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5 - Disyllabification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2023

Yuzhi Shi
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
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Summary

This chapter discusses phonological motivations for morpho-syntactic changes in history. In general, Old Chinese was monosyllabic, which means that the overwhelming majority of words were represented by a single syllable, regardless of whether they were content or function words. In Middle Chinese, the phonological system was dramatically simplified; the number of consonants and vowels was reduced, and the syllabic structures were simplified. To restore the phonological distinctions of lexical items, the language increased the number of syllables for words, typically by adding one syllable to originally monosyllabic words. This disyllabification tendency has lasted nearly two millennia since then. This new sort of prosodic unit stimulated the fusion of two monosyllabic items, a key factor for the emergence of the resultative construction and other grammatical morphemes.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Disyllabification
  • Yuzhi Shi, National University of Singapore
  • Book: The Evolution of Chinese Grammar
  • Online publication: 16 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108921831.005
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  • Disyllabification
  • Yuzhi Shi, National University of Singapore
  • Book: The Evolution of Chinese Grammar
  • Online publication: 16 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108921831.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Disyllabification
  • Yuzhi Shi, National University of Singapore
  • Book: The Evolution of Chinese Grammar
  • Online publication: 16 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108921831.005
Available formats
×