Attraction and differentiation: tracking the diachronic evolution and interactions of Chinese extreme degree resultatives through semantic vector space modeling

Abstract This study employs a BERT-assisted behavioural profiles approach to examine the diachronic interaction of two Chinese extreme degree resultative constructions: V-HUAI ‘go bad’ and V-SI ‘die’. Drawing data from the CCL Ancient Chinese Corpus, we trace their semantic developments and interactions across three historical periods – spanning approximately 2,000 years. The findings reveal a converging tendency with both constructions undergoing multi-stage evolution. Clustering analyses show semantic convergence stems from their shared ability to express outcomes of the same causal events while differentiation arises from HUAI’s encoding of gradable scales. Notably, the study reveals a collaborative interplay between attraction and differentiation at distinct levels: attraction contributes to the schematic generalization and formation of constructions, while differentiation operates at the instance level, serving to stabilize the constructional network. This research enriches evolutionary construction grammar by clarifying the interplay between semantic-driven attraction and differentiation, which governs the diachronic evolution of extreme-degree resultative constructions.