Download The Preposing of Direct Object

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英碩一
陳曉茵
69112302
The Preposing of the Indirect Object in Chinese
1. Introduction
In Chinese, there is a group of verbs which can take two objects, a direct object
(DO) and an indirect object (IO). We refer to them as ditransitive verbs or
double-object verbs. The DO usually refers to an inanimate noun; instead, the IO
usually refers to an animate noun, as shown in (1).
(1) Wo
I
ji
yi-fu
hua
gei
ta.
one CL1 picture to
mail
DO
he
IO
I mailed one picture to him.
In addition, the DO can be regarded as O (Object), the IO can be regarded as G (Goal).
When the Goal is an animate noun denoting a human being, the particle gei ‘to’ will
be used; on the other hand, when the Goal refers to a place or something, the particle
dao ‘to, reach’ will be used, as shown in (2).
(2) a. Wo
I
ji
mail
shu
gei
book to
pengyou.
friends
I mailed books to friends
b. Wo
I
1
ji
mail
shu
dao ribe.
book to
Japan
CL here refers to classifier.
1
I mailed books to Japan.
But, some ditransitive verbs only can occur with the Goal denoting a human being
rather than an inanimate noun denoting a place, as shown in (3).
(3) a. Wo
I
mai
yi-ben
shu
gei
sell
one CL book to
wo-de
I DE2
meimei.
sister
I sold one book to my sister.
b. *Wo
mai
yi-ben
shu
dao
I
sell
one CL
book to
Taibei.
Taipei
(The ditransitive verb mai cannot occur with the Goal denoting a place.)
Usually, we think that the IO freely precede the DO or follow the DO and that when
the IO occur before the DO and the ditransitive verb is song ‘send’, huan ‘return’ or fu
‘pay’, the particle gei can be deleted. The example is in (4).
(4) a. Wo
I
huan
return
yi-zhi
bi
gei
ta.
one CL pen to
he
I returned one pen to him.
b. Wo
I
huan
gei
return (to)
ta
yi-zhi
bi.
he one CL pen
I returned one pen to him.
In (4), it is clear to show that the IO can occur before or after the DO in the surface
structure of a sentence, and the transposition of the two objects causes the syntactic
transformation of a sentence. However, here the question how the IO moves or the
DO moves in this syntactic transformation is left open. We may wonder that in the
2
DE here refers to genitive marker de in Chinese
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deep structure of a sentence, does the DO precede the IO, or vice versa? Moreover, is
there a raising (preposing) of the IO or a lowering of the DO when the two objects
exchange their positions in a sentence? The purpose of this study is, thus, to suggest a
potential analysis that the syntactic transformation should be the preposing of the IO
because the DO should precede the IO with a ditransitive verb in the deep structure of
a sentence.
In Section 2, we will discuss the relation between the ditransitive verbs and the
two objects because we all know that the IO and the DO should occur with a
ditransitive verb. Here Tang’s analysis is provided to show the four types of
ditransitive verbs. In Section 3, we will reconsider the properties of Type III and Type
IV ditransitive verbs and suggest that they are monotransitive verbs rather than
ditransitive verbs. In Section 4, we will offer supportive evidences to show that the
DO precedes the IO with a ditransitive verb in a sentence so that the syntactic
transformation is the preposing of the IO.
2. Four types of ditransitive verbs in Chinese
Before examining the transposition condition of the IO and the DO in Chinese,
we will first discuss the relation between the ditransitive verbs and the two objects
suggested by Tang (1979). Tang classifies the Chinese ditransitive verbs into four
types. The criteria for classification are to see whether the IO takes the preposition gei
‘to’ and whether the DO and IO could be allowed to exchange their positions in a
sentence. By Tang’s analysis, it is obvious to see the positions of the DO and the IO in
a sentence of a ditransitive verb.
Type I verbs are ji ‘mail, jiao ‘hand over’, mai ‘sell’, and so forth. With this
type of verb, the IO must take preposition gei and can appear before or after the DO.
The examples are shown in (5).
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(5) a. Wo
I
ji
gei
mail
to
ta
yi-ben
shu.
he one CL book
I mailed him one book.
b. Wo
I
ji
mail
yi-ben
shu
gei
ta.
one CL book to
he
I mailed one book to him.
c. *Wo
I
ji
mail
ta
yi-ben
shu.
he one CL
book
(The deletion of gei is not allowed.)
d. *Wo
ji
yi-ben
I mail
one CL
shu
ta.
book he
(The deletion of gei is not allowed.)
Type II verbs include song ‘send’, fu ‘pay’, huan ‘return’, and so forth. When
the IO precedes the DO, the IO may take the preposition gei or may not take it. But,
when following the DO, the IO must take the preposition gei. For Type II verbs, the
object order is not restricted. The example is shown in (6).
