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A Study of Causative Ba-variant of Verbcopying Construction in Mandarin Chinese By MA Li UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Professor. GU Yang SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMRNT OF LINGUISTICS AND MODERN LANGUAGES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS at THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONH KONG June 2011 ABSTRACT Abstract of thesis entitled: A Study of Causative Ba-variant of Verb-copying Construction in Mandarin Chinese Submitted by MA Li for the degree of Master of Arts at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in June, 2011 The verb-copying construction, which involves a copy of the verb followed by an object NP and a postverbal adverbial phrase denoting result, manner, duration or frequency, is considered as a special sentence pattern in Mandarin Chinese. Adopting a theoretical framework in Generative Grammar along the lines of copy theory of movement, we provide support for Cheng’s (2007) analyses that the resultative verb-copying construction with an object-result reading is derived via standard movement while the resultative verb-copying construction with a subject-result reading is derived via sideward movement. In this study we extend Cheng’s account to other three subtypes of verb-copying constructions including manner, duration and frequency verb-copying constructions. As a causative verb, ba can be inserted to phonetically fill in the head position of CAUS P. We hypothesize that standard movement used for the resultative verb-copying construction with an object-result reading, also applies to manner verbcopying construction, as well as duration and frequency verb-copying construction. Sideward movement is used for the resultative verb-copying construction with a subjectresult reading. Ba can be inserted in the head position of causative vp layer in resultative verb-copying construction with an object-result reading and manner verb-copying construction. Duration and frequency verb-copying constructions are likely to have bavariants under the constraints of demonstrative NP objects, bare NP objects with specific interpretations, possessive NP objects, universally quantified NP objects and bare numeral Det objects, which carry the grammatical feather of quantification. Rather, such a construction resorts to sideward movement. In the context of sideward movement, the original verb stays in the first VP and the copy verb is fused with the morpheme de in the second VP. As a result, both of the two verbs are spelled out. In a nutshell, this study i unifies the treatment of the verb-copying constructions with an attempt to account for the inner relationships between the verb-copying construction and ba-construction. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my great pleasure to have the opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all those who have helped me with this study. Without their constant support and guidance this study would never have been completed so smoothly. First of all, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Professor. GU Yang, my supervisor, for her patient assistance and friendly encouragement. During my Master’s studies in The Chinese University of Hong Kong, I am indebted to her for bringing me into the world of syntax. Those discussions with her give me the best chance to work on various topics related to structural analyses, which has been the biggest privilege in my life as a student. I benefited much from her critical thinking, copious knowledge and scholarly expertise. She has spent time on helping me with analyzing the problems and on discussing my almost endless adjustments of theoretical issues. Without her comprehensive knowledge and great patience in correcting my draft again and again, instructing me how to think and analyze, it would not be possible for me to complete this study. My special thanks should go to all the teachers who have been instructing and encouraging me during my study life in Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. For the whole year I study here they taught me linguistics: constantly expert knowledge which I am most interest in. Several courses were of great help to me with my intellectual growth during my study year. Last but not least, thanks, as ever, to my family and friends for the support, kindness, encouragement and understanding they have given to me for many years. They support me mentally, by listening to my doubts and worries and by having confidence in me. