferential contexts into adverbs meaning “why not”. Geographically, jiaomo-type words are primarily distributed in the Huangxiao dialect and can be regarded as its dialect characteristic words.

The Chinese measure word jiān demonstrates exceptional collocational ability in the regions of Hong Kong and Macao, where it can be used not only to measure individual rooms like “classrooms”, but also to quantify nouns with holistic architectural entities or institutional organizations such as “companies”, “schools”, “factories”, and “centres”. This usage differs significantly from the word’s usage in modern standard Chinese. Therefore, this research adopts a corpus-based, data-driven approach to analyze the emergence and evolutionary path of jiān across time and regions. The findings show that, as language continuously evolves, jiān has undergone semantic generalization. In Hong Kong and Macao, the broadened usage has stabilized and persisted, whereas it later experienced semantic narrowing in mainland China, resulting in a reduced collocational capacity.

This paper comprehensively describes the functions of the conjectural particle [mɐt⁵⁵ tsei²¹] in the Yangjiang Yue dialect, along with its pragmatic functions. It contrasts [mɐt⁵⁵ tsei²¹] with [kwa³³] in the Guangfu Yue dialect and [pa⁰] in Mandarin. Based on a synchronic analysis, the study reconstructs the grammaticalization pathway and pragmatic extension trajectory of [mɐt⁵⁵ tsei²¹], while exploring the origin of its conjectural meaning. The findings demonstrate that [mɐt⁵⁵ tsei²¹] has undergone a grammaticalization process from conjectural adverb to conjectural particle. Both of its pragmatic functions emerging in discourse derive directly from the pragmatic extensions of its core conjectural semantics. Furthermore, the conjectural semantics likely originate from the earlier function of [mɐt⁵⁵ tsei²¹] as a degree adverb. This functional expansion not only represents a new case of the adverb > modal particle grammaticalization pattern in the Yue dialect but also corroborates the cross-linguistically attested extension model: quantity > epistemic modality > pragmatic function, which is observed in Chinese and even the world languages.