(6) a. Wo
I
song
ta
yi-ben
shu.
send
he
one CL
book
I sent him one book.
b. Wo
song
gei
ta
yi-ben
I
send
to
he one CL
shu.
book
I sent him one book.
c. Wo
I
song
yi-ben
send one CL
shu
gei
ta.
book to
he
I sent one book to him.
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d. *Wo
song
yi-ben
shu
I
send
one CL book
ta.
he.
(The deletion of gei is not allowed when the IO follows the DO.)
Type III verbs are ying ‘win’, fa ‘fine’, pian ‘swindle, cheat’ and the like. The
IO may not take the preposition gei and they must precede the DO. Moreover, Tang
also proposes that the IO may be genitivized to become a premodifier of the DO
without changing the original meaning. The example is in (7).
(7) a. Wo
ying
le
ta
win PER3 he
I
shi-kuai
qian.
ten CL
money
I won ten dollars from him.
b. *Wo
I
ying
gei
ta
shi-kuai
win
to
he ten CL
qian.
money
(The appearance of gei is not allowed.)
c. *Wo
ying
shi-kuai
qian
ta.
I
win
ten CL money he
(The preceding of DO is not allowed.)
d. *Wo
ying
shi-kuai
I
win
ten CL
qian
gei
ta.
money to
he
(The preceding of DO and appearance of gei are not allowed.)
e. Wo
I
ying
le
win PER
ta-de
shi-kuai
he DE ten CL
money
I ate one of his meals.
(Genitivization of the IO is allowed.)
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qian.
PER here refers to Perfective Aspect.
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Type IV verbs such as wen ‘ask, query’, jiao ‘teach’, qingjiao ‘ask, inquire’ and
the like may not take the preposition gei before the IO and the IO must precede the
DO. Unlike Type III verbs, the IO of Type IV verbs cannot be genitivized to be a
possessor of the DO. The example is in (8).
(8) a. Wo
I
wen
ta
yi-ge
wento.
ask
he
one CL question
I ask him one question.
b. *Wo
wen
I
ask
yi-ge
wento
ta.
one CL question he
(The transposition of the IO and the DO is not allowed.)
c. *Wo
wen
gei
ta
yi-ge
wenti.
I
ask
to
he one CL question
(The appearance of gei is not allowed.)
d. *Wo
wen
ta-de
I
ask
he DE
wenti.
question
(The genitivized IO is not allowed.)
According to Tang’s analysis of ditransitives offered above, it seems that
sometimes the order of the two objects is not necessarily restricted and sometimes the
IO should precede the DO in the deep structure of a sentence, so the syntactic
transposition of the two objects may be the lowering of the DO instead of the
preposing of the IO. However, if we carefully examine the properties of those
ditransitives, we will find that Type III and Type IV verbs are not ditransitive verbs
but monotransitive verbs, so it is unnecessary to discuss the transposition condition in
the sentences of Type III and Type IV verbs. Besides, because Type I and Type II
verbs are the real ditransitive verbs, we will find that the DO precedes the IO with a
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Type I or Type II ditransitive verb in the deep structure of a sentence, and the
syntactic transposition would be the preposing of the IO. The supportive evidences
will be discussed in section 3 and 4.
3. Discussion on Type III and Type IV ditransitive verbs
At first, we discuss the properties of Type III verbs proposed by Li and
Thompson (1982). They suggest that not all ditransitive verbs can have the IO, such
as Type III verbs in Section 2. Types III verbs include ying ‘win’, fa ‘fine’, pian
‘swindle, cheat’ and so forth. The example is in (9).
(9) a. Ta
fa
le
Zhangsan
shi-kuai
qian.
he fine PER
Zhangsan
ten CL
money
He fined Zhangsan ten dollars.
b. Ta
pian
he cheat
le
Zhangsan shi-kuai
qian.
PER
Zhangsan ten CL
money
He cheated Zhangsan out of ten dollars.
In (9), it seems that the noun phrase Zhangsan is an IO and the two verbs fa and pian
require the IO to precede the DO. However, this is not the case. Let us look at the
facts. First, Type I and Type II verbs we have discussed can allow the direct object to
occur alone with them. The example is in (10).
(10) a. Wo
I
ji
mail
le
yi-feng
PER one CL
xin.
letter.
I mailed one letter.
b. Wo
I
huan
le
return PER
yi-ben
shu.
one CL book
I returned one book.
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c. Wo
I
song
le
yi-ge
wawa.
send PER one CL
doll
I sent one doll.
But, with the verb fa and pian, we find that only Zhangsan, can occur alone rather
than shi-kuai qian, as shown in (11).
