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Resultative Verb Compounds in Mandarin Chinese: A Case for Lexical Rules
Abstract
Resultative verbs in Mandarin Chinese are morphologically complex verbs which can undergo a certain affixation rule. Evidence is presented to support the claim that such verbs are best accounted for as being derived by a small set of lexical rules, rather than by syntactic transformations. The form and function of these lexical rules are discussed in detail.
... Contemporary Western and Western-influenced descriptions, both generative and functional-cognitive, tend to regard Chinese resultative constructions as compositionally formed VV compounds (e.g., Thompson 1973), whereas phase and directional complements are treated as particles modifying verbs with simple argument structures. Matthews and Yip (2011) influentially adopt this approach. ...
... This definition includes constructions with only potential forms and no non-potential forms. The definition is not new; it is often used as a test for the 'complement' in Chinese linguistics (e.g., Chor 2018, p. 40;Thompson 1973). 6 This is unlike Mandarin, where the negative potential form may seem discardable. ...
... Li 2002). 20 Some early accounts of Chinese resultatives assumed that V2 is always intransitive (e.g., Thompson 1973;Méi 1991 (11ab)), this does not constitute evidence against analysing 濕 sap1 'wet' as transitive. 21 Note that this construction only appears in the potential forms. ...
This article proposes a new description of Cantonese causative–resultative constructions (CRCs), constructions with two verbal elements relevant to the cause and the effect of an event respectively. We present a constructional schema for the CRC with three argument types and without using traditional categories—such as subject, object and pseudo-passivation, present various syntactic and semantic properties, and subsume constructions such as the comparative construction and numerous particle constructions under this banner. We then argue against traditional approaches to CRCs with two lexical verbs that treat the argument structure of the CRC as composed from argument structures of individual verbs (the decompositional approach); instead, CRC arguments belong to the entire construction and have only semantic orientation-based relationships with individual verbs (the holistic approach). We show how our account can shed light on Sinitic typology and the grammaticalisation mechanism of verbal particles within CRCs, particularly the extension of result verbs into a broader range of contexts to become particles. We also argue that Cantonese CRCs challenge many assumptions of serial verb typology, which typically ignore the existence of multiple layers of constructional abstraction and assume decompositional descriptions, and urge for methodological advancements in this field.
... The typical way to encode state-change events in Mandarin is to use resultative verb compounds (RVCs) (e.g., 杀死 sha-si 'do.killing-die') (e.g., Bianca 2015;Chen 2008;Chen and Guo 2010;Gu 1992;Li and Thompson 1981;Li 1998;Lu 1977;Pan 1998;Shen 2003;Thompson 1973;Zou 1994). In an RVC the cause component is represented by the first verb of the compound, and the state-change component is represented by the second verb. ...
... and Guo 2010; Gu 1992;Li and Thompson 1981;Li 1998;Lu 1977;Pan 1998;Shen 2003;Thompson 1973;Zou 1994). In an RVC the cause component is represented by the first verb of the compound, and the state-change component is represented by the second verb. ...
... Talmy (2000) The RVC 杀死 sha-si 'do.killing-die' entails a state change of becoming dead, which clashes with the claim in the second clause that the chicken did not die, as illustrated by the semantic anomaly in (2) below. Thompson 1973;Zou 1994). In an RVC the cause component is represented by the first verb of the compound, and the state-change component is represented by the second verb. ...
Languages vary systematically in how semantic information is “packaged” in verbs and verb-related constructions. Mandarin Chinese contrasts typologically with English in its lexicalization of state change. Most Mandarin monomorphemic verbs are moot about or imply a state change, whereas many English monomorphemic verbs (e.g., kill, break) entail the fulfillment of a state change. Recent studies suggest that Mandarin monomorphemic verbs form a continuum in the strength of state-change implicature. State-change verbs have been found difficult for first language (L1) learners. This study reports two experiments that investigate the lexical semantic knowledge of Mandarin monomorphemic implied or moot state-change verbs by intermediate (N = 19, mean age 21) and advanced (N = 12, mean age 21) English-speaking second language (L2) learners of Mandarin Chinese. The results reveal L2 learners’ general preference for the state-change interpretation for the monomorphemic verbs and their limited sensitivity to the nuanced strength of state-change implicature in the Mandarin verbs. Typological differences in the lexicalization of state change are argued to contribute to the difficulties in L2 learning of the lexical semantics in the semantic domain of state change in Mandarin.
... we will call them Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs) throughout this study. 4 In the literature, other names used to refer to this construction include "resultative V-V compounds" (e.g., Li, 1990), "resultative compounds" (e.g., Huang, 1984;Cheng & Huang, 1994;Basciano, 2010), and "resultative verb compounds" (e.g., Thompson, 1973;Lu, 1977;Gao, 1997;Li, 2007 First of all, although the V1 弄nong in (12b) denotes a generic meaning of 'to do, to make', it is not an alternative to the causative verbs found in the syntactic causatives presented in Section 2.1. In addition, the V1 in CR V-Vs may be a verb that refers to a concrete and specific activity, as in (12c), and there can be a non-exhaustive list of possible V1s. ...
... The Chinese CR V-V has attracted a lot of attention in the past decades due to its complex and interesting properties (see Thompson, 1973;Lu, 1977;Huang, 1984Huang, , 1992Li, 1990Li, , 1995Cheng & Huang, 1994;Gao, 1997;Sybesma, 1999;Lin, 2004;Her, 2007;Li, 2007;Basciano, 2010;Fan, 2013;Liu, 2019). First, they show verb-like properties and can further undergo passivization, as shown in (26a), which presents a passivized form of (25d). ...
... Since CR V-Vs exhibit both lexical and syntactic properties, some authors assume that they are generated in the lexicon (e.g., Thompson, 1973;Li, 1990Li, , 1995Cheng & Huang, 1994;Li, 2007) while others hold that they are syntactic structures (e.g., Lu, 1977;Huang, 1984Huang, , 1992Gao, 1997;Sybesma, 1999;Basciano, 2010;Fan, 2013;Lin, 2004;Liu, 2019). In some works, they have also been analyzed as serial verbs (e.g., Nishiyama, 1998;Yang, 2013;Fan, 2016). ...
Based on the caused eventuality, causation can be subdivided into the causation of activity and causation of change of state. By analyzing how causatives are expressed in European Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese, this study shows that these two languages exhibit quite many differences in expressing causation of change of state. We observe that many Portuguese verbs that intrinsically involve causative meanings do not have Chinese equivalence in simplex verb forms – their Chinese counterparts may take complex forms, including a construction we call Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs). Differences are also found in the derivational process: whereas anticausation plays a significant role in Portuguese, causation is the primary process in Chinese. We attribute the contrast to different semantics of verb roots in the two languages: Portuguese exhibits plenty of result roots that can intrinsically express caused-result meanings; in contrast, Chinese roots tend to denote either a pure activity or a pure (change of) state, and a causative structure is needed to express causative meanings.
