Zhao and Li (2009) and Yang (2009)

Regarding the future-past distinction between zhīhòu and yǐhòu in the bare form, or put differently, whether zhīhòu and yǐhòu in the bare form pinpoint a time in the

23 Gu did not use the term epistemic modality or the term but simply enumerated the expressions and verbs without any labeling or integration. Dr. Chiarung Lu suggested the term and concept of speech act verbs to subsume the collocating verbs with yǐhòu that Gu listed.

past or in the future, Gu simply says there is a tendency that zhīhòu is used for past situations (percentage not reported) and there is a tendency that yǐhòu is used for future situations (73.4%). Other studies make a stronger claim. In Zhao and Li (2009), it is said that when used alone (i.e., in the bare form) zhīhòu must refer to a time in the past (i.e., it is a “must” instead of a “tendency”), whereas yǐhòu may refer to a time in the past, at present, or in the future (i.e., randomly without any tendency). Yang (2009) argues that when used alone,²⁴ zhīhòu locates an event prior to the speech time (i.e., in the past), with speakers’ high certainty about the occurrence of the event, whereas yǐhòu describes an event later than the speech time (i.e., in the future), and as this event has not happened yet, the occurrence of the event is unknown or uncertain. For Yang too, the past-future distinction is a clear-cut feature of zhīhòu and yǐhòu, rather than a mere tendency. To summarize their opinions, Gu (2010), Zhao and Li (2009) and Yang (2009) all agree that zhīhòu in the bare form tends to or must locate a time in the past. On the other hand, Gu (2010) and Yang (2009) agree that yǐhòu in the bare form tends to or must locate a time in the future, whereas Zhao and Li (2009) suggest that yǐhòu is free to collocate with past, present or future situations.

Let us focus on zhīhòu first. In the Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese, the same corpus that Yang (2009) uses, there is an instance of zhīhòu in the bare form that modifies a future situation. In (2-14), after introducing the date and the topic of an upcoming lecture by a Canadian architect called Arthur Erickson, the speaker/writer continues that there will be a Q&A session at the end of the lecture (data from the Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese, boldface added).

24 Yang’s (2009) original wording is “in clause-initial positions,” but in discussing the issue of past and future situations, “being alone” is the appropriate condition to be considered, regardless of the position of the temporal terms.

(2-12) (Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese)

‘We will reserve time for answering questions. We also encourage you to have personal interaction with Arthur Erickson afterwards … We sincerely welcome your participation.’

Since the lecture is to take place in the future, the time for the intended audience to consult the architect also lies in the future, namely, after the speech time of the utterance in (2-12). In this case, zhīhòu in the bare form locates the event of consulting the architect in the future, specifically, after the Q&A session of the lecture.

This example challenges the analysis of zhīhòu in Yang (2009) and Zhao and Li (2009).

As for yǐhòu, one example cited in Yang (2009) is adequate to challenge Yang’s own claim that yǐhòu in the bare form must describe a situation later than the speech time, i.e., in the future, as shown in example (2-13) (data partially cited in Yang (2009) from the Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese, boldface added, translation mine).²⁵

25 The reason why Yang (2009) thinks that bare-form yǐhòu locates an event later than the speech time is probably that Yang did not read or cite the whole passage until the end but instead stopped at the clause “the people in that area climb the mountain,” and therefore was not aware that all the events mentioned in this example pertain to the past.

(2-13) (Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese)

Double.Ninth.Festival mountain.climbing gradually become

一 種 全國性 習俗。

yī zhǒng quánguóxìng xísú

one kind nationwide custom

‘The day they [the protagonist and his family] climbed the mountain to take refuge was the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar. After that/since then, whenever it was the same date, people in that area would climb the mountain. Later on, people in other places did the same as well. Mountain-climbing on the Double Ninth Festival gradually became a nationwide custom.’²⁶

As this passage explains the origin of the mountain-climbing custom, the events mentioned here should all be understood to lie in the past. The first event (also the reference point) “they climbed the mountain” and the second event “the people in that area climbed the mountain” both lie in the past. This example challenges the claim

26 This example is taken from a story about the origin of the custom of mountain-climbing on the Double Ninth Festival, a Chinese traditional holiday that falls on the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar every year.

that yǐhòu in the bare form must be used to mark a future time.

But it is not as simple as what Zhao and Li (2009) think that yǐhòu in the bare form can be used freely without any tendency or constrain. In the following example, where the entire scenario lies in the past, yǐhòu cannot substitute for zhīhòu (data from Yang (2009), boldface added, translation mine).

(2-14) (Yang 2009: 143)

我們 買了 果汁， 之後 我 就 回家了。

wǒmen mǎi-le guǒzhī zhīhòu wǒ jiù huíjiā-le 1PL buy-PFV juice ZHIHOU 1SG JIU go.home-PFV

‘We bought some juice. After that/and then I went home.’

The first event (also the reference point) “we bought some juice” and the second event

“I went home” have both happened. In this case zhīhòu is preferred to yǐhòu.

At this point it seems that bare-form yǐhòu can be used to locate a time in the past only when yǐhòu also has the ‘since then’ sense, which, of course, is partially derived from the context. In (2-13), the author of the story does not mean that after the protagonist and his family climbed the mountain, the people in that area climbed the mountain only once, but rather, that ever since the protagonist and his family did so, the people in that area did the same repeatedly whenever it was the ninth day of the ninth month. The situation being described is repetitive. Note that in (2-13) zhīhòu can substitute for yǐhòu, as there does not seem to be any restriction for zhīhòu in the bare form to describe past situations. By contrast, in (2-14) the second event “I went home” happened only once following the first event. In this case the meaning of zhīhòu here is more like ‘and then’, and yǐhòu cannot be used here.

In this section of literature review, we have shown that Gu (2010), Yang (2009) and Zhao and Li (2009) all point out the attached-bare form distinction. In Gu (2010) some further parameters are examined only for the before-pair, such as the

punctual-durative distinction of the reference point and whether the reference point is now or something mentioned earlier in the context, and other parameters are examined only for the after-pair, such as genre differences and the past-future distinction of situations. No explanation is provided to account for these distinctions.

While Yang (2009) and Zhao and Li (2009) regard the past-future distinction of the after-pair as obligatory, it seems more appropriate to consider it a tendency as Gu (2010) does. Also, the difference between zhīhòu and yǐhòu does not seem to lie in the past-future distinction, but in the property of the situation (i.e., repetitive or only once).