(11) a. Ta
fa
le
Zhangsan
le.
he fine PER
Zhangsan
PER.
He fined Zhangsan.
b. *Ta
Ta
c. Ta
he
fa
le
shi-kuai
fine PER
pian
qian
ten CL
le.
money PER
le
Zhangsan
le.
cheat PER
Zhangsan
PER
He cheated Zhangsan.
d. *Ta
he
pian
le
shi-kuai
cheat
PER ten CL
qian
le.
money PER.
Second, when Type I and Type II verbs occurs in the ba4 construction, some may
occur with the DO as the ba noun phrase or may not. But, none of Type I and Type II
verbs may occur in the ba construction with the IO as the ba noun phrase. The
example is in (12).
(12) a. *Wo
I
b. *Wo
I
4
ba
ta
BA he
ba
ta
BA he
ji
le
yi-feng
mail PER one CL
huan
le
return PER
xin.
letter
yi-ben
shu.
one CL book
Ba here refers to the Chinese word ba (把).
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c. *Wo
ba
I
ta
BA he
song
le
yi-ge
wawa.
send PER one CL
doll
Again, the verb fa and pian are exceptions. We find that the IO of the verb fa and pian
can be the ba noun phrase. Take (13) for example, Zhangsan occurs as the ba noun
phrase not shi-kuai qian.
(13) a. Ta
ba
Zhangsan
he BA
Zhangsan
fa
le.
fine PER
He fined Zhangsan.
b. *Ta
ba
shi-kuai
he
ba
ten CL
c. Ta
qian
fa
le
Zhangsan.
money fine PER
ba
Zhangsan
pian
le.
he BA
Zhangsan
cheat
PER
qian
pian
Zhangsan
He cheated Zhangsan.
d. *Ta
ba
shi-kuai
he
ba
ten CL
le
money cheat PER
Zhangsan.
Zhangsan
Thus, from the facts offered above, the claim that the verbs such as fa ‘fine’ or pian
‘swindle, cheat’ take an IO is doubtful. Actually, the structures of the verbs fa ‘fine’ or
pian ‘swindle, cheat’ in (9) appear to be similar with that of sentence in (14).
(14) Ta
ti
le
he kick PER
Zhangsan
liang
jiao.
Zhangsan
two
foot
He dealt Zhangsan two kicks.
If the analysis in (9) is correct, then Zhangsan is indeed the DO of the verbs fa ‘fine’
or pian ‘swindle, cheat’, and shi-kuai qian appear as a quantity adverbial indicating
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the extent of the actions of fining or cheating, just as liang jiao ‘two kicks’ indicating
the extent of the action ti ‘kick’ in (14). Apparently, although the Type III verbs fa
‘fine’ or pian ‘swindle, cheat’ look like Type I and Type II verbs that can take the two
objects, they can appear to be ordinary monotransitive verbs that take a DO and a
quantity adverbial phrase.
Continually, now we discuss the properties of Type IV verbs. The verbs include
wen ‘ask, query’, jiao ‘teach’, and qingjiao ‘ask, inquire’. We will find that with a
Type IV verb, no mater what object is deleted, the meaning of a sentence will not
changed. The example is shown in (15) and (16).
(15) a. Ta
wen
le
he
ask
PER
wo
yi-ge
I
wenti.
one CL question
He asked me one question.
b. Ta
he
wen
le
wo.
ask
PER
I
He asked me.
c. Ta
He
wen
le
yi-ge
wenti.
ask PER one CL
question
He asked one question.
(16) a. Ta
he
jiao
le
wo
teach PER I
yi-ge
fangfa.
one CL method
He taught me one method.
b. Ta jiao
le
he teach PER
wo.
I
He taught me.
c. Ta
he
jiao
le
yi-ge
fangfa.
teach PER one CL method
10
He taught one method.
From (15) and (16), we can assume that Type IV verbs are not ditransitive verbs;
instead, they are monotransitive verbs. If they are really ditransitive verbs, why does
deleting one of the objects not violate grammaticality? Ditransitive verbs must take
two objects as complements, such as Type I and Type II verbs.
Thus, from the facts we have discussed so far, we can claim that Type III and
Type IV verbs are not ditransitive verbs, so we can put our focus on the transposition
condition of the IO and the DO in the sentences of Type I and Type II verbs.
4. Discussion on the preposing of the indirect object
Since we know that only Type I and Type II verbs are ditransitive verbs, we can
limit our focus on the IO and the DO of Type I and Type II verbs. Here are four
factors to support that with a Type I or Type II ditransitive verb in the deep structure
of a sentence, the DO precedes the IO, and that when the two objects exchange the
positions, there will be the preposing of the IO, not the lowering of DO (Tang 1977).
