中文時態副詞「曾（經）」和「已（經）」之意義研究

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(1)國⽴立臺灣師範⼤大學英語學系碩⼠士論⽂文 Master’s Thesis The Department of English National Taiwan Normal University. 中⽂文時態副詞「曾（經）」和「已（經）」之意義研究 A Meaning Analysis of Chinese Temporal Adverbs Ceng(jing) and Yi(jing). 指導教授：李臻儀博⼠士 Advisor: Dr. Jen-i Li 研究⽣生：何思柔 Student: Szu-Jou Ho 中華民國⼀一百零六年六⽉月 June 2017.

(2) 摘要. 本研究旨在探討中⽂文時態副詞「曾（經）」和「已（經）」之意義，並⼀一併討論情狀類型（situation type）與其搭配之適切性。︒｡本研究採⽤用 Reichenbach（1947）之三個時點關係結構以及 Kennedy（2007）之級差（scale）理論來分析「曾（經）」和「已（經）」。︒｡本研究主張「曾（經）」為⼀一過去時間副詞，其語意轄域（scope）內之情狀的事件時間（event time）必須先於說話者講述該情狀的說話時間（speech time）；「已（經）」則表現出兩類語意，其⼀一為相對過去（relative past），另⼀一為級差關係，即指出其語意轄域內之情狀已達到某級差關係中的特定⾨門檻。︒｡鑑於「曾（經）」和「已（經）」必須依附於情狀，本研究另闢單章探討其搭配適切性。︒｡本研究採⽤用 Tai（1984）之情狀區分，將中⽂文情狀分為狀態（State）、︑､活動（Activity）及結果（Result）。︒｡「曾（經）」除與絕對（absolute）狀態次類不相容外，與其餘情狀皆相容；「已（經）」亦表現出類似的相容性，然在⾮非絕對（non-absolute）狀態及慣性（habitual）狀態次類表現出侷限性的語意。︒｡. 關鍵詞：時態副詞、︑､情狀語意、︑､時制、︑､時貌、︑､級差 i.

(3) Abstract. This thesis examines the meanings of the Chinese temporal expressions ceng(jing) and yi(jing) and their compatibility with different situation types. In this thesis, previous studies of ceng(jing) and yi(jing) are first discussed and commented, and then the meanings of the two temporal adverbs are examined via Reichenbach (1947) and the scale structure, particularly Kennedy (2007). Ceng(jing) is suggested to be a past time adverb that obligates the event time (E) to precede the speech time (S). On the other hand, yi(jing) is suggested to have two different meanings. First, it can be a relative past, showing the order of the event time (E) preceding the reference time (R). The other meaning is illustrated by scale structure, where yi(jing) marks a threshold of degree-relevant contexts. The compatibility between ceng(jing)/yi(jing) and the situation types are also discussed since they are indispensable to forming meaningful ceng(jing)/yi(jing) sentences. In this thesis, Tai’s (1984) classification of Chinese situation types into States, Activities and Results is adopted. Ceng(jing) is found to be compatible with all the situation types except the absolute subtype of States; yi(jing) shows a similar pattern but is more restricted in meanings when it comes to the non-absolute and habitual subtypes of States.. Keywords: temporal adverbs, situation semantics, tense, aspect, scale. ii.

(4) Acknowledgements. “Violá” and here it is, which is never the way to describe the production of this thesis. It took more than a year to attain the final stage. There were moments of frustration and anxiety. The result, nevertheless, feels as rewarding as other important milestones in my life. My advisor, Dr. Jen-i, Li, as I become to realize how lucky I am, is as rigorous as a professional linguist is required and meanwhile so understanding and sensible that I always feel comfortable about the pace of proceeding. In a way, she helps push the boundary of language studies and inspires me to view the commonly seen expression in a different perspective. Her great attention to the smallest details, which is rare to find among busy professors, reminds me to treat every bit of the thesis with meticulousness. At the hardest time of my master’s study, when I was desperate to get my paper accepted in a conference so as to waive a department’s requirement, Jen-i carefully reviewed my paper and gave the decisive comments that helped my paper accepted by IACL, for which I am always indebted to her. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to my committee members: Dr. Jing-lan Joy Wu and Dr. Yu-Fang Wang. Joy has been a great mentor since I was an undergraduate. Her classes of ‘History of the English Language’ and ‘Linguistic Analysis’ are one of the turning points for me to pursue a master’s degree in linguistics and her functionalist background gives me some distinct angles to think over my thesis. I thank Dr. Wang for her advice on formats and for pointing out missing transition that turns out to significantly enhance the flow of writing. Many thanks go to the professors in the linguistic track at NTNU, who offer quality courses that build my knowledge of languages. Dr. Chun-yin Doris Chen, in particular, shows touching patience and guidance when I, as her research assistant for two years, do not perform as well as expected. Dr. Lindsey Chen, cool in research as well as in teaching and Dr. Gerardo Fernandez-Salguiero, whose Spanish class opens a new world to me, are among the professors I am grateful to. iii.

(5) I have fortune to have some like-minded friends in the field of linguistics. Aries, full of warmth and brilliance, comes to my rescue several times, either professionally or personally. Amber, whose way of thinking I am once in a while clueless about, has the kindness and naiveness that alleviate the stress from my study. Sally, Lin, Treak, and other junior classmates, Shawn, Amy, Vivian, Andrew… form a helpful and supportive atmosphere in the linguistic track. I appreciate long friendship from Phobe and Marjorie, who have been my best companions since undergraduate. Melanie, whom I have known for a decade, is there when I need her witty remarks to get refreshed. My ex-roommates, Chloe, Jenny, and Da-Shan, are the best roommates one can desire. I am so glad of my choice to move back to the dorm. This thesis would be less readable without my English speaking friends. Benjamin, Beni, Ron, Jan, Thomas, Alexander, Justin, Aga, Kirsten… all lend a hand whenever I need an English consultant. I wish one day I could help them in the same way. My brother is such a great sibling and a role model to me. He did not know how much boost he gave me when he graduated earlier this year, with a PhD. We are so thankful to our parents for their unconditional love. I am not so talented and motivated as others who are bound to make a masterpiece, and still they offer so much more than I deserve. Xiexie!. iv.

(6) Table of Contents. 摘要 ............................................................................................................................................ i Abstract ......................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... v List of Tables............................................................................................................................vii Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... viii Chapter One: Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Motivation ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Purposes of the Study....................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Organization of the Thesis ............................................................................................... 5 Chapter Two: Literature Review of Cengjing and Yijing ........................................................... 7 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Previous Studies on Cengjing .......................................................................................... 7 2.3 Previous Studies on Yijing ............................................................................................. 15 2.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 21 2.5 Inadequacies of Previous Works .................................................................................... 25 Chapter Three: A Semantic Analysis of Cengjing and Yijing .................................................. 35 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 35 3.2 Cengjing ......................................................................................................................... 36 3.2.1 A Review of Reichenbach (1947) ........................................................................... 36 3.2.2 A Reichenbach-based Analysis of Cengjing........................................................... 39 3.3 Yijing .............................................................................................................................. 46 3.3.1 A Review of Scale .................................................................................................. 46 3.3.1.1 The Ontology of Scale ..................................................................................... 46 3.3.1.2 Kennedy’s (2007) Structure of Scale ............................................................... 47 3.3.1.3 On Degrees, Ordering Relation and the Dimension of Measurement ............. 48 v.

