Subjectivity and result marking in Mandarin: A corpus-based investigation

Abstract

Recent corpus studies have shown that differences in subjectivity − the degree to which speakers express themselves in an utterance − can account for the usage of causal connectives (because, so) in major European languages. If the notion of subjectivity is a basic cognitive principle, it ought to play a role in the description of connectives in other languages. In this paper, we present a corpus analysis of five Mandarin result connectives, kjiàn, suy, yīnc, yīn’ér, and yúshì. We used four subjectivity indicators: modality, domain (following Sweetser 1990), and the presence and identity of a Subject of Consciousness – the person responsible for constructing the causal relation. Results show that kjiàn, suy, yīnc, yīn’ér, and yúshì display different degrees of subjectivity. To a large degree, our findings corroborate previous observations in the literature (e.g. the ones in Xing 2001). However, our analysis also shows that while kjiàn, yúshì, and yīn’ér have robust profiles across genres, the subjective meanings of suy and yīnc, two common connectors, are genre sensitive.