Rint Sybesma

Bare and Not-So-Bare Nouns and the Structure of NP

This article examines the distribution and interpretational variability of bare nouns and [classifier+noun] phrases in Cantonese and Mandarin. We argue that bare nouns are never bare in structure and that [classifier+noun] phrases may have more structure than just Classifier Phrase. We show that the lack of articles and number morphology in Cantonese/Mandarin leads to many interesting differences between Chinese-type languages and English-/Italian-type languages.

The Mandarin VP

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Why Chinese verb-le is a resultative predicate

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Whether We Tense-Agree Overtly or Not

This paper develops the proposal that the so-called aspectmarker verb-le is not the head of some higher functionalprojection, like IP or AspP, but that, on the contrary, it isdeeply embedded in the structure of the Chinese sentence. Moreparticularly, it is claimed that le, even in Modern Chinese, is aresultative predicate. It is shown that both distributional andsemantic properties of le can be explained quitestraightforwardly once the claim that le is a resultativepredicate is accepted. Besides discussing the syntax andsemantics of le, the paper discusses verbs and verbclassification, the semantics of adjectives and the historicaldevelopment of le.

Classifiers and DP

WHETHER WE TENSE-AGREE OVERTLY OR NOT Rint Sybesma Universiteit Leiden Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, ed. by D. Adams, M. A. Campbell, V. Cohen, J. Lovins, E. Maxwell, C. Nygren, and J. Reighard, 223–232. Chicago: University of Chicago, Chicago Linguistic Society. Soh, Hooi Ling. 2005. Wh-in-situ in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistic Inquiry 36:143–155. Tsai, W.-T. Dylan. 1994. On nominal islands and LF extraction in Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 12:121–175.

The Ba -Construction

Wu and Bodomo (2009) argue against claims made in Cheng and Sybesma 1999. Gebhardt (2011) has contested their arguments related to the status of classifiers and the question whether all nouns in Chinese are mass. In this reply, we discuss some of the points Wu and Bodomo raise, arguing that (a) sortal classifiers are not lexical elements; (b) generic interpretation is not the same as kind interpretation; (c) demonstrative noun phrases do not have the same distribution and interpretation as definite noun phrases in Mandarin and Cantonese; and (d) the DP structure that Wu and Bodomo propose runs into serious problems with phrasal possessors. Finally, we discuss an alternative approach to the structure of the nominal domain in Chinese languages.

Postverbal "can" in Cantonese (and Hakka) and Agree

It turns out that all the work we have done so far enables us to tackle one of the most popular issues in Mandarin grammar, the ba-construction. This chapter is divided into two parts: a descriptive part, in which an inventory of all the relevant features of the ba-construction is presented and all the research issues are laid out, and an analytic part, in which we propose an analysis.

D is for Demonstrative – Investigating the position of the demonstrative in Chinese and Zhuang

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of sentences with the postverbal modal element dak in Cantonese and Hakka. We argue that dak is a verb, though in Cantonese and Hakka it is partly defective. It acquires different meanings depending on the position it occupies, which is either the position for modal verbs in the matrix clause or a modal position in the result denoting small clause. The analysis, if on the right track, has the consequence that there is no long distance Agree. Furthermore, it means that there is evidence for an IP-like functional projection in Chinese.

The Nominal Phrase in Northern Zhuang: A Descriptive Study

Abstract One notable difference between the Chinese nominal phrase and the Zhuang nominal phrase is that in Chinese the demonstrative appears phrase-initially while in Zhuang it appears phrase-finally. In this article, we attempt to derive the different orders of nominal elements in Chinese and Zhuang using the same base order: with the demonstrative generated low. We adopt a base structure in which two D-related projections are involved: DetP, which immediately dominates NP and SP (Specificity Phrase), which dominates NumeP. DetP is where the demonstrative is generated. Differences between Chinese and Zhuang arise from parametric choices such as the head or phrasal status of the demonstrative, what moves (the demonstrative or the NP) and the motivation for movement. We show that a base structure with a low generation of the demonstrative is not only supported by cross-linguistic evidence, it also derives the different orders of nominal elements in a straightforward manner.

The Postverbal Constraint

This paper provides a descriptive overview of the nominal phrase in Northern Zhuang, including discussions on the following areas: (i) the properties of different nominal elements, such as classifiers, numerals, demonstratives and modifiers, (ii) the referential properties of the noun phrase with varying formal characteristics, and (iii) the ordering of nominal elements, from a comparative point of view.