Marked Causative Structures of Chinese Verb-Resultative Construction

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.

Effect of Topic-prominent Features of Mandarin Chinese on English Writing

Mandarin Chinese features a subject-verb-object word order and lacks grammatical agreement of any sort. It is basically a head-last language with the modifiers preceding the head word. Other prominent grammatical features include serial verb construction, resultative complement and the double nominative constructions. My paper focuses on the role of topic and subject in Mandarin, drawing on three views on Chinese syntactic structures, namely, SVO approach, topic-comment approach, and topic-prominence approach. A comparison is made among the different views and a conclusion is drawn that topic-prominent approach may better capture the complexities of Chinese syntax, which definitely contributes to English writing.

Grammaticalization and lexicalization: suggestions regarding the development of the Chinese change-of-state verb

This paper discusses the evolution of the Chinese verb 断 (duàn ‘break’), exploring how the lexicon has transformed from being a substantive transitive verb in the past to the various functions it fulfils in contemporary Chinese: i.e. a resultative complement, an adjective, an adverb and a noun. Findings reveal that duàn was initially transitive and its intransitive function was derived during the Spring and Autumn period (772–476 BC). The two functions co-existed for the rest of the Pre-Qin period (before 221 BC). Duàn’s transition into a resultative complement began during the Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25–220), and its noun function was shaped in the Warring State period (475–221 BC). Finally, Duàn’s adjective and adverb functions are noted to begin in Middle Chinese (AD 420–1279). Although some of these transitions took place more or less simultaneously during overlapping periods, they developed via two separate paths: the process by which duàn developed into a resultative complement, an adverb, and an adjective is that of grammaticalization, while on the other hand, the process by which duàn developed into a noun is that of lexicalization. Essentially, it is the intransitive function that is subject to grammaticalization and it is the transitive function that is subject to lexicalization. In this paper it is therefore proposed that the above diachronic change is taken as a cline, and is put forward as follows: (a) grammaticalization and lexicalization are not distinct processes but rather happen to a lexeme more or less simultaneously; and (b) interrelationship between the two processes is orthogonal.

A microparametric analysis of apparent postverbal negation in Taiwanese Southern Min

This article investigates the postverbal negation construction in Taiwanese Southern Min. I propose that the construction is derived in a way similar to resultatives and that the postverbal negationboand its affirmative counterpartuare particular kinds of aspectual elements in the resultative complement. Given this, the lack of (apparent) postverbal negation in the closely-related language Mandarin Chinese can be ascribed to the fact that Mandarin Chinese lacks this particular aspectual use of affirmativeyouand negativemei(you) and thus it fails to generate the structure under investigation. It is also shown that the proposed analysis is supported by cross-linguistic correlations among Chinese languages.

On the Formation of Verb Compounds in Early Middle Japanese

This paper is dedicated to the formation of verb compounds in Early Middle Japanese, a stage of the Japanese language used in the Heian Period (794–1185). The findings reveal that current verb compounds have come a long way from Old Japanese. Multiple verbs in Old Japanese are assigned to an associate type, rather than a compounding type of relation. Thus, the serial constituents receive equal syntactic weight, giving rise to the extensive use of the coordinate type and succession type of multi-verbs. In Early Middle Japanese, the combinations of the two constituents seem much tighter, giving rise the frequent use of the modifier-predicate V-V. The conclusion emerging from this study is that it was not until Early Middle Japanese that verb compounds in the strict sense appeared. Moreover, two types of verb weakening are observed in Early Middle Japanese: (a) transformation of the first verb into a prefix, (b) grammaticalization of the second verb into a directional/resultative complement.