In and Out: Senses and Meaning Extension of Mandarin Spatial Terms nei and wai

Proceedings of PACLIC 19, the 19th Asia-Pacific Conference on Language, Information and Computation. In and Out: Senses and Meaning Extension of Mandarin Spatial Terms nei and wai Yiching Wu Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Road, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan, R. O. C. d898702@oz.nthu.edu.tw Cui-Xia Weng Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica No.128, Sec. 2, Academia Road, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan, R. O. C. cxw@gate.sinica.edu.tw Chu-Ren Huang Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica No.128, Sec. 2, Academia Road, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan, R. O. C. churen@gate.sinica.edu.tw Abstract This paper explores the semantic properties and extension paths of modern Mandarin Chinese spatial terms nei4 內‘in, inside’ and wai4 外‘out, outside’. Their symmetric and asymmetric contrasts are accounted for with idealized cognitive models (ICMs) and metonymic models. These models are used to delineate the core meaning and main meaning extension routes of nei4 and wai4: from the area of a region to the length of the radius or side, and then to distance. Locations of the observer, marked foci, container metaphors and social backgrounds also contribute to the asymmetry of the two terms. The synchronic difference between nei4 and wai4 can also be attributed to diachronic changes. 1. Introduction 1.1 Symmetry and Asymmetry of nei4 and wai41 Nei4 內 ‘in’ and wai4 外 ‘out’ are two Mandarin location terms that represent speakers’ conceptualization of space. It is shown that they behave similarly and share an extensive set of collocation patterns as in (1). 1a. wu1nei2 屋內 ‘in the house/room’ wu1wai4 屋外 ‘out of the house/room’ b. nei4ce4 內側 ‘inside’ wai4ce4 外側 ‘outside’ c. nei4xiao1 內銷 ‘sell domestically’ wai4xiao1 外銷 ‘export’ d. zai4 huang2gong1 zhi1 nei4 在皇宮之內 ‘in the palace’ zai4 huang2gong1 zhi1 wai4 在皇宮之外 ‘out of the palace’. e. yi4bai3 kong1chi3 yi3nei4 一百公尺以內 ‘within one hundred meters’ yi4bai3 kong1chi3 yi3wai4 一百公尺以外 ‘beyond one hundred meters’ 1 Mandarin tones are marked with numerals. 1 stands for the first tone, a high level tone, 2 the second tone with a rising contour, 3 the third tone, a falling and rising tone, 4 the fourth tone, a high falling tone, and 5 the neutral tone. However, there are also significant contrasts in terms of compound word formation as in (2): 2a. *ye3nei4 野內 ye3wai4 野外 ‘the field’ *yi4nei4 意內 yi4wai4 意外 ‘unexpected, accident’ ren4nei4 任內 ‘during one’s tenure’ *ren4wai4 任外 b. *nei4guo2 內國 wai4guo2 外國 ‘foreign country’ *nei4qi1 內戚 wai4qi1 外戚 ‘maternal relatives’ nei4mu4 內幕 (xiao1xi2 消息) ‘inside (news)’ *wai4mu4 外幕(xiao1xi2 消息) c. *nei4yu4 內遇 wai4yu4 外遇 ‘extramarital affairs’ nei4ding4 內定 (ren2xuan4 人選) ‘tapped (candidate)’ *wai4ding4 外定 (ren2xuan4 人選) d. *pai2nei4 排內 pai2wai4 排外 ‘exclude foreigners; xenophobia’ jian4nei4 賤內 ‘(my) humble wife’ *jian4wai4 賤外 e. zai4 wu3 nian2 yi3nei4 在五年以內 ‘within five years’ * zai4 wu3 nian2 yi3wai4 在五年以外 f. yi4bai3 yuan2 yi3nei4 一百元以內 ‘less than one hundred dollars’ *yi4bai3 yuan2 yi3wai4 一百元以外 The goal of this paper is to account for both the similarities and contrasts in terms of lexical conceptualization. 1.2 Internal structure of nei4 and wai4 collocations One …

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