(7) 3.3.1.4 Scale across Word Classes ............................................................................... 51 3.3.2 A Reichenbach (1947) and Scale-based Analysis of Yijing.................................... 52 3.3.2.1 Relative Past..................................................................................................... 53 3.3.2.2 Meanings beyond Time.................................................................................... 54 3.4 Summary of the Analysis ............................................................................................... 58 Chapter Four: Cengjing, Yijing and Situation Types................................................................ 61 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 61 4.2 A Review of Smith (1997) ............................................................................................. 62 4.3 A Review of Tai (1984) ................................................................................................. 67 4.4 The Similarity and Difference between Smith (1997) and Tai (1984) .......................... 70 4.5 Cengjing and Situation types ......................................................................................... 71 4.5.1 Cengjing and States................................................................................................. 72 4.5.2 Cengjing and Activities........................................................................................... 75 4.5.3 Cengjing and Results .............................................................................................. 77 4.5.4 Summary ................................................................................................................. 79 4.6 Yijing and Situation types .............................................................................................. 80 4.6.1 Yijing and States...................................................................................................... 80 4.6.2 Yijing and Activities................................................................................................ 82 4.6.3 Yijing and Results ................................................................................................... 84 4.6.4 Summary ................................................................................................................. 85 4.7 Compatibility between Cengjing/Yijing and Situation Types: Summary ...................... 86 Chapter Five: Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 87 5.1 Summary of the Study ................................................................................................... 87 5.2 Limitations and Suggestions .......................................................................................... 88 References ................................................................................................................................ 91. vi.

(8) List of Tables. Table 1 Summary of Previous Works of Cengjing and Yijing................................................. 23 Table 2 Relations between E, R and S in Reichenbach (1947: 294) ....................................... 37 Table 3 Temporal Features of the Situation Types (Smith 1997: 20)...................................... 63 Table 4 The Compatibility of Cengjing/Yijing with Situation Types ...................................... 86 . vii.

(9) Abbreviations. AND . Andative. BA . A disposal construction marker. CL . Classifier. DE . A manner adverb marker or relative clause marker. DIM . Dimension, one of the three core elements in Kennedy’s (2007) scale structure. DUR . Durative. E . Event time in Reichenbach (1947). EXP . Experiential. INCH . Inchoative. NEG . Negative. PFV . Perfective aspect. PROG Progressive R . Reference time in Reichenbach (1947). S . Speech time in Reichenbach (1947). viii.

(10) Chapter One. Introduction. 1.1 Motivation. Thinking and speaking about time is a process of clarifying one of the deictic patterns in languages. When it comes to temporal location, all situations confront the same issue of the relation between the anchor time and the time when this situation occurs, i.e. event time. Like space, time requires an anchor point for location. Smith and Erbaugh (2005) argue that the speaker is the canonical center of linguistic communication; as a result, the canonical temporal anchor point is the speech time, now: the situations expressed in sentences are located in relation to the speech time. Mandarin, however, does not reveal temporal location with tense markers that are commonly seen among Indo-European languages. Mandarin in fact relies on adverbs and pragmatics heavily. The example below shows the situation of going to Taipei is contextually adaptable to the past, the present or the future; thus, a situation like going to Taipei in (1a) can go with different time references, which give rise to a past event in (1b), an ongoing state in (1c) or a future situation in (1d). These adverbs, zuotian ‘yesterday’, xianzai ‘now’ and mingtian ‘tomorrow’, give direct information about location in time.. 1.

(11) (1) (a). Wo qu. Taibei.. I. Taipei. go. ‘I went/am going/will go to Taipei.’ (b) Wo zuotian I. qu. Taibei.. yesterday go. Taipei. ‘I went to Taipei yesterday.’ (c) Wo xianzai I. now. qu. Taibei.. go. Taipei. ‘I am going to Taipei.’ (d) Wo mingtian I. tomorrow. qu. Taibei.. go. Taipei. ‘I will go to Taipei tomorrow.’. Temporal adverbs not only play roles in tense specification but in aspects as well. For example, (2a) and (2b) both denote a situation happening at a reference time of last year. However, they differ in the context where each is uttered.. (2) a.. Qunian. wo cengjing. last year I. kan-guo zhe-ben shu.. CENGJING. see-EXP this-CL book. ‘I read (PAST) this book last year.’ b.. Qunian. wo yijing. last year I. kan-guo zhe-ben shu.. YIJING see-EXP this-CL book. ‘I had already read this book last year.’ (Ma 2003: 25). Among a variety of temporal adverbs, cengjing and yijing have drawn enormous attention because they have similar but distinct meanings. How one sentence differentiates itself from the other is a constant interest of research in the literature. Despite several attempts by previous studies, e.g. Lu and Ma (1985), Lü (1999) and Ma (2003), there are still 2.

(12) counterexamples left unaddressed. For example, cengjing has not been given a clear definition and its compatibility with other aspectual markers is debatable. Deng (2010) argues that cengjing is not compatible with progressive zai, like (3). However, (4) shows that an ongoing hesitant state is likely to go under the scope of cengjing.. (3) *Womende our. aiqing. yu. love. with we. shehui. fuwu. shiye. yiyang. yong. cun.. service. career. same. forever. exist.. jinxing. de. process. DE society. women. cengjing. zai. CENGJING. PROG. *‘Our love exists as forever as the social service we were once doing.’ (Deng 2010: 127) (4) Ta he. cengjing. zai. panghuang.. CENGJING. PROG. hesitate. ‘He was once hesitant.’. As for yijing, its meanings have not been exhaustively examined either. Though it has long been considered an adverb denoting relative past, there are cases where it appears to be more than a temporal expression. In (5), the assumption of yijing being a relative past marker does not make much sense since the situation has not even started.. (5) Taiyang yijing sun. kuai luo shan. le.. YIJING soon fall mountain PFV. ‘The sun is about to come down the mountain.’ (Chang 2009: 24). 3.

(13) The unsolved problems prompt a more comprehensive analysis of cengjing and yijing, which can reconcile derivative meanings shown in the literature and identify those neglected by previous studies. Cengjing and yijing are made manifest and comprehensible by seeing their effect on situations; that is, they need situations, as media, to embody their distinct features. As more situations are explored, the relation between cengjing, yijing and situations is found to be bidirectional. Some of the situations appear to have restricted compatibility with temporal expressions, including cengjing and yijing. It is this finding that helps to bring about a full chapter for the discussion of situation types.. 1.2 Purposes of the Study. This study has three main purposes. Frist, I will identify temporal and aspectual classification of cengjing and yijing via Reichenbach (1947) so as to see where they overlap and where they diverge. Second, for yijing in particular, I will incorporate Kennedy’s (2007) scale into explaining the non-temporal meanings that are yet given an agreed analysis in the literature. Third, the inseparable relation with situations causes a need to examine the compatibility between cengjing/yijing and various situation types. Instead of Smith’s (1997) well-known classification, I turn to Tai’s (1984) view on situation classification in Chinese, with reasons stated in the relevant section. The examination will cover how cengjing/yijing. 4.

