A Diachronic Corpus of Liǎnhóng in Chinese

This study conducts
a case study of liǎnhóng to examine how inference drives semantic change through the diachronic change
of conversational implicature. It focuses on three types of inference: ad-hoc
inference, entrenched inference, and conventionalized inference, each contributing
distinctively to semantic change. The findings reveal that inference is not
invariably principle-governed but can be triggered by cognitive processes; conventions and context play distinct roles at different inferential stages;
and three types of inference derive different types of meanings within the
inferential process, with ad-hoc inference generating PCIs, entrenched
inference converting PCIs into GCIs, and conventionalized inference ultimately
developing GCIs into new coded meanings. This study contributes to diachronic
cognitive pragmatics by providing empirical evidence for the inferential
process of semantic change, while offering insights into the diachronic change
of conversational implicature.

本研究以liǎnhóng为案例，考察推理如何通过会话隐涵（conversational implicature）的历时变化推动语义演变。本研究聚焦三类推理：特设推理（ad-hoc inference）、固化推理（entrenched inference）与规约化推理（conventionalized inference），三者对语义演变的贡献各具特色。研究结果揭示：推理并非始终受原则支配，亦可由认知过程触发；规约与语境在不同推理阶段发挥差异化作用；三类推理在推理过程中生成不同类型的意义：特设推理生成特定会话隐涵（particularized conversational implicature，简称PCIs），固化推理将特定会话隐涵转化为一般会话隐涵（generalized conversational implicature，简称GCIs），而规约化推理最终将一般会话隐涵发展为新的编码意义。本研究为语义演变的推理过程提供了实证依据，为历时认知语用学（diachronic cognitive pragmatics）领域作出贡献，同时为会话隐涵的历时变化研究提供了新的洞见。