Single-word English prepositions in Hong Kong Cantonese
A cognitive-constructionist approach
This paper proposes a structural borrowing account for a lexicogrammatical phenomenon whereby, in on ongoing Cantonese discourse,
the use of a single-word English preposition triggers and activates an English construction, specifically an NP COP P NP sequence,
and brings it into that discourse. The borrowed structure eventually converges with Cantonese, with the English preposition
reanalyzed as a verb or a coverb. It is further suggested that these processes of structural borrowing and convergence are
semantically motivated. Drawing on Cognitive Grammar, the borrowed structure
np cop p np
profiles a location as a relationship (whereas in Cantonese it is profiled as a thing by a postposition), and the
pp
(i.e.,
p np
) is profiled as a property of the subject or trajector (whereas in Cantonese a coverb phrase is always associated with a
process). The converged constructions – in which an English preposition is reanalyzed as a verb or coverb – profile more dynamic
and specific processes.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: Single-word English prepositions in Hong Kong Cantonese
- 2.Accounting for the syntax of the patterns
- 2.1Syntactic models of code-switching
- 2.2The pattern
np cop p np
as structural borrowing
- 3.A cognitive-constructionist approach to structural borrowing
- 3.1Structural borrowing and the lexicon-syntax division
- 3.2Motivation for structural borrowing: The borrowed structure gives a different construal
- 3.3The meaning of the
np cop pp
construction
- 4.Structural convergence and reanalysis: A cognitive-constructionist approach
- 4.1English preposition reanalyzed as a verb
- 4.2English preposition reanalyzed as a coverb
- 5.Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
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