(14) affect the meanings of various situation types, which in turn may accommodate themselves to the scope of cengjing and yijing, or lead to a semantic clash. In the literature and example sentences, cengjing and yijing sometimes appear without the suffix jing. In this study, cengjing and ceng are viewed as equivalents and the same goes to yijing and yi, but cengjing and yijing will be used for convenience.. 1.3 Organization of the Thesis. This thesis is organized as follows. Chapter One is an introduction, covering the motivation, the purposes and the organization of the thesis. Chapter Two is a review of what has been studied about cengjing and yijing, including consensus and conflicting arguments. Chapter Three is a proposal of my own analysis, based on the ideas of Reichenbach (1947) and Kennedy (2007). Chapter Four will go further into the internal structure of situation types, following Tai (1984), and discuss how cengjing and yijing interact with each situation type. Chapter Five concludes this study and suggests areas of further study.. 5.

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(16) Chapter Two. Literature Review of Cengjing and Yijing. 2.1 Introduction. Cengjing and yijing have often been paired up as temporal adverbs addressing past situations in Mandarin Chinese. Though they have similar meanings, the distinction is equally worth exploring. In this chapter, previous studies related to cengjing and yijing are reviewed and their inadequacies are discussed. Cengjing and yijing are words composed of the root morphemes ceng and yi, repectively, and a suffix jing. Ceng and yi denote the core meanings of cengjing and yijing and can be used without the suffix. Section 2.2 is a review of cengjing and Section 2.3 that of yijing. Section 2.4 is a summary of 2.2 and 2.3. Section 2.5 points out the inadequacies of the previous studies.. 2.2 Previous Studies on Cengjing. In Lü (1999), cengjing is classified as an adverb, indicating an act/situation in the past, usually not a recent past. The situation involved in (6) is in the past. Lü further suggests that cengjing cannot scope over negation. (7) shows that Lü marks the sentence in which the negation is under the scope of cengjing as ungrammatical.. 7.

(17) (6) Zhe-wei this-CL. huajia. ceng. dao-guo. Xizang.. painter. CENG. reach-EXP. Tibet. This painter went to Tibet before.’ (Lü 1999: 110) (7) *Weile for. gao shiyan. ta. cengjing. bu. chu men.. do. he. CENGJING. NEG. out door. experiment. ‘In order to do an experiment, he did not go out.’ (Lü 1999: 110). However, Cao (2002, 2003) provides evidence to argue that cengjing is compatible not only with the time frames of remote past but also with that of the recent past. In Cao (2002), cengjing is understood as a terminative aspect (yirantai), indicating a situation in the past that has come to a halt. (8) shows the situation of planning an activity, i.e. committing suicide, does not hold at the time of speech (henceforth S) because of cengjing. Cao (2003) also finds cengjing is compatible with durative zhe, as in (9).. (8) Ta zi. ai. zi. lian, cengjing. she self love self pity CENGJING. dasuan. xuan. yi-ge. hao. plan. select. one-CL good. rizi si-qu. day die-AND ‘She felt sorry for her own circumstances and once planned to commit suicide on a selected day.’ (Cao 2002: 44) (9) Gao ma zai ta. zhangfu huo zhe. de. shihou. Gao Mrs. at. she husband live PROG. DE time. cengjing. shou. zhe. zhe-ge. zui.. CENGJING. suffer. DUR. this-CL sin. jiu as.early.as. ‘Mrs. Gao was suffering when her husband was alive’ (Cao 2003: 143). 8.

(18) Cao (2002) also proposes that cengjing sentences can be classified into two kinds, depending on whether or not there is a lexicalized temporal reference. When there is no such a temporal reference, it is set in the past and the act or situation under cengjing’s scope has no extension to S. In contrast, when temporal reference is involved, cengjing is applicable to the context of both recent and remote past, which are displayed in (10) and (11) respectively. According to Cao (2002), cengjing, generally considered an adverb indicating remote past as in (11), can have a ‘just now’ meaning as well, as in (10). (11) denotes a state of being beautiful in a remote past while (10) talks about an event that just happened, possibly a few minutes ago.. (10) Gangcai ta just.now he. ceng. shuodao-guo. ni.. CENG. talk.about-EXP. you. ‘He just talked about you.’ (Cao 2002: 44) (11) Dang that. nian. wo ye. year. I. ceng. piaoliang-guo.. also CENG. beautiful-EXP. ‘I was quite a beauty in those days.’ (Cao 2002: 44). Similar to Cao (2002), Lu and Ma (1985) have pointed out cengjing’s flexibility of talking about the past. In (12) the event of learning French occurs in a distant past; in contrast, (13) shows the inquiry took place just now.. (12) Ershi twenty. nian qian. ta. cengjing. xue-guo. fayu.. year before. he. CENGJING. learn-EXP. French. ‘He studied French twenty years ago.’ (Ma 2003: 26) (13) Zhe-jian shi. gangcai wo cengjing 9. wen-guo ta..

(19) This-CL matter. just.now I. CENGJING. ask-EXP him. ‘I just asked him of this thing.’ (Ma 2003: 26). Moreover, Ma (2003) classifies cengjing as a tense adverb (dingshi shijian fuci). It usually refers to an experiential situation in the past. Therefore (14) is anomalous because cengjing is temporally incompatible with xianzai ‘now’.. (14) *Xianzai ta now. cengjing. she CENGJING. kan dao 120. ye. see to. page PFV. 120. le.. *‘In the present she once read up to page 120.’ (Ma 2003: 25). Ma (2003) further proposes the semantic features yanxuxing ‘persistence’ and youxiaoxing ‘validity’ to describe the situation modified by cengjing (and yijing). Yanxuxing means the sustaining quality of a situation whereas youxiaoxing means whether a situation holds at the reference time. Ma argues that these two features are positive if a situation persists in being valid after the reference time. Cengjing, according to Ma’s argument, is negative of both features, so the situation under its scope is neither persistent nor valid at the reference time. For example, the referent of the first person pronoun in (15) is not short of confidence at S because cengjing makes ‘losing confidence’ no longer valid.. (15) Wo cengjing I. CENGJING. sangshi-guo. xinxin.. lose-EXP. confidence. ‘I used to lose faith (but it is not the case now).’ (Ma 2003: 27). The two semantic features, yanxuxing and youxiaoxing, are later adopted by Deng (2010), who argues that cenjing’s incompatibility with zai, a progressive marker in Mandarin, 10.

(20) and a habitual situation is a result of cengjing’s lack of persistence. Deng argues that in (16) the progressive aspect of processing is in conflict with the non-persistence of cengjing; similarly the fact that the sun rises from the east is valid from the past through the present into the future, a consistency that cengjing cannot capture, as shown in (17).. (16) *Womende our. aiqing. yu. love. with we. shehui. fuwu. shiye. yiyang. yong. cun.. service. career. same. forever. exist. jinxing. de. process. DE society. women. cengjing. zai. CENGJING. PROG. *‘Our love lasts as long as the social service we were once doing.’ (Deng 2010: 127) (17) *Taiyang cengjing sun. CENGJING. cong. dongfang shengqi-guo.. from. east. rise-EXP. *‘The sun once rose up from the east.’ (Deng 2010: 127). Qu (2009) is almost in the same vein as Ma (2003). Qu agrees that cengjing indicates the termination of a situation. However, considering a lack of reference time, Qu (2009) suggests adding explicit temporal location, such as yesterday, two years ago, so that the reference time of the situation can be more accurate. For example, both of the following sentences are plausible. A situation of talking about something could occur as recent as yesterday, like (18), or as remote as two years ago, like (19).. (18) Zuotian yesterday. ta. cengjing. shuo-guo zhe-jian shi.. he. CENGJING. talk-EXP this-CL matter. ‘He talked about this thing yesterday.’ (Qu 2009: 172) (19) Liang. nian qian ta. cengjing. shuo-guo zhe-jian shi. 11.