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….... i Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………. ii Contents…………………………………………………………………………………. iii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………...…1 1.1 Significance and purpose of present study…………………………………………....1 1.2 Thesis organization………………………………………………………....................1 1.3 Concepts concerning the verb-copying construction………………………………….2 1.3.1 The verb-copying phenomenon………………………………………………...2 1.3.2 Subtypes of the verb-copying construction………………………….……...….5 CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND FOR THIS STUDY………………………………........6 2.1 Copy theory of movement…………………………………………………………….7 2.2 Cheng’s (2007) analyses on the resultative verb-copying constructions……………...8 2.2.1 Standard movement…………………………………...………………………..9 2.2.2 Sideward movement………………………………………………….……….10 2.2.3 Comparison between ba-construction and standard movement…...………….10 2.3 Summary……………………………………………………………………………..12 CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PRESENT STUDY……………12 3.1 Passive causative……………………………………………………………………..12 3.2 Event causative………………………………………………………………………14 3.3 Analyses of CAUSE…………………………………………………………………14 3.3.1 Causative ba-sentence…………………………………………………………15 3.3.2 Canonical ba-sentence…………………………………………………………17 3.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………..……17 CHAPTER 4. BA-VARIANT FROM VERB-COPYING CONSTRUCTION…………18 4.1 Issues raised from previous accounts……………………………………..…………18 4.2 Our hypotheses…………………………………………………………………...….19 4.2.1V-de verb-copying construction……………………………..…………………20 iii 4.2.1.1 Resultative V-de………………………………………………………..20 4.2.1.2 Manner V-de……………………………………………………………24 4.2.2 V-le/guo verb-copying construction…………………………………………..27 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….31 References………………………………………………………………………………..34 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Significance and purpose of present study In general linguistics, modern theories are concerned not only with investigating the specific problems of language, but also with the universal properties in nature language. Under the theoretical framework of Minimalist Program by Chomsky (1995), linguistics is intended to be empirical with the aim of describing and formulating the theory of the nature of the language within a universalistic view. Following this line, the present study is designed to combine the theoretical accounts with descriptive approaches, contributing to exploring the verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese in relation to the baconstruction. The verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese is a common structure in modern Chinese literary works which has motivated many research analyses on its syntax. Different from other constructions, the verb-copying construction contains two verbs which have the same word form but different syntactic status. The construction exhibits many special properties which are intriguing. Observing how the two verbs are constructed is useful for a full understanding of the properties of the verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese. In this study, we confirm Cheng’s (2007) copy theory of movement on the resultative verb-copying construction. According to Cheng, the resultative verb-copying construction with an object-result reading has a ba-variant. We will pursue along the lines of Cheng’s discussions, extending the analyses in detail to other subtypes of the verbcopying construction. We focus on the syntactic structure and ba-variant of the verbcopying construction. At a theoretical level, we assume the observations of ba-variants from all the subtypes of the verb-copying construction can present a deep understanding on the structure analyses on the verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese. At the empirical level, this study intends to investigate the conditions under which the verbcopying construction can have a ba-variant. 