... For instance, 使 shi tends to causativize a psychological state (4), but not a physical action, as shown in (5) are in adjacency, we will call them "Causative Resultative V-Vs" (CR V-Vs) throughout this study. 3 In the literature, other names used to refer to this construction include "resultative V-V compounds" (e.g., Li 1990), "resultative compounds" (e.g., Huang 1984;Cheng & Huang 1994;Basciano, 2010), and "resultative verb compounds" (Thompson 1973;Lu 1977;Gao 1997;Li 2007 he kill that CL girl ASP (but girl not die) ...
... The Chinese CR V-V has attracted a lot of attention in the past decades due to its complex and interesting properties (see Thompson 1973;Lu 1977;Huang 1984Huang , 1992Li 1990Li , 1995Cheng & Huang 1994;Gao 1997;Sybesma 1999;Lin 2004;Her 2007;Li 2007;Basciano, 2010;Fan 2013;Liu, 2019). First, they show verb-like properties and can further undergo passivization, as shown in (26a), which presents a passivized form of (25d) above. ...
... We further hypothesize that this historical change probably has led to the verbs' division of labor that is observed in present-day Chinese: with the rise of CR V-Vs, the verb roots that frequently occur in the V1 position gradually came to express a pure activity, and those that frequently occur in the V2 position came to denote a (change of) state without causation involved. Since CR V-Vs exhibit both lexical and syntactic properties, some authors assume that they are generated in the lexicon (e.g., Thompson 1973;Li 1990Li , 1995Cheng & Huang 1994;Li 2007) while others hold that they are syntactic structures (e.g., Lu 1977;Huang 1984Huang , 1992Gao 1997;Sybesma 1999;Basciano, 2010;Fan 2013;Lin 2004;Liu, 2019). In some works, they have also been analyzed as serial verbs (e.g., Nishiyama 1998, Yang 2013, Fan 2016). ...
The printed version can be found at https://doi.org/10.16995/jpl.5888
... The R in V-de/bu-R is mainly monosyllabic (Jonathan Webster, p.c.) and the formation of a trisyllabic V-de/bu-R (Chao 1968;Packard 2000) is assumed to be prosodically driven in Wang (2014Wang ( , 2017. To be specific, it is due to the Minimal Word Condition in Liu and Feng (to appear). 2 Suppose -de/bu is an infix, the formation of V-de/bu-R should be processed in the lexicon, as argued in Thompson (1973). Against a transformational analysis, Thompson (1973) argues explicitly that the potential forms of VR are derived in the lexicon via a lexical derivational rule, as illustrated in (4). ...
... To be specific, it is due to the Minimal Word Condition in Liu and Feng (to appear). 2 Suppose -de/bu is an infix, the formation of V-de/bu-R should be processed in the lexicon, as argued in Thompson (1973). Against a transformational analysis, Thompson (1973) argues explicitly that the potential forms of VR are derived in the lexicon via a lexical derivational rule, as illustrated in (4). ...
... 李四能慢慢地砍倒这棵树。 Lisi can slowly chop fall this CL tree 'Lisi can slowly chop this tree down.' (Wu 2004: 288 (21d)) If V-de/bu-R is formed in the lexicon, the asymmetry of manner adverbial modification shown in (5) and (6) is unexpected, as the two basically mean the same. Differing from Thompson (1973)'s lexical analysis, Wu (2004: 290) takes a syntactic approach and assumes that the manner adverbial manmande 'slowly' in (5) blocks the LF movement of the potential de to a (covert) modal. Meanwhile, Wang (2014Wang ( , 2017 takes a morphosyntactic analysis of V-de/bu-R under the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM, Halle & Marantz 1993, etc.). ...
This note examines the so-called infixes in Mandarin Chinese and argues that they can be analyzed as non-infixes. To be specific, the -de/bu 得/不 in potential V-de/bu-R constructions is analyzed as an affix, which merges with VR after syntax via Morphological Merger. The -bu in V-bu-R is taken as an allomorph of a potential affix -bude 不得. The drop of -de in V-bude-R is motivated prosodically. The -li 里 in A-li-AB (i.e. hu-li-hutu 糊里糊涂 ‘sort of silly’) is analyzed as a prefix to a root adjective AB, with A being further copied from AB and attached to immediately before -li to satisfy the prosodic requirements of a sizige ‘four character pattern’. The -bu 不 in A-bu-BB (i.e. suan-bu-liuliu 酸不溜溜 ‘sort of sour’) and A-bu-BC (i.e. suan-bu-liuqiu 酸不溜秋 ‘sort of sour’) is analyzed as a segment of pejorative suffixes bu-BB and bu-BC, which are added to the monosyllabic adjective A. In this line, the -bu in V-bu-R and the -bu in A-bu-BB and A-bu-BC are distinct, even though they are homophonous and represented orthographically with the same Chinese character 不.
... RVCS formation is governed by lexical derivational rules and subject to conventionality and idiosyncrasy. According to Thompson (1973), RVCs consist of an open subset whose members are derived by lexical rules and a closed subset whose members are simply listed in the lexicon. She proposed the most general rule for creating RVCs as in (2). ...
... (2) V + V -> [V -V]RV action intransitive action Note: RV = resultative verb compound (Thompson, 1973) Meanwhile, many RVCSs cannot be accounted for by any general rules because their semantic properties cannot be predicated from those of the components. As such, they must be listed as lexical items. ...
Taking usage-based approaches to second language (L2) development and drawing on a written learner corpus, this study examined L2 Chinese learners' lexical and grammatical development of result-state resultative verb compounds (RVCSs). The lexical development was examined in their frequency of usage, compositionality, and accuracy. Grammatical development was analyzed by the interaction of RVCSs and the perfective aspect marker le. Findings showed that while the frequency of use, compositionality, and lexical range of RVCSs grew with learners' overall language proficiency, accuracy exhibited a certain degree of regression among high intermediate and advanced learners. L2 Chinese learners' lexical and grammatical development of RVCSs is a systematic yet complex and variable process. Factors affecting the acquisition of RVCSs are the nature of input, L1 blocking and learned attention, and the unique properties of RVCSs. Keywords Result-state resultative verb compounds, lexical and grammatical development, learner corpus, usage-based approaches to L2 development
... Some scholars, especially overseas scholars, define them as compounds, like 'resultative verb compounds' (e.g. Thompson 1973;Ross 1990; Li 2013), 'V-V compounds' (e.g. Chang 1997;Li 1990), 'resultative V-V compound' (e.g. ...
... Many studies try to explain the asymmetry between argument structure and syntactic structure and between syntactic structure and semantics of VRCs (e.g. Thompson 1973;Sybesma 1991Sybesma , 1999Li 1990Li , 1995Li , 1997Chang 1997;Her 2007;Li 2007Li , 2013Gu 1992;Zou 1994). Among them some scholars try to account for the particularly complex thematic relations and semantics of VRCs used in syntactic structures like (4)-(6), yet there is still some disagreement among the accounts. ...