(21) two. year ago he. CENGJING. talk-EXP this-CL matter. ‘He talked about this thing two years ago.’ (Qu 2009: 172). Qu (2012) believes pragmatics is the key to telling apart cengjing and yijing. He argues that, though previous scholars have studied the semantics and syntax of cengjing and yijing, the main distinction is that cengjing does not involve contextual factors while yijing is subject to them. He proposes three functions that concern cengjing. The third function transfers cengjing into an adjective, which is irrelevant to my study. Thus only the first two functions are under my review. First, Qu draws an analogy between physic static state and cengjing. That is, cengjing indicates a static status of a situation in the past. Given that the meaning is fixed and contextual factors are ruled out, further interpretation is not possible. (20) is a factual statement about the past: a group of people worked at Foxconn for a period of time. Other pragmatic meanings, for example, speaker’s attitude toward this statement, are not inferable.. (20) Tamen cengjing. zai fushikang. they CENGJING at. gongzuo. Foxconn. work. le. yi duan shijian.. PFV one period time. ‘They used to work at Foxconn for a while.’ (Qu 2012: 161). Second, Qu suggests that cengjing is more likely to scope over a realis mood due to its lack of persistence. That cengjing states the termination of a situation means it will remain unchanged thenceforth. In (21), cengjing and the smashing event accommodate each other well because the aviation history is a fact in the past, thus in a realis mood.. (21) Ju hangkong shi. jizai. kongqi 12. qiangbi. cengjing. ba.

(22) by aviation. history. record. air. wall. jianyingde. feiji. zhuang. de. hard. plane. hit. DE smash. CENGJING. BA. fensui.. ‘The aviation history writes that air curtains once smashed a hard plane.’ (Qu 2012: 162). Hu (2005) proposes a pragmatics-based account in which the grammatical meaning is composed of a basic aspect and a derivative aspect. The basic aspect of meaning is stable, but the derivative is subject to the pragmatics. He uses the terms, zhuanzhe (a turn) and xiangcheng (pass-on) to distinguish those semantic phenomena. Hu claims that cengjing’s basic meaning, yiwang de yizhong jingli ‘an experience in the past’, corresponds to Ma’s (2003) no persistence and no validity and is a display of zhuanzhe (a turn); i.e. it does not hold at S. (22) shows that the secretary is no longer an employee here at S.. (22) Li Li. shuji. cengjing. secretary CENGJING. zai zheli. gongzuo-guo.. at. work-EXP. here. ‘Secretary Li worked here before.’ (Hu 2005: 26). On the contrary, if cengjing takes a derivative meaning, which is pass-on (xiangcheng) for cengjing, it will display persistence so the situation is still valid at S, as in example (23). The activity of reading happens again at S after its first earlier appearance.. (23) Bieren others. wo bu I. lun,. ruoshi ziji ze. not judge. if. self then. cengjing. kan-guo xuduo. CENGJING see-EXP much. jiu shu. weile. jiaoshu. zhi jin. ye. hai zai. kan.. old book. for. teach. till today. also still PROG. see. ‘As for me, I used to read many old books, and for teaching, I still do.’ (Hu 2005: 26) 13.

(23) Yisheng Zhang (2000) and Yajun Zhang (2002) believe cengjing in a specified context assumes a role of contrasting then with now. In (24), cengjing marks a cutting line of time: before the line the brother was engaged in a labor-intensive job and after it he gets a presumably better-paid job.. (24) Ni ge you brother bu. cengjing. shi gongren xianzai. ye. CENGJING. be. also do. worker. now. gan de DE. cuo.. not wrong ‘Your brother used to be a worker, and now he has got a good job (or even better).’ (Zhang 2002: 224). The view that the situation under the scope of cengjing does not hold at S is supported by Lu (1988), Hou (1998), Yisheng Zhang (2000), Yajun Zhang (2002), Ma (2003), Qu (2009) and Chang (2009) but not Cao (2002), Liu et al. (2004) and Hu (2005). Liu et al. argue that whether the situation holds at S is contingent. Though in (25) the experience of having been to China implies, by default, he is not in China at S, his whereabouts can, even at the slightest chance, choose China again at S.. (25) Ta cengjing He CENGJING. lai-guo. Zhongguo.. come-EXP. China. ‘He once came to China.’ (Liu et al. 2004: 131). 14.

(24) 2.3 Previous Studies on Yijing. 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 I. now. yijing. juede. YIJING feel. hen bu. cuo. very not wrong. le. 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. 15.

(25) (27) Wo yijing I. jie. yan. le.. 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 I. zai zheli. YIJING at. here. zhu le. san. nian.. 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 past year I. kan-guo zhe-ben shu.. YIJING see-EXP this-CL book. ‘I already read this book last year.’ (Ma 2003: 25) (30) Zai. guo ershi. nian women 16. dou yijing. tuixiu. le..

(26) 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 now. bu. YIJING NEG. neng gaibian jihua. le.. able change. PFV. plan. ‘(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 sun. cong. YIJING from. dong. bian shengqi le.. east. side rise. PFV. ‘The sun has risen from the east.’ (Deng 2010: 127) (33) Womende our. aiqing. yu. love. with we. shehui. fuwu. shiye. yiyang. yong. cun.. service. career. same. forever. exist. jinxing. de. process. DE society. women. yijing. zai. YIJING PROG. ‘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 17.

(27) 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 they YIJING at. gongzuo le. Foxconn. work. yi duan. shijian.. 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 in. her feel. bu. hui. not able. zhong. hei. cun. haoxiang yijing. center. black. village. as.if. bei. ganzou. le.. PAS. drive.away. PFV. zai. YIJING again. ‘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. YIJING this way. le. hai neng. PFV still can. zenme. ban?. 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 18.

(28) 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 I. jie. yan. le.. 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 though. tade nianji. yijing. his age. YIJING very big still. xinxian-de. tong xin.. fresh. kid heart. hen da. haishi. baoyou. yi-ke. keep. one-CL. ‘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 he. tongyi. YIJING agree. le. PFV 19.

(29) ‘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 they. yijing. shi fuqi. YIJING be. le.. 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. 20.

(30) (42) Jintian today. yijing. xingqi. YIJING week. san. le.. 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 sun. kuai luo shan. le.. YIJING soon fall mountain PFV. ‘The sun is about to come down the mountain.’ (Chang 2009: 24). 2.4 Summary. This section provides a summary of the main arguments from previous literature of cengjing and yijing. Cengjing is classified as an adverb by Lü (1999), defined as past tense marker by Ma (2003) and as a perfective aspect marker by Cao (2002). Cao (2002, 2003) and Ma (2003) argue that cengjing is able to scope over recent and remote past. Qu (2009) supplements this argument by suggesting adding explicit temporal reference, e.g. yesterday, two years ago. Lü (1999) finds cengjing cannot scope over negation. Ma (2003) proposes two features 21.

