Linguistic Decategorization

Zhenguang Liu is Chair Professor and former Dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Hunan University. His research specializations include Cognitive Linguistics, language acquisition, and foreign language teaching. Professor Liu has served as Principal Investigator for four projects funded by the National Social Science Fund of China, two of which are key projects. He is the author of several monographs, including "Linguistic Decategorization: An Integral Part of Linguistic Categorization," in which he proposed the theory of "linguistic decategorization." To date, he has published over 130 academic papers and edited volumes. In recognition of his scholarly contributions and teaching excellence, he has received top national honors, including the Second Prize of the National Social Science Research Award and the Second Prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award.

Yagang Wang is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Ningbo University. His current research focuses on cognitive semantics, grammaticalization and Construction Grammar. He has led multiple research initiatives, including a project funded by the Chinese Ministry of Education, and recently authored Decoding Meaning: A Brief Journey into the World of Semantics (2026). He was also awarded Second Prize in the 2023 FLTRP Cup National "Star of Foreign Language Teaching" Competition.

Chapter 1 Mechanisms of Linguistic Decategorization and Its Theoretical Significance.- Chapter 2 A Decategorizational Account of Form-Function Mismatches through Metonymic alignment.- Chapter 3 The Role of Subjectification in Decategorization.- Chapter 4 Referentiality and Decategorization.- Chapter 5 Decategorization and Noun Phrase Juxtaposition in Classical Chinese Poetry.- Chapter 6 Decategorization and the Adv-N Construction.- Chapter 7 Decategorization and the bu-N Construction.- Chapter 8 Decategorization and Nominal Adverbials in Modern Mandarin.- Chapter 9 Decategorization and Object Incorporation.- Chapter 10 Decategorization and the Vi-NP Construction.- Chapter 11 Metonymy and Object Alternations.- Chapter 12 Conditions and Motivations of the VO1-O2 Construction.- Chapter 13 Decategorization and Patient Subject Constructions in Mandarin Chinese.- Chapter 14: Decategorization and Modal Meanings in Tautological Constructions.- Chapter 15 Decategorization and the Middle Construction.- Chapter 16 Decategorization and Fictivity.- Chapter 17 Implications of Irregular Data in Theory Construction.