A Diachronic Investigation on the Lexical Formation and Evolution of the Chinese Adverb “Yijing (已经)”

Abstract

This paper describes the lexicalization processes of the expositive adverb yijing in Chinese, taking the view that the lexicalization of yijing has been achieved by both syntactic and semantic–pragmatic contexts. There are two key processes: the grammaticalization of jing is the key factor for reanalysis of the structure yijing. Originally, jing could only be combined with NP. In the structure “yi + jing + NP experiences”, jing acquired the context in which it was possible to combine with VP. When the VP was an active situation, jing was grammaticalized into a manner adverb, while when VP was a semelfactive situation, jing, the same with yi, became a state adverb for the past tense and perfect aspect. The lexicalization of yijing contains two processes, namely reanalysis and cohesion. In the structure “yi _{[relative time]} + jing +VP”, when there were complex elements, it was reanalyzed as “[yi + jing] + VP”, where yijing functioned as a coordinate structure. If the structure “[yi + jing] + VP” was in a sufficient conditional clause and the VP was an accomplishment situation, “yi + jing” in this context acquired the pragmatic function to confirm that an event has happened, but it was still expressing the tense–aspect meanings of the sentence. In the 7th century, when VP was an achievement situation and had a perfective verb in it, yijing no longer bore the tense–aspect function and was specialized into a confirmative expositive adverb for pragmatic function, and the lexicalization processes finished.

1. Introduction

Yijing (已经) is one of the most commonly used temporal adverbs in modern Chinese. It denotes a completed action or the extent that something is achieved, and it has five common usages: it can combine with verbs, adjectives, verbal classifier phrase, quantifiers, and negatives (Lü 1999, p. 612)1.

Yang (2002) pointed out the evolution of yijing as an adverb: first, the grammaticalization of jing from a verb to an adverb occurred followed by the lexicalization and grammaticalization of yijing. The structure “yi + jing + V” was reanalyzed as “yijing + V”, and the adverb yijing came into being. Later, the structure “yijing + N” also appeared. Based on the structures “yijing + temporal point” and “agent + yijing + achievement verb”, Yang made the judgement that yijing had become an adverb by the era of the Song Dynasty (960–1279C.E.). Other studies following similar analyses of yijing differ in corpus. Zhang (2004) argued that yijing is a word that appeared in the Liang Dynasty (502–557C.E.), and its function expanded in the Tang Dynasty (618–907C.E.). Xu (2006) further discussed examples of yijing in Zhang (2004) based on Wang (2000), pointing out that it was “unreliable to say that yijing had become a word by the Tang Dynasty”. Later, Zhang (2009) adjusted her view and dated the formation of yijing to Later Tang and Five-Dynasty eras (10th century C.E.). Currently, consensus regarding the formation time of the adverb yijing has not been reached.

Yang’s studies of yijing and other relevant literature on the topic are all based on the grammaticalization of jing. These researchers infer the formation of yijing from the perspectives of semantic relation and situational type. However, it is an important criterion for word-formation judgements that the sum of each lexeme’s meaning is not equal to that of the word (Dong 2011, p. 110). Yi, jing, and yijing each have developed the function for past tense and perfect aspect. Thus, in a specific context, which part contributes to the tense and aspect function? Is this related to the formation judgement of yijing?

Although the evolution of jing is considered the key point in the formation of yijing, yijing is made up of yi and jing, the meanings of which semantically interact with the structure “yi + jing” and other components of the sentence. They are also parameters for the formation judgements of yijing. Before the formation of yijing, both yi and jing had various meanings and functions. Which functions of yi and jing did yijing originate from? And how did the formation of the specific structure of “yi + jing” occur? For the formation of yijing, what criteria of lexicalization can be adopted? When was the lexicalization complete? This current examination of yijing, along with Himmelmann’s (2004, p. 33) grammaticalization perspective, describes three kinds of environmental evolutions that yijing has experienced: host class, syntactic context, and semantic–pragmatic context. An approach examining yijing through these lenses allows for a detailed survey about the formation of the adverb yijing.

2. Semantic Evolution of Yi and Jing

2.1. Semantic Evolution of Yi

Yi as a verb means to stop doing something and to never continue. (Wang 2011a, p. 741).

(1)	Wind and Rain, Zheng Feng, The Book of Songs (诗经⸱郑风⸱风雨) (11th century B.C.E.-6th century B.C.E.)2
	风	雨	如	晦，	鸡	鸣	不	已。
	fēng	yǔ	rú	huì	jī	míng	bù	yǐ
	wind	rain	as	dark	rooster	crow	neg	stop
	“It’s raining hard with strong wind, and the rooster crow never stops.”

In Archaic Chinese, yi had developed tense and aspect functions, mainly used to express realized aspect3 (Zuo 2007). Yi mainly appeared in two types of contexts: the first is the past extended backward from the time point of speaking in absolute tense contexts, in which case yi was written as yi₁.

(2)	26th Year of Xianggong’s Reign, Zuozhuan (左传⸱襄公二十六年) (middle 4th century B.C.E.)
	师旷	曰：	公室	惧	卑。	臣	不	心
	shī kuàng	yuē	gōng shì	jù	bēi	chén	bù	xīn
	Shikuang	say	court	afraid	degraded	1sg.hum	neg	mind
	竞	而	力	争，	不	务	德	而
	jìng	ér	lì	zhēng	bú	wù	dé	ér
	compete	conj	force	contend	neg	dedicate	virtue	conj
	争	善，	私	欲	已	侈，	能	无
	zhēng	shàn	sī	yù	yǐ	chǐ	néng	wú
	contend	right	refl.gen	desire	abst.pfv	prevail	aux	neg
	卑	乎？
	bēi	hū
	degrade	fprt
	“Shikuang said, “I am afraid that your identity as a duke will be degraded. Your officials compete by force rather than in mind, nor do they pursue virtue but just quarrel to show they are right. Their selfish desires have already prevailed. Won’t your duke identity be degraded?””

The second is yi₂, the past extended backward from another temporal base point before the time of speaking, denoting the relative tense and realized aspect.

(3)	Chapter of Fengyu, Lun Heng (论衡⸱逢遇篇) (later 1st century C.E.)
	未	在	位	之	时，	必	已	成
	wèi	zài	wèi	zhī	shí	bì	yǐ	chéng
	neg	prep	throne	prt	time	must.evid	relt.pfv	become
	人，	今	计	数百	有余	矣。
	rén	jīn	jì	shù bǎi	yǒu yú	yǐ
	adult	now	conclude	num	surplus	fprt
	“Before ascending to the throne, he must have been an adult. We can conclude that he must have been over one hundred years when he died.”

2.2. Semantic Evolution of Jing

Jing, whose fundamental meaning is the warp used in knitting, has the nuance of “going through directly from one to another” when used as a verb (Wang 2011a, p. 743). Jing in the following sentence has an object xiōngnú (“the Huns”), and they form a verb-object construction “jing + N”.

(4)	Biography of Dayuan Kingdom, Historical Records (史记⸱大宛列传) (early 2nd century B.C.E.)
	经	匈奴，	匈奴	得	之────	传	诣	单于。
	jīng	xiōng nú	xiōng nú	dé	zhī	chuán	yì	chán yú
	go through	Huns	Huns	acquire	pron	transfer	go to	the king
	“When Zhang Qian went through the territory of Xiongnu (Huns), he was captured and was transferred to Chanyu (the king of Xiongnu).”

From the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.) on, jing had taken the place of V₁, meaning “via somewhere”, and gradually developed four prepositional functions (Ma 1999). Jing₁ as a locative preposition was well developed in the Southern and Northern Dynasties era (220–589 C.E.):

(5)	Biography of Quanzhu, Book of Wu, Records of Three Kingdoms, cited from Pei’s Elucidation to Biography of Celebrities in Area South of the Yangtze (三国志⸱吴书⸱全珠传, 裴注引 江表传) (later 3rd century C.E.)
	琮	还，	经过	钱唐，	修
	cóng	huán	jīng guò	qián táng	xiū
	Cong	return	via	Qiantang	repair
	祭	坟墓，	麾幢	节盖，	曜
	jì	fén mù	huī zhuàng	jiē gài	yào
	sacrifice	tomb	flag and pole	ceremonial canopy	ostentatious
	于	旧里。
	yú	jiù lǐ
	prep	hometown
	“Cong returned home via Qiantang, repaired and sacrificed the tombs. His ceremonial weaponry was ostentatious in his hometown.”