(31) ‘persistence’ and ‘validity’ to specify the semantic components of cengjing, which lacks both of the features. Deng (2010) follows Ma’s proposal that cengjing lacks the feature of persistence and claims that this is the reason for cengjing’s incompatibility with the progressive whereas Cao (2003) believes that in some contexts cengjing with durative zhe is acceptable. Yisheng Zhang (2000) and Yajun Zhang (2002) argue that cengjing makes a contrast between then and now. When it comes to whether a situation holds at S, there are both sides of viewpoints. Cao (2002), Liu et al. (2004) and Hu (2005) see whether the situation holds at S as contingent whereas the others argue that cengjing nullifies situation at S. Yijing is viewed as an adverb with a completion sense noted by Lü (1999); however, Ma (2003) argues that completion does not apply to every situation due to the nature of situation types following yijing. Cao (2002) and Ma (2003) instead switch focus to the fact that a situation has taken place; it is the record of realizing a situation (possibly only its inchoative stage) that holds at S. In an analogous manner, Liu et al. (2004) argue that a situation has taken place and the consequent effect holds at S. Yijing is a versatile temporal expression in that it is contextually adaptable to the past, the present or the future (Cao 2002, Ma 2003); in addition, Deng (2010) finds it also compatible with the habitual or the progressive. Lü (1999) also points out its capacity of scoping over negation. Hu (2005) and Qu (2012) study yijing from a pragmatic viewpoint. All the relevant meanings are classified into basic and derivative categories by Hu. If the situation holds at S, yijing displays its basic meaning; if the situation does not hold at S, yijing’s meaning is one of the derivative. In Qu (2012), yijing is seen as a more dynamic and multifaceted adverb in comparison to cengjing: it adds speaker-oriented 22.

(32) perspective to a sentence; yijing tends to scope over sentences in irrealis mood. Chang (2009: 30) summarizes yijing’s basic meaning as 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 grant a situation a factual status because this situation has occurred before the speech time, another given event, or a temporal anchor’ along with four other derivative meanings. Below is a restatement of the summary in the form of a table. Table 1 Summary of Previous Works of Cengjing and Yijing Author. Cengjing. Yijing. Cao. Situation - Perfective marker. - Realize a situation. (2002,. may not. - Contextually adaptable to. 2003). hold at S.. - Scope over recent and remote past. the past, the present, and. - Compatible with. the future. durative zhe. - The realization holds till. - Whether the situation. S.. holds at S is contingent. Liu et al. (2004). - A situation occurred in the past.. - A situation occurred in the past.. - Whether the situation holds at S is. - The effect of the situation holds at S.. contingent. Hu (2005). - Basic meaning: the situation does not hold at S.. situation holds at S. - Derivative meaning: the. - Derivative meaning: the situation holds at S. Lü (1999). - Basic meaning: the. Situation - Adverb. situation does not hold at S. - Adverb. 23.

(33) does not hold at S.. - An act or a situation in the past. - An action or a change is completed or has reached. - Unable to scope over negation. a certain extent. - Able to scope over negation. Yisheng. - Perfective, experiential. - A sense of termination/. Zhang. meaning. resultative. (2000),. - A contrastive expression. - Possibly ongoing at S. Yajun. between then and now. Zhang (2002) Ma (2003). - Past tense. - Make a situation a fact,. - Scope over recent and remote past. which exists before the speech time, another given event, or a temporal anchor - Contextually adaptable to the past, the present, and the future. - Proposal of semantic features: persistence, validity Qu (2009, 2012). - Explicit temporal. - Speaker-oriented. reference to distinguish. perspective. recent and remote past. - Dynamic status. - Static status. - More likely to. - More likely to scope over realis mood. accommodate irrealis mood. Chang. Grant a situation an. - Grant a situation a factual. (2009). experiential status and the. status because this. situation is no longer valid. situation has occurred. at S. before speech time, another given event, or a 24.

(34) temporal anchor - Four derivative meanings compiled from previous literature Deng. Incompatible with. Compatible with progressive. (2010). progressive zai or the. zai and the habitual. habitual. 2.5 Inadequacies of Previous Works. In this section I will raise problems about the analysis in the literature. I will first cover cengjing’s problems, then yijing’s and finally point out the insufficiency in distinguishing them. As to cenging, under coverage are Cao’s (2002) scope over recent past, Deng’s (2010) argument of its incompatibility with the progressive zai, Lü’s (1999) negation, Hu’s (2005) proposal of cengjing’s derivative meaning, Cao (2002) and Liu et al. (2004)’s argument of the extension to S, and Qu’s (2012) cengjing in relation to realis mood. Cao (2002) claims that cengjing is able to scope over both recent and remote past. She provides (10), repeated as (44), as an example in support of recent past. However, in a random survey (14 out of 17 people) I found more than ten informants see (44) as unacceptable. Cengjing sounds unfit unless it is intended to create perceptual remoteness.. (44) Gangcai ta just.now he. ceng. shuodao-guo. ni.. CENG. talk.about-EXP. you. ‘He just talked about you.’ (Cao 2002: 44). 25.

(35) Deng (2010) argues cengjing is not compatible with the progressive zai. Since cengjing is a past tense adverb (Ma 2003), any situation under its scope does not hold at S. It does not restrict aspectual condition of the situation under its scope. Following this rationale, it is reasonable to deem cengjing legitimate to take a progressive marker like zai in (45) – the event of considering registering a summer camp was ongoing for a period of time (in the past).. (45) Women cengjing we. CENGJING. zai. kaolu. baoming xialing. PROG. consider sign.up. ying.. summer camp. ‘We were once considering signing up for the summer camp.’. Also, there is no reason to prevent a past tense from scoping over negation. (46), a slightly different version of (7), should be considered grammatical. (46) makes perfect sense in the context where the referent resumed going out after a period of staying inside at home all day.. (46) Weile for. shiyan. ta. cengjing. san-ge. experiment. he. CENGJING. three-CL month. chu damen. yi. out gate. one step. yue. bu NEG. bu.. ‘In order to do an experiment, he did not stay even a step out of the door.’. Hu (2005) and Qu (2012) examine cengjing on pragmatics-based accounts. Hu classifies all the relevant meanings into basic and derivative categories. If the situation does not hold at S, cengjing displays its basic meaning; if the situation holds at S, cengjing’s meaning is one of the derivative. The fact is that Hu’s (2005) analysis of the example (23), repeated as (47), 26.

(36) is incorrect. Even cengjing takes the derivative meaning claimed by Hu, there is discontinuity and the resumed situation is a new event. It is impossible for a situation under the scope of cengjing to hold until S.. (47) Bieren others. wo bu I. lun,. ruoshi ziji ze. not judge. if. self then. cengjing. kan-guo xuduo. CENGJING see-EXP much. jiu shu. weile. jiaoshu. zhi jin. ye. hai zai. kan.. old book. for. teach. till today. also still PROG. see. ‘As for me, I used to read many old books, and for teaching, I still do.’ (Hu 2005: 26). On a related note, whether or not the situation under the scope of cengjing extends to S is not a debatable issue. Cao (2002) and Liu et al. (2004) think it is contingent. However, it is by definition impossible for the situation scoped by cengjing to continue till S. (48) is unacceptable since hai ‘still’, displaying continuity, is incompatible with discontinuity of cengjing. ‘I will continue living there’ in (48) will cause semantic anomaly. To allow jixu ‘continue’ to make sense, the situation of living in the countryside has to be going on so this situation can be continued. Cengjing cuts off the continuity and explains why (48) is anomalous.. (48) #Wo. cengjing. zai nongcun zhu-guo liu nian,. hai hui. I. CENGJING. in. still will. jixu. zhu.. farm. live-EXP six year. continue live ‘#I used to live in the countryside for six years and I will continue living there.’. 27.

