Abstract
The crux of this study is to fathom the semasiology and grammaticalization of xialai. We propound that xialai has ten discrete senses, which can be demarcated into five broad categories. Xialai movement as the archetypical sense of xialai is axiomatic (as xialai literally means downward movement) and also borne out by the diachronic data. The other nine senses are its stock, some of which are immediate descendants of it, while the others are the third-, fourth-, or fifth-generation offspring of it. Pared to the bone, xialai movement is structured of four semantic features, Higher Place or Source, Lower Place or Goal, Path, and Descent; the number of features the rest have in common with it seems to bear upon the degree of propinquity between the two. The closer the kinship, the more features they are likely to share. Other semantic features appertaining to some scions of xialai movement are Scale, Change of State, and Continuity of Time, which are all derivatives of the integral features of xialai movement. With respect to the five major categories of xialai, xialai scale, xialai continuity of time, and xialai possession are generic denominations, i.e., they are not semantically tantamount to the senses they embrace. They, along with xialai movement and xialai cessation, form the pillars of the synchronic signification of xialai. Xialai as a valid instantiation of grammaticalization is evidenced by the diminution of its semantic complexity, pragmatic significance, and syntactic freedom. The evolvement of xialai is in compliance with some of the principles and parameters of grammaticalization. The prime movers behind the process are a triumvirate of cognitive mechanisms: metaphor, generalization, and inference. Jurafsky’s (1996) Structured Polysemy model is feasible for illuminating the grammaticalization of xialai, as it lucidly presents the multiple evolving pathways of xialai as well as the (un)relatedness of the multifarious synchronic senses of it. The extended senses emanate from xialai movement, “like the spokes of a wheel” (in Taylor’s (1988) words). Adjacent senses are more kin to each other than those that are not, whereas the senses on the fringe are divergent or poles asunder from each other or from the pivotal, prototypical sense of xialai, xialai movement.