This paper aims to study the syntactic and semantic features of ‘marked VRC causative structures’, those special syntactic-semantic structures formed by verb-resultative constructions (VRCs) which violate both the Uniformity of Theta Assignment Hypothesis and the Thematic Hierarchy. Their syntactic and semantic features are defined as follows: 1) VRC has a causative relation within itself; 2) the argument in the object position is the causee and the only argument of the resultative complement; 3) the causer in the subject position is any conceptual component from the cause event other than the agent of the predicate verb. This paper then attempts to propose an extended account to expound how they are formed syntactically and semantically. On this account, a marked VRC causative structure is re-causativization of a VRC when the VRC is self-causative; it enables other conceptual components of the cause event than the agent to become the causer when a VRC is not self-causative. There are some constraints on what becomes the causer of a marked VRC causative structure.
... 3. -de and -bu in V-de/bu-R are traditionally called potential infixes (Chao 1968;Li & Thompson 1981;Thompson 1973; Zhu 1982, etc.). Wang (2010: 37-40) argues against such an infix analysis. ...
... Meanwhile, the unspecified V in V-de/bu-R argues against the lexical analysis of V-de/bu-R, which says that V-de/bu-R is formed with the insertion of de/bu into VR (cf. Thompson 1973 (9)) Meanwhile, T. Wu (2004: 299-230) argues against taking the bu in V-bu-R as an adjunct of VR (cf. Li & Thompson 1981). ...
In this paper, some mysteries and asymmetries of the Chinese potential de construction are investigated. It is shown that a morphosytnactic approach is conducive to accounting for these puzzles. First we explore the possibility of taking de and its negative counterpart -bude as functional heads (cf. Tsai 2001; T. Wu 2004). It is proposed that bude could be a functional head with the negative potential meaning (i.e. impossible/impermissible). This could be evidenced by both empirical data and theoretical deduction. It is argued that bu in V-bu-R, which is distinct from the normal pre-verbal negative morpheme bu, is actually bude. This helps to explain why the negative potential meaning is involved in V-bu-R. Meanwhile, V-de/bude and V-de/bu-R are both assumed to be formed through Morphological Merger (cf. Marantz 1988; Embick & Noyer 2001, 2007, etc.). Meanwhile, we have discussed some asymmetries observed between V-de/bude and V-de/bu-R and some paradigmatic asymmetries between potential V-de construction and its negative potential V-bude construction. It is assumed that these syntactic asymmetries may be due to some morphological operations related to de and bude.
... Históricamente, se han observado los buyu desde diferentes perspectivas con el objetivo de encontrar una categoría gramatical capaz de abarcar su gran diversidad. Li y Thompson (1974) los definen como coverbos (coverbs), término todavía empleado por algunos (Yip y Rimmington 2015); otros los consideran como compuestos verbo-verbo (V-V compounds) (Li 1990); Feng (2012) analiza estas estructuras a nivel sintáctico-semántico; para Chao Li (2007), Peck, Lin y Sun (2013), Shibata, Sudo y Yashima (2004) y Thompson (1973) son compuestos verbo-complementos; según Lin (2004), son marcadores aspectuales, mientras que Levinson (2010) los describe como predicados con características especiales. Ocasionalmente, se han categorizado bajo las nociones de predicados primarios y secundarios (primary and secondary predication) (Shibagaki 2010 (Lü 1995). ...
Este estudio explora el desarrollo histórico temprano de las descripciones de los buyu 补语 observando cómo los primeros lingüistas analizaron y describieron los elementos lingüísticos que hoy en día conforman la categoría de los buyu. En la actualidad, en el campo de investigación de la lingüística del chino moderno, este aspecto provoca un abundante debate; algunos autores incluso consideran el término “complementos verbales” como demasiado limitante para describir estos elementos tan complejos y variados. Para estudios más avanzados se extraen las conclusiones de la época en que aparecieron la terminología y las categorías internas que los componen, así como los autores que las trataron.
... Chinese resultative and directional complements have been extensively studied in the linguistics literature, so it is impossible to cite even a brief summary of proposed theories here. These can be found in the research of many linguists, including Thompson (1973), Miao (1990), Liu (1998), Zajdler (2005, Liang (2007), Li (2012), Hu (2012), to name a few. For the purposes of this article, a detailed overview of the research is not necessary. ...
Resultativity in natural language is closely tied to the category of aspect. It is semantically close to the perfective aspect, so it often receives little attention. The focus of this discussion is primarily on syntax, specifically how this category is realised in a sentence. Due to the typological differences between Mandarin Chinese and English or other Indo-European languages, the description of resultatives has to be oriented towards Chinese syntax, particularly Resultative Verb Compounds (RVCs). In addition to these verb-complement syntagmas, Directional Verb Compounds (DVCs) are also common in MC. Although directionality is not typically considered a category related to aspect or resultativity, there are visible similarities between Chinese RVCs and DVCs. This article aims to provide a general framework that outlines these categories and similarities between them. The semantic approach is especially relevant to this discussion, which adopts a basis of semantic research combined with cognitive linguistics.
... The resultant state flat/aka-ku/ganganjingjing 'flat/red/clean' in the event are caused by the action expressed by the main verb hammer/nut-/xi-'hammer/smear/wash.' Furthermore, there is another type of resultative construction in Mandarin, which is known as resultative verb compounds, exemplified in (7). A resultative verb compound in Mandarin is, very roughly, a compound verb made up of two parts, the first indicating an action and the second the result of that action (Thompson, 1973). In other words, resultatives are expressed as the second component of the verb compound. ...
Resultative phrases are generally believed to conform to the Direct Object Restriction: that is, they describe the direct object if verbs are transitive. However, some exceptions have occasionally been reported, and this paper investigates the problem by focusing on resultative phrases that occur with the valency alternation verbs in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Verbs that license the locative alternation and locatum-subject alternation describe events that involve two arguments, the location and the locatum, which are perceived to concurrently undergo a change of state. It will be shown that resultative phrases with a valency alternation verb can be predicated of either argument regardless of whether it is expressed as direct object. Furthermore, resultative verbal suffixes in Mandarin, interpreted as description of either the location or the locatum, give rise to the locative alternation while their interpretation remains the same. Thus, it is claimed that in Japanese and Mandarin, the predication relation of resultative phrases is not determined by the grammatical function of arguments as generally believed, but rather by the lexical semantics of the verbs.
... On Nigerian Pidgin English, see Eze [1980:74ff.J;on Guyana, Jamaica, and Surinam creoles, see Alleyne [1980:93]. Constructions parallel to (65) are described by Thompson [1973] for Mandarin as "resultative verb compounds", in which the 2nd VP indicates a result of the first. l2I am especially indebted to James Park for his detailed help on sections 2 and 3 of this paper and to Franklin Velanti of Drietabbetje for his suggestions and reactions as a native speaker of Djuka. ...
... Li, 1990;Zou, 1994;Chang, 1997;etc.), resultative verb compounds (Thompson, 1973;Ross, 1990;C. Li, 2007C. ...