(37) Qu (2012) finds cengjing tends to scope over sentences in realis mood. In (21), repeated as (49), cengjing and the realis smashing event accommodate each other well. A problem is that Qu does not explain why cengjing is less likely to accommodate an irrealis situation or show relevant examples.. (49) Ju hangkong shi. jizai. kongqi. qiangbi. cengjing. ba. wall. CENGJING. BA. by aviation. history. record. air. jianying-de. feiji. zhuang. de. hard. plane. hit. DE smash. fensui.. ‘The aviation history writes that air curtains once smashed a hard plane.’ (Qu 2012: 162). Regarding yijing, Chang (2009) wrongly attributes ongoing or experiential meaning to yijing. It is equally inappropriate for yijing to be assigned the meaning of a recent future by Hou (1998), Lü (1999), Zhang (2002), Liu et al. (2004) and Chang (2009). Deng (2010) argues that yijing and the habitual are mutually compatible but is not aware of yijing changing the time frame of the habitual. Hu (2005) gives an incorrect analysis that claims the situation under yijing’s scope may not persist. Moreover, all of them have not done an exhaustive study of yijing, leaving other meanings unexplored. Among the derivative meanings proposed by Chang (2009), including the experiential, the in-progress, speaker’s emphasis on the proposition and the about-to meaning, all but speaker’s emphasis are questionable. For example, the ‘experiential’ of first derivative meaning in (40), repeated as (50), roots from the suffix guo rather than yijing. Without yijing, xue-guo diyi zhang ‘the first chapter was learned’ alone retains the experiential meaning; in 28.

(38) other words, guo gives an experiential sense to the overall situation. The derivative meanings Chang claims should be attributed to situation types or temporal suffixes like guo rather than yijing. On a similar note, the second meaning, the in-progress, sees a situation as ongoing at S. However, this progress is due to the situation type that follows it. In (41), repeated as (51), the marital status is still ‘married’ at S without yijing. Yijing only plays an inchoative role in a proposition with state situation, which is the main contributor to the ongoing meaning.. (50) Yijing. xue-guo. diyi zhang.. YIJING learn-EXP. first chapter. ‘The first chapter has been learned.’ (Chang 2009: 21) (51) Tamen they. (yijing). shi fuqi. YIJING be. le.. husband.wife PFV. ‘They are (already) husband and wife.’ (Chang 2009: 21). Instead of focusing on cengjing’s or yijing’s own meaning, Chang (2009) infers their meanings from situation types that follow them. This is a back-formation way of obtaining cengjing’s and yijing’s meanings. She mistakenly conjures up meanings that do not originate from cengjing or yijing. Only when their basic meanings are examined can one answer such a question like where cengjing and yijing overlap and where they diverge. It is barely persuasive to explain cengjing and yijing by resorting to the situation type that is semantically under their scope. This fallacy has been pointed out by Löbner (1989), who accuses this of confusing co-occurrence-conditions with truth-conditions. Deng (2010) points out a habitual event that is true all the time can stand under the scope of yijing as in (32), repeated as (52b). What Deng is not aware is that the time frame is 29.

(39) changed accordingly. (52a) constitutes a panchronic generalization: habitual events are located within an interval of indefinite size incorporating past time, future time, and the “now” of speech time (Michaelis 2002). In (52b), yijing, as a present contiguous past interval (a phase extending from some past point up to the moment of speech) restrains the original habitual sentence to a single temporal point (Michaelis 2002: 109). Thus (52b) is a one-time event in the past.. (52) a.. Taiyang. cong. dong. bian shengqi le.. sun. from. east. side rise. PFV. ‘The sun rises from the east.’ b.. Taiyang yijing sun. cong. YIJING from. dong. bian shengqi le.. east. side rise. PFV. ‘The sun has risen from the east.’ (Deng 2010: 127). Hu (2005) gives an inappropriate example to support the claim of situation’s extension to S. In (38), repeated as (53), the ‘kid heart’ cannot be evidence of negating old age, given that ‘old age’ and ‘innocence’ are not semantically antonymous. Their co-occurrence is actually in semantic harmony and does not offer any hint of no ‘persistence’. Therefore, this example is not eligible to prove whether extension holds or not.. (53) Jishi though. tade nianji. yijing. his age. YIJING very big still. xinxian-de. tong xin.. fresh. kid heart. hen da. haishi. baoyou. yi-ke. keep. one-CL. ‘Though already at such an old age, he is still innocent as a kid.’ (Hu 2005: 28). 30.

(40) Throughout the literature, previous studies leave untouched other meanings of yijing, a multidimensional expression. Though yijing modifies a situation in the past when it assumes a role of relative past, there are several counter examples undermining this argument. (33), repeated as (54), is an ongoing situation at S, so a relative past is not an appropriate explanation. In (42), repeated as (55), the S is still on Wednesday. Yijing is here for other reasons than a relative past. (43), repeated as (56), has kuai, a near future expression, without even the slightest sense of past involved in this sentence. To say yijing has a meaning of recent future in this particular kind of sentence is a stipulated arrangement.. (54) Womende our. aiqing. yu. love. with we. shehui. fuwu. shiye. yiyang. yong. cun.. service. career. same. forever. exist. jinxing. de. process. DE society. women. yijing. zai. YIJING PROG. ‘Our love lasts as long as the social service we have been doing.’ (Deng 2010: 127) (55) Jintian today. yijing. xingqi. YIJING week. san. le.. three. PFV. ‘It’s Wednesday already.’ (Chang 2009: 23) (56) Taiyang yijing sun. kuai luo shan. le.. YIJING soon fall mountain PFV. ‘The sun is about to come down the mountain.’ (Chang 2009: 24). In addition to individual problems of cengjing and yijing, the distinction between cengjing and yijing has not obtained a rigorous analysis. Previous scholars either attribute their difference to pragmatics (Lu 1988, Hu 2005, Qu 2012), come to loose conclusions (Deng 2010) or provide no further explanations (Ma 2003). 31.

(41) Lu (1988) and Qu (2012) both believe the difference between sentence (57a) and (57b) or (58a) and (58b) lies in implicature from the speaker, depending on the context where the sentences are uttered. Lu (1988) argues that in (57b) the speaker implies she has been involved in the situation of living in the countryside too long; Qu (2012) argues that (58b) implies they have worked at Foxconn long enough and it’s time to let others replace them.. (57) a.. Wo cengjing. zai nongcun zhu-guo liu nian.. I. in. CENGJING. farm. live-EXP six year. ‘I used to live in the countryside for six years.’ b.. Wo yijing I. zai nongcun zhu le. YIJING in. farm. liu nian.. live PFV six year. ‘I have lived in the countryside for six years.’ (Lu 1988: 52) (58) a.. Tamen cengjing zai fushikang. gongzuo. they CENGJING at Foxconn. work. le. yi duan. shijian.. PFV one period time. ‘They used to work at Foxconn for a while.’ b.. Tamen yijing zai fushikang they YIJING at. gongzuo. Foxconn. work. le. yi duan. shijian.. PFV one period time. ‘They have worked at Foxconn for a while.’ (Qu 2012: 161). Deng (2010) concludes that yijing can co-occur with habitual situations but cengjing not. On the contrary, once-off event like an experience of skipping meals for a day in (59) works well for cengjing as well as yijing. Deng spots out the context where cengjing sounds anomalous but a proper explanation is not seen in his paper.. (59) a.. Ta cengjing. yi. tian bu. chi fan.. she CENGJING. one day not eat rice. ‘She once ate nothing for a whole day.’ 32.

