Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective
This paper proposes the innovative concept of lexical niche to analyze the ecology of vocabulary from an ecolinguistic perspective. Through the examination of niche breadth and overlap, we quantitatively assess the vitality and competition of six typical Chinese eating verbs: shi (食), fan (饭), can (...
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De Gruyter
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of World Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2024-0012 |
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| author | Mo Ruifeng Xiao Haozhang |
| author_facet | Mo Ruifeng Xiao Haozhang |
| author_sort | Mo Ruifeng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper proposes the innovative concept of lexical niche to analyze the ecology of vocabulary from an ecolinguistic perspective. Through the examination of niche breadth and overlap, we quantitatively assess the vitality and competition of six typical Chinese eating verbs: shi (食), fan (饭), can (餐), dan (啖), ru (茹), and chi (吃). The analysis reveals their diachronic evolution in the history of the Chinese language (temporal niche), their synchronic distribution in Chinese dialects (spatial niche), and their verb-object collocation (functional niche). The findings indicate the following: (1) Shi, fan, can, dan, and ru originated in Early Old Chinese, while chi emerged in Late Old Chinese. (2) The niche breadths of the six eating verbs are as follows: 2.585, −2.391, −2.242, −0.108, −1.734, and 3.889, respectively. Chi demonstrates the highest vitality, followed by shi; fan, can, dan, and ru exhibit extremely low vitality. (3) Shi originated in the Pre-Qin dynasty, serving as the dominant eating verb in ancient times with robust competition. However, in modern times, it has evolved into a morpheme for compound words, displaying weak sustainability. Chi, born in the Han dynasty, replaced shi as the dominant eating verb by the late Tang dynasty, establishing itself as the most competitive verb to date, characterized by strong sustainability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-89cb70815e9e4dfcaf06cfdb46f73322 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2169-8260 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of World Languages |
| spelling | doaj-art-89cb70815e9e4dfcaf06cfdb46f733222025-08-20T02:51:59ZengDe GruyterJournal of World Languages2169-82602024-12-0110354956510.1515/jwl-2024-0012Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspectiveMo Ruifeng0Xiao Haozhang1School of Foreign Studies, 12526South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, ChinaSchool of Foreign Studies, 12526South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, ChinaThis paper proposes the innovative concept of lexical niche to analyze the ecology of vocabulary from an ecolinguistic perspective. Through the examination of niche breadth and overlap, we quantitatively assess the vitality and competition of six typical Chinese eating verbs: shi (食), fan (饭), can (餐), dan (啖), ru (茹), and chi (吃). The analysis reveals their diachronic evolution in the history of the Chinese language (temporal niche), their synchronic distribution in Chinese dialects (spatial niche), and their verb-object collocation (functional niche). The findings indicate the following: (1) Shi, fan, can, dan, and ru originated in Early Old Chinese, while chi emerged in Late Old Chinese. (2) The niche breadths of the six eating verbs are as follows: 2.585, −2.391, −2.242, −0.108, −1.734, and 3.889, respectively. Chi demonstrates the highest vitality, followed by shi; fan, can, dan, and ru exhibit extremely low vitality. (3) Shi originated in the Pre-Qin dynasty, serving as the dominant eating verb in ancient times with robust competition. However, in modern times, it has evolved into a morpheme for compound words, displaying weak sustainability. Chi, born in the Han dynasty, replaced shi as the dominant eating verb by the late Tang dynasty, establishing itself as the most competitive verb to date, characterized by strong sustainability.https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2024-0012ecolinguisticslexical nichelexical vitalitysustainability of vocabulary |
| spellingShingle | Mo Ruifeng Xiao Haozhang Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective Journal of World Languages ecolinguistics lexical niche lexical vitality sustainability of vocabulary |
| title | Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective |
| title_full | Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective |
| title_fullStr | Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective |
| title_short | Lexical niche and sustainability: an ecolinguistic perspective |
| title_sort | lexical niche and sustainability an ecolinguistic perspective |
| topic | ecolinguistics lexical niche lexical vitality sustainability of vocabulary |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2024-0012 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moruifeng lexicalnicheandsustainabilityanecolinguisticperspective AT xiaohaozhang lexicalnicheandsustainabilityanecolinguisticperspective |