On Return Verbs In Wu Dialects: Lexical Typology,geographic Distribution And Diachronic Changes

Based on the study of “return” verbs in 40 Wu dialects,this thesis describes their geographical distribution,substitution mechanisms,and similarities and differences in lexicalizing motion events.Conclusions are as follows:First,the basic forms of Wu “return” verbs include “hui”,“zhuan” and “gui”.Among them,“hui” is distributed in Wu Tai Lake,“zhuan” is distributed in Wu Yong River,Taizhou and Ou River,and “gui” is mainly in Wu Wuzhou and Quzhou.In addition,most of the dialects have corresponding compound forms of “return” verbs,There are two special cases: one is the dialect of Jingxian,Changzhou and Yixing in the border area of Wu,which is influenced by Jianghuai Mandarin,and the compound form of the“return” verb is “jia lai” instead of “hui lai”,the other one is dialects of Wenzhou,Rui’an and Yongjia have no compound form of the “return” verb.Secondly,combining the synchronic distribution and diachronic evolution of “hui”,“zhuan” and “gui”,this thesis proposes the hypothesis on the development of Wu“return” verb: the basic form of Wu “return” verb is “gui”.Afterwards,“zhuan”emerged in the southern dialects and occupied part of the territory of “gui” in Wu.“hui”is the spread of Lin’an Mandarin after the Song dynasty.The geographical distribution of “gui” was eventually shaped by the extrusion of “zhuan” and “hui”.Finally,a comparative study of the syntactic features of the Wu "return" verbs shows the following conclusions:1.Semantically,the core semantics of the “return” verb lies in the preset path,some Wu dialects,such as Zhuji,Beilun,Rui’an,etc.,do not necessarily use specific “return”verbs like “hui”,“zhuan”,“gui”,when expressing the meaning of “return”.Instead,the direct verb “lai/qu” are often used to express related semantics.2.Syntactically,the ability of Wu “return” verbs to be followed by arguments is generally weak,and common Mandarin expressions such as “hui jia" and “zou hui jia”are generally difficult to find counterparts in Wu.This is related to the argument structure of Wu “return” verbs and the post-verbal restriction of Wu.3.In terms of the lexicalization type of motion events,Wu strongly disfavors the verb-framed pattern,and “return” verbs are rarely used as predicates;On the other hand,Wu prefers the satellite-framed pattern,Wenzhou,Rui’an,Taizhou Jiaojiang,Yuhuan,Xiangshan,etc.,are more commonly use verb-complement structure to encode motion event.In addition,the order of the object placed before the complement,which is a resultative serial verb constructions,reflects the equipollently-framed language feature of the Wu in encoding motion events.