The Reciprocal Constructions of Chinese and Thai From the Perspective of Linguistic Typology
Keywords:
Mutual, Reciprocal Constructions, Mutual MeaningAbstract
Reciprocal Constructions is a universal linguistic phenomenon. Based on relevant researches, this paper makes a comparative analysis of the types, expressions and semantic extension of Reciprocal Constructions in Chinese and Thai from the perspective of typology. Through the investigation of language examples, Observe the similarities and differences in the Reciprocal Constructions of Chinese and Thai. The types of Reciprocal Constructions in Chinese and Thai mainly include lexical types, mutual adverbs and mutual pronouns. Chinese adverb " huxiang” or “xianghu" and Thai adberb "kan1" as mutual marker of Chinese and Thai. When using mutual words, Thai need to be used with “kan1” or “kap2” to form a complete Reciprocal Constructions, while Chinese mutual words can be express mutual meanings alone. Generally, only non-mutual verbs can enter the Reciprocal Constructions of Chinese adverbs, but it is found that some mutual verbs can also enter this format. When the Chinese pronoun "duifang" is used to express the mutual meaning, the format that co-occurrence with the mutual pronoun needs to be supported by certain context. The format that co-occurrence with verbs and mutual adverbs, in which only non-reciprocal verbs can enter and the verb must be transitive. As for the semantic extension of reciprocal marker (REC), Chinese REC can be extended into sociative, chaining, all, each, and distributive meanings. REC in Thai can be extended into sociative, chaining, adjoint, all and universal meanings.
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