1.2 Thesis organization This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter one is an introduction of the verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese. We discuss the syntactic structure and subtypes of the verb-copying 1 construction. In fact the verb-copying construction is a device to save the ungrammatical expressions from violating Phrase Structure Constraint (PSC) (see Huang 1984). Chapter two gives a theoretical background for this study and reviews the copy theory of movement within the general framework of Minimalist Program. Previous frameworks on the verb-copying construction will be reviewed in this chapter, including Cheng’s (2007) standard movement which has a ba-variant and sideward movement. Chapter three presents the theoretical foundation on the analyses of abstract predicate CAUSE. Previous studies on causative ba-construction will be presented. Chapter four discusses ba-variants of all the subtypes of the verb-copying construction. The observations will be formulated based on the issues of previous accounts. We assume the resultative verb-copying constructions with object-result readings and the manner verb-copying constructions have ba-variants. The duration and frequency verb-copying constructions are likely to have ba-variants. The resultative verbcopying constructions with subject-result readings are confined to have ba-variants. Chapter five concludes the whole study. 1.3 Concepts concerning verb-copying construction This section deals with some basic understandings concerning the verb-copying construction in terms of the syntactic structure and subtypes. These understandings and explanations are the general observations of the verb-copying construction, which intend to capture the key properties of the verb-copying construction. 1.3.1 The verb-copying phenomenon The verb-copying construction is a special sentence pattern for the reduplication of a verb, which is formed by [SV1OV2C]. The verb in this structure is transitive which licenses two arguments, an external NP argument as the subject S and an internal NP argument as the object O. The verb is copied once for the following two elements, the direct object and a complement CP. This phenomenon of duplicating a verb in Mandarin Chinese is referred to as verb-copying. Compare the following sentences: (1) a. ta kan shu. she read book ‘She read books.’ b. ta kan-le san-ge xiaoshi. 2 she read-LE three-CL hour ‘She has read for three hours.’ c.* ta kan shu san-ge xiaoshi. she read book three-CL hour ‘She has read for three hours.’ d. ta kan shu kan-le san-ge xiaoshi. she read book read-LE three-CL hour ‘She has read for three hours.’ The verb kan ‘read’ in (1) can be followed directly by its object shu ‘book’ as shown in (1a), or the post-verbal adverbial element san-ge xiaoshi ‘three hours’ as shown in (1b). However, (1c) is not acceptable for the verb is directly followed by two continents at the same time without an intervening copied verb. The post-verbal phrase is failed to be together with the direct object. (1d) represents the typical formation of the verb-copying construction, yielding a grammatical sentence. As Sybesma (1999) notes, ‘if, in a Mandarin sentence, a constituent other than the direct object follows the verb, the direct object is forced to leftward move out of its postverbal base position’ (Sybesma 1999: 1). When the direct object shu ‘book’ and the post-verbial element san-ge xiaoshi ‘three hours’ follow the verb kan ‘read’ at the same time, as is clear in (1c), the object shu ‘book’ is forced to move out of its original position. The verb kan ‘read’ is duplicated once for the direct object, which constitutes the verb-copying construction as shown in (1d). To account for the above sentences involving verb-copying construction, Huang (1982) put forward the X’ structure to formulate the Chinese word order, as indicated below (Huang 1982: 41): (2) a. [x n X n-1 YP*] iff n=1 and X≠N b. [x n YP* X n-1] otherwise Huang observes the canonical sentences in Mandarin Chinese are formed as the basic structure [SVO], and heads usually precede their subcategorized complements. Under the framework of X’-theory by Chomsky (1986), all the syntactic structures of phrases are formed as ‘Xn→…Xn-1…’. (2a) indicates every intermediate projection should be head-initial except in the case of N. (2b) requires every maximal projection to 3 be head-final. The combination of (2a) and (2b) explains the sentence structures of Chinese are largely head-final, employing only limited arranges of head-initial formations. It is in accordance with the Phrase Structure Constraint (PSC) which is a general explanation about the verb-copying construction as given below (Huang 1984: 54): (3) Within any given surface phrase in Chinese, the head (the verb or VP) may branch to the left only once, and only on the lowest level of expansion. The explanation (3) captures the fact that a full range of constituents in Mandarin Chinese can precede the verb but one and only one can be allowed to follow this verb. On the basis of (2) and (3), Huang (1982, 1984) accounts for the verb-copying construction as a device to avoid ungrammatical expressions from violating PSC. In Huang’s systems, the syntactic structures of (1a-c) are given as in (4a-c): (4) a. b. 4 c.