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.