Single-word English prepositions in Hong Kong Cantonese

Author: Chan Brian Hok-Shing  

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

E-ISSN: 1877-8798|9|1|46-74

ISSN: 1877-7031

Source: Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol.9, Iss.1, 2018-01, pp. : 46-74

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Abstract

This paper proposes a structural borrowing account for a lexicogrammatical phenomenon whereby, in on ongoing Cantonese discourse, in which the use of a single-word English preposition triggers and activates an English construction, specifically an NP COP P NP sequence, and brings it into that discourse. The borrowed structure eventually converges with Cantonese, with the English preposition reanalyzed as a verb or a coverb. It is further suggested that these processes of structural borrowing and convergence are semantically motivated. Drawing on Cognitive Grammar, the borrowed structure np cop p np profiles a location as a relationship (whereas in Cantonese it is profiled as a thing by a postposition), and the pp (i.e., p np ) is profiled as a property of the subject or trajector (whereas in Cantonese a coverb phrase is always associated with a process). The converged constructions – in which an English preposition is reanalyzed as a verb or coverb – profile more dynamic and specific processes.