Jing₂ for temporal functions had appeared by the Southern and Northern Dynasties era:

(6)	Biography of Quanzhu, Book of Wu, Records of Three Kingdoms (三国志⸱吴书⸱全珠传) (later 3rd century C.E.)
	军	行	经	岁，	士众
	jūn	xíng	jīng	suì	shì zhòng
	army	march	experience	a year	soldiers
	疾疫，	死者	十有八九。
	jí yì	sǐ zhě	shí yǒu bā jiǔ
	ill	die-nmlz	many
	“The army was in march for over a year and many soldiers died because of illness.”

Jing₃ introducing the agent of an action in a passive voice construction occasionally appeared in the Han era:

(7)	Bilography of Zhai Fangjin, Han History (汉书⸱翟方进传) (later 1st century C.E.)
	经	博士	受	春秋，	积	十余	年，
	jīng	bó shì	shòu	chūn qiū	jī	shí yú	nián
	by means of	lecturer	teach	Chunqiu	experience	num	year
	经学	明	习	徒众	日	广，	诸
	jīng xué	míng	xí	tú zhòng	rì	guǎng	zhū
	classicals	clearly	skillful	students	gradually	more	other
	儒	称	之。
	rú	chēng	zhī
	scholar	praise	pron
	“Zhai Fangjin was taught by the lecturer to learn Chunqiu, a Chinese classical. In the following ten years, he managed his own learning and teaching. As a result, he had more and more students and was highly praised by other scholars.”

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, jing₄ as a predicate verb followed by nominal object(s) expressed something that has been experienced:

(8)	Biography of Xiahou-Cao Family, Book of Wei, Records of Three Kingdoms, cited from Pei’s elucidation to Shi Yu (三国志⸱魏书⸱诸夏侯曹传, 裴注引 世语) (later 3rd century C.E.)
	诵	书	日	千	遍，
	sòng	shū	rì	qiān	biàn
	read	book	everyday	num	cl
	经	目	辄	识	之。
	jīng	mù	zhé	shí	zhī
	use	eye	instantly	know	pron
	“Read books for a thousand times every day and could remember what he had read at a single glance.”

In the examples mentioned above, all the elements that come after jing are NP(s), including functions for a locative preposition, time, an agent of action, and something that “has been experienced”. Since jing₄ is also a verb, in line with the verb jing, this paper categorizes all verbal usages to jing₄.

3. Grammaticalization of Jing in the Structure “Yi + Jing”

We completed an exhaustive accounting of the structure “yi + jing” in the literature anterior to the Tang era (618–907C.E.) and found a total of 33 in Chinese-origin documents and 114 in Chinese versions of Buddhist sutras. The structure was first used in the Eastern Jin era (317–420C.E.) as “yi + jing + NP”:

(9)	Wang Xianzhi, Eastern Jin, from Miscellaneous Inscriptions, A Collection of Calligraphical Works of Chunhua Pavillion (东晋⸱王献之 杂帖⸱淳化阁帖) (344–386C.E.)
	薄	冷，	足下	沉痛，	已	经	岁月，
	bó	lěng	zú xià	chén tòng	yǐ	jīng	suì yuè
	a little	cold	2sg.hon	illness	relt.pfv	experience	years
	岂	宥	触	此	寒	耶？
	qǐ	yòu	chù	cǐ	hán	yē
	negq	excuse	suffer	pron	cold	fprt
	“It’s a little cold today. You have been in illness for years. Isn’t it hard for you to go through the cold days?”

3.1. Host-Class Extension of Jing in the Structure “Yi + Jing”

Yang (2002) demonstrated that yijing originated from the structure “yi + jing + V”, but jing was followed by an NP at first (Ma 1999). The origin of “yi + jing + V” has not been properly explained. For the combination of jing to be used as a temporal preposition or for agents of action with nouns, there is little chance that a host-class item environment could trigger a grammatical change. However, NP(s) expressing “something that has been experienced” had complex components, which means that it was a more plausible construction for reanalysis.

In the structure “yi + jing₄ + NP”, yi₁ or yi₂ takes the place of yi. When “experience (NP)” introduced by jing did not have a nominal marker or was not a typical noun, “yi + jing₄ + NP” could be analyzed as “yi + jing₄ + NP|VP”:

A: Yi₁ + Jing₄

(10)	Five Elements Chapter I, Biography No. 20, Book of Song by Shen Yue, Southern Liang Dynasty (南梁⸱沈约 宋书⸱志第二十⸱五行一) (later 5th century C.E.)
	五行		精微，	非	末	学	所
	wǔ xíng		jīng wēi	fēi	mò	xué	suǒ
	the five-element theory		sophisticate	neg	common	scholar	nmlz
	究。	凡	已	经	前	议	者，
	jiū	fán	yǐ	jīng	qián	yì	zhě
	study	every	abst.pfv	experience	former	discussion	nmlz
	并	即	其	言	以	释	之；
	bìng	jí	qí	yán	yǐ	shì	zhī
	all	according to	3sg.gen	speech	prep	explain	pron
	未	有	旧	说	者，	推	准
	wèi	yǒu	jiù	shuō	zhě	tuī	zhǔn
	neg	conform	former	discussion	nmlz	inference	exact
	事理，	以	俟	来	哲。
	shì lǐ	yǐ	sì	lái	zhé
	logic	prep	wait	future	explorer
	“The five-element theory is sophisticated and cannot be dealt with in common studies. For the things that have been discussed, the former discussion is adopted. For those that have not, future explanation is expected.”

(11)	Rites Chapter II, Record No. 5, Book of Song by Shen Yue, Southern Liang Dynasty (南梁⸱沈约 宋书⸱志第五⸱礼二) (later 5th century C.E.)
	东平	冲王	已	经	前	议，	若
	dōngpíng	chōngwáng	yǐ	jīng	qián	yì	ruò
	Dongping	King Chong	abst.pfv	experience	former	discussion	subm
	升	仕	朝列，	则	为	大	成，
	shēng	shì	cháo liè	zé	wéi	dà	chéng
	promote	position	court	conj	cop	big	achievement
	故	鄱阳	哀王	追	赠	太常	亲戚
	gù	pó yáng	āi wáng	zhuī	zèng	tài cháng	qīn qī
	conj	Poyang	King Ai	append	confer	Taichang	relative
	不	降。
	bú	jiàng
	neg	demote
	“The matter of King Chong of Dongping has been formerly discussed. If he is promoted, it could be seen as a great achievement. So, the late King Ai of Boyang is conferred the title of Taichang, and his relatives are not demoted.”

In example (11), qián yì (“formerly discussed”) is a VP, and zhě is a nominalizer marker. It is believed that this phrase can be analyzed as an NP:[[[[yǐ]_ADV [[jīng]_V [qián yì]_VP]] zhě]_NP, but in (11), two kinds of analyses can be made. In (11), there is no morpheme-like nominalizer marker; thus, qián yì could be an NP or a VP: [[[qián yì]_VP]_NP] or [[qián yì]_VP]. In examples (10) and (11), “yǐ jīng qián yì” (“have experienced formerly discussion”) only has one time point of talking about the past extended backward upon which it is based. It is yi₁ used for absolute time. Among thirty-one examples in translated sutras, twenty-three cases of the structure “yi₁ + jing₄” can be construed as NP or VP, while the other eight can only be interpreted as NPs. Among the seven examples in Chinese origin texts, only one can just be understood as NP and the other six as NP or VP.