* According to (2) and (3), there is only one constituent that can be postverbally dominated by VP (V’’), the object NP shu ‘book’ or post-verbal adverbial phrase san-ge xiaoshi ‘three hours’ as represented in (4a-b). However, the post-verbal adverbial phrase in sentence (1c) is directly following the object, which is a sister to V’ as illustrated in (4c). The head V is left-branched twice, which constitutes a violation of Phrase Structure Constraint (PSC). Thus the structure (4c) is ill-formed. 1.3.2 Subtypes of the verb-copying construction Various analyses have been put forward to present the subtypes of the verb-copying phenomenon, including Huang (1982, 1984), Li (1990), Tang (1990), Chang (1991) and Tai (1996). As mentioned, the verb-copying construction is considered to be a device to avoid two constituents following one verb. In addition to an object NP, the verb of verbcopying construction is also followed by an adverbial phrase. (5) ta zhu fan zhu-de hen lei. she cook meal cook-DE very tired ‘She cooked tired.’ (6) ta chang ge chang-de hen haoting. she sing song sing-DE very well ‘She sings well.’ (7) wo kan shu kan-le yi-ge xiaoshi. I read book read-LE one-CL hour ‘I read for one hour.’ 5 (8) ta ji xin ji-le liang-hui. he send letter send-LE twice-CL ‘He sent letters twice.’ The verb-copying construction can be classified into four subtypes according to the function of postverbal complement in the sentence. The adverbial phrases in the above examples may denote result as in (5), manner as in (6), duration as in (7), and frequency as in (8). The function of complements in the verb-copying construction is to highlight the quantities of result, manner, duration and frequency. Result is the consequence of an action or event. A resultative verb-copying construction formally contains a resultative de-clause which describes the result of the event or action denoted by the verb. A manner phrase semantically contains a manner or degree modifier for the verb which is suffixed by the morpheme de. According to Huang, Li and Li (2009), resultative V-de and manner V-de form V-de constructions. Duration is the extent of time an action or event lasts. Frequency is the number of times an action or event happens. Generally frequency phrases and duration phrases are used to modify the action or event. The frequency verbcopying construction is formally attached with the aspectual markers le or guo while the duration verb-copying construction is attached with the aspectual marker le. Given these, we classify the verb-copying construction into two subcategories: V-de verb-copying constructions and V-le/guo verb-copying constructions. CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND FOR THIS STUDY The current movement theory has provided a new platform for linguistic studies. In the context of the Minimalist Program by Chomsky (1995), all the explanations about the nature of movement and the properties of traces arise anew that all the sentence structures are formed by the process of merging and movement. In line with Minimalist Program considerations, a number of important issues related to the verb-copying phenomenon could be addressed though the movement theory. In this chapter we examine Cheng’s (2007) argument of the verb-copying construction, according to which the syntactic structure in the resultative verb-copying construction is derived from sideward movement and standard movement. Cheng follows Nunes (2004) by arguing that ‘many of the 6 phenomena of copying can be explained by an analysis based on the phonetic realization of traces, assuming the (revised) copy theory of movement’ (Cheng 2007: 151). Previous works based on the copy theory of movement are reviewed in this chapter. 2.1 Copy theory of movement A fundamental property of language is the displacement of syntactic constituent. According to Chomsky (1981), the displacement property is a configuration that an element moves to another position for some grammatical requirements and leaves a coindexed trace in the original position. The position where the element locates in is the one where it is phonetically realized. Consider the following sentences: (9) a. ta chao-de wo bu xiang kan zhe-ben shu le. he noise-DE me not want read this-CL book LE ‘He was being very so noisy that I wouldn’t read this book any more.’ b. zhe-ben shui, ta chao-de wo bu xiang kan ti le. this-CL book he noise-DE me not want read LE ‘This book, he was being very so noise that I wouldn’t read any more.’ Sentence (9b) is derived via topicalization of from (9a). In (9b), t is a trace of the moved DP zhe-ben shu ‘this book’ which has the same grammatical properties of the moved constituent. The index of the trace is phonetically derived and the silent trace is left behind. Within the general framework of Minimalist Program by Chomsky (1995), syntactic structures are assumed to be derived by a serious of merger and movement operations. In this respect, copy theory of movement is involved into the Minimalist Program in explaining the situation that both the traces and their indices are phonetically realized in the structures. According to the copy theory, a trace is ‘a copy of the moved element that is deleted in the phonological component (in the case of overt movement), but is available able for interpretation at LF’ (Nunes 2004: 2). On the basis of this approach, the structure underlying (9a) is represented as following in (10). The second DP zhe-ben shu ‘this book’ is phonetically spelled out but interpreted at LF level. (10) zhe-ben shu, ta chao-de wo bu xiang kan zhe-ben shu le. this-CL book he fight-DE me not want read this-CL book LE ‘This book, he fought with me so that I did not want to read.’ 7 Following this approach, copy theory of movement contributes to accounting for the structure in which the trace is also phonetically realized. This trace may have the same phonetic form with its index but different syntactic status. As a copy of a moved element, the trace is not a silent one which has the same grammatical properties with antecedent, but ‘a lexical item (here taken to include functional heads as well), or an X’- theoretic object built from lexical items’ (Nunes 2004: 14). In line with these theories, we present Cheng’s analyses on the resultative verb-copying construction in explaining its syntactic formation. 2.2 Cheng’s (2007) analyses on the resultative verb-copying constructions In view of the basic structure of the resulatative verb-copying construction, the postverbal element is following V-de. Example (11) is a resultative verb-copying construction. (11) ta kan wo kan-de buzhisuocuo. he look me look-DE not to know what to do a.‘He looked at me and I did not know what to do.’ (object-result reading) b.‘He looked at me and he did not know what to do.’ (subject-result reading) Cheng (2007) selects the resultative verb-copying constructions as her research objective for the resultative verb-copying construction ‘allows quite a range of flexibility’ (Cheng 2007: 154). She categorizes the resultative verb-copying construction into two types: subject-result reading and object-result reading. Cases- like (11), are considered to be ambiguous in Cheng’s analyses, which have two interpretations. In terms of the object-result reading, the object wo ‘me’ is the one associated with the resultative dephrase buzhisuocuo ‘not to know what to do’, as stated in (11a). On the other hand, in terms of the subject-result reading, the subject ta ‘he’ is the one associated with the resultative de-phrase buzhisuocuo ‘not to know what to do’, as stated in (11b). Both of two verbs are phonetically realized in two readings. In her analyses, Cheng proposes the syntactic formation of the resultative verbcopying constructions. The verb-copying construction with an object-result reading and the verb-copying construction with a subject-result reading are separately derived from standard movement and sideward movement. ‘In the case of standard movement, the subject of the resultative clause is raised to the matrix clause, accompanied by verb movement, yielding an object-result reading. In the case of subject-result reading, 8 ergativity shift involved and the subject of the resultative clause becomes the subject of the matrix clause’ (Cheng 2007: 151). In the following we will present two derivations. 2.2.1 Standard movement According to Cheng (2007), standard movement is used for accounting for the verbcopying construction with an object-result reading. Sentence (11a) involves an objectresult reading which can be represented as following in (12). (12) Cheng considers de as the head of Extent Phrase or de Phrase. As the structure (12) indicates, the DP ta ‘he’ is located in the specifier position of the whole TP from spec-vp to get the nominative Case through the A-movement. The subject of this sentence is derived. Cheng claims the DP wo ‘me’ starts from the lowest level CP wo buzhisuocuo ‘I did not know what to do’ and moves to spec-VP as result of the object-result reading. And the verb kan ‘look’ is copied to take up the head position of causative vp. The head 9 position of causative vp is filled phonetically by the copied