The evolution of the Min potential complement construction: A case of constructional renewal and variation from an areal perspective

Abstract

This paper studies the evolution of a unique potential complement construction (PCC), i.e. V-MOD/MODNEG-C, in Min, a southeastern Chinese dialect group. Based on Southern Min historical materials, the Min PCC is observed to have emerged in the late 19th century and, with its higher compositionality, accessibility and universality, renewed the preexisting mainstream Chinese PCC, i.e. V-PRT/NEG-C, in the 20th century. In modern Min dialects, the Min PCC evolves into three types of allostructions (i.e. morphosyntactic variants), which can be accounted for by directionality at the universal, language-specific, and category-specific levels. The emergence of the Min PCC and its allostructions has increased the schematicity of the Chinese PCC hierarchy.