B: Yi₂ + Jing₄

(12)	Biography of Lu Tong, Records of Northern Wei, by Wei Shou, Northern Qi Dynasty (北齐⸱魏收 魏书⸱卢同传) (middle 6th century C.E.)
	请	自	今	为	始，	诸	有
	qǐng	zì	jīn	wéi	shǐ	zhū	yǒu
	request	prep	now	prep	begin	pron	have
	勋簿，		已	经	奏	赏	者，
	xūn bù		yǐ	jīng	zòu	shǎng	zhě
	meritorious service		relt.pfv	experience	report	award	nmlz
	即	广		下	远近，	云	某处
	jí	guǎng		xià	yuǎn jìn	yún	mǒu chù
	immediately	widespread		proclaim	world	say	somewhere
	勋判，	咸	令	知闻。
	xūn pàn	xián	lìng	zhī wén
	position	completely	allow	know
	“From now on, those who have been rendered meritorious service shall be reported to local government and shall make clear what that meritorious service was.”

(13)	Samantapasadika, translated by Saṃghabhadra, Northern Qi Dynasty. CBETA. T24, No. 1462, p. 699b9-11. (北齐⸱僧伽跋陀罗译 善见律毘婆沙) (middle 5th century C.E.)
	年过	者，	生	来	已	经	二
	nián guò	zhě	shēng	lái	yǐ	jīng	èr
	Nianguo	nmlz	born	suff	relt.pfv	experience	num
	三	王	代	职，	犹故	生存，	是
	sān	wáng	dài	zhí	yóu gù	shēng cún	shì
	num	king	act	position	still	alive	conj
	名	年过。
	míng	nián guò
	name	Nianguo
	“Nianguo refers to those who have lived through two or three kings’ reigns and are still alive. Thus, they are called as nianguo (longevity).”

In example (12), zòu shǎng (“report and award”) is a VP; it also has a nominalizer marker zhě. Consequently, this phrase can be analyzed as an NP: [[[zòu shǎng]_VP zhě]_NP]. In (13), same as in sentence (11), èr sān wáng dài zhí (“two or three kings reign”) may be an NP or VP: [[[èr sān wáng]_NP[dài zhí]_VP]_NP] or [[[èr sān wáng]_NP[dài zhí]_VP]_VP].

Relative tense means time against another specific temporal point. The reference time of “yǐ jīng zòu shǎng” (“that have been reported and awarded”) in (12) is “zì jīn wéi shǐ” (“from now on”); in (13), the reference temporal point of “yǐ jīng èr sān wáng dài zhí” (“have lived through two or three kings’ reign”) is “shēng lái” (“when one was born”). The time in the example is the past extended backward from a reference temporal point anterior to talking. Thus, the examples of yi in these sentences are yi₂, yi used for relative tense.

“Zhě” in examples (10) and (12) marks the NP category of the sentences; it is a frequently used nominalizer marker in ancient Chinese, but there are no nominalizer markers in examples (11) and (13) even though “qián yì” (“formerly discussed”) and “èr sān wáng dài zhí” (“two or three kings’ reign”) are events that “have happened”. Without contextual background, they might have been construed as “yi + jing + VP”. This type is a special case:

(14)	Biography of Liu Ba, Book of Shu, Records of Three Kingdoms, by Chen Shou, Western Jin Dynasty. Pei Song of Liu Song Dynasty elucidated, “Liu Ba left Vietnam for Sichuan”. (西晋⸱陈寿 三国志⸱蜀书⸱刘巴传 “巴复从交址至蜀” 刘宋⸱裴松之注) (420–451C.E.)
	刘焉	在	汉灵帝		时	已	经
	liú yān	zài	hàn líng dì		shí	yǐ	jīng
	Liuyan	prep	Emperor Ling		time	relt.pfv	experience
	宗正、		太常，	出	为	益州牧，
	zōng zhèng		tài cháng	chū	wéi	yì zhōu mù
	Zongzheng		Taichang	service	to be	Governor of Yizhou
	祥	始	以	孙坚	作	长沙	时
	xiáng	shǐ	yǐ	sūn jiān	zuò	cháng shā	shí
	Liuxiang	at first	prep	Sunjian	govern	Changsha	time
	为	江夏太守，		不	得	举	焉
	wéi	jiāng xià tài shǒu		bù	dé	jǔ	yān
	to be	Governor of Jiangxia		neg	prt	recommend	Liuyan
	为	孝廉，	明	也。
	wéi	xiào lián	míng	yě
	to be	Xiaolian	wise	fprt
	“Liu Yan was promoted to Governor of Yizhou after he assumed posts of Zongzheng and Taichang during Emperor Ling’s reign. Liu Xiang took office as Governor of Jiangxia when Sun Jian governed Changsha. As a result, Liu Yan could not be recommended, and this was a wise decision.”

In this example, the reference time is “hàn líng dì shí” (“during Emperor Ling’s reign”), and yi is used for relative tense. Although “zōng zhèng” and “tài cháng” (two Chinese government positions) are NP(s), they should be construed as VP(s), “assumed posts of zōng zhèng and tài cháng” according to the context.

Compared with absolute tense, relative tense is more active in the host-class extension. Six cases of structure “yi₂ + jing₄” can all be understood as NP or VP. The same is true of all ten cases in the Chinese-origin literature.

The extension of jing in the structure “yi + jing” can be described as follows: in the structure “yi + jing₄ +X”, the category of X expanded from NP to NP or VP, or “yi +jing₄ + NP → yi + jing₄ + NP|VP”.

3.2. Change of Syntactic Environment of Jing in the Structure “Yi + Jing”

There is a potential to analyze the structure “yi + jing₄ + NP|VP” as “yi + jing₄ + VP”. In the structure “yi + jing₄ + (NP|VP) _[bare]”, if “something that has been experienced”, it is considered a VP, and the syntactic environment is thus different:

A: Yi₁ + Jing₄

(15)	Biography of Xing Luan, Records of Northern Wei, by Wei Shou, Northern Qi Dynasty. (北齐⸱魏收 魏书⸱邢峦传) (middle 6th century C.E.)
	峦	新	有	大	功，	已	经
	luán	xīn	yǒu	dà	gōng	yǐ	jīng
	Xingluan	just	have	great	contribution	abst.pfv	experience
	赦宥，	不	宜	方	为	此	狱
	shè yòu	bù	yí	fāng	wéi	cǐ	yù
	remit	neg	suitable	now	to be	pron	jail
	也。
	yě
	fprt
	“Xing Luan has just made great contributions. What’s more, he has been remitted. Thus, it is unsuitable to put him in jail.”

B: Yi₂ + Jing₄

(16)	Shi Chan Boluomicidi Famen, Zhiyi, Sui Dynasty. CBETA. T46, No. 1916, p. 500b7-9. (隋⸱智顗 释禅波罗蜜次第法门) (581–597C.E.)
	自	有	行人，	宿	世	已	经
	zì	yǒu	xíng rén	sù	shì	yǐ	jīng
	now	have	men	previous	live	relt.pfv	experience
	修，		得	不净、	白骨流光，		今
	xiū		dé	bù jìng	bái gǔ liú guāng		jīn
	Buddhist practice		acquire	asubhaya	shining white bone		now
	于	止中	但	发得	不净，	未	得
	yú	zhǐ zhōng	dàn	fā dé	bù jìng	wèi	dé
	prep	midway	but	acquire	asubhaya	neg	acquire
	白骨流光，		此	名	不尽。
	bái gǔ liú guāng		cǐ	míng	bù jìn
	shining white bone		pron	name	incomplete
	“Some of those who followed Buddhist practice and achieved asubhaya and “shining white bone” in their previous lives, also follow Buddhist practice this life, but they stopped their practice midway and only achieved asubhaya without reaching the stage of “shining white bone”. This is called “incomplete practice”.”

