Author(s)

Ronald Fong

Department of English, University of Macau, Macau, China.

Although there have been various studies on the Chinese ba-construction, this article presents some unconventional views. Most studies do not treat ba as a verb. This article argues that ba is a verb, although it has some non-typical verbal properties. Firstly, the argument establishes that it is a verb based upon the “gradient” analysis, which has not been applied to ba before. Secondly, having been treated as a verb, ba shows special properties of its own such as marking subordination. Apart from this non-traditional view, ba is shown to be highly transitive, which is also a verbal feature. Different from previous analyses, this article argues that ba is a radial category showing various associated meanings. Finally, ba is shown to produce blending with other verb complements, such as the resultative construction, through its ability to create mental spaces.

ba, Gradience, Subordination, Radial Category, Mental Space

Fong, R. (2015) The Chinese ba as a Verb: A Constructional-Cognitive Approach. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 5, 48-64. doi: 10.4236/ojml.2015.51005.