Based on an empirical investigation on data collected from four popular machine translation systems, this paper explores the current problems machine translation is confronted with in translating Chinese resultative constructions into English. The paper analyzes their syntactic and semantic differences in construction and in verbal pattern. The paper then further elaborates on the problems and reveals a truth that Chinese resultative construction poses a great challenge to machine translation for being very productive and flexible. Its productivity is credited to the fact that the main verbs in Chinese are mostly implied-fulfillment verbs. Its flexibility could be attributed to the hypothesis that there are fewer constraints on the co-occurrence of the main verb and the resultative in Chinese resultative construction. Finally, possible solutions are proposed in an attempt to solve the problems.
... The Chinese Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs), also known as "resultative verb compounds" in the literature (e.g., [1], [9], [11], [18]), express caused-result meanings and are composed of two verbal components, with V1 denoting the causing event and V2 the result. 1 It has been observed that some CR V-Vs exhibit semantic ambiguity. For example, the sentences in (1)-(2) yield at least two possible interpretations. ...
In this study, we propose a syntactic structure for Chinese Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs), which are also known as "resultative verb compounds", in the attempt to account for the semantic ambiguity phenomenon observed in some instances. We claim that a possible interpretation of a CR V-V should be compatible with the proposed structure, and must be culturally recognized. By presenting some CR V-Vs with semantic ambiguity (and non-ambiguity), we showcase the explanatory and predictive power of our account.
... number of the agent properties of each of the two arguments in Table 1 is the same as the number of the patient properties of the same argument, in this case it seems impossible for Dowty's approach to correctly predict the argument realization pattern associated with (4), in which one argument is realized in the subject position and the other in the object position. 2 More generally, there is evidence that what is immediately relevant to linking and argument realization of Mandarin RVCs are the two complex causative roles, namely the Causer and the Causee, that are compositionally determined by the components of the complex predicate formed by the causing component and the result component (Li 1995(Li , 1999Li 2008Li , 2013see Tham 2015 andWilliams 2014 for recent overviews of studies of Mandarin RVCs and see Thompson 1973;Li 1980Li , 1984Ma 1987;Li 1990;Lu 1990;Gu 1992;Huang & Lin 1992;Cheng & Huang 1994;Wang 1996;Lin 1998;Yuan 2001;Williams 2005;Her 2007;Shi 2008, among others, for some more representative studies of this important and consider a pair involving those spacious houses and those houses which are spacious or a group involving They did not come because of the rain, They did not come because it rained, and The rain caused them not to come). As Fodor (1970) shows, there are good reasons for not deriving kill from cause to die. 2. One anonymous reviewer expressed doubt about the problem posed by (4) for Dowty's approach. ...
On the basis of the argument realization of Mandarin resultative verb compounds, this paper argues that the Proto-Agent properties as well as the Proto-Patient properties proposed by Dowty (1991) are not equal in status. Specifically, the Proto-Agent property corresponding to the Causer and the Proto-Patient property corresponding to the Causee are two higher-ranked properties. In a non-prototype approach to thematic roles, this means that the Causer and the Causee are two higher-ranked thematic roles that are immediately relevant to the argument realization of monotransitive causative predicates. The paper shows that, compared with Dowty’s equal-weight approach, the alternative approach recognizing the Causer and the Causee as two higher-ranked properties or roles can give a simpler, more effective, and more straightforward account of the argument realization associated with monotransitive causative predicates, including lexical causatives, morphological causatives, and resultatives. This study has implications for research in the argument realization of causatives involving three (or more) arguments as well. Meanwhile, it has implications for any theory utilizing thematic hierarchy because (i) none of the thematic hierarchies proposed in the literature includes both the Causer and the Causee and (ii) a complete theory of thematic roles needs to take these two higher-ranked roles into consideration.
... The first verb is an activity verb, and the second-as Li and Thompson (1981: 54-55) would have it-"signals some result of the action or process conveyed by the first element". As a construction specific to Mandarin, RVCs have attracted wide attention among scholars (Thompson 1973;Li and Thompson 1981;Ross 1990;Li 2012;Sun 2013). According to Li (2012), there are four main categories of RVC: resultative RVCs (such as -wen "stable"), achievement RVCs (such as -dao "attain"), completion RVCs (such as -wan "finish") and directional RVCs (such as -zou "away"). ...
This paper offers a quantitative study of temporal reference in Mandarin using three translation corpora (French–Mandarin, Mandarin–French and English–Mandarin). We have systematically examined a series of overt linguistic factors (such as perfective and imperfective grammaticalized particles, temporal adverbs and adverbials) and non-linguistic factors (such as lexical aspect and the Bounded Event Constraint, the latter argued to be a universal pragmatic principle) which current research suggests are responsible for expressing temporal reference in Mandarin. We used methods from the field of corpus linguistics, such as translational spotting, data coding (when no metalinguistic judgement is necessary) and data annotation (when a metalinguistic judgement is required). Our quantitative analyses indicate that, contrary to what is predicted by non-empirical studies, aspectual particles are infrequent and their role in expressing temporal reference is questionable. In contrast, temporal adverbs and adverbials play a significant role in expressing reference to past and future time, whereas linguistically non-marked situations are most frequently located in the present. In accordance with the Bounded Event Constraint, the lexical aspect of situations is central to the determination of temporal reference: events are largely located in the past, and states in the present. These results are interpreted in a relevance-theoretic model of temporal reference, according to which hearers treat temporal information coming from various cues in a cognitively coherent manner. A series of differences has been found regarding the role of the factors examined for Mandarin as a source and as a target language, partially supporting the assumption of translation universals.
... Moreover, RVCs, compared to VOCs, are subject to a higher degree of regularity in terms of the separability of their parts. In general, other than the potential markers (to be explained below), RVCs do not allow intervening constituents such as aspect markers or measure words between V 1 and V 2 , a property suggesting that RVCs grammatically function more like a single verb than VOCs (Thompson, 1973). One exception is that the parts of directional RVCs whose postverb involves lái 'to come' and qù 'to go' can be split by the direct object of V 1 (Li & Thompson, 1981) (e.g. ...
This volume explores linguistic metaphor identification in a wide variety of languages and language families. The book is an essential read for anyone interested in researching language and metaphor, from students to experienced scholars. Its primary goals are to discuss the challenges involved in applying the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU) to a range of languages across the globe, and to offer theoretically grounded advice and guidelines enabling researchers to identify metaphors in multiple languages in a valid and replicable way. The volume is intended as a practical guidebook that identifies and discusses procedural challenges of metaphor identification across languages, thus better enabling researchers to reliably identify metaphor in a multitude of languages. Although able to be read independently, this volume – written by metaphor researchers from around the world – is the ideal companion volume for the 2010 Benjamins book A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU.
... There is a vast and still growing literature on resultatives. They play center stage in construction grammar (Goldberg 1995, chapter 8;Goldberg & Jackendoff 2004) and related frameworks, such as Simpler Syntax (Culicover & Jackendoff 2005, chapter 4, section 5) but also in lexicalist Montague grammar (Dowty 1979, chapter 2), LFG (Simpson 1983), HPSG (Müller 2002, chapter 5), transformational grammar (Thompson 1973), Government and Binding Theory (Hoekstra 1988;Carrier & Randall 1992;den Dikken 1995, chapters 2, 3, and 5), and Minimalism (Snyder 2001). The present study is a contribution to this body of work focused on a particular reading of certain resultatives. ...
