On the discourse marker <i>yěshì</i> ‘also’ in Chinese constructions of blame

Abstract Blame is generally considered a social-cognitive act, in which the blamer expresses their negative evaluation and attitude to the ‘blamee’ and their actions. In the act of blame, the blamer takes a stance, presents it, and negotiates this stance with other participants within the discourse. Adopting a Construction Grammar approach, this paper identifies four constructions of blame in Modern Chinese that share a construction-initial sequence ‘ np yěshì ’. Despite their formal similarity and the general function of expressing blame, the four constructions differ in syntax, detailed semantics, and pragmatic functions. Moreover, our analysis shows that, in interaction with the clauses that follow, construction-initial ‘ np yěshì ’ marks an evaluative-affective stance, mitigates the effects of blame, and signals a stance shift in the discourse. In terms of discourse organization, it serves to introduce new and relevant information in the forthcoming discourse.