Bridging constructions in Sino-Tibetan languages

Linguistic Typology, vol. 30, pp. 467–506

Abstract

Abstract This article presents the first systematic typological survey of bridging constructions in the Sino-Tibetan language family. Bridging constructions are discourse-linking devices in which material from a preceding clause is repeated or summarized at the onset of a following sentence, thereby contributing to cohesion, discourse continuity, and information backgrounding. Despite growing typological interest in such constructions, previous cross-linguistic research has relied heavily on data from Papunesia and South America, leaving Eurasia – and Sino-Tibetan in particular – underrepresented. The study is based on a source-driven sample of 50 Sino-Tibetan languages and combines two complementary datasets: a primary corpus of unedited oral narratives from five languages and a broader comparative survey based on secondary grammatical descriptions. This mixed methodology allows for both fine-grained analysis of attested bridging constructions and broader assessment of their distribution across the family. The analysis examines their occurrence, formal realization, and relationship to morphological type, clause-linking strategies, participant-tracking resources, zero anaphora, and areal patterning. The results show that bridging constructions are widespread across Sino-Tibetan, but that their syntactic realization varies considerably. The data provide limited support for strong typological correlations. Instead, formal variation reflects the interaction of language-specific clause-linkage resources, discourse-packaging strategies, and broader areal tendencies along the Indosphere-Sinosphere continuum.

Authors 3

1. Katia Chirkova

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale · Établissement public Campus Condorcet

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l’Asie Orientale , Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique , Campus Condorcet, 5 Cours des Humanites n°5181, 93322 Aubervilliers CEDEX , France

2. Hongdi Ding

   Education University of Hong Kong

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Chinese Language Studies, Faculty of Humanities , The Education University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong , Hong Kong

3. Paul van Els Aachen Leiden Institute for Area Studies

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Institute for Area Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , Netherlands