Resultatives in English and Dutch have developed special degree readings. These readings stem from a reinterpretation of the resultative predicate as indicating a high degree rather than an actual result. For example, when a parent says I love you to death , one need not call the cops, since the sentence is not about love turning lethal, but merely indicative of a high degree of affection. Such cases have often been noted in the literature as idiomatic, but this view ignores the fact that these are not isolated cases but productive constructions that can be used with a variety of verbs. We explore various resultative constructions in English and Dutch, and give a classification of the subtypes involved as well as their diachronic development from ordinary to degree interpretation. We link these subtypes to lexical semantic classes of verbs. Both English and Dutch show a steady growth in the lexical and structural diversity of degree resultatives throughout the early modern and contemporary periods (1600-2000). We focus in our paper on the period 1800-2000, for which we did an extensive corpus study using the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and Delpher (a collection of digitized Dutch newspapers, journals, magazines, and other resources). One of our findings is that, similar to other types of expressive language, such as degree modification and emphatic negation, taboo expressions play a role in degree resultatives; in fact, their role is excessive. We outline a number of the commonalities among the semantic domains of expressive language used in resultatives.
... Apart from observations, different theoretical frameworks and computational resources for Chinese also tend to treat VDCs as compound verbs. Early generative transformational grammar tags them as a kind of "resultative compound" (Hashimoto 1964(Hashimoto & 1966Lu 1977), and so does functional syntax (Thompson 1973). Although these proposals and practices support the compound analysis, none of them can explain the fact that intervening elements can be inserted into VDC strings (Hsiao and Lin 2012). ...
... This structure is more often considered as completive verb compounds in traditional grammar (e.g. Thompson 1973). McDonald (1996), from the perspective of rank-scale in SFG, regards this structure as a verbal group. ...
In Systemic Functional Grammar, modality is treated as a semantic domain that extends across more than one grammatical environment. The basic distinction that determines various realizations of modality is modeled as the system of ORIENTATION. This paper aims to compare the explicit/implicit manifestations of modality in English and Chinese, a relatively less discussed issue in previous literature. After introducing the system network of modality in SFG, the paper, based on the rank theory, posits that the explicit/implicit orientation could be mapped clearly onto the choices of three ranks: clause, phrase/group and word. A meaning-oriented criterion is set up as follows: (i) Explicit modality is construed as Figure/Proposition; (ii) Quasi-explicit modality is construed as projecting Circumstance; (iii) Implicit modality is construed as modal Adjunct, part of Process/Predicator or mood element. Provided this criterion, various realizations of modality are examined along the rank scale both in English and Chinese. It is found that the two languages share similar lexicogrammatical strategies in this respect. Some major differences are: (i) Verbal groups (e.g. shuō bú dìng ‘say NEG firm’) can be used to construe implicit modality in Chinese. This phenomenon is not found in English. (ii) In English, the choice of explicit and implicit modality parallels the choice of subjective and objective modality. In Chinese, however, the choice of subjective and objective modality is available only when explicit modality is opted. A small-scale analysis of how modality is translated in a parallel corpus shows preliminary evidence for the above observations.
... Li and Thompson 1981;Lu 1977;Packard 2000;Ross 1990;Y. Shi 2002;Thompson 1973). We will soon see that a group of other expressions also plays a similar bounding role as RVCs do. ...
Dynamic verbs followed by the perfective aspect morpheme -le (V-le) in Chinese typically designate bounded events but can also encode states. This article proposes that the eventive designations are at the basic level and the stative interpretations are at the derived level through aspectual coercion. The categorical shifts from the former to the latter may be brought about by a number of factors, which include sentences with nonagent subject/topic, general stative sentences, and certain adverbs. These factors introduce aspectual properties incompatible with V-le's basic-level eventive interpretation. They trigger a coercion procedure to reconcile the incompatibilities, leading to aspectual reinterpretations. These findings are discussed in light of the principle of external override and the analytic nature of the Chinese language.
... yòng-wán 用完 use-finish 'to use up') (Li and Thompson 1981). In general, RVCs do not allow intervening constituents such as aspect markers or measure words between V 1 and V 2 , a property suggesting that RVCs grammatically function more like a single verb than VOCs (Thompson 1973). Nonetheless, the parts of some directional RVCs can be split (Li and Thompson 1981;Ross 1990;Shi 2002). ...
Building on the success of the VU Amsterdam Metaphor Corpus, which comprises English texts annotated with metaphor following the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrjie Universiteit (MIPVU; Steen et al. in Cogn Linguist 21(4):765–796, 2010a; Steen et al. in A method for linguistic metaphor identification: from MIP to MIPVU. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2010b), this study has three aims: (1) to adapt and evaluate the transferability and reliability of MIPVU for Mandarin Chinese; (2) to construct a corpus of Chinese texts annotated for metaphor using the adapted procedure; and (3) to examine the distribution of metaphor-related words across Chinese texts in three different written registers: academic discourse, fiction, and news. The results of our inter-annotator reliability test show that MIPVU can be reliably applied to linguistic metaphor identification in Chinese texts. Our metaphor-annotated corpus consists of texts randomly sampled from the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese, totaling 30,012 words (about 10,000 for each register). Data analysis reveals that approximately one out of every nine lexical units in our Chinese corpus is related to metaphor, that there is considerable variation in metaphor density across different registers and lexical categories, and that metaphor density is significantly lower in Chinese than in English texts. Our assessment of the replicability of MIPVU for Mandarin Chinese adds to the groundbreaking methodological contribution that Steen et al. (2010a, b) has made to metaphor research. The metaphor-annotated corpus of Mandarin Chinese contributes a valuable language resource for Chinese metaphor researchers, and our analysis of the distribution of metaphor-related words in the corpus offers useful new insights into the extent and use of metaphor in Chinese discourse.
... al 1996;Lu 1977;Lu 1999;Lu 2002;Lu 2011;Lu and Su 2012;Packard 2000;Shi 2002;Starosta et. al 1997;Su 1997;Tai 2003;Teng 1997;Thompson 1973;Tsai 2008;Wang 2009;Wang and Su 2015;Zhang 2001). RVCs have also attracted considerable interest in the field of teaching Chinese as a second language (Chang 2010;Ross 1990;Tsai 2005). ...
The present study addresses the rate of conceptual autonomy and dependence in Chinese lexical semantic analysis, presenting an analysis of how image-schema, domains and co-text interact in the [v]–[shang] construction as an example. Following a Principled Polysemy methodology, I identify the semantic prototype and four metaphorical senses of the construction. I also show the co-textual characteristics associated with each sense, which opens up further discussion of how image-schema and conceptual domains collaborate to produce the various senses. Based on these findings, I further establish a hierarchy of influence from co-text, where the semantics of an RVC depends first of all on its collocating verb and secondarily on a collocating noun phrase. This paper aims to show in some detail how image-schema, conceptual domains and patterns of co-text co-contribute to the polysemy of RVCs. It moreover proposes a novel way of analyzing Chinese lexical semantics in terms of conceptual autonomy and dependence.