verb kan ‘look’, yielding a causative sentence. Both the verb kan ‘look’ and the copied verb kan ‘look’ are phonetically spelled out as a device to save the ungrammatical expressions from PSC. 2.2.2 Sideward movement Nunes (2004) introduces the notion of sideward movement under the Copy+Merge theory, as shown in (13) (see Nunes 2004). Copy is a reduplication process during which the original element and the copied element are both phonetically realized. Merge is an operation that combines one constituent with another constituent. In (13a), element αi is originally involved in the constituent K and copied once to merge with the structure L. In (13b), a new structure M is formed by the combination of the copied αi and L. The whole configuration is derived. (13) a. [K…αi…] αi → [L…] b. [K…αi…] [M αi [L…]] Cheng claims sideward movement is used for the verb-copying construction with a subject-result reading. Sentence (10b) with a subject-result reading is formed as following in (14). (14) tai [[vp1 kan wo] [vp2 kan-de ti buzhisuocuo]] he look me look-DE not to know what to do ‘He looked at me and he did not know what to do.’ Primarily the subject ta ‘he’ is originated from the resultative phrase indicating it is ta ‘he’ that looked at me and did not know what to do. Then ta ‘he’ leaves a trace in the resultative phrase. The verb kan ‘look’ is originally located in VP1. Then the verb in VP1 is copied once to merge with de Phrase via sideward movement. Thus both of the verbs are spelled out. 2.2.3 Comparison between ba-construction and standard movement Cheng (2007) points out the verb-copying constructions with object-result readings have ba-variants. Compare the following sentences: (15) a. ta kan wo kan-de buzhisuocuo. he look me look-DE not to know what to do ‘He looked at me and I did not know what to do.’ b. ta ba wo kan-de buzhisuocuo. 10 he BA me look-DE not to know what to do ‘He looked at me and I did not know what to do.’ It is clear that (15b) is the ba-counterpart of (15a). According to Cheng, the structure of sentence (15b) can be represented as in (16). Cheng claims that ba takes up the head position of small vp which is a projection of causative v. The DP ta ‘he’ undergoes Amovement from the specifier position of vp to specifier position of TP to get nominative Case. The subject of this sentence is derived. She also claims the DP wo ‘me’ starts from the lowest level CP wo buzhisuocuo ‘I did not know what to do’ and moves to spec-VP as the result of an object-result reading, as shown in (16). Compared with (12), the only difference is the head position of vp which is occupied by ba instead of copied verb. Structure (16) is the ba-variant of the verb-copying construction. (16) 11 2.3 Summary To summarize, Cheng suggests standard movement of the verb in accounting for the verb-copying construction with an object-result reading and sideward movement of the verb in accounting for the verb-copying construction with a subject–result reading. As for the object-result reading, the verb-copying construction has a ba-variant. The first verb which is the copied verb in the verb-copying construction takes up the head position of causative vp. And ba is also a causative verb. The syntactic structures of the verbcopying construction and ba-construction are hand in hand. However, we do not think the descriptions in Cheng’s analyses in this chapter are exhaustive. Cheng attributes the motivation for the standard movement to the objectresult reading. She claims the complement is controlled by the object, which triggers the object of the verb-copying construction to move out from the complement phrase. Therefore, in the following chapters we argue different analyses for the motivation of the standard movement. CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PRESENT STUDY Various descriptions and analyses on ba-construction in Mandarin Chinese have been put forward to account for the syntactic status of ba. In this study we consider ba as a causative verb, which can take up the head position of causative vp layer in the verbcopying construction. Relevant discussions put forward on the basis of causative baconstruction include Lü (1948), Huang (1974), Sybesma (1999), Li (2003), Ding (2007) and so on. In the following we will present some of them and observe the properties of causative ba-construction based on the pervious theoretical accounts. 3.1 Passive causative Lü (1948) considers causative ba as one subtype of ba-construction, exemplified by (17a) and (18a). (17) a. zhe-jian shi ba ta xiu-de ku-le. this-CL thing BA her shame-DE cry-LE. ‘This thing shamed her to cry.’ b. zhe-jian shi shi ta xiu-de ku-le. this-CL thing make her shame-DE cry-LE 12 ‘This thing made her shamed to cry.’ (18) a. zhe-jian shi ba ta qi-le ge si. this-CL thing BA him anger-LE GE die ‘This thing angered him to die.’ b. zhe-jian shi shi ta qi-le ge si. this-CL thing make him anger-LE GE die ‘This thing made him angry to die.’ In Lü’s analyses, the verb in causative ba-construction is intransitive. Causative ba takes the only argument of the intransitive verb as its object which bears a Patient thematic role in ba-construction. The verb in ba-construction is normally followed by the morpheme de as shown in (17a) or functional word ge ‘GE’ as shown in (18a). The complement of ba denotes a passive reading. As sentence (17a) indicates, the object of ba-construction ta ‘her’ is modified by the resultative phrase which is the patient of the event of being shamed to cry. The passive property of causative ba can be illustrated in sentence (17b) and sentence (18b) in which ba entails a same semantic meaning to passive word shi ‘make’. In view of Lü’s claims, passive expressions seem not sufficient to interpret the causative ba-constructions. Lü treats ba as a passive causative when it entails a same semantic meaning to the passive word shi ‘make’. A fact concerning causative baconstruction is that passive ba-constructions can not be treated as on a par with the passive shi sentences. (19) a. ba ta xiu-de ku-le. BA her shame-DE cry-LE. ‘(Something/Someone) shamed her to cry.’ b. *shi ta xiu-de ku-le. make her shame-DE cry-LE ‘(Something/Someone) made her shamed to cry.’ (20) a. ba ta qi-le ge si. BA him anger-LE GE die ‘(Something/Someone) angered him to die.’ b. *shi ta qi-le ge si. 13 make him anger-LE GE die ‘(Something/Someone) made him angry to die.’ As sentences (19a-b) and (20a-b) illustrated, the subjects of shi sentences must be overt. However, the subjects of causative ba-constructions can be covert or overt. In terms of causatives, ba can denote more properties than the passives. 3.2 Event causative Event causative has been argued by Huang (1974) in his analyses of ba-construction. In Lü’s proposals, the verb in causative ba-construction is intransitive which projects only one argument. Ba-NP has a Patient semantic role which entails a passive relationship with de-phrase or ge-phrase. Different from Lü’s proposals, Huang treated ba as a marker for event causatives. The subject of the sentence is considered as the cause of the event denoted by the verb. And ba-NP has a Theme semantic role. This is shown by the following example in (21). (21) ta ba zheng-ben shu kan wan-le. she BA whole-CL book read end-LE ‘She finished the whole book.’ According to Huang, the DP ta ‘he’ in sentence (21) is the subject of the sentence which is also the cause of the event of finishing the whole book. The Subject ta ‘he’ is the agent of finishing the whole book and also denotes the result that the whole book has been finished. Lü and Huang’s proposals can not adequately capture the facts in causative baconstruction. Considering the above sentence in (17a), we can see the subject is not the agent of the event. In (17a), the agent of the event of being shamed to cry is the DP ta ‘her’, rather than the subject of the sentence zhe-jian shi ‘this thing’. Thus, the subject of the causative ba-construction can be the agent of the event denoted by the verb in baconstruction or not. On the basis of this notion, we adopt Sybesma’s (1992, 1999) proposals in which causative ba-sentences are classified into two subcategories according to the agent of the event denoted by the matrix verb in causative ba-construction. 3.3 Analyese of CAUSE Sybesma (1999) proposes all ba-sentences are causative, which are classified into two subcategories, causative ba-sentences and canonical ba-sentences. The difference 14 between causative ba-sentences and canonical ba-sentences is ‘solely determined by the question as to whether the subject of the sentence can be interpreted as the agent of the action denoted by the matrix verb or not’ (Sybesma 1999: 176). Sybesma introduces the notion of ‘animate subject’ to distinguish the causative ba-sentences and canonical basentences. An animate subject is described as the subject of ba-sentence which is the agent of the event denoted by the verb. If the subject of ba-sentence is animate, it is a canonical ba-sentence. And if the subject of ba-sentence is inanimate, it is a causative basentence. In his analyses, ba-sentences are always CAUSE-sentences in which ba projects a CAUSE Phrase. The VP which contains the verb of the sentence is embedded under the CAUSE Phrase. 