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New Trends in Grammaticalization and Language Change
Edited by Sylvie Hancil, Tine Breban and José Vicente Lozano
[Studies in Language Companion Series 202] 2018
► pp. 105–134

Central Southern Guangxi as a grammaticalization area

| Southwest Jiaotong University
| Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
This paper investigates contact-induced grammatical changes that are observed among the Zhuang Tai-Kadai and Sinitic languages in the Central Southern Guangxi Region. Following recent advances in the theoretical analysis of grammaticalization, this paper describes four uncommon grammaticalization processes that represent diffusion from Zhuang into several Sinitic languages. On this basis, we argue that the Central Southern Guangxi Region constitutes a micro-grammaticalization area.
Keywords: Zhuang, Sinitic, language contact, grammaticalization
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The ecological context and language diversity
    • 2.1Geography and history
    • 2.2Language profiles
  • 3.Polyfunctionality and versatility
    • 3.1Polyfunctional ‘finish’
      • a.Universal quantifier
      • b.Superlative
      • c.Perfect/perfective aspect marker
      • d.Conjunction
    • 3.2Polyfunctional ‘go’
      • a.Imperative marker
      • b.Emphatic particle
    • 3.3Polyfunctional ‘give’
      • a.Benefactive marker
      • b.Malefactive marker
      • c.Cause marker
    • 3.4Polyfunctional ‘take’
    • 3.5Interim summary
  • 4.Borrowed grammaticalization
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • Other symbols
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.202.05hua
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