... Various proposals from different theoretical perspectives have been made to account for the remarkable properties of resultative verb compounds, including lexical rules and argument structure (e.g. Thompson 1973, Y. F. Li 1990, Pan 1998, Her 2004 and complex predicates (Cheng & Huang 1994), among others. Recently, Huang (2008) approached this issue from the theoretical framework of Construction Grammar and comprehensively classified Chinese resultative verb compounds into four major types based on two criteria: 1) whether the grammatical subject is identical to the logical subject of V1, and 2) whether V2 is subject-or object-oriented. ...
The paper explores an interesting case where two distinct patterns of excessive predication are apt to be mistaken as a free grammatical alternation without a semantic change. The patterns involve the use of an excessive marker si 'die', in predicating an extreme emotion, as in Wo xianmu si ta de haoyun le 'I am envious of his good luck to death.' vs. Ta de haoyun xianmu si wo le 'His good luck made me envious of him to death.' Different from traditional approaches to the seeming form-meaning mismatch, this paper proposes that the two highly correlated expressions be viewed as two distinct " constructions" defined in the notion of Construction Grammar (Kay & Fillmore 1999, Goldberg 1995, 2006): Excessive Degree Construction (EDC) vs. Excessive Impact Construction (EIC). The two constructions arise from two types of grammatical packaging in response to two different semantic perspectives. The degree-measuring EDC profiles an Experiencer-to-Stimulus relation, conforming to the default pattern of stative predication; the impact-depicting EIC profiles an Affector-to-Affectee relation, projecting a more dynamic, eventive scenario where a victim undergoes an affective impact. Illustrated with live examples from web corpora, the two constructions are further contrasted with a thorough discussion of their grammatical and semantic correlates. The case under study demonstrates how conceptual alternation can result in constructional alternation, whereby the surface word order change manifests a change in semantic relation. The study ultimately probes into the possible range of syntax-semantics interactions realized in Mandarin.
... The VCs shàng and dào function both as verbs or post-verbal complements; they are two of the most common VCs based on a corpus 1 search. In previous studies, a set of lexical rules are postulated by Thompson (1973) to explain the VV derivation in Mandarin. However, lexical rules have too many limitations, and they fail to capture subtle distinctions. ...
This study investigates the lexicalization of spatial and aspectual components incorporated in Mandarin verb complements (VCs hereafter) shàng ‘up’ and dào ‘arrive’. The verb complement in Mandarin is well-known as the second verbal element in VV construction. Traditionally, V-shàng and V-dào are categorized as ‘directional complements’ and ‘phase complements’ respectively (Chao 1968; Li and Thompson 1981). Both VCs shàng and dào, originally functioning as a main verb (Gao 1995), are similar to the counterpart ‘up/on/above/over' and ‘arrive/ reach’ in English; they have various usages, such as in verb phrases, and prepositional phrases, for example. Although there is no doubt that shàng and dào are poly-functional, it seems that there is no agreement on to what extent particular uses are related to one another. Most of the previous studies focus on the spatial meanings lexicalized in noun phrases and postpositions; they provide explanations based on a metaphorical approach or cultural values. However, such accounts cannot entirely explain the main function of the post-verbal comple- ments shàng and dào in VV construction. In this paper, I explore the subtle distinctions between the satellites shàng and dào, and provide an explanatory account for their seemingly diverse functions from a cognitive approach. Moreover, this paper aims to offer another perspective on the conceptual properties of spatial and aspectual notions embodied in these two verb complements, and verify evidence that Mandarin treats five framing events as a single conceptual entity. The organization of this paper is as follows. A brief literature review and the theoretical framework are presented in section 1. In section 2, the data involved the verb complements shàng and dào are introduced. In section 3, based on Talmy’s (2000) framework and framing event types, I discuss several examples and account for how aspectual and spatial concepts are explicitly expressed in shàng and dào regarding different framing event types. Section 4 shows a summary of findings and conclusion.
İnsan zihni, yapısı itibarıyla karmaşık olarak gördüğü varlık, olay ve durumları düzene koyma, sınıflandırma veya sıralamaya yatkındır. Dış dünyadaki olaylar, sürekli bir akış hâlinde gerçekleştiği için bir olayın bütün aşamalarıyla dil tarafından kodlanması oldukça zordur. Bu sebeple konuşur, olayın hangi aşamasına vurgu yapacaksa o aşamayla ilgili kodlama yapmakta, olayın diğer aşamaları genellikle zihinde tamamlanmakta veya söylem başka bir cümle, yan cümle, deyim vb. ifadeler yardımıyla tamamlanmaktadır. Konuşurun olay hakkındaki bilgisi, olayı detaylı veya yüzeysel anlatma isteği de olayın ne tür fiil/fiiller veya cümle/yan cümleler tarafından kodlanacağını belirleyebilir. Konuşma öncesinde zihinde belirli olay şemaları oluşturulur ve bu olayların pek çoğu fiiller yoluyla kavramsallaştırılır. İletilmek istenen mesajın türüne göre kavramsallaştırılmış olan olay; tek fiil, çoklu fiil veya deyimle yüzey yapıya çıkarılarak dilsel ifadeye dönüşür. Aynı fiziksel olay, kavramsallaştırılma şekli bakımından diller arasında yapısal, söz dizimsel ve anlam bilimsel farklılıklar gösterir. Ayrıca konuşurların dünya algısı ve dillerin bazı olaylara kültürel özellikler yükleyebilmektedir. Böylece dillere özgü kavramsal olaylar ortaya çıkmaktadır. Dile özgü kavramsal olaylar, dile özgü farklı fiil yapılarının da ortaya çıkmasına (seri fiil yapıları gibi) yol açmıştır. Kültürel özellikler ve dünya algısı, kavramsal olay bildiren fiillerin tıpkı deyimler gibi başka bir dile bire bir çevirisini bazı durumlarda zorlaştırmaktadır. Bu yazıda Türkçedeki bazı fiiller, olay kavramsallaştırma özellikleri bakımından incelenecek, kavramsal olay kodlayan fiiller; tek fiil, birden fazla fiil ve deyimler şeklinde sınıflandırılacaktır. Ayrıca olay-fiil ilişkisi ve olayların fiiller tarafından hangi düzeyde temsil edildiği hakkında genel bir çerçeve çizilecektir.
