(Inter)subjectification at the left and right periphery: Deriving Chinese pragmatic marker bushi from the negative copula

Abstract

The connection between (inter)subjectification and movement to peripheral positions of a clause is investigated using diachronic data on the Chinese pragmatic marker bushi. This pragmatic marker derived from the negative copula use of bushi in medial positions, and was recruited to serve exchange- and action-structure-related functions (including subjective and intersubjective functions) at the left and right periphery. Key factors are identified to operationalize (inter)subjectification in the expansion of functional range, based on the historical evidence. (Inter)subjectified cases are shown not to conform to the asymmetry hypothesis, in which there is a fair division of labour between pragmatic markers at left and right periphery and in which elements recruited to the left and right peripheries undergo subjectification and intersubjectification respectively. Analysing the distinct patterns of bushi not only expands our knowledge of pragmatic marker origins in the understudied context of Chinese, but will yield a better understanding of the generalizability of existing findings based primarily on Indo-European languages.