The Syntax of Chinese

405 Pages·2010·1.21 MB·English

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The Syntax of Chinese
ThepastquarterofacenturyhasseenasurgeinChinesesyntacticresearchthat
hasproducedasizeableliteratureontheanalysisofalmosteveryconstruction
in Mandarin Chinese. This guide to Chinese syntax analyzes the majority of
constructionsinChinesethathavefeaturedintheoreticallinguisticsinthepast
twenty-fiveyears,usingtheauthors’ownanalysesaswellasexistingorpotential
alternativetreatments.Abroadvarietyoftopicsarecovered,includingcategories,
argumentstructure,passives,andanaphora.Thediscussionofeachtopicsumsup
thekeyresearchresultsandprovidesnewpointsofdepartureforfurtherresearch.
Thisbookwillbeinvaluablebothtostudentswantingtoknowmoreaboutthe
grammarofChinese,andtograduatestudentsandtheoreticallinguistsinterested
intheuniversalprinciplesthatunderliehumanlanguages.
james huang is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Harvard
University.
audrey li isaProfessorintheDepartmentofLinguisticsandDepartmentof
EastAsianLanguagesandCulturesattheUniversityofSouthernCalifornia.
yafei li isaProfessorintheDepartmentofLinguisticsattheUniversityof
Wisconsin–Madison.
cambridge syntax guides
Generaleditors:
P.Austin,B.Comrie,J.Bresnan,D.Lightfoot,I.Roberts,N.V.Smith
Responding to the increasing interest in comparative syntax, the goal of the
Cambridge Syntax Guides is to make available to all linguists major findings,
bothdescriptiveandtheoretical,whichhaveemergedfromthestudyofparticular
languages.Theseriesisnotcommittedtoworkinginanyparticularframework,
butratherseekstomakelanguage-specificresearchavailabletotheoreticiansand
practitionersofallpersuasions.Writtenbyleadingfiguresinthefield,theseguides
willeachincludeanoverviewofthegrammaticalstructuresofthelanguagecon-
cerned.Forthedescriptivist,thebookswillprovideanaccessibleintroductionto
themethodsandresultsofthetheoreticalliterature;forthetheoretician,theywill
showhowconstructionsthathaveachievedtheoreticalnotorietyfitintothestruc-
tureofthelanguageasawhole;foreveryone,theywillpromotecross-theoretical
andcross-linguisticcomparisonwithrespecttoawell-definedbodyofdata.
Otherbooksavailableinthisseries
O.Fischeretal.:TheSyntaxofEarlyEnglish
K.Zagona:TheSyntaxofSpanish
K.Kiss:TheSyntaxofHungarian
S.Mchombo:TheSyntaxofChichewa
H.Thrainsson:TheSyntaxofIcelandic
P.Rowlett:TheSyntaxofFrench
R.D.Borsleyetal.:TheSyntaxofWelsh
The Syntax of Chinese
C.-T. JAMES HUANG
HarvardUniversity
Y.-H. AUDREY LI
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
YAFEI LI
UniversityofWisconsin–Madison
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521590587
© Cambridge University Press 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-71927-1 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-59058-7 Hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-59958-0 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 Categories 9
1.1 Lexicalcategories 10
1.1.1 Verbsandnouns–basicdistinctions 10
1.1.2 Localizers 13
1.1.3 Adjectives 21
1.1.4 Prepositions 26
1.2 Functionalcategories 32
1.2.1 [Fn],n≥0 32
1.2.2 [F]andthemodifier-introducingde 35
2 Argumentstructure 38
2.1 Argumentsandtheta-roles 38
2.1.1 Basicpropertiesoftheta-roles 39
2.1.2 Chineseresultativecompounds:acasestudy 40
2.1.3 Compoundsvs.phrases 43
2.2 Onthenatureoftheta-roles 46
2.2.1 Theta-rolesproducedbythesyntax 46
2.2.2 What’sinaverb? 54
2.2.3 Squeezingalexicalfootintoafunctionalshoe 57
