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Abstract Abstract: This paper explores the near-synonymous Chinese passive constructions with rang and gei by using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). The method allows us to construct the conceptual space of the constructions on the basis of concrete exemplars. Our analyses show that 1) long/short passives and genre are the two most important factors affecting passive construction alternation in question; 2) a prototypical rang passive construction refers to long passive with inanimate NP2 in written texts, while a prototypical gei passive construction refers to short passive with positive semantic prosody in spoken texts; 3) the two categories display a significant overlap in the conceptual space, which indicates the fuzzy boundaries between the categories. We also go beyond the case study by discussing the application of MCA in linguistic studies from both semasiological and onomasiological perspectives, as well as some cautions and limitations of using MCA.
Key words: conceptual space; exemplar; construction alternation; passive; Multiple Correspondence Analysis
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