How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese
© 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company. Yidian ((Greek passage), a little) in Chinese is commonly considered an indefinite and under-specific quantifier. This study provides some rethinking of yidian through the lens of elasticity theory, based on real-life data from TV discussions. Elasticity the...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39640 |
| _version_ | 1848755645853990912 |
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| author | Zhang, Grace |
| author_facet | Zhang, Grace |
| author_sort | Zhang, Grace |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company. Yidian ((Greek passage), a little) in Chinese is commonly considered an indefinite and under-specific quantifier. This study provides some rethinking of yidian through the lens of elasticity theory, based on real-life data from TV discussions. Elasticity theory offers new insights on the study of yidian, arguing that yidian is both an elastic quantifier and a qualifier. The findings show that while yidian indicates a small quantity and lesser degree, it is elastic and functions multi-dimensionally from mitigating to boosting. The frequency distributions of three pragmatic functions (just-right which is unmarked, mitigating and boosting which are marked) suggest that yidian is used more for informational than interpersonal and political purposes. In a positive utterance yidian tends to be a mitigator, but in negation it is a booster. The manifestation of elasticity is in yidian's fluidity, stretchability and strategy, enabling it to stretch to suit various contexts and making it a powerful 'little' word that performs a 'big' role in communication. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:59:36Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-39640 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:59:36Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-396402017-09-13T15:15:02Z How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese Zhang, Grace © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company. Yidian ((Greek passage), a little) in Chinese is commonly considered an indefinite and under-specific quantifier. This study provides some rethinking of yidian through the lens of elasticity theory, based on real-life data from TV discussions. Elasticity theory offers new insights on the study of yidian, arguing that yidian is both an elastic quantifier and a qualifier. The findings show that while yidian indicates a small quantity and lesser degree, it is elastic and functions multi-dimensionally from mitigating to boosting. The frequency distributions of three pragmatic functions (just-right which is unmarked, mitigating and boosting which are marked) suggest that yidian is used more for informational than interpersonal and political purposes. In a positive utterance yidian tends to be a mitigator, but in negation it is a booster. The manifestation of elasticity is in yidian's fluidity, stretchability and strategy, enabling it to stretch to suit various contexts and making it a powerful 'little' word that performs a 'big' role in communication. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39640 10.1075/cld.7.1.01zha restricted |
| spellingShingle | Zhang, Grace How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese |
| title | How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese |
| title_full | How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese |
| title_fullStr | How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese |
| title_full_unstemmed | How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese |
| title_short | How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese |
| title_sort | how elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in chinese |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39640 |