International Journal of Language & Linguistics

How Linguistic Notions Formed the Concession During the Grammaticalization Process? A Contrastive Study of the Mandarin Concessive Connector 即使jíshǐ and Its Equivalents in French
Ming HUANG

Abstract
The article treats the most prototypical concessive connector 即使jíshǐ“although” “even if” in Chinese and its equivalents in French based on previous theories and analyses on the two languages. The aim of the present work is to explore the concessive mechanism in two languages that are typologically distant. By relating several crucial linguistic notions such as temporality, hypothesis and causative verbs, our research not only demonstrates the diachronic evolution of the concessive marker 即使jíshǐ, but also highlights its rapprochements with certain French concessive connectors (such as cependant, mêmesi, etc.) from logico-semantic and syntactico-discursive points of view. After consulting various corpora from archaic to contemporary Chinese and French, as well as using technical linguistic methodologies, the article presents surprising similarities in terms of the concessive formation despite the etymological and cultural differences of the two languages.

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