Yi in example (15) is used for absolute tense, for there is only the current speaking time point in the sentence. If “shè yòu” (“be remitted”) is referred4 to as an NP, it means the state after being remitted. If it is viewed as a VP, it refers to the action of “shè yòu” (“remitting”). The reference time of example (16) is “sù shì” (“previous lives”). If xiū is considered an NP, it refers to the state after xiū (“religious cultivation”). If it is considered a VP, it means the action of xiū (“cultivate according to religious rules”). The verbs in the above examples are all bare without any modifying components. The reference times of examples (11) and (13) are more obscure. If they are considered VPs in these examples, the VPs themselves contain the process and can refer to the state after the action of VP (NP). In other words, when X is indefinite, no matter whether it is analyzed as NP or VP, X is based on the action, demonstrating a stronger connection with the VP. This triggers changes of syntactic category.

Changes of the syntactic environment of jing in the structure “yi + jing” can be described as follows: in the structure “yi + jing₄ + NP|VP”, when NP|VP is indefinite and includes the meanings of action and the state caused by the action, bare NP|VP shall be analyzed as VP, or “yi + jing₄ + (NP|VP) _[bare] →yi + jing₄ + VP”.

3.3. Changes of Semantic–Pragmatic Environment of jing in the Structure “Yi + Jing”

The semantic core of jing₄ is a dynamic experience that includes temporal extendibility. (Wang 2011a, p. 743). Jing in the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP” is used for active situations (Smith 1997, p. 3), including the features [dynamic], [durative], [atelic]. In this structure, jing₄ takes the place of V₁. When the VP combined with jing₄ is also an active situation, jing₄ and VP are in the same situation where jing₄ makes no supplementation to the situation of the VP. As a result, jing is on the edge of grammaticalization.

A: Yi₁ + Jing₄

(17)	Explanations to Buddhist Paramita Anukrama Dharma-Paryaya, Zhiyi, Sui Dynasty. CBETA. T46, No. 1916, p. 500 c25-26. (隋⸱智顗 释禅波罗蜜次第法门) (581–597C.E.)
	行者		过去		修习		事理，		诸禅三昧
	xíng zhě		guò qù		xiū xí		shì lǐ		zhū chán sān mèi
	Buddhist disciples		previous		practice		religious doctrine		dhyana-samadhi
	虽	未		得		证		成就，	而	已
	suī	wèi		dé		zhèng		chéng jiù	ér	yǐ
	although	NEG		acquire		gain		achievement	conj	abst.pfv
	经	修习。		今		世		善根	时	熟，
	jīng	xiū xí		jīn		shì		shàn gēn	shí	shú
	experience	practice		now		era		kusala-mula	on time	perfect
	藉	修止		为		缘，		悉皆	开发，	此
	jiè	xiū zhǐ		wéi		yuán		xī jiē	kāi fā	cǐ
	help	meditation		to be		reason		all	develop	pron
	亦	是		习，		因		善根	发	也。
	yì	shì		xí		yīn		shàn gēn	fā	yě
	also	cop		practice		because		kusala-mula	develop	fprt
	“Buddhist disciples practiced according to religious doctrines in their previous lives. Although they have made no achievements in dhyana-samadhi, they have practiced Buddhist doctrines. In this life, the kusala-mula becomes perfect. With the help of tranquil meditation, the kusala-mula in their previous lives is developed. This is the situation where practice in previous lives causes development of kusala-mula of this life.”

B: Yi₂ + Jing₄

(18)	Records of Rites, Records of Southern Qi, by Xiao Zixian, Southern Liang Dynasty. (南梁⸱萧子显 南齐书⸱志第一⸱礼上) (early 6th century C.E.)
	咸和	八	年，	甫	得	营缮，	太常
	xián hé	bā	nián	fǔ	dé	yíng shàn	tài cháng
	Xianhe	num	cl	just	acquire	repair	Taichang
	顾和，	秉	议	亲	奉。	康皇	之
	gù hé	bǐng	yì	qīn	fèng	kāng huáng	zhī
	Guhe	according to	suggestion	personally	sacrifice	Emperor Kang	prt
	世，	已	经	遵	用。	宋氏	因循，
	shì	yǐ	jīng	zūn	yòng	sòng shì	yīn xún
	time	relt.pfv	experience	comply	use	Song	inherit
	未	遑	厘革。
	wèi	huáng	lí gé
	neg	consider	change
	“In the eighth year of Xianhe, the altar has just been repaired. Gu He, a Taichang minister, according to the suggestions, goes to sacrifice in person. During Emperor Kang’s reign, the altar was still in use. And no changes were made in the Liu Song Dynasty.”

In example (17), there is only one time point, namely the time of talking, and yi stands for absolute tense; in example (18), the reference time is “kāng huáng zhī shì” (“Emperor Kang’s reign”), and yi is used for relative tense. In the above examples, VPs such as “xiū xí” (“self-cultivation”) and “zūn yòng” (“be in use or service”) are all temporally continuous and are extendible with the features of [dynamic], [durability], [atelic]. They can be categorized as active situations, in line with that of jing. Thus, jing₄ has no supplementary function to the situation of “xiū xí” and “zūn yòng”. In the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP _[activity]”, jing started the grammaticalization process to adverb, and jing gradually became a subordinate of VP, functioning as the method of an ongoing event. The structure can be reanalyzed as:

[[[yi][jing]_VP][VP]] → [[[yi][[jing][VP_[activity]]]]]

Adverbials can be semantically restrictive or descriptive. The descriptive adverbial describes or modifies the manner (method), state, and modality (situation)5 of the event or the thing that the head refers to (Han 2018, p. 50). In example (18), jing is a restrictive modifier of “xiū xí”, the action of which extends temporally, but jing used for experiencing still has the quality of an active situation where jing is used for action. It is difficult to make a clear boundary between an adverb and a verb. We can conclude that the jing mentioned here partially functions as a descriptive adverb6.

In the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP _{[semelfactive]}”, VP has features of [dynamic], [transient], and [telic] where jing is unable to keep the features of [durative] and [atelic]. Semantic merging and erosion deepen the grammaticalization.

C: Yi₁ + Jing₄

(19)	Buddha Abhidharma Pravrajya Laksana Varga, CBETA. T24, No. 1482, p. 969b28-29. (陈 真谛 佛阿毘昙经出家相品) (499–569C.E.)
	汝	先	已	经	出家	未？	答言：
	rǔ	xiān	yǐ	jīng	chū jiā	wèi	dá yán
	2sg	before	abst.pfv	experience	pabbajja	fprt	answer
	未。	若	答言：	已	经	出家。
	wèi	ruò	dá yán	yǐ	jīng	chū jiā
	neg	subm	answer	abst.pfv	experience	pabbajja
	“Have you ever left home and become a monk? Answer: No, not yet. If the answer is: Yes, I have…”

D: Yi₂ + Jing₄

(20)	Collected Explanations to Mahaparinirvana-sutra, CBETA. T37, No. 1763, p. 578c29. (梁 宝亮等 大般涅盘经集解) (502–557C.E.)
	得	第三果	者，	三	空	下	结
	dé	dì sān guǒ	zhě	sān	kōng	xià	jié
	acquire	anagamin	nmlz	num	sunyata	lower	bandhana
	已	经	伏断，	见	真谛	时。
	yǐ	jīng	fú duàn	jiàn	zhēn dì	shí
	relt.pfv	experience	remove	get	paramartha	time
	“For those who are in the anagamin stage, their three sunyata and lower bandhana have been removed.”7

In example (19), there is only one time point, namely the time of talking, and yi stands for absolute tense; in example (20), the reference time is “dé dì sān guǒ” (“gain anagamin”), and yi is used for relative tense. VP bears the event, which takes up time. In the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP _{[semelfactive]}”, the event borne by the VP is in the past. “chū jiā” (“leave home and become a Buddhist monk”) and “fú duàn” (“remove”) both contain actions and constant results. “chū jiā” indicates that someone is “not at home”, while the result of “fú duàn” comes immediately after the action. Mutation happens once the action begins, with change of situation as the inevitable consequence. The semelfactive situation breaks the temporal extendibility of jing, resulting in complete grammaticalization because jing has become a totally subordinate component of VP _{[semelfactive]}.