(42) b.. Ta yijing. yi. tian bu. chi fan le.. she YIJING one day not eat rice PFV ‘She has been eating nothing for a day.’ (Deng 2010: 127). Some (e.g. Zhang 2000, Cao 2002) even argue cengjing and yijing are both perfective adverbs, but (60) shows this understanding comes from a confusion of perfective with past tense.. (60) a.. Ta 1870. nian cengjing. dida. meiguo.. he. year CENGJING. arrive. America. 1870. ‘He once entered America in 1870.’ b.. Ta 1870. nian yijing. he. year YIJING arrive. 1870. dida. meiguo. America. ‘By 1870 he had already arrived in America.’. When the situation is set with an explicit past time reference, e.g. 1870, cengjing does not add any perfective sense to the proposition of (60a); instead, it states a simple past situation. This perfective analysis of cengjing is especially inappropriate with the fact that cengjing can scope over a progressive, as in example (45). Though a past tense pattern may convey perfective viewpoint, past tense and perfective should be specified individually rather than interchangeable. An aspectual perfective has nothing to do with speech time. It concerns the internal structure of a situation. Previous literature extends the discussion to various ideas, such as relation to S, or scope over progressive, habitual, and realis mood, but they look scattered and arbitrary. They should be knotted together under a unified argument, which will be presented in Chapter Three. 33.

(43) 34.

(44) Chapter Three. A Semantic Analysis of Cengjing and Yijing. 3.1 Introduction. The review in Chapter Two reveals that there is no agreed analysis of cengjing and yijing in the literature. In particular of yijing, none of the previous scholars is seen analyzing yijing beyond a temporal expression, and this indicates oblivion to other meanings of yijing. Following Li and Ho (2016), in this chapter I discuss the meanings of cengjing based on Reichenbach’s (1947) three abstract times and those of yijing based on Reichenbach’s approach and the scale theory. Reichenbach’s (1947) invention of three times distinguishes between cengjing and yijing in a clear and unmistaken way. My adoption of Reichenbach’s idea will make this study stick to the tense and aspect, which are fundamental in understanding time. One of the purposes of this study is to make distinction between these two temporal expressions. In consideration of directedness and specificity, Reichenbach (1947) seems to suit better than any previous approach. In Section 3.2 the meanings of cengjing are examined based on Reichenbach (1947). 3.2.1 is an overview of Reichenbach’s E-R-S relation, which is then employed to clarify the temporal location that cengjing denotes and to place the unsolved problems from Chapter Two 35.

(45) under appropriate analysis in 3.2.2. Section 3.3 discusses the meanings of yijing from the perspective of Reichenbach (1947) and the scale theory. 3.3.1 gives a review of scale, especially Kennedy’s (2007) structure of scale, a triple consisting of a set of degrees D, an ordering relation on that set (>), and a dimension DIM. 3.3.2 revisits the unaddressed issues regarding yijing. In addition to Reichenbach-based analysis of relative past, other meanings of yijing are given an explanation via scale. Section 3.4 is a summary of my analysis.. 3.2 Cengjing. Section 3.2.1 provides a review of Reichenbach (1947), whose time points E, R, S and ordering relation of simultaneity/anteriority are then used to analyze the meanings of cengjing in 3.2.2.. 3.2.1 A Review of Reichenbach (1947). Reichenbach (1947) distinguishes three abstract times in time and two ordering relations, which together construct the analysis of time. The three times are the event time (henceforth E), the reference time (henceforth R) and speech time (henceforth S). The two ordering relations are anteriority (represented by ‘-’) and simultaneity (represented by ‘,’) (Reichenbach 1947: 287). Reichenbach’s terminology sees ‘past,’ ‘present,’ and ‘future’ as the position of R relative to S; the terms ‘anterior,’ ‘simple,’ and ‘posterior’ indicate the position of E relative to 36.

(46) R. The interaction between the position of R relative to S and the position of E relative to R will give rise to nine possible forms, which Reichenbach (1947) calls fundamental forms. As listed in Table 2, the corresponding traditional names are offered as well.. Table 2 Relations between E, R and S in Reichenbach (1947: 294) Structure. New Name. Traditional Name. E-R-S. Anterior past. Past perfect. E, R-S. Simple past. Simple past. Posterior past. –. E-S, R. Anterior present. Present perfect. S, R, E. Simple present. Present. S, R-E. Posterior present. Simple future. Anterior future. Future perfect. S-R, E. Simple future. Simple future. S-R-E. Posterior future. –. R-E-S R-S, E R-S-E. S-E-R S, E-R E-S-R. I find that the temporal relation centers on R’s relation to the other two points in time; the order of E and S is flexible when they are on the same side of R. As a result, the posterior past and the anterior future, both of which have E and S on the same side of R, have more than one ordering relation between S, E, and R. In the following, I will focus on the relation of R anterior to S and the relation of R posterior to E, which are relevant to the scope of studying cengjing and yijing. I will follow. 37.

(47) up with a detailed analysis of each in the next two sections. The rest of relations are left out in the discussion. Reichenbach’s three abstract times are interrelated in understanding time. For example, in (61) the E refers to the time when the situation of doing homework took place; the R was the time John came home and the S was the time the sentence was uttered. In this example, S comes after E, because the situation of doing homework is complete before the speech time, however unknown it is. The E is anterior to R since the event of doing homework is followed by a point of reference, represented by John’s arrival at home. The R is a reference time before this sentence is uttered (S). The ordering relation between the three times is E-R-S. Furthermore, the R in (61) is not given a specific time point. Therefore the intervals between E and R, and between R and S, are contextually decided. What is for certainty is the order of E-R-S.. (61) When John came home, Mary had done her homework.. Reichenbach’s model is powerful in distinguishing simple past from present perfect. According to Reichenbach, his simple past means the event time (E) and reference time (R) coincide, and both are before the point of speech (S), such as (62a). In contrast, the E denoted by the present perfect precedes R, which coincides with S, such as (63a). Therefore the same E-S is further subdivided, by R, into the simple past (E,R-S) and the present perfect (E-R,S).. (62) a. b. (63) a.. I saw him. I saw him at 9 this morning. I have seen him. 38.

(48) b.. *I have seen him at 9 this morning.. (62b) and (63b) add time reference to their (a) version of sentences. It becomes clear that a particular past time reference is not compatible with present perfect in (63b). The R in (63b) should be simultaneous with S, in this case, now. (62b), on the other hand, takes R with E, so any past time reference meets this requirement. The E,R-S order shown by simple past is a contrast to E-R-S shown by past perfect. As in (64), the E of finishing the project precedes last winter, as R, and last winter itself precedes the time when this E-R relation was uttered, S.. (64) I had finished the project by last winter.. Simple past, past perfect are distinguished by the relation between E and R, simultaneity or anteriority, whereas simple past and present perfect show difference in which time point, E or S, R chooses to align with. In brief conclusion, past perfect, simple past and present perfect have the following order of time points respectively, E-R-S, E,R-S and E-R,S.. 3.2.2 A Reichenbach-based Analysis of Cengjing. Cengjing has been proposed to serve as an adverb by Lü (1999), defined as marking past time by Ma (2003) and as a perfective aspect marker by Cao (2002), as reviewed in Chapter Two. I suggest that cengjing is a past time adverb, following Lü (1999), Yisheng Zhang (2002), Yajun Zhang (2002), Chang (2009), Li and Ho (2016), among others. The. 39.

