A Constructionalization Approach to Chinese Shang (上) and Xia (下) Spatial Metaphor

摘要: Language is subject to change over time. Diachronic construction grammar can provide adequate accounts for phenomena of language change. Constructionalization, as a kind new approach, compasses and goes beyond both lexicalization grammaticalization (Traugott, 2014). This paper reviews the main ideas constructionalization constructional changes, explores expressions Chinese spatial metaphor shang (上) xia (下), proposes that sequence schema motivation (下).