In terms of tense, the event referred to by jing has finished at the time of talking; thus, it is in the past tense. From the perspective of aspect, the event ends at the same time it begins, and this is the perfect aspect. In this way, “jing” and “yi” have the same semantic feature, and two identical grammatical morphemes are placed before the VP.

The semantic–pragmatic environmental change of “jing” in the structure “yi + jing” can be described as follows: in the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP”, if VP has [activity] and [semelfactive] situations successively, jing is first grammaticalized to an adverb of manner and then developed into an adverb of state, i.e., “yi + jing₄ + VP _[activity] → yi + jing₄ + VP _{[semelfactive]} → yi + jing _Adv + VP”.

3.4. Grammaticalization Path of Jing in the Structure “Yi + Jing”

In the structure “yi + jing + NP experience”, jing₄ acquired the context in which it was possible to combine with VP. In the structure “yi + jing + experienced event”, the host-class expansion of jing happened and the structure developed into “yi + jing₄ + NP|VP”, where “yi + jing₄ + (NP|VP) _[bare]” could be reanalyzed as “yi + jing₄ + VP”. When VP is an active situation, jing was grammaticalized to a manner adverb of, meaning “through”. When VP is semelfactive, jing finally developed into an adverb of state for the past tense and the perfect aspect. A detailed grammaticalization path is shown in Figure 1.

4. Lexicalization of Structure “Yi + Jing”

After grammaticalization, jing acquired identical functions for past tense and perfect aspect to yi. Yi and jing, in the form of a synonymous parallel, formed the structure “yi + jing”, which has tense–aspect functions consistent with yi and jing, respectively.

In Dong’s (2011, p. 110) opinion, there is more potential for parallel phrases that have similar meanings to form a new word. She has four syntactic criteria for lexicalization of a new word (2011, p. 26): (1) specialization of the word meaning: the sum of meaning derived from each single morpheme is not equal to the word meaning; (2) no other component can be inserted into the word; (3) modifiers modify the word as a whole, or the word as a whole modifies other words; (4) components of the word are not involved in any syntactic operation.

Some scholars have noted other pragmatic functions of yijing except that for perfective aspect. Zou (2012) thinks that yijing denotes the confirmation to authenticity of an event. When the authenticity of an event needs confirming, “yijing” cannot be omitted. In what way can we make the judgment that “yi + jing” has become a word? It is hard to make an affirmative judgment according to Dong’s criterion. Will the pragmatic function help? Extension exists in both usage and meaning (Bybee et al. 1994). Usage is the reason for structural entrenchment and semantic loss and, furthermore, for lexicalization. Subsequently, it is the lexicalized structure that helps to achieve a better pragmatic effect, which is the inevitable consequence of pragmaticalization. The two aspects are interactive (Wang 2019). It seems that making a judgement according to changes of pragmatic function is feasible.

The disappearance of boundary is one category of reanalysis (Langacker 1977, p. 58). Historical evolutions, including grammaticalization, lexicalization, and others, are usually subject to reanalysis (Liu 2008). Grammaticalization is the change of the grammatical quality of an item, while lexicalization is the change of internal structure of lexicalized items, and pragmaticalization is the change from propositional meaning to meta-communication and discourse interaction meaning (Job 2006, p. 361). Pragmaticalization results in disappearance of boundary by promoting word formations to gain fixed functions. In order to judge whether yijing in the structure “yijing + VP” has been lexicalized, it is necessary to note the difference between yijing and cengjing (曾经) (Wang 2000). Zhu (2020) made the difference clear according to the features of cengjing, including the boundedness of event situational intervals, non-repeatability, periodicity of finishing, and durability. This paper uses Zhu’s criteria for the purpose of choosing examples.

4.1. The Host-Class Extension of “Yijing”

With the grammaticalization of jing₄, if a temporal phrase exists between jing₄ and VP, i.e., “yi + jing + temporal phrase + VP”, reanalysis may be triggered. The examples are all in sentences that include yi₂ for relative tense:

(21)	Ekottaragama-sutra, Samghadeva, Former Qin Dynasty. CBETA. T02, No. 125, p. 785 a23. (前秦⸱僧伽提婆 增壹阿含经) (385–394C.E.)
	我	子	今	已	经	七	日
	wǒ	zǐ	jīn	yǐ	jīng	qī	rì
	1sg	son	now	relt.pfv	experience	num	day.cl
	不	饮、	不	食，	亦复	不	知
	bù	yǐn	bù	shí	yì fù	bù	zhī
	neg	drink	neg	eat	also	neg	know
	何	由	默	然？
	hé	yóu	mò	rán
	ques	reason	silence	suff
	“My son has not had any food or water for seven days. I don’t know why he does not speak. Today, I have just taken him here to the king who cures people.”

(22)	The Buddha Bodhisattva in Yi tower karma by hungry tiger, Fasheng, Northern Liang Dynasty. CBETA. T03, No. 172, p. 426 c25-26. (北凉⸱法盛 菩萨投身饴饿虎起塔因缘经) (397–460C.E.)
	其	山	下	有	绝崖深谷，	底	有
	qí	shān	xià	yǒu	jué yá shēn gǔ	dǐ	yǒu
	pron	cliff	loc	have	deep valley	bottom	have
	一	虎	母	新	产	七	子。
	yī	hǔ	mǔ	xīn	chǎn	qī	zǐ
	num	tiger	fem	new	born	num	cub
	时	天	降	大	雪，	虎	母
	shí	tiān	jiàng	dà	xuě	hǔ	mǔ
	at that time	sky	fall	big	snow	tiger	fem
	抱	子	已	经	多	日	不
	bào	zǐ	yǐ	jīng	duō	rì	bù
	hug	cub	relt.pfv	experience	many	day	neg
	得	求	食，	惧	子	冻	死
	dé	qiú	shí	jù	zǐ	dòng	sǐ
	allow	seek	food	fear	cub	freeze	die
	守	饿	护	子。	雪	落	不
	shǒu	è	hù	zǐ	xuě	luò	bù
	endure	starving	preserve	cub	snow	fall	neg
	息，	母	子	饥	困，	丧	命
	xī	mǔ	zǐ	jī	kùn	sàng	mìng
	stop	mother	kid	starving	tired	lose	life
	不	久。
	bù	jiǔ
	neg	duration
	“At the foot of the cliff, there was a deep valley where a tiger had just given birth to seven cubs. It snowed hard at that time. The mother tiger had to take care of the cubs to prevent them from dying of coldness and was not able to seek food outside. The snow never stopped, and the tiger family was starved and in danger of death.”

In the above examples, the reference times are “qī rì” (“seven days”) and “duō rì” (“many days”), and yi stands for relative tense. The structure “yi + jing” comes after the subject and before the temporal and the verbal phrases. In (21), jing governs “qī rì bù yǐn bù shí” (“not have food or water for seven days”), indicating that the activity lasts within that period. The phrases “yǐ jīng qī rì” (“for seven days”) and “bù yǐn bù shí” (“not have food or water”) compose a serial verbal structure (or multi-verb structure). Compared with example (21), the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP” in (22) is followed by a complementary phrase, which may affect the structure of the sentence:

A. [[ yǐ][[jīng][duō rì]]][[[bù][dé]][qiú shí]]

B. [[ yǐ][[jīng][[duō rì][[bù][dé]][qiú shí]]]]

Analysis A is based on jing being considered as the head of the VP and “bù dé qiú shí” as a complement element. In analysis B, where “yǐ jīng duō rì bù dé qiú shí” is regarded in whole as a VP structure, “dé” works as the head verb, while yi₂ and jing₄ are all adverbs and function as adverbials, modifying the whole VP, respectively. As a result, structural transfer is triggered (Langacker 1977, p. 58). Since the more important part, namely “bù dé qiú shí”, is the second half and “dé” functions as the sentence head, it is more possible to analyze this construction as an example of B.

