Polysemy

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loc>. In the category of V-shang Patient, there are [+Path] verbs with the behavior of

‘attachment,’ and the argument structure is <ag, pt>. And, the last category is flexible of collocating with the first verb in V-shang. The verbs occurring in the first and second category can adjoin to shang in V-shang Extent.

Also, there is the variation of argument structure of shang. The argument structure of shang of <th, loc> or <th, ext> determines the structure of V-shang. The first type of <th, loc> is presented in [V-shang Ground] and [V-shang Patient]; <th, ext> is presented in [V-shang Extent]. From Chapter 4, the semantic meanings of V-shang present the variation of directional movement in [V-shang Ground], result in [V-shang Patient] and abstract sense in [V-shang Extent]. And, the difference between three categories can be explained by polysemy approach.

5.4 Polysemy

From above result, the study found the change of semantic meanings and argument structures in three categories. However, the characters in three categories are related. According to Lu (2011)’s study of analyzing shang in V-shang within the cognitive approach, Lu has suggested that the extended senses of shang should project from the proto meaning into two ways. The researchers use the assignation of spatial relation to describe a vertical motion. The TR of higher-than-LM position is

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designated as the prototypical sense of shang in Mandarin Chinese (Tyler and Evans, 2003; Kim, 2005).

Figure 4 demonstrates the relationship between the extended sense of shang in V-shang, so it shows the schema of polysemy rather than homonym. Polysemy indicates a group of words which have same spelling, pronounciation and related senses. For example, the word ‘mouth’ means either the orifice on one's face or the opening of a river. Homonym represents a group of words which also have same spelling and pronounciation but unrelated senses, such as the word desert meaning ‘to abandon’ or indicating ‘arid region.’ And, from Lu’s study, shang is similar to polysemy.

Figure 4. The organization of the core sense of shang (Lu, 2011)

Lu (2011) claims six senses of shang. The prototypical sense of shang refers to

‘vertically attained,’ which describes both the vertical motion and the resultative state of that figure in arriving at a concrete surface. This meaning is defined by V1 of a

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vertical elevation that involves effort, such as pa-shang ‘climb’ 爬上, and the following noun phrases associated with a (near-)horizontal surface. Another feature of

‘vertically higher’ portrays the vertical elevation of a primary figure as the most important element in the conceptual scene. A verb of vertical elevation involves relatively less physical effort in ‘vertically higher’ than verbs of ‘vertically attained’

such as fei ‘fly’ 飛 below.

(86) 連人帶傘 飛上 天空 lian-ren-dai-san fei-shang tiankong

with-person-bring-parachute float-shang sky

“(He) floated up onto the sky along with his parachute.”

‘Forward’ develops from ‘vertical attainment’ to express non-vertical motion, such as gan-shang ‘follow up’ 趕上. ‘Vertically higher,’ ‘vertically attained’ and ‘forward’

from Lu’s analysis are matched to the category of [V-shang Ground]. Shang profiles an upward orientation within different levels of a trajectory. The direction is from the vertical to the horizontal.

‘Attained’ encodes the resultant state of a figure being attached to a surface. For example, shua-shang ‘brush’ 刷上 portrays a human agent applying a brush to a SURFACE to produce a result on it. The fifth sense is ‘completive.’ This sense notes the final state of a primary figure being in contact with another entity, as a result of the verbal process, such as guan-shang ‘close’ 關上. Guan-shang damen ‘close the

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door’ 關上大門 profiles the endpoint of the process of closing and the contact between two entities. Because shua-shang ‘brush’ and guan-shang ‘close’ require a Patient complement, they are in the category of [V-shang Patient] presenting a resultative meaning. In Lu’s study, the last sense is ‘inceptive,’ which describes the beginning of a mental state, collocating with the verbs of mental contiguity, such as ai4 ‘love’ 愛. ‘Inceptive’ is adopted from ‘completive,’ and the sense is highly

schematic in an abstract domain

Lu’s research analyzes the semantic meaning of V1 to portray the figure of shang.

The development of meanings originates from the prototypical vertical movement in two directions. One way is the change in the movement orientation, while the other is the contact with the surface of the complement. The location of the former is concerned with the ending point, and the latter emphasizes the contacted surface; thus, the argument structure of shang remains the Locative role. As we mentioned in the last chapter, Extent includes duration and quantity, and expresses the consumed action time from V1 in V-shang, which is metaphorical usage from space to time (Lakoff &

Johnson, 2003), so the lexical semantics projects to thematic roles from the Locative to the Extent. Thus, the related senses present the polysemy character of shang. Also, the collocation in the three categories of V-shang can be observed in classical novels in Chinese history.

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