Research on heritage language acquisition at the school age has shown protracted development and early stabilisation in morphosyntax and the lexicon. Our study examined the properties of resultative verb compound (RVC), a structure at the crossroads of the lexicon and morphosyntax, in second-generation child heritage speakers in the UK who had continuous input in Mandarin Chinese since birth. We analysed three subclasses of RVCs produced by the heritage children ( n = 27, age 4–14) and their parents ( n = 18) in an oral narration task and compared them with those by children in Beijing ( n = 48, age 4–9) from existing databases. Our results show that the heritage children produced RVCs quite frequently and felicitously yet highly repetitively and conservatively, with a remarkably large proportion of their RVCs consisting of a strongly lexicalised subclass with direct lexical equivalents in English. Correlational analyses show that the heritage children’s RVCs improve with age, rather than provision of RVC in the parental input, indicating the role of cumulative input in RVC acquisition. Overall, the development of RVC in heritage Mandarin is delayed rather than stabilised or attrited, supporting the lexical account for grammatical vulnerabilities in proficient heritage speakers.
The article is devoted to the description of buyu (补语 bǔyǔ), i. e. a linguistic concept of a complement perceived as a special part of a sentence in Chinese linguistics. The problem of distinguishing grammatical units of a sentence that share one syntactic function is considered. Less than a century ago China did not have any knowledge of theoretical linguistics of its own, so it had to borrow the concept from foreign science. Thus, the notion of a complement that supplements the semantics of a verb or an adjective in a predicate was introduced by Li Jinxi who had borrowed it from English grammars and applied to Chinese syntax. However, soon enough it had become a subject of revision. The article reflects how the concept of buyu has become a mixture of related linguistic phenomena by its gradual meaning extension. Besides, the paper analyses topmost structural and semantic features of the units that perform the role of buyu in a sentence, as well as summarises the criteria for distinguishing it from other parts of a sentence, i. e. an object and adverbial modifier. It is claimed that a single and consistent approach should be employed to the relevant elements with the same syntactic function and that the existing descriptions of Chinese grammar should be reexamined providing the concept of buyu. Finally, the author stresses the necessity to use the term dopolnitel’niy element (‘an additional element’) for terminology consistency in Russian sinological literature.
This paper conducts a comparative study on the resultative verb compounds (RVCs) in Cantonese and Mandarin with an aim to reveal and explain the rules governing the use of RVCs in Cantonese. Mandarin RVCs are classified into six types in terms of the number, the sequence, and the event role of the argument(s). While Mandarin RVCs are found to be rather productive in expressing resultatives, there are syntactic constraints imposed on the use of RVC construction in Cantonese. Given that Mandarin RVCs are often restricted in Cantonese, three substitutive constructions that are used to form resultatives have been introduced, namely V- dou3 constructions, V- dou3 in verb-copying construction, and causative construction formed with gaau2-dou3 ‘cause’. Factors that determine the corresponding structures used in Cantonese have been discussed. Claiming that the expressions of Cantonese resultatives should be highly associated with the event roles the involved NP arguments play, we demonstrate that such a classification of RVCs has contributed to the conclusion proposed in this paper. We also propose a set of linking rules which are designated for resultatives in Cantonese. It is hoped that this study sheds light on the syntax studies of Chinese.
This volume comprises a collection of contrastive studies on language and time. Languages represented include Czech, French, German, Mandarin, Norwegian and Swedish, all of which are contrasted with English. While the amount of published research on temporal relations in general is considerable, less work has been carried out on comparing how we talk about time in various languages and how languages change over time. Several methodological challenges are addressed and solutions proposed, such as how to deal with poor quality historical data and how to identify n-grams in typologically different languages for purposes of comparison. The results of the various studies show how multilingual corpora can increase our knowledge of language-specific features as well as linguistic, typological and cultural differences and similarities across languages.
The Chinese Causative Resultative V-V, also referred to as "resultative verb compound", is a construction that expresses caused-result meanings. A prominent feature of this construction exists in its word order: the cause-denoting V and the result-denoting V are in adjacency. While exhibiting compound nature, this construction also shows productivity, semantic compositionality, and semantic ambiguity. Within the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Progrram, under the general assumptions of Distributed Morphology, this study proposes a structure for this construction, attempting to account for its properties holistically. We propose that these V-Vs involve root-selecting causativization and Manner Conflation. In spite of being syntactically formed, each V-V functions in a similar way as a V 0 .
This paper argues that compounding, the major source of word-formation in Chinese, and the root-and-pattern system in Hebrew involve fundamentally the same syntactic operations and observe the same locality constraints, despite the salient differences. More specifically, it addresses the well-known continuum that the coordinate and attributive compounds behave more like words, whereas resultative and subordinate compounds are much more like phrases. It puts forward the idea that this continuum can be accounted for by assuming that there is a distinction between word-formation from roots and word-formation from words, with the former giving rise to more lexical properties and the latter more phrasal properties. The paper also discusses some related issues, such as the correct formulation of word-level phases and the structure of the major types of compound words in Chinese.
Lexical inference through reading is considered an important method for vocabulary building; however, empirical research has not consistently offered strong evidence of the application of lexical inference in second language vocabulary learning. A recently burgeoning line of research focuses on second language (L2) lexical inference of compounds in Chinese, a language that is both orthographically and typologically distant from English. In this study, we asked intermediate level Chinese L2 learners to think aloud while performing inferencing activities. We discuss the benefit of supportive context to inferencing and learning, and learners’ coordinate and interactive use of context and word-internal cues. Further, we proposed a model that captures such interactivity and highlights the composite of Chinese L2 learners’ intraword awareness. This suggests that interactive use of various cue sources and a simultaneous focus on form and on meaning can lead to encouraging outcomes for lexical inferencing and retention.
The use of different modalities has often been treated as cumulatively ‘layered’ but semiotically discrete and self-sufficient indexical signs. Goodwin (2013), on the other hand, argues that multimodal resources in natural interaction actually work in a highly integrated fashion, where actions are built by combining diverse resources in a way that both constrain and mutually elaborate each other (hence co-operative modalities). In this paper, I focus on the mechanics of constructing further talk past a possibly complete turn (a.k.a. turn-continuations) in Mandarin Chinese. As with the co-operative construction of social actions, it is shown that grammar as a linguistic resource can also be both inhibitive and facilitative towards the construction of turn-continuations. Furthermore, it is argued that even at the level of verbal formulation, various other linguistics and para-linguistics resources are also utilized in an adaptive and co-operative manner to index continuation of turn.
Résumé
Cette recherche, située dans le cadre proposé par Talmy ( 1985 , 1991 , 2000 ), analyse la façon dont des apprenants francophones du chinois langue étrangère (un groupe de niveau intermédiaire et un groupe de niveau avancé) expriment les procès spatiaux causatifs, en comparaison avec des locuteurs natifs du chinois et du français. La procédure utilisée est celle d’une analyse de corpus oraux produits à partir d’une description de séquences animées. Les réponses ont été étudiées au niveau du choix des informations exprimées, de la densité sémantique et de la façon dont les informations ont été encodées. Les résultats révèlent les phénomènes suivants : (1) les apprenants intermédiaires produisent des réponses qui sont en apparence proches de celles des locuteurs natifs du français, mais très différentes de celles des locuteurs natifs du chinois en tous points ; ils ont des difficultés à exprimer un nombre important d’informations dans un seul énoncé grammaticalement correct. En revanche, (2) les apprenants avancés s’éloignent du modèle de leur langue maternelle et montrent une progression nette vers la langue cible au niveau du choix et de la quantité d’informations exprimées ; cependant, les moyens linguistiques utilisés présentent encore des différences avec ceux des locuteurs natifs du chinois.
