The meaning of yijing is controversial, without consensus reached so far. Lu and Ma (1985) define it as shiqing wancheng huo shijian guoqu ‘a situation in the past or the completion of it’. According to Lü (1999), yijing is an adverb indicating dongzuo huo
bianhua wancheng huo dadao mou zhong chengdu ‘an action or a change is completed or has reached a certain extent’. Instead of discussing the developing stage of a situation, Cao (2002) and Ma (2003) both stress the relation of the situation to S. They argue that whether a
situation holds at S and how much it is realized at S is an integral part of yijing study.
Cao (2002) argues that yijing has its primary meaning on realizing a situation in any temporal context. If it is in the past, this realization may hold on till S. As a result, yijing is allowed to appear with xianzai ‘now’ in the same clause. In (26) the state of feeling good is achieved.
(26) Wo xianzai yijing juede hen bu cuo le.
I now YIJING feel very not wrong PFV
‘I already feel pretty good.’ (Cao 2002: 45)
Ma (2003) supports the argument of extension to S with her proposal of the
aforementioned ‘persistence’ feature (see 2.2). Yijing differentiates itself from cengjing by embodying continuity of a situation or its resulting effect at S. For example, the referent of the subject in (27) does not smoke at the time the sentence is uttered, a persistent result of the quitting.
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(27) Wo yijing jie yan le.
I YIJING quit smoke PFV
‘I have quit smoking (and I don’t smoke now)’ (Ma 2003: 27)
Ma (2003) questions that the feature ‘completion’ proposed by Lü (1999) is not always true.
Instead, she argues that what yijing signals is juzi suoshuo de qingkuang zai shuohua zhiqian huo zai mouge xingwei dongzuo zhiqian huo zai mouge teding de shijian zhiqian jiu chengwei shishi le ‘to make a situation a fact, which exists before the speech time, another given event, or a temporal anchor’. Hence whether that situation is completed or not does not affect the occurrence of that situation. In (28) yijing highlights the fact that the referred person has already been living in a place for a certain period and this experience of residence will always hold true. For a situation like a state, no completion issue is concerned.
(28) Wo yijing zai zheli zhu le san nian.
I YIJING at here live PFV three year
‘I have been living here for three years.’ (Ma 2003: 27)
According to Cao (2002) and Ma (2003), yijing behaves as an aspectual adverb because its temporal location varies with the contextually-decided anchor time, spanning from the past, the present to the future, as shown in (29) and (30). (29) is a past time whereas (30) a future one.
(29) Qu nian wo yijing kan-guo zhe-ben shu.
past year I YIJING see-EXP this-CL book
‘I already read this book last year.’ (Ma 2003: 25)
(30) Zai guo ershi nian women dou yijing tuixiu le.
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again pass twenty year we all YIJING retire PFV
‘We will have been retired after 20 years.’ (Cao 2002: 45)
Lü (1999) finds yijing can scope over negation, as shown in (31). Someone being unable to change the plan is a situation established prior to S.
(31) Xianzai yijing bu neng gaibian jihua le.
now YIJING NEG able change plan PFV
‘(We) cannot change the plan now!’ (Lü 1999: 612)
Deng (2010) points out a habitual event that is true all the time can stand under the scope of yijing, as in (32), though he pursues no further the meaning of this sentence. He also finds that yijing as an aspectual adverb can co-occur with progressive zai as well, as in (33).
(32) Taiyang yijing cong dong bian shengqi le.
sun YIJING from east side rise PFV
‘The sun has risen from the east.’ (Deng 2010: 127)
(33) Womende aiqing yu women yijing zai our love with we YIJING PROG
jinxing de shehui fuwu shiye yiyang yong cun.
process DE society service career same forever exist
‘Our love lasts as long as the social service we have been doing.’ (Deng 2010: 127)
Qu (2012) follows Ma’s (2003) argument about yijing, i.e. signaling a fact that occurs before speech time, another given event, or a temporal anchor. According to his proposal of three functions of yijing, the first is that due to a dynamic characteristic, yijing may have
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different implicatures depending on the context. Interfering factors contain pragmatic
presupposition and implication. In the case of (34), it implies that that they have worked long enough so it’s time for others to do it.
(34) Tamen yijing zai fushikang gongzuo le yi duan shijian.
they YIJING at Foxconn work PFV one period time
‘They have worked at Foxconn for a while.’ (Qu 2012: 161)
Second, yijing, in contrast to cengjing, is more likely to run with sentences in irrealis mood.
