From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure

Yu Yin Hsu; Tao Wang

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73

From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure

Yu Yin Hsu (Corresponding Author), Tao Wang

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceeding › Conference article published in proceeding or book › Academic research › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This study reports the results of two sets of corpus studies on the use of beneficiary structures (wèi-dòng shì), one in modern and the other in ancient Chinese. First, we analyzed the semantic associations of the word wèile ‘do something for something/someone’ in modern Chinese, using two corpora and the word-embedding model. The results were in line with semantic analyses proposed in the Semantic-Map Model. Second, based on an examination of all the sentences expressing beneficiary meanings in Zuo’s Commentary and Mencius, we established that the beneficiary structure in those works involves a light-verb structure that should be syntactically distinguished from other such structures that introduce causative and intentional events. As well as providing some new evidence regarding the semantic content of the wèi-dòng shì in modern Chinese, we present structural evidence of its source, which can be dated to the pre-Qin period, as shown by the examples in the two target ancient-Chinese texts.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Jia-Fei Hong, Yangsen Zhang, Pengyuan Liu
Publisher	Springer
Pages	725-735
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Print)	9783030381882
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73
Publication status	Published - 4 Jan 2020
Event	20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019 - Beijing, China Duration: 28 Jun 2019 → 30 Jun 2019

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	11831 LNAI
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019
Country/Territory	China
City	Beijing
Period	28/06/19 → 30/06/19

Keywords

Beneficiary structure
Chinese GigaWord Corpus 2.0
Mencius
Modern Chinese
Word-embedding
Zuo’s Commentary

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Arts and Humanities
General Computer Science

More information

10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73

http://hdl.handle.net/10397/91926

Cite this

Hsu, Y. Y., & Wang, T. (2020). From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure. In J.-F. Hong, Y. Zhang, & P. Liu (Eds.), Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 725-735). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 11831 LNAI). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73

Hsu, Yu Yin ; Wang, Tao. / From Modern to Ancient Chinese : A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure. Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers. editor / Jia-Fei Hong ; Yangsen Zhang ; Pengyuan Liu. Springer, 2020. pp. 725-735 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

@inproceedings{7914449ab73841daa9b504bebda8c432,

title = "From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure",

abstract = "This study reports the results of two sets of corpus studies on the use of beneficiary structures (w{\`e}i-d{\`o}ng sh{\`i}), one in modern and the other in ancient Chinese. First, we analyzed the semantic associations of the word w{\`e}ile {\textquoteleft}do something for something/someone{\textquoteright} in modern Chinese, using two corpora and the word-embedding model. The results were in line with semantic analyses proposed in the Semantic-Map Model. Second, based on an examination of all the sentences expressing beneficiary meanings in Zuo{\textquoteright}s Commentary and Mencius, we established that the beneficiary structure in those works involves a light-verb structure that should be syntactically distinguished from other such structures that introduce causative and intentional events. As well as providing some new evidence regarding the semantic content of the w{\`e}i-d{\`o}ng sh{\`i} in modern Chinese, we present structural evidence of its source, which can be dated to the pre-Qin period, as shown by the examples in the two target ancient-Chinese texts.",

keywords = "Beneficiary structure, Chinese GigaWord Corpus 2.0, Mencius, Modern Chinese, Word-embedding, Zuo{\textquoteright}s Commentary",

author = "Hsu, {Yu Yin} and Tao Wang",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73",

language = "English",

isbn = "9783030381882",

series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)",

publisher = "Springer",

pages = "725--735",

editor = "Jia-Fei Hong and Yangsen Zhang and Pengyuan Liu",

booktitle = "Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers",

note = "20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019 ; Conference date: 28-06-2019 Through 30-06-2019",

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Hsu, YY & Wang, T 2020, From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure. in J-F Hong, Y Zhang & P Liu (eds), Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 11831 LNAI, Springer, pp. 725-735, 20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019, Beijing, China, 28/06/19. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73

From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure. / Hsu, Yu Yin (Corresponding Author); Wang, Tao.
Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Jia-Fei Hong; Yangsen Zhang; Pengyuan Liu. Springer, 2020. p. 725-735 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 11831 LNAI).

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceeding › Conference article published in proceeding or book › Academic research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - From Modern to Ancient Chinese

T2 - 20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019

AU - Hsu, Yu Yin

AU - Wang, Tao

PY - 2020/1/4

Y1 - 2020/1/4

N2 - This study reports the results of two sets of corpus studies on the use of beneficiary structures (wèi-dòng shì), one in modern and the other in ancient Chinese. First, we analyzed the semantic associations of the word wèile ‘do something for something/someone’ in modern Chinese, using two corpora and the word-embedding model. The results were in line with semantic analyses proposed in the Semantic-Map Model. Second, based on an examination of all the sentences expressing beneficiary meanings in Zuo’s Commentary and Mencius, we established that the beneficiary structure in those works involves a light-verb structure that should be syntactically distinguished from other such structures that introduce causative and intentional events. As well as providing some new evidence regarding the semantic content of the wèi-dòng shì in modern Chinese, we present structural evidence of its source, which can be dated to the pre-Qin period, as shown by the examples in the two target ancient-Chinese texts.

AB - This study reports the results of two sets of corpus studies on the use of beneficiary structures (wèi-dòng shì), one in modern and the other in ancient Chinese. First, we analyzed the semantic associations of the word wèile ‘do something for something/someone’ in modern Chinese, using two corpora and the word-embedding model. The results were in line with semantic analyses proposed in the Semantic-Map Model. Second, based on an examination of all the sentences expressing beneficiary meanings in Zuo’s Commentary and Mencius, we established that the beneficiary structure in those works involves a light-verb structure that should be syntactically distinguished from other such structures that introduce causative and intentional events. As well as providing some new evidence regarding the semantic content of the wèi-dòng shì in modern Chinese, we present structural evidence of its source, which can be dated to the pre-Qin period, as shown by the examples in the two target ancient-Chinese texts.

KW - Beneficiary structure

KW - Chinese GigaWord Corpus 2.0

KW - Mencius

KW - Modern Chinese

KW - Word-embedding

KW - Zuo’s Commentary

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M3 - Conference article published in proceeding or book

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SN - 9783030381882

T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)

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EP - 735

BT - Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers

A2 - Hong, Jia-Fei

A2 - Zhang, Yangsen

A2 - Liu, Pengyuan

PB - Springer

Y2 - 28 June 2019 through 30 June 2019

ER -

Hsu YY, Wang T. From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure. In Hong JF, Zhang Y, Liu P, editors, Chinese Lexical Semantics - 20th Workshop, CLSW 2019, Revised Selected Papers. Springer. 2020. p. 725-735. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_73

From Modern to Ancient Chinese: A Corpus Approach to Beneficiary Structure

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