Mandarin contrasts typologically with English in its lexicalization of state change ( Talmy 2000 ). The majority of Mandarin monomorphemic verbs is moot about or implies a state change, whereas English has many monomorphemic verbs (e.g. kill ) that entail a state change. This study investigates empirically the nuanced lexicalization of state-change implicature in Mandarin monomorphemic verbs and its implications for the linguistic typology of encoding state change. Two experiments were conducted with adult native Mandarin speakers: a rating task about the acceptability of sentences that expressed a failure of fulfilment of a state-change (e.g. Zhangsan sha le ji, ke shi ji mei si ‘Zhangsan killed a chicken, but it didn’t die’) and a multiple-choice task that probed the preferred interpretation of monomorphemic state-change verbs. The results of both studies reveal a significant effect of verb types and post hoc comparisons show a cline of state-change implicature in the target verbs.
This book is a corpus-based description and discussion of how Modern Mandarin Chinese encodes motion events, with a focus on how the distribution of verbal motion morphemes is closely associated with the meanings they lexicalize. The book is not only the first work that proposes a finer-grained classification and diagnostics of Chinese motion morphemes from the perspective of scale structure, but also the first to more comprehensively account for the ordering of Chinese motion morphemes. The findings of this study will not only enrich the literature on motion events, but more importantly, further our understanding of the nature of motion events and the way motion events are conceived and represented in the Chinese language. The major proposals and the cognitive functional approach of this work will also shed light on studies beyond motion. The book will be a valuable resource for scholars interested in motion events, syntax-semantic interface, and typology.
The present study examines French adult learners’ expressions of caused motion events in Chinese as a second language using the frameworks proposed by Talmy (1985, 1991, 2000). Productions are elicited by means of animated cartoons from 36 French learners of Chinese (24 intermediate, 12 advanced) as compared to 12 Chinese native speakers and 24 French native speakers. The participants’ productions are analyzed using three related measures: information focus (choice of information expressed), semantic density (amount of information expressed) and information locus (linguistic means used to express the information). Our results show (1) that intermediate level learners produce responses seemingly close to those produced by the French native speakers, and very different from Chinese native speakers: they have difficulties expressing multiple information within one grammatical sentence; (2) advanced learners move away from the source language patterns and show a clear progression towards the patterns of the target language, especially regarding information focus and semantic density; however, the linguistic means used by these advanced learners still differ from those of native Chinese speakers.
This book centers on theoretical issues of phonology-syntax interface based on tone sandhi in Chinese dialects. It uses patterns in tone sandhi to study how speech should be divided into domains of various sizes or levels. Tone sandhi refers to tonal changes that occur to a sequence of adjacent syllables or words. The size of this sequence (or the domain) is determined by various factors, in particular the syntactic structure of the words and the original tones of the words. Chinese dialects offer a rich body of data on tone sandhi and are hence great evidence for examining the phonology-syntax interface and for examining the resulting levels of domains (the prosodic hierarchy). Syntax-Phonology Interface: Argumentation from Tone Sandhi in Chinese Dialects is an extremely valuable text for graduate students and scholars in the fi elds of linguistics and Chinese.
The study of Chinese grammar from a ‘functional’ point of view reflects the general functional, cognitive, and discourse tradition in current linguistics (see Chafe 1992; Hopper, 1992; Langacker, 1987, 1991; Nichols, 1984; Thompson, 1992).1 We understand the central tenet of this tradition to be an emphasis on linguistic structure as reflecting the role of language as a tool of human communication rather than as an instantiation of an abstract set of mental representations.
The paper proposes that word-level causatives can be classified into two types, simplex causatives and complex causatives. Simplex causatives can be further classified into labile simplex causatives and non-labile simplex causatives, and complex causatives can be further classified into derivational, compounding, and inflectional complex causatives. It shows that it is possible for simplex causatives and some form of complex causatives to co-exist in a language. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that the existence of productive compounding/inflectional causatives tends to lead to the absence of a reasonable number of labile simplex causatives and that there is a functional basis for this. Finally, the paper shows that Chinese manifests a typological shift from the use of non-compounding word-level causatives to the use of productive compounding complex causatives.
This chapter presents a preliminary investigation into a number of interdependencies which rest at the very core of the typological definition of a language. It focuses on the interplay between the case-marking cum word-order typology of the language and its so-called transformational behavior. The chapter discusses the interaction—within case-marking systems—between semantic and pragmatic function. The way in which semantic, pragmatic, and complexity considerations conspire to determine transformational behavior is also probed. One may choose to argue that no absolute need exists in language for marking by overt morphological means the semantic or pragmatic function of the various arguments vis-a-vis the verb. Both the semantic specificity of the various arguments and the pragmatic knowledge of the shared universe and the specific discourse context constitute an immense body of informational redundancy from which the case-functions of the various arguments may be presumably recovered.
In recent work (Packard 1990, 1992, 1993), Packard has presented a variety of arguments that Mandarin morphology should be analyzed in terms of a stratum-orderedl model of the kind proposed in Lexical Phonology and Morphology (Pesetsky 1979; Kiparsky 1982; Mohanan 1982, 1986) — henceforth LPM. Packard’s arguments are based upon various kinds of evidence, including purely morphological evidence (Packard 1990), phonological evidence (Packard 1992), and neurolinguistic evidence (Packard 1993). Packard’s proposal, if correct, would lend strong support for the theory of LPM, for a couple of reasons.
The study of grammaticalization raises a number of fundamental theoretical issues pertaining to the relation of langue and parole, creativity and automatic coding, synchrony and diachrony, categoriality and continua, typological characteristics and language-specific forms, etc., and therefore challenges some of the basic tenets of twentieth century linguistics.
This two-volume work presents a number of diverse theoretical viewpoints on grammaticalization and gives insights into the genesis, development, and organization of grammatical categories in a number of language world-wide, with particular attention to morphosyntactic and semantic-pragmatic issues.
The papers in Volume I are divided into two sections, the first concerned with general method, and the second with issues of directionality. Those in Volume II are divided into five sections: verbal structure, argument structure, subordination, modality, and multiple paths of grammaticalization.
This paper shows that there are some syntactic and semantic discrepancies among three seemingly semantically equivalent verbs denoting one of the most basic actions in any language, i.e. the verbs meaning 'kill' in English, Chinese and Thai. Specifically, it examines the possibility of these verbs to appear in two syntactic patterns in which English is used as the metalanguage: (A) X kill Y dead, and (B) X kill Y but Y not die. The different syntactic properties among these verbs suggest that the verbs for 'kill' in the three languages are not completely semantically equivalent. It is found that the resulting dead event of kill in English is lexically entailed but that of shā in Chinese is merely implied. Thai is a more complicated case. The verbs for 'kill' in the three languages are thus classified into different categories based on their syntactic and semantic properties.
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