Ambiguous analyses may occur when the structure “yi₂ + jing₄ + temporal phrase + VP” contains a complementary phrase. “Yi₂ + jing₄ + phrase(s) + VP _{complementary phrase}” can be analyzed as a serial verbal structure of jing₄ combined with a VP, or yi₂ and jing₄ respectively modifies VP as an adverbial. The host-class extension of “yi₂ + jing₄” can be described as “yi₂ + jing₄ + temporal phrase + VP → yi₂ + jing₄ + temporal phrase + VP _{complementary phrase} | yi₂ + jing₄ + _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}”.

4.2. Syntactic Environmental Change of Phrase “Yijing”

When jing₄ has the prepositional function of “event that has been experienced” and “past tense and perfect aspect”, the possibility of reanalysis increases. This may be related to the meaning of temporal phrase.

(23)	Mahayana Sutra of Mental Contemplation of Life, Prajna, Tang Dynasty. CBETA. T03, No. 159, p. 308 b8-9. (唐⸱般若 大乘本生心地观经) (middle 8th century C.E.)
	眷属	乖离	无	所	托，	拾	薪
	juàn shǔ	guāi lí	wú	suǒ	tuō	shí	xīn
	family	desert	neg	nmlz	trust	collect	fire wood
	货鬻	以	为	常，	往	彼	山
	huò yù	yǐ	wéi	cháng	wǎng	bǐ	shān
	sell	prep	to be	normal	go	pron	mountain
	中	遇	风	雪，	入	于	石窟
	zhōng	yù	fēng	xuě	rù	yú	shí kū
	loc	encounter	wind	snow	go	prep	cave
	而	暂	息。	窟	中	往昔	藏
	ér	zàn	xī	kū	zhōng	wǎng xī	cáng
	conj	momentarily	rest	cave	loc	past	hide
	妙宝，	已	经	久远	无	人	知，
	miào bǎo	yǐ	jīng	jiǔ yuǎn	wú	rén	zhī
	treasure	relt.pfv	experience	ages ago	neg	human	know
	樵人	得	遇	真	金藏，	心	怀
	qiáo rén	dé	yù	zhēn	jīn zàng	xīn	huái
	chopper	acquire	meet	real	treasure	heart	have
	踊跃	生	希有。
	yǒng yuè	shēng	xī yǒu
	delight	life	rare
	“A man who had been deserted by his family lived on selling firewood he collected. One day, when he was in the mountain, the snow fell, and he went into a cave for shelter. There was great treasure hidden in the cave. Nobody knew it because it was too long ago. The chopper got the treasure and was in great delight that he had never had in his life.”

(24)	A memorial on Allowances for Officials below Grade Six, from Complete Literature Works of Tang Dynasty, Li Kuo. (唐⸱李适 全唐文⸱定承袭食封奏贞元八年八月) (792C.E.)
	诸	州府	五	品	以上	正员
	zhū	zhōu fǔ	wǔ	pǐn	yǐ shàng	zhèng yuán
	every	government	num	grade	loc	official
	及	额内上佐，	宜	四	考	停，	其
	jí	é nèi shàng zuǒ	yí	sì	kǎo	tíng	qí
	conj	staff member	should	num	appraisal	stop	pron
	左降官	不	在	此	限	者，	五
	zuǒ jiàng guān	bù	zài	cǐ	xiàn	zhě	wǔ
	demoted official	neg	prep	pron	limit	nmlz	num
	品	左降官	既	不	许	停	禄料
	pǐn	zuǒ jiàng guān	jì	bù	xǔ	tíng	lù liào
	grade	demoted official	also	neg	permit	stop	allowance
	六	品	以下	未	复	资，	已
	liù	pǐn	yǐ xià	wèi	fù	zī	yǐ
	num	grade	loc	neg	restore	allow	relt.pfv
	经	四	考	未	量移	间，	其
	jīng	sì	kǎo	wèi	liàng yí	jiān	qí
	experience	num	appraisal	neg	transfer	time	pron
	禄料	伏	望	亦	许	准	给。
	lù liào	fú	wàng	yì	xǔ	zhǔn	gěi
	allowance	hum	hope	also	permit	permit	pay
	“The officials whose grades are five or above in local government shall pass four appraisals, excluding the demoted officials. The allowances for demoted grade-five officials shall not stop. For officials below grade six who have passed four appraisals but have not assumed any post, I hope that their allowances also be paid.”

In (23) and (24), yijing takes the beginning position of the VP clause. In the structure “yi₂ + jing₄ + _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}”, temporal phrase changed from a specific time word, e.g., “qī rì” (“seven days”) in (21), to an obscure one, such as “duō rì” (“many days”) in (22), and then expanded to an abstract time “jiǔ yuǎn” (“a long time”) in (23), and finally to an atypical time “sì kǎo” (“four appraisals”) in (24). Expression of relative tense needs a reference temporal point. In (23), “wǎng xī” (“the past”) has no such point; in (24), the reference point is obscure and must even be inferred according to “sì kǎo”, or “from an assumption of the past”. Evolving from (23) to (24), the function of the temporal point of yi₂ in the structure “yi₂ + jing₄” gradually disappears. The semantic merging and erosion of “yi₂ + jing₄” intimates the combination of _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase.} In (23), for example, “yǐ jīng jiǔ yuǎn wú rén zhī” (“nobody knew it because it was too long ago”), the phrase “yi + jing” can be analyzed as a component modifying “jiǔ yuǎn” (a temporal word). It could also be analyzed as “yi₂ + jing₄” governing VP “jiǔ yuǎn wú rén zhī”, because in the preceding sentence, “wǎng xī” (“in the past”) modifies “cáng miào bǎo” (“the treasure was hidden”).

Example (24) is a conditional sentence. Xing (1994, pp. 257–58) divides conditional sentences into two types, namely essential and sufficient conditional sentences. The latter means “A is sufficient for the realization of B”. “liù pǐn yǐ xià wèi fù zī, yǐ jīng sì kǎo wèi liàng yí jiān” (“officials below grade six who have passed four appraisals but have not assumed any post”) cannot be separated as the sufficient condition for the realization of “qí lù liào fú wàng yì xǔ zhǔn jǐ” (“I hope that their allowances be paid”). “Kǎo” (“appraisal”, or “to appraise” in this context) is head of VP, with “sì” (“four [times]”) and “wèi liàng yí jiān” (“during the absence of any position”) functioning as restrictive conditional subordinates. “Yi + jing” as a whole can function as an adverbial modifying VP, which triggers reanalysis as follows:

[[yǐ][[jīng][[[sì][kǎo]][wèi liàng yí jiān]]]]

[[[yǐ][jīng]][[[sì][kǎo]][wèi liàng yí jiān]]]

The merging and erosion of the temporality of yi₂ has led to a loss of motivation. “Yi + jing” occupies the beginning position of the VP clause. In sufficient conditional sentences, internal components of VP are closely combined, and “yi + jing” functions as an adverbial of the VP. Under such circumstances, yijing satisfies two criteria of lexicalization, namely “no other component can be inserted into the word” and “the modifier modifies the word as a whole, or the word as a whole modifies other words”. The grammatical characteristic of yijing has not changed. Thus, the merging of internal structure of the phrase should be categorized as lexicalization. The syntactic environmental change of “yi₂ + jing₄” can be described as: yi _{(strong temporality)} + jing + temporal phrase +VP _{complementary phrase} → [[yi _{(weak temporality)} jing]+[ _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}]] _{sufficient conditional sentence}.

4.3. Semantic–Pragmatic Environmental Change of Yijing

In the early Tang Dynasty (618–712C.E.), “yijing” in context can be confirmation of an aforementioned phenomenon.