In (35) haoxiang ‘as if’ is an irrealis expression that modifies yijing.
(35) Zai tade ganjue zhong hei cun haoxiang yijing zai in her feel center black village as.if YIJING again bu hui bei ganzou le.
not able PAS drive.away PFV
‘In her feeling, the Black Village was unlikely to be driven away anymore.’ (Qu 2012: 162)
The third function is that yijing might imply a speaker’s reluctance to give endorsement to a referred situation. In (36) the extent to which something unspecified has developed is not what the speaker would like to see.
(36) Yijing zhe yang le hai neng zenme ban?
YIJING this way PFV still can how do
‘It has been done in this way, what else can you do?’ (Qu 2012: 162)
Hu (2005) analyzes yijing with the pragmatics-based account in which the grammatical meaning is composed of a basic aspect and a derivative aspect, similar to his analysis of
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cengjing. He claims that the basic meaning of yijing is persistence, implying the pass-on (xiangcheng) meaning. He takes Ma’s (2003) example (i.e., (27)) to prove this point, repeated here as (37). The referent of the subject remains a non-smoker at S, so the situation of
quitting smoking persists, i.e. xiangcheng.
(37) Wo yijing jie yan le.
I YIJING quit smoke PFV
‘I have quitted smoking.’ (Hu 2005: 27)
When yijing takes a derivative meaning, a turn (zhuanzhe), there is no persistence. In (38), Hu claims that a man at an advanced age retains a childlike mind is the evidence of a turn, zhuanzhe.
(38) Jishi tade nianji yijing hen da haishi baoyou yi-ke though his age YIJING very big still keep one-CL xinxian-de tong xin.
fresh kid heart
‘Though already at such an old age, he is still innocent as a kid.’ (Hu 2005: 28)
Ma’s (2003) definition of yijing is referred to by Liu et al. (2004) and Chang (2009).
Chang (2009) concludes that the basic definition of yijing can be encapsulated in Ma’s (2003) argument: to grant a situation a factual status because this situation has occurred before speech time, another given event, or a temporal anchor. In (39) the referent has been in an agreement state before S.
(39) Ta yijing tongyi le.
he YIJING agree PFV
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‘He has agreed (on something).’ (Chang 2009: 22)
Chang (2009) in addition provides four derivative meanings of yijing compiled from previous literature. The first is to assert a factual status of an experience that is gained before speech time, another given event, or a temporal anchor. In (40) the first chapter has been studied before this sentence is uttered; thus, this learning experience has been a fact ever since the process of learning reached its endpoint.
(40) Yijing xue-guo diyi zhang.
YIJING learn-EXP first chapter
‘The first chapter has been learned.’ (Chang 2009: 21)
The second meaning is that a change has happened to a situation, and the situation is probably still in progress. For example, the state of being married, a marital status from presumably single to wedlock, is going on thenceforth.
(41) Tamen yijing shi fuqi le.
they YIJING be husband.wife PFV
‘They are already husband and wife.’ (Chang 2009: 21)
The third meaning, already identified by Hou (1998), Zhang (2002), Liu et al. (2004) and compiled in Chang (2009) is discernible in the context when yijing is followed by temporal and numeral expressions. Yijing implies the speaker’s attitude toward the proposition, usually emphasizing the greatness, lengthiness, or immediateness. For example, in (42) the speaker does not expect today to be Wednesday, i.e. s/he feels Wednesday comes earlier than
expected. Yijing’s interpretation is speaker-oriented, depending on what is under discussion.
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(42) Jintian yijing xingqi san le.
today YIJING week three PFV
‘It’s Wednesday already.’ (Chang 2009: 23)
The last derivative meaning, also noticed by Hou (1998), Lü (1999), Zhang (2002) and Liu et al. (2004), is found with kuai(yao) ‘soon to be.’ Yijing in this structure means almost reaching the starting point of a situation but still away from it. Since kuai implies a recent future, the overall situation does not happen yet. In (43), the sun is about to fall behind the mountains at S but this sunset situation does not reach completion. Chang (2009) argues that in (43) yijing adopts a derivative meaning of ‘soon to be.’
(43) Taiyang yijing kuai luo shan le.
sun YIJING soon fall mountain PFV
‘The sun is about to come down the mountain.’ (Chang 2009: 24)