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句法學期末報告 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 2 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). 3 (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. 4 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.) 3 qian. PER here refers to Perfective Aspect. 5 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 6 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. 7 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). 8 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 9 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 6 Bei here refers to the Chinese marker bei (被). 13 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. 15