We use ji ‘mail’, one of Type I verbs, and song ‘send’, one of Type II verbs to offer
supportive evidences as follows:
1. The DO is an indispensable noun phrase, but the IO is not. Thus, usually the IO can
be omitted, but the DO cannot. The example is in (17).
(17) a. Wo
I
ji
mail
le
yi-ben
shu
gei
ta.
PER one CL book
to
he
I mailed one book to him.
b. Wo
I
ji
le
mail PER
yi-ben
shu.
one CL book
11
I mailed one book.
c. *Wo
I
ji
le
gei
mail PER
to
ta.
he
d. Wo
ji
gei
le
ta
I
mail
to
PER
yi-ben
shu.
he one CL book
I mailed one book to him.
e. *Wo
I
ji
gei
mail
to
le
ta.
PER
he
2. In the disposal construction5 or the object-preposing construction, the affected and
moved noun is the DO rather than the IO. The example is in (18)
(18) a. Wo
I
yao
song
yi-ben
shu
gei
na-wei
nu-hai.
will
send
one CL book to
that CL
girl
I will send one book to that girl.
b. Wo,
yi-ben
I
shu
yao
song
gei
na-wei
nu-hai.
one CL book
will
send
to
that CL
girl
I—will send one book to that gril.
c. Wo
I
yao
will
ba
yi-ben
shu
song
BA one CL book send
gei
to
na-wei
that CL
nu-hai.
girl
I will send one book to that girl.
d. Wo
yao
song
(gei)
na-wei
nu-hai
yi-ben
shu.
I
will
send
to
that CL
girl
one CL book
I will send that girl one book.
e. *Wo,
I
5
na-wei
nu-hai
yao
song
(gei)
that CL
girl
will
send
to
The disposal construction here refers to the ba construction.
12
yi-ben
shu.
one CL book
f. *Wo
yao
ba
na-wei
I
will
BA that CL
nu-hai
song
(gei)
girl
send
to
yi-ben
shu.
one CL book
3. Similarly, in the passive construction (the bei6 construction), the affected and
moved noun is the DO instead of the IO. The example is in (19).
(19) a. Ta
ji
na-ben
manhua
gei
he mail that CL comic book to
ta-de
pengyou.
he DE friend
He mailed that comic book to his friend.
b. Na-ben
manhua
bei
ta
ji
that CL comic book BEI he mail
gei
ta-de
pengyou.
to
he DE friend
That comic book was mailed to his friend (by him).
c. *Ta-de
he DE
pengyou
bei
ta
ji
friend
BEI he mail
gei
to
na-ben
manhua.
that CL comic book
4. Generally speaking, the order in which the DO precedes the IO is consider more
natural and appropriate than the other in which the IO precedes the DO. The
example is in (20).
(20) a. Wo
I
yao
song
will
send
ni-de
manhua
gei
you DE comic book to
ni-de
pengyou.
you De friend
I will send your comic book to your friend.
b. ?Wo
I
yao
will
song
gei
ni-de
pengyou
send
to
you De
friend
ni-de
manhua.
you DE comic book
Thus, from the facts offered above, we can claim that the relationship between a
ditransitive verb and the DO is more direct, tighter, and closer than the relationship
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Bei here refers to the Chinese marker bei (被).
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between a verb and the IO. That is to say, with a ditransitive verb, the DO precedes
the IO in the deep structure of a sentence. In addition, because the IO should follow
the DO in the deep structure, there will be a preposing of the IO in the syntactic
transformation of a sentence.
5. Conclusion
According to the facts we have discussed, it is apparent that although some
verbs look like ditransitive verbs, but in fact, they are monotransitive verbs that
cannot take an IO. Besides, in the deep structure of a sentence, the DO of a
ditransitive verb precedes the IO. Thus, when the syntactic transformation occurs,
there will be a preposing of the IO instead of the lowering of the DO. Furthermore,
the disposal construction, the object-preposing construction, and the passive
construction must operate before the preposing of the indirect object in the syntactic
transformation, or ungrammatical sentences will occur, such as (18e), (18f), and
(19c).
References
Chang, Jung-hsing. (1993). Lexical restrictions on thematic transformations and
double object constructions in English and Mandarin. Unpublished master’s
14
thesis. Taiwan, University of English Education National Kaohsiung Normal
University.
Li, N. Charles and Thompson, Sandra A. (1982). Indirect objects and benefactives.
Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Taiwan, Taipei: The
Crane Publishing Co., Ltd.
Tang, Ting-chi. (1977). Transformation and Transposition in Chinese. Studies in
transformation grammar of Chinese. Taiwan, Taipei: Student Book Co., Ltd.
Tang, Ting-chi. (1979). Direct object and indirect object. Studies in Chinese syntax.
Taiwan, Taipei: Student Book Co., Ltd.
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