GENERAL PATTERNS AND SPECIFIC FEATURES OF GRAMMATICALIZATION IN RUSSIAN AND CHINESE: THE CASE OF НАПРОТИВ AND ITS CHINESE EQUIVALENTS

Abstract

The paper presents a comparative analysis of grammaticalization processes in Russian and Chinese, focusing on the Russian word напротив and its functional counterparts in Chinese. Grammaticalization is understood here as the historical process whereby lexical items evolve into grammatical markers, accompanied by semantic bleaching and a shift in syntactic status. The theoretical framework draws on Christian Lehmann’s model of grammaticalization, which assesses the degree of grammaticalization along six parameters: integrity, paradigmaticity, paradigmatic variability, structural scope, bondedness, and syntagmatic variability. The study demonstrates that in both languages the starting point for grammaticalization lies in items with spatial semantics. However, the subsequent trajectories along each parameter diverge considerably – a divergence rooted in the typological differences between Russian and Chinese. Special attention is given to polyfunctionality as an indicator of an intermediate stage of grammaticalization in both linguistic systems.