(25)	Fa Yuan Zhu Lin, by Daoshi, Tang Dynasty. CBETA. T53, No. 2122, p. 988 c20-21. (唐⸱道世 法苑珠林) (668671C.E.)
	僧达	常	以	平旦	入	寺	礼拜，
	sēng dá	cháng	yǐ	píng dàn	rù	sì	lǐ bài
	Sengda	usually	prep	dawn	enter	temple	worship
	宜	就	求	哀。	清	往	其
	yí	jiù	qiú	āi	qīng	wǎng	qí
	could	go	beg	pity	Liqing	go	pron
	寺	见	一	沙门，	语曰：	汝	是
	sì	jiàn	yī	shā mén	yù yuē	rǔ	shì
	temple	see	num	samana	say	2sg	cop
	我	前	七	生	时	弟子，	已经
	wǒ	qián	qī	shēng	shí	dì zǐ	yǐjīng
	1sg	before	num	lives	time	student	past.pfv
	七	世	受	福。
	qī	shì	shòu	fú
	num	lives	get	blessing
	“Monk Sengda usually enters the temple at dawn, so you can go to meet him at that time. Li Qing went to the temple, where he met with a samana who said, “You were my student seven lives ago, and you have been blessed for seven lives”.”

In (25), yijing occupies the place for an adverbial, modifying VP “qī shì shòu fú” (“been blessed for seven lives”) and marking the past tense and perfect aspect. With “rǔ” (“you”) as the topic, the first assertation is “shì wǒ qián qī shēng shí dì zǐ” (“[you] were my student seven lives ago”). The following clause, taking the topic and the first assertation as presupposition, makes a new assertation of “qī shì shòu fú”. The authenticity of the first assertation is confirmed by adding a detailed description to the topic.

Yijing in (25) also bears the tense and aspect functions. “Qī shì shòu fú” happened in the period lasting from seven lives ago to now. It has the quality of relative tense and expresses the state of past perfect. However, in (25), yijing as a whole functions as adverbial and bears confirmation of a textual interaction. The phrase becomes more lexicalized due to pragmaticalization, which conforms to the criterion that “the meaning of a word is specialized: the sum of meaning derived from each single morpheme is not equal to the word meaning”.

Over a hundred years later, there were examples of “yi + jing” that tended to be lexicalized in absolute tense:

(26)	Chu Qu Jun Zhai Shu Huai, by Xue Ju, Tang Dynasty. (唐⸱薛据 初去郡斋书怀) (middle 8th century C.E.)
	征鸟	无	返	翼，	归流	不	停
	zhēng niǎo	wú	fǎn	yì	guī liú	bù	tíng
	eagle	neg	return	wing	river	neg	stop
	川。	已经	霜雪	下，	乃	验	松柏
	chuān	yǐ jīng	shuāng xuě	xià	nǎi	yàn	sōng bǎi
	flow	abst.past	snow	fall	conj	prove	pine tree
	坚。
	jiān
	perseverant
	“Eagles and falcons will not return once they leave, but the rivers flowing toward the sea never stop. Only when the snow falls shall we know that pine trees are perseverant.”

In (26), there is only the temporal point of the talking time and the past extended backward. Here, we maintain that yi₁ stands for absolute tense in context. Example (26) is an essential conditional sentence, which emphasizes that A is the essential condition of B, (Xing 1994, p. 257). The pattern has an emphatic function. “Yǐ jīng shuāng xuě xià” as a whole is an antecedent clause, functioning as the essential condition. As an adverbial, yijing governs the conditional VP “shuāng xuě xià” (“the snow falls”), an accomplishment situational verb with features of [dynamic], [durability], [telic] and [consequential]. The [telic] feature parallels to the perfect aspect function of “yijing”:

[[[yǐ][jīng]][[shuāng xuě][xià]]]

Yijing does not necessarily bear the perfect aspect in the sentence because of the [+telic] feature of “shuāng xuě xià”. However, the time of “shuāng xuě xià” is not indicated. Consequently, there are two possibilities for how to interpret the sentence. One is that the action is ongoing, and the other is that the action finished in the past. In such contexts, to achieve “nǎi yàn sōng bǎi jiān” (“to prove that the pines are perseverant”), it is essential to confirm the telic state and its consequences on “shuāng xuě xià”. In (26), the state of “shuāng xuě xià” has emphasis put on it, or in other words, the action of “shuāng xuě xià” should be in the past. Yijing still bears the function for past tense in this sentence, but it is also acceptable to say that yijing has dual functions for emphasis and the past tense. With regard to criterion (1), or “the sum of meaning derived from each single morpheme is not equal to the word meaning”, yijing in (26) is more lexicalized than that in (25).

(27)	Law of Litigation, The Tang Code, Zhangsun Wuji, Tang Dynasty. (唐⸱长孙无忌 唐律疏议⸱斗讼律) (later 7th century C.E.)
	未	知	前人	已经	断	讫，	然后
	wèi	zhī	qián rén	yǐ jīng	duàn	qì	rán hòu
	neg	know	predecessor	already	judge	finish	conj
	引	虚，	合	减	以	否？	答曰：
	yǐn	xū	hé	jiǎn	yǐ	fǒu	dá yuē
	accuse	false	conform	reduce	prt	fprt.neg	answer
	律文	但	言	“已	加	拷掠”，	不
	lǜ wén	dàn	yán	yǐ	jiā	kǎo lüè	bù
	law	only	record	abst.past	punish	torture	neg
	言	事	经	断	讫。
	yán	shì	jīng	duàn	qì
	record	thing	experience	judge	pfv
	“If the calumniator, without knowing that the predecessor has been judged, admits that he has made a false accusation, shall his penalty be reduced? The answer is: the law only contains rules stipulating “after torture” rather than “after judgment.”“

Jiang (2001) pointed out that “qì” (“finish”) was a typical accomplishment verb in Middle Ancient Chinese. The perfective marker “qì” (“finish”) is an achievement situation featuring [dynamic], [atelic] and [transient]. Compared to (26), “duàn qì ” of (27) is an overt mark of accomplishment, and no duration exists. Here yijing does not have the function of past tense and perfect aspect at all. The sentence can only be analyzed as:

[[yǐ jīng][[duàn][qì]]]

Grammatically, yijing in (27) does not bear the function of tense or aspect marking and thus cannot function as an adverb of assertations or absolute components (Perkins 1983, p. 18). If yijing in (27) is removed, the assertation has not been changed. It shows that yijing is not involved in any grammatical operations but functions for textual interaction. The four criteria of Dong (2011, p. 26) were achieved.8 The semantic cohesion of yijing leads to a lexicalization of the structure, which becomes entirely adverbial. However, (27) is a conditional clause, yijing is in a “wèi zhī qián rén yǐ jīng duàn qì” (“do not know the predecessor has been judged”), and the semantics of yijing are still influenced by the semantics of the syntax in the context, and a more neutral context is needed to account for the entrenchment of the adverbial function of the expositive adverb yijing.

(28)	Yunji Qiqian, Zhang Junfang, Song Dynasty. (宋⸱张君房 云笈七签) (1017–1021C.E.)
	其	肠	中	先	来	已经	荡涤
	qí	cháng	zhōng	xiān	lái	yǐ jīng	dàng dí
	pron	intestine	loc	before	come	already	wash
	净	讫，	不	食	日	久。
	jìng	qì	bú	shí	rì	jiǔ
	clean	pfv	neg	eat	day	duration
	“The food he had earlier had been digested clean in his stomach, and it was a long time since he had anything.”

Yijing was not used as an expositive adverb universally until the Song dynasty, as is shown in (28), where it is used in an expositive adverb in a neutral context. The VP “dàng dí jìng qì” (“had been digested clean”) is a phrase of achievement situation with the perfect verb “qì” (“finish”), which indicates both the past tense and the perfective aspect. The condition of “cháng zhōng jìng” (“clean in the stomach”) is achieved instantaneously, with the perfective marker “qì”, indicating that the action took place at one point in the past. Yijing does not have the meaning of tense and aspect, and the deletion of it does not affect the propositional meaning. It governs the restrictive elements other than the absolute element of the sentence. Moreover, the change in VP leads to the result state of duration, where yijing acts to restrict the reality of VP, confirming the factual state of “cháng zhōng dàng dí jìng qì” (“had been digested clean in his stomach”). The only function of yijing in the context of (27) and (28) is to express confirmation of the reality of the event, acting as a confirmative expositive adverb of restrictive adverbial (Yao and Yao 2011; Zou 2012). In Yao and Yao (2011), confirmative expositive adverb(s) refers to adverb(s) that affirm and confirm the preceding facts and circumstances.