(49) terminology seen among previous works is not consistent, if not accurate for some of them. I will elaborate in the following with Reichenbach’s three times. Based on the proposal that sees cengjing as past time adverb, the situations under cengjing’s scope accordingly happened in the past. As reviewed in Chapter Two, cengjing is not compatible with the future and the present tense. For example, (65) is not acceptable in that the time frame of mingnian ‘next year’ (S-R) violates the setting of cengjing as a past tense adverb (R-S). The resultative state of creating a novel, conveyed by wan ‘complete’, belongs to a time that has not come yet, apparently against the past context predetermined by cengjing.. (65) *Mingnian next.year. zhe-ge. shihou. this-CL time. wan. yi-ben. finish. one-CL novel. wo jiu hui cengjing. xie. I. write. just will CENGJING. xiaoshuo.. *‘I will have once finished this novel by this time next year.’. Cengjing marks past time but does not restrict the stage of the situation. That is, cengjing requires R precede S but leaves open the order of R and E. Besides scoping over a simple past, cengjing is compatible with different aspectual scenarios. For example, in (66), in the order of E-R-S, a finished situation of arriving in the UK comes before a reference time (R), i.e. six years ago. This shows cengjing can modify a past situation in another past. In (67), the dancing activity was going on for a while in the remote past specified by time reference duo nian qian ‘years ago’. The R coincides with E, which covers a certain stretch of time. 40.

(50) (Reichenbach 1947: 289). This time extension is marked by present participle in English. The extended tense shows an order of R,E-S.. (66) Liu-nian qian ta. qu. Meiguo qian. cengjing. xian. six-year ago he. go. US. CENGJING. earlier. qu. le. go. PFV UK. before. Yingguo.. ‘He went to UK first before going to US six years ago.’ (67) Duo many. nian qian. de. mou-ge wuye. year before. DE some-CL midnight he. xingfen-de. zai. tiaowu.. excitedly. PROG. dance. ta. cengjing. hen. CENGJING. very. ‘In a midnight years ago he was dancing with much excitement.’. Cengjing requires that the situation terminate before S, i.e. E must precede S. In (68) where cengjing scopes over a state situation, the state of perplexity lasted only in the past and is no longer available at S. Cengjing cancels the future possibility, and the E is expected to be kept with the R in the past.. (68) Wo cengjing I. CENGJING. miwang, dan xianzai. zhidao. fangxiang. le.. at.a.loss, but now. know. direction. PFV. ‘I was once at a loss, but now have figured out the way to go.’. The previous analyses of cengjing, as seen in Chapter Two, leave many problems that are awaiting a better explanation. I will address them with the abstract times from Reichenbach (1947).. 41.

(51) Scholars such as Cao (2002) and Hu (2005) argue that it is possible for situations under cengjing’s scope to hold at S. Cao has a quick mention of the possibility, though she provides no example to support it. Hu examines cengjing on pragmatics-based accounts; he classifies all the relevant meanings into basic and derivative categories. According to Hu, if the situation does not hold at S, cengjing displays its basic meaning; if the situation holds at S, cengjing’s meaning is one of the derivative. He argues that in (69) (= (23) in Chapter Two) cengjing takes a derivative meaning, so the situation continues at S.. (69) Bieren others. wo bu I. lun,. ruoshi ziji ze. not judge. if. self then. cengjing. kan-guo xuduo. CENGJING see-EXP much. jiu shu,. weile. jiaoshu. zhi jin. ye. hai zai. kan.. old book. for. teach. till today. also still PROG. see. ‘As for me, I used to read many old books, and for teaching, I still do.’ (Hu 2005: 26). Against Cao’s and Hu’s views, my proposal is that it is impossible for the same situation under the scope of cengjing to hold until S. In (69) the situation of reading books lacks continuity. The resuming situation is a new event, separate from the previous one. (69) consists of two clauses denoting two events, and cengjing only has scope over the first event. Therefore, in the second clause the situation holds until S. Deng (2010) argues that cengjing is incompatible with the progressive aspect as reviewed in Chapter Two, such as (70) (= (16) in Chapter Two) and dismisses the possibility of combining cengjing and zai, without further elaboration. I suggest that the reason for (70) to be unacceptable is a semantic clash between cengjing and yong cun ‘exist forever’. The 42.

(52) yong cun predicates two arguments, aiqing ‘love’ and shiye ‘career’, the latter of which is modified by a relative clause under cengjing’s scope. The shiye under cengjing’s scope should no longer exist at S, and thus this sentence is semantically contradictory.. (70) *Womende our. aiqing. yu. love. with we. shehui. fuwu. shiye. yiyang. yong. cun.. service. career. same. forever. exist. jinxing. de. process. DE society. women. cengjing. zai. CENGJING. PROG. *‘Our love lasts as long as the social service we were once doing.’ (Deng 2010: 127). As for the issue of compatibility between cengjing and zai, since my argument sets cengjing as an adverb marking past time, I regard the combination of cengjng and a progressive particle as semantically legitimate. In (71) zai demonstrates time extension of an event, which Reichenbach (1947) terms as extended tense, and cengjing places this aspectual situation in a past context, so the in-progress process of the plan is in the past. Reichenbach views E and R as coincidental in the extended tense, thus showing an order of R,E-S.. (71) Na-chang zhanzheng that-CL war. zhongduan. le. suspend. PFV we. zai. jinxing. de. PROG. process. DE plan. women. cengjing CENGJING. jihua.. ‘The war suspended the plan we were processing.’. Cao (2002) argues that cengjing, generally considered an adverb indicating remote past, can have a ‘just now’ meaning as well, as in (72), which is about an event that just happened, possibly a few minutes ago. As mentioned in 2.5, the informants of this study, nevertheless, 43.

(53) consider (72) awkward unless it is intended to create perceptual remoteness. I suggest there is no definitive value of the minimum remoteness of the event time from the speech time. Still, cengjing is apparently against a too recent situation, as in (72). It is not a well-formed sentence because gangcai ‘just now’ brings in an extremely recent past (R), but the situation (E) under cengjing’s scope belongs to a remoter past. The closest explanation to clarify this semantic obscurity is that cengjing is compatible with a recent past under the condition of stressing the time difference between the happening of a situation (E) and speech time (S). For instance, it makes sense to use cengjing in (73). Shuodao-guo ni is an event in the recent past, which seems to lose validity when this situation is uttered. Cengjing has the function of highlighting a then-and-now discontinuity.. (72) Gangcai ta just.now he. ceng. shuodao-guo. ni.. CENG. talk.about-EXP. you. ‘He just talked about you.’ (Cao 2002: 44) (73) Gangcai ta just.now he. ceng. shuodao-guo. ni, xianzai. que wang. le.. CENG. talk.about-EXP. you now. but forget. PFV. ‘He just talked about you, but forgets it now.’. Qu (2012) argues that cengjing tends to scope over realis mood, as in (74) (= (21) in Chapter Two), but does not explain why it has such an inclination. In fact, there are counterexamples that undermine the credibility of Qu’s claim. The possibility of sentences like (75) questions the argument that cengjing tends to scope over realis mood. In (75) cengjing is under the scope of keneng ‘may’ but the lack of tense in modal verbs allows. 44.