Revisiting the diachronic development of the word order of locative prepositional phrases in Chinese

• Main Author: Jiang, Ling
• Other Authors: Alexander Coupe
• Format: Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2025
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/181936
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study revisits the diachronic development of the word order of locative prepositional phrases (PPs) in Chinese, a topic with significant implications for both typological research and Chinese historical linguistics. Locative PPs in Modern Chinese appear mostly before the verb in the presence of a verbal object. Typological findings from the World Atlas of Language Structures Feature 84A (Dryer with Gensler 2013) reveal that this word order is rarely observed in VO languages, making it a noteworthy exception. Diachronically, the placement of locative PPs has been a pivotal subject in the field of Chinese historical linguistics, as changes in their word order mark a crucial syntactic development in the history of the Chinese language (Chao 1968; L. Wang 1980 [1958]). Previous studies generally indicate that there was a shift in the locative PP word order around the Eastern Han - Six Dynasties period (25 – 589 CE), from predominantly postverbal to preverbal (Peyraube 1994; C. Zhang 2002, inter alia). Discussions in the current literature regarding the underlying reasons for this shift have greatly enhanced our understanding. Nevertheless, several concerns need to be addressed. The first concern pertains to methodological aspects, particularly in data collection and handling. A systematic re-evaluation of linguistic materials with the aid of advanced diachronic corpus tools is recommended. Additionally, external influences should be considered when exploring the motivations and mechanisms underlying the word order development. Adopting a diachronic corpus-based approach, this thesis examines the evolution of locative PP word order over 14 texts across 9 sub-stages. Results support earlier findings that the predominant word order for locative PPs in Old Chinese was postverbal. Eastern Han marked the onset of a transition towards the preverbal order, with the changes in dominant word order becoming more firmly entrenched during the Six Dynasties. This thesis explores the motivations and mechanisms behind the evolution of locative PP word order by evaluating both internal and external factors. The analysis of internal factors addresses four aspects: preposition decline and replacement, iconicity and syntactic processing, the Postverbal Constraint, and competition between constructions. Drawing on comparative studies, the examination of external factors focuses on how Buddhist scripture translations may have shaped the development of PP word order in Chinese. By tackling the conflict between synchronic typological features and diachronic development patterns, this thesis enriches the discussion on locative PP word order evolution. Lastly, this thesis explores the broader implications of the theoretical analyses proposed by extending the findings from the study of locative PPs to other PP categories. It presents a preliminary analysis of how the argument–adjunct distinction could potentially deepen our insight into PP placement and seeks to offer a more fundamental and unified account across all PP categories.