A Study Of The Grammaticalization And Subjectification Of "按说"

As a common word in Modern Chinese,“按说” is frequently used in our dailyconversations in association with evidentiality and modality. However, the study of thisChinese expression is in want of more compelling evidence and it could be moresystematic as well.Based on the substantial data collected from CCL, we systematically study thepragmatic, semantic, syntactic and many other relevant characteristics of “按说” andfurther combine them with three classical linguistic theories, viz., grammaticalizationtheory, lexicalization theory and subjectification theory, to explore its origins.Relying on our careful observations and thorough analyses, we work out that “按说” is actually lexicalized from the “按[…] V(saying)” construction which primarilyserves the objective quotation function in sentences and then gradually grammaticalizesitself from an evidential adverb to a discourse marker that is often used in ourconversations. In addition, we deduce the specific steps that the construction and itsinternal constituents take during the process and among them, many relevant cognitivedevices and mechanisms that promote the lexicalization and grammaticalization processof “按说” are presented, such as Gestalt, metonymy, metaphor, etc. Moreover, someinnovative work aiming to reveal the relations between grammaticalization,lexicalization and subjectification can also be found in this paper.By providing a full account of the detailed lexicalization and grammaticalizationprocess of “按说”, we expect to offer a new perspective from which to explore theformation process of many other similar Chinese multi-syllabic words.