2.3 Sketchinganalternativetheoryoftheta-roles 60
2.3.1 Howalexicalentrycontributestotheargument
structure 61
2.3.2 Thetheory 62
2.3.3 Factsexplained 66
2.4 Inplaceofaconclusion 75
3 Theverbphrase 77
3.1 Adjunctsandcomplements 77
3.2 Postverbalconstituents 82
v
vi Contents
3.2.1 DoubleobjectsandthestructureofVP 82
3.2.2 V-de 84
3.2.3 Frequency/DurationPhrases(FP/DrP) 91
3.3 Preverbalconstituents 100
3.3.1 Aspectualphrase 101
3.3.2 Modals 106
3.4 Summary 110
4 Passives 112
4.1 TheMandarinlongpassive 113
4.1.1 Twocompetingtraditions 113
4.1.2 Theanalysis:A(cid:4)-movementandpredication 120
4.1.3 FurtherevidencefortheNOPanalysis 124
4.2 TheMandarinshortpassive 129
4.2.1 AgainsttheAgent-deletionanalysis 129
4.2.2 Analysisoftheshortpassive 134
4.3 Theanalysisofindirectpassives 139
4.3.1 Directvs.indirectpassives 139
4.3.2 Theinclusiveindirectpassive 140
4.3.3 Theadversativepassive 147
4.4 Summary 151
5 Thebaconstruction 153
5.1 baandbeiconstructions 154
5.2 Whatisba? 162
5.2.1 Thecategorialstatusofba 162
5.2.2 Theanalysisofba 165
5.3 banotatheta-roleassigner 167
5.3.1 baandthesubject 168
5.3.2 baandthepost-baNP 172
5.4 Structures 174
5.4.1 Apreliminaryanalysis 174
5.4.2 Revision 176
5.5 “Affected” 186
5.6 Alternatives 189
5.7 Summary 194
6 Topicandrelativeconstructions 197
6.1 Topicstructures 199
6.1.1 Movementornot? 202
6.1.2 Islandconditions 207
6.2 Relativestructures 212
6.2.1 Distributionandinterpretation 214
6.2.2 Movement 218
Contents vii
6.2.3 Basegeneration 221
6.2.4 Relativeoperator 221
6.2.5 NPadjunction 228
6.3 Gaplessstructures 233
7 Questions 236
7.1 yes–noquestions 238
7.2 Disjunctivequestions 242
7.3 A-not-Aquestions 244
7.3.1 ThreetypesofA-not-Aquestions 245
7.3.2 A-not-Aquestions:amodularapproach 250
7.3.3 Explainingthedifferences 254
7.3.4 VP-negquestions 257
7.3.5 Summary 260
7.4 wh-questions 260
7.4.1 Amovementapproachtowh-in-situ 261
7.4.2 LFmovement:someproblemsand
alternatives 266
7.4.3 LFSubjacencyandpied-piping 268
7.4.4 Non-movementandunselectivebinding 273
7.5 Summary 282
8 Nominalexpressions 283
8.1 Theissues 284
8.2 ProjectingaDP–referentialandquantity
expressions 287
8.2.1 Numberexpressionsasindefiniteandquantity
expressions 288
8.2.2 Quantityvs.indefiniteness 289
8.2.3 Numberphraseanddeterminerphrase 291
8.2.4 Comparisonwithindefinitewh-elements 292
8.2.5 Comparisonwithyouexpressions 293
8.2.6 Prohibitionagainstanindefinitesubject/topic 294
8.2.7 Summary 295
8.3 OrderandconstituencywithinaDP 295
8.3.1 Demonstratives 296
8.3.2 Pronouns 297
8.3.3 Propernames 299
8.3.4 Commonnouns 301
8.3.5 Notappositivesoradverbials 303
8.3.6 Summary 306
viii Contents
8.4 Extensionandrevision:plurality 306
8.4.1 Somepuzzlesabout-men 307
8.4.2 PluralfeatureasheadofNumP 311
8.4.3 Propername+pronoun+demonstrative 315
8.5 Summaryandsomeempiricalcomplications 317
8.5.1 Non-quantityindefinitenominalsinsubject
position 318
8.5.2 Non-rootclauses,genericNPs 325
9 Anaphora 329
9.1 BindingTheoryinChinese 330
9.1.1 ReflexivesandPrincipleA 330
9.1.2 PronounsandPrincipleB 332
9.1.3 PrinciplesCandD 333
9.2 Thebarereflexiveziji 336
9.2.1 Twoapproachestothelong-distanceziji 337
9.2.2 Logophoricityandanaphoricity 344
9.2.3 Logophoricity:syntaxandsemantics 350
9.3 Boundanaphoraanddonkeyanaphora 353
9.3.1 Pronounsincoreferenceorasbound
variables 353
9.3.2 Variablebinding:scope,accessibility,and
disjointness 354
9.3.3 Indefinitesanddonkeyanaphora 362
9.4 Summaryandconclusion 370
References 372
Index 389