Digital Practices in Linguistics: Dynamic and Continuous Categorization of Semi-modal Verbs in Mandarin Chinese
Wenxi Li · 2022 4th International Conference on Natural Language Processing (ICNLP) · 2022
This paper explores definitions and boundaries of Mandarin modal verbs in a data-driven method, which selects “Rongyi”, “Hao” and “Nan”, three semi-modal verbs as probes. Based on data in the BCC corpus, cluster analysis, chronological changes and motion charts are applied to observe them comprehensively. It not only shows attributes of “Rongyi”, “Hao” and “Nan” systematically, but also suggests feasibility of forming a dynamic and continuous categorization of linguistic data with the assistance of corpus and technical tools.