In a sufficient conditional sentence, “yi₂ + jing₄” as a whole functions as an additional description to the topic, confirming the former phenomenon. As a result, the structure itself becomes a confirmative expositive adverb but still bears tense and aspect functions, and it is not fully lexicalized. In the structure “yijing + VP _[finish]”, yijing only marks the past tense due to semantic merging and erosion. In the structure “yijing + VP _{[accomplished]}”, it bears no tense or aspect function at all, where “yijing”, analyzed as a confirmative expositive adverb, is fully lexicalized. The semantic–pragmatic environmental change of “yi₂ + jing₄” can be described as: [[[yi _{(weak temporality)}][jing]] _{(relative time)} + _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}] _{sufficient conditional sentence} → [yijing _{[confirmative]} + VP] → yijing _{[confirmative expositive adverb]} + VP _{[accomplished]}.

4.4. Lexicalization Approach of “Yijing”

In the structure “yi _{[relative time]} + jing + VP”, when VP contained complements and jing governed temporal words, the complex grammatical structure triggered reanalysis, mainly as “yi + [jing + temporal words] + VP + complement” or as “yi + jing + [temporal word + VP + complement]”. In the latter case, when the temporal relations in the sentences were not clear, the coordinate phrase “yi + jing” as a whole modified VP and forms the structure [yi + jing] + VP. If the structure was in sufficient conditional clauses and the VP was an accomplishment situation, “yi + jing” acquired the pragmatic function for confirmation of a completed event, but it is still about the time and aspect of the sentence. This function was acquired in context of relative time and extended to that of absolute time. By the 7th century, VP was an accomplishment situation and had perfective verbs in it. “yijing” no longer bore time and aspect meaning of the sentence but pragmaticized into an expositive adverb for confirmation. By the Song Dynasty (960–1279C.E.), yijing as an expositive adverb was fixed regardless of context. A detailed lexicalization path is shown in Figure 2.

5. Discussion: T-A Accumulation—Lexical Formation of Coordinate Tense–Aspect Elements in Chinese

The process of the lexical formation of yijing discussed above can be summarized as follows: yi, originally an adverb for tense and aspect, modified jing, a word with verbal functions; jing was grammaticalized and acquired similar tense–aspect functions to yi; yi and jing were lexicalized to yijing due to synonymous parallels. Yi, jing, and yijing all had similar functions in terms of tense and aspect. Cengjing (曾经) “once” and yeyi (业已) “already” are among the similar structures that captured the attention of scholars. Chen (2010) and Zhu (2019) both believe that in the verbal modifying structure “ceng + jing”, grammaticalization of jing resulted in the development of jing’s adverbial function, which was identical with yi. Subsequently, the two morphemes formed cengjing, a disyllabic adverb. Lu (2017) pointed out that yeyi was originally a phrase made up of synonymous morphemes in ancient Chinese and became a combined word due to increased usage. 9

The phenomenon can be represented as a lexical formation process of coordinate tense–aspect elements in the form of A + B → AB, the detail of which is:

• Step 1: A + B (A = adverb; B = verb) (yijing means “already went through”);
• Step 2: A + [B + V] (A = adverb; B = verb) (yijing means “already experience”);
• Step 3: A + [B + V] (A = adverb; B = adverb; A ≈ B) (yijing means “already experienced”);
• Step 4: A + B + VP (A = adverb; B = adverb; A ≈ B) (yijing means “already experienced by”);
• Step 5: [AB] + VP _{temporal phrase} (AB = adverb; A ≈ B ≈ AB) (yijing means “already”).

The concern is the path of T-A (tense–aspect) accumulation, diachronic acquisition or loss of the tense–aspect functions of all elements in coordinated tense–aspect structures. It involves the following process: (Step 1) in a VP structure “A + B”, A functioned as an adverb for tense and aspect while B was a verb; (Step 2) a new verb joined the structure and formed with B to create a serial predicate structure, which was modified by A; (Step 3) B was grammaticalized into an adverb under the condition that V and B are identical in terms of situational type; (Step 4) grammaticalization triggered structural reanalysis, i.e., VP functioned as B and became the core of the sentence while A and B formed a synonymous parallel structure and modified VP; (Step 5) if VP contained a temporal phrase in the same situational type with A and B, the structure A+B as a whole did not function in terms of tense and aspect any more but only as outside-proposition elements. A + B acquired outside-proposition meaning and formed a new word AB. In Step 1, A burdened the tense aspect function; in Step 2, V was added; and in Step 3, B was grammaticalized and started to have tense aspect functions. V developed into VP in Step 4, and finally, temporal phrase was added into the VP, which led to the “A + B” as outside-proposition elements in Step 5. Lastly, A + B was lexicalized into a word AB.

T-A accumulation is both the lexical formation process and the criterion of full lexicalization of coordinate tense–aspect elements in Chinese:

(1)

Semantically, full lexicalization of coordinate tense–aspect elements should live up to the criterion that the sum of meanings of single morphemes is not equal to that of the word. A, B, and AB have similar tense–aspect functions. As a result, to judge whether AB has been fully lexicalized, unique functions of AB must be sought beyond the meaning categories of A and B individually. When new tense–aspect elements are added into the sentence, the old elements of the same function are forced to be grammaticalized.

(2)

Structurally, the head of the sentence’s tense–aspect functions falls on verbs. The addition of new verbs leads to the accumulation of old elements before them. With the complications of verbal structures, the old elements move further away from the head.

(3)

Pragmatically, the coordinate tense–aspect elements are pushed outside the proposition and burden outside-proposition meaning as a whole due to their syntactic location before the predicate distant from the head and their original syntactic basis of tense and aspect.

6. Conclusions

The first usage of lexicalized yijing was in Law of Litigation in The Tang Code, literature of the 7th century. Yijing completed lexicalization by the Song Dynasty (960–1279C.E.). Lexicalization of yijing began with grammaticalization of jing. When jing₄, meaning “something that has been experienced”, was followed by an NP without a noun marker or atypical nouns, host-class expansion took place, and the structure could then be analyzed as “yi + jing₄ + NP|VP”. When VP was bare, the syntactic environment changed, and the structure was analyzed as “yi + jing + VP”. In the structure “yi + jing₄ + VP _[activity]”, jing was grammaticalized to an adverb of state, meaning “through”, and in “yi + jing₄ + VP _{[semelfactive]}”, jing turned into an adverb used for the past tense and the perfect aspect. “Yi₂”, used for relative time, participated in the lexicalization of yijing. Under the condition that the VP in the structure “yi₂ + jing + VP” was followed by complements and jing governed temporal phrases, the structure became “yi₂ + jing _{temporal phrase} + VP _{complementary phrase}”, which might be reanalyzed as “yi₂ + jing _{temporal phrase} + VP _{complementary phrase}” or as “yi + jing + _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}”. As for yi₂ used for relative time in the structure “yi + jing + _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}”, its reference time became obscure, and the function disappeared. Consequently, analysis of “yi + jing + _{temporal phrase} VP _{complementary phrase}” gradually became fixed. When yijing modified VP in an integrated way, its lexicalization began. In sufficient conditional sentences, the structure “yijing _{[confirmative]} + VP” developed, showing that the integrated yijing had been pragmaticalized and had become a confirmative expositive adverb to trigger further lexicalization. In the structure “yijing + VP _[finish]”, yijing only marked the past tense, and semantic merging and erosion occurred with the merging of internal structures. Finally, in the structure “yijing + VP _{[accomplished]}”, yijing no longer bore time–aspect meaning of the sentence and worked only as an expositive adverb for confirmation, which means that yijing had been fully lexicalized.