Waltraud Paul

Adjectival modification in Mandarin Chinese and related issues

Abstract Against the background of recent typological studies postulating crosslinguistically valid hierarchies for the modifiers within the DP (cf. Scott 1998, 2002a, 2002b; Chao et al. 2001; Laenzlinger 2000), the present article argues that both types of modification available in Mandarin Chinese have to be taken into account: that where the subordinator deintervenes between the adjective and the head noun — ‘A de N’ — and the case of simple juxtaposition of the adjective and the noun ‘A N.’ Extensive evidence is provided against the widespread idea that attributive adjectives in Mandarin Chinese can be analyzed as relative clauses and that ‘A N’ de-less modification structures are compounds (cf. Sproat and Shih 1988, 1991; Duanmu 1998; Simpson 2001). As a consequence, adjectives cannot be conflated with intransitive stative verbs, but have to be recognized as a separate part of speech in Mandarin Chinese.

Functional categories, topic prominence, and complex sentences in Mandarin Chinese

Les As. analysent les phrases complexes en chinois mandarin et montrent que les conjonctions de subordination des propositions causales et conditionnelles ne sont pas des prepositions mais un exemple de la categorie fonctionnelle Conjonction o c-selectionnant un complement IP. Ils introduisent la projection fonctionnelle Top P associee au phenomene de proeminence du topic en chinois et montrent que, comme les topics nominaux, ces propositions peuvent occuper la position specifieur de Top P. Ils constatent ensuite que les propositions contenant des adjoints temporels different des propositions causales et conditionnelles dans la mesure ou elles sont menees par la categorie lexicale Preposition o

The serial verb construction in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot

Abstract The term “construction” is not a label to be assigned randomly, but presupposes a structural analysis with an associated set of syntactic and semantic properties. Based on this premise, the term “serial verb construction” (SVC) as currently used in Chinese linguistics will be shown to simply refer to any multi-verb surface string i.e,. to subsume different constructions. The synchronic consequence of this situation is that SVCs in Chinese linguistics are not commensurate with SVCs in, e.g., Niger-Congo languages, whence the futility at this stage to search for a “serialization parameter” deriving the differences between so-called “serializing” and “non-serializing” languages. On the diachronic side, SVCs are invoked as a privileged site for verb-to-preposition reanalysis, but it is left open what structure is referred to under this label. A precise structural analysis of both the input and the output structure is, however, indispensable in order to make meaningful statements about language change.

Verb gapping in Chinese : A case of verb raising

Abstract In the current literature, verb gapping is commonly said not to exist in Chinese. Given Johnsons (1994, 1996) analysis of verb gapping as ATB movement of the verb to a functional category, the apparent lack of verb gapping in Chinese seems to fit in nicely with another idea prevalent in Chinese linguistics viz., that verb movement is confined to the VP-shell (cf. Huang, 1992, 1994; Tsai, 1994). The present article argues against these claims and provides evidence for the existence of verb gapping — though restricted — in Chinese. Furthermore, it shows that Johnsons ATB movement analysis of gapping can be successfully applied to Chinese as well which leads to the typologically important result that the verb in Chinese can — under particular circumstances — leave the VP and raise to a functional category in overt syntax.

What you see is what you get: Chinese sentence-final particles as head-final complementisers

The present article presents an in-depth analysis of the head-final three-layered split CP realized by sentence-final particles (SFPs) in the SVO language Mandarin Chinese. These SFPs are shown to be fully-fledged functional heads with a complex feature make-up, on a par with C elements in e.g. Indo-European languages. Chinese SFPs select and project, as evidenced by the strict hierarchy for co- occurring SFPs in the split CP. This structure must be merged as such and cannot be derived by postulating movement from a head-initial CP. It straightforwardly invalidates empirically superficial statements that attempt to turn Chinese SFPs into a grammatical quantite negligeable in order to uphold problematic word order generalizations such as the Final-over-Final Constraint.

A New Approach to -zhe in Mandarin Chinese

Among the aspectual suffixes in Mandarin Chinese, the so-called durative/progressive aspect -zhe has proven especially elusive, notwithstanding the large amount of literature devoted to it. The present article adopts a new approach and claims that -zhe is not on a par with the aspect markers zai, -le and -guo. Unlike the latter, which realize a “high” aspect pertaining to the entire event, -zhe is shown to instantiate a “low” aspect (aktionsart) (cf. Travis 2010 for the dichotomy high vs low aspect). Importantly, -zhe also signals the dependent status of the verbal projection concerned. As a consequence, in contrast to the aspect suffixes zai, -le and -guo, for which we observe constraints when in non-matrix contexts, the opposite holds for -zhe: it is severely constrained in matrix contexts, but rather freely occurs in non-matrix contexts

Adjunct clauses and Topic-prominence in Mandarin Chinese

The aim of this paper is to provide evidence for the existence of Topicmarker as a functional category in Chinese. Adjunct clauses are shown to be base-generated in the specifier position of TopicP. The rigid order in Chinese “adjunct clause — main clause” thus follows directly from the topic prominence of Chinese. Furthermore, a functional category Conjunction (heading conditional and causal adjunct clauses) is proposed in order to explain extraction phenomena with respect to adjunct clauses. We will argue that topicalisation of a verbal argument XP is movement out of IP into the specifier position of a functional category. Last, but not least, we will substantiate our claim that functional categories serve as raising categories for moved arguments and that adjuncts can be base-generated in their specifier positions.

Chu (Chauncey Cheng-hsi) : A Reference grammar of mandarin chinese for english speakers

Paul Waltraud. Chu (Chauncey Cheng-hsi) : A Reference grammar of mandarin chinese for english speakers. In: Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale, vol. 13 2, 1984. pp. 290-291.