CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 General Introduction 1
1.2 Overview of Grammaticalization as a Linguistic process 2
1.3 Organization of Chapters 8
CHAPTER 2 SPACE AND ASPECT ACROSS LANGUAGES AND IN CHINESE 10
2.1 Overview 10
2.2 Assumptions Concerning Aspect 11
2.2.1 Grammatical aspect vs.lexical aspect 12
2.2.2 Perfect as a marked perfective 18
2.2.3 Summary 20
2.3 The Spatial Origins of Aspect：A Typological Review 21
2.3.1 From motion expressions to perfective expressions 23
2.3.2 From locative expressions to imperfective expressions 24
2.3.2.1 From locative constructions to progressive constructions 25
2.3.2.2 From locative verbs to imperfective auxiliaries/affixes 28
2.4 The Spatial Origins of Aspect in Chinese 28
2.4.1 The grammaticalization from guo“pass by”into experi-ential-GUO 30
2.4.2 The grammaticalization from NP 1＋Zai“be at”＋NP 2 into progressive ZAI construction 34
2.4.3 The grammaticalization from zhu“be attached at”into durative-ZHE 36
2.5 Summary 39
CHAPTER 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 41
3.1 Overview 41
3.2 Analysis of Semantic Configurations 43
3.3 Cognitive Mechanisms 46
3.3.1 Metaphor 46
3.3.2 Metonymy 50
3.4 Summary 52
CHAPTER 4 THE SEMANTIC CONFIGURATIONS OF SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS AND ASPECT EXPRESSIONS IN CHINESE 57
4.1 Overview 57
4.2 Source Domain：Goal-Oriented Motion and Location 58
4.2.1 The semantic configuration of guo“pass by” 58
4.2.1.1 The semantic configurations of motion verbs in general 58
4.2.1.2 The semantic configurations of guo“pass by” 59
4.2.2 The semantic configurations of NP 1＋Zai“be at”＋NP 2 and zhu“be attached at” 60
4.2.2.1 The semantic configurations of locative expressions in general 60
4.2.2.2 The semantic configurations of NP 1＋Zai“be at”＋NP 2 and zhu“be attached at” 64
4.3 Target Domain：Grammatical Aspect 66
4.3.1 The semantic configurations of aspect expressions in general 66
4.3.1.1 The semantic configuration of perfective aspect 67
4.3.1.2 The semantic configuration of imperfective aspect 68
4.3.2 The semantic configurations of perfective expressions in Chinese 69
4.3.2.1 The semantic configuration of perfeetive-LE 69
4.3.2.2 The semantic configuration of completive-GUO 71
4.3.2.3 The semantic configuration of experiential-GUO 71
4.3.3 The semantic configurations of imperfective expressions in Chinese 73
4.3.3.1 The semantic configuration of durative-ZHE 73
4.3.3.2 The semantic configuration of progressive ZAI construction 74
4.4 Summary 75
CHAPTER 5 EVENTIVE SEQUENTIALITY IS SPATIAL LOCATION：FROM SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS INTO ASPECT EX-PRESSIONS IN CHINESE 77
5.1 Overview 77
5.2 TIME AS SPACE Metaphor and Event-Structure-Metaphor 78
5.2.1 TIME AS SPACE metaphor 78
5.2.2 Event-Structure-Metaphor 82
5.3 EVENT EVOLUTION IS MOTION 85
5.3.1 Case 1 86
5.3.2 Case 2 91
5.3.3 Summary 97
5.4 EVENTIVE SEQUENTIALITY IS SPATIAL LOCATION 98
5.4.1 Case 1 99
5.4.2 Case 2 100
5.5 EVENTIVE SEQUENTIALITY IS SPATIAL LOCATION and the Grammaticalization from Spatial Expressions into Aspect Expressions in Chinese 101
5.5.1 Case 1 and grammaticalization 101
5.5.1.1 Case 1 and guo“pass by”＞completive marker 102
5.5.1.2 Case 1 and zhu“be attached at”＞durative marker 108
5.5.1.3 Summary 112
5.5.2 Case 2 and grammaticalization 113
5.6 Conclusion 116
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 117
6.1 The Extension from Completive-GUO to Experiential-GUO 118
6.2 The Grammaticalization from Liao“finish,be completed”into Perfeetive-LE 120
6.3 The Grammaticalization Degree of Aspect Expressions in Chinese 124
6.4 The Polysemy of Guo,Zai,and Zhu 127
6.4.1 The polysemy of guo 128
6.4.2 The polysemy of zai 133
6.4.3 The polysemy of zhu 135
6.4.4 Summary 137
6.5 The Parallel between the Evolution of Aspect and the Acquisition of Aspect 138
6.6 Summary 141
REFERENCES 143
APPENDIX 1 153
APPENDIX 2 172