3.3. 1 Causative ba-sentence Sybesma (1992) put forward the notion of ‘abstract predicate CAUSE’ for the causative verbs in explaining the causative constructions. Consider the sentences in (22): (22) a. zhe-ge gushi gandong-de Lisi yizhi diao yanlei. this-CL story move-DE Lisi all the time fall tear ‘Lisi is moved to tears by this story during the whole time.’ b.zhe-ge gushi CAUSE Lisi gandong-de yizhi this-CL story CAUSE Lisi move-DE diao yanlei. all the time fall tear ‘Lisi is moved to tears by this story during the whole time.’ Sybesma (1992, 1999) assumes CAUSE is the head of CAUSE Phrase which is labeled as CAUS P. CAUSE in (22b) is empty phonetically, which is an abstract predicate triggering the matrix verb gandong ‘move’ to move to the head position of CAUS P. The subject of the causative ba-sentence zhe-ge gushi ‘this story’ bears a semantic relation to the abstract predicate CAUSE, rather than the matrix verb gandong ‘move’. According to Sybesma, the head of CAUS P must be phonologically filled, by the way of verb raising or inserting ba. Verb raising is a process that the verb in the head position of VP is triggered to move into the head position of CAUS P, as shown in (22a). Inserting ba is a process that ba is base-generated in the head position of CAUS P. The ba-counterpart of sentence (22b) can be stated as in (23). (23) zhe-ge gushi ba Lisi gandong-de yizhi this-CL story BA Lisi move-DE diao yanlei. all the time fall tear 15 ‘Lisi is moved to tears by this story during the whole time.’ As Sybesma interpreted, the causative ba-sentence is that ‘the subject causes the ba-NP to undergo the event denoted by the VP’ (Sybesma 1999:170).The agent of the event gandong-de yizhi diao yanlei ‘be moved to tears during the whole time’ is assumed to be Lisi ‘Lisi’ rather than the subject of the sentence zhe-ge gushi ‘this story’. The subject of the sentence zhe-ge gushi ‘this story’ causes the ba-NP Lisi ‘Lisi’ to achieve the result yizhi diao yanlei ‘tear during the whole time’. To summarize her claims, the structure of causative ba-construction is represented as following in (24) (Sybesma 1999:165): (24) The NP1 is the subject of the construction which is dependent on abstract predicate CAUSE and receives a theta role from CAUSE. Ba is inserted in the head position of CAUS P which is an alternative of verb movement. The inserted ba is a dummy which is base-generated. The NP2 is the ba-NP which has no thematic relevance with inserted ba. In this structure, ba and NP2 are two separate constituents which can not be formed into one. NP2 moves from the position of NP3 though A-movement and leaves a trace in NP3. See the following structure in (25) which is the representation of sentence (23). (25) zhe-ge gushi ba [vp[ba-NPLisii] [vpgandong-de [cp ti yizhi this-CL story BA Lisi move-DE 16 diao yanlei]]] all the time fall tear ‘Lisi is moved to tears by this story during the whole time.’ In structure (25), ba-NP Lisi ‘Lisi’ is the subject of the resultative complement phrase (CP). Sybesma considers ba-construction is a ‘raising structures’ (Sybesma 1999: 158). The DP Lisi ‘Lisi’ is raised from the subject position of CP to ba-NP and leaves an empty category. This empty category is a trace rather a PRO. The resultative phrase is denoted by the verb which has a combination with V-de. If the empty category is a PRO, there is a ‘barrier intervene’ (Sybesma 1999: 157) between the verb gandong-de ‘moveDE’ and the embedded phrase yizhi diao yanlei ‘tear during the whole time’. Thus, NP2 is a moved element rather than a base-generated one, which c-commands the empty category in NP3. 3.3.2 Canonical ba-sentence A canonical ba-sentence may be exemplified as following in (26). (26) ta ba zhe-ben shu kan-le liang-bian. he BA this-CL book read-LE two times ‘He read this book two times.’ The subject of this sentence is the agent of the event of reading the book two times. This is different from causative ba-sentences in which the subject is not the agent of the sentence. Sybesma (1999) claims canonical ba-sentences are involved in the structure (24) which is the same with causative ba-sentences. Canonical ba-sentences have all the properties of causative ba-sentences in terms of the argument structure, the nature of the VP embedded under CAUS and the presence of CAUS and the alternation between basentences and non-ba-sentences. The subjects of canonical ba-sentences are considered as causers. And the head position of CAUS P must be phonetically filled through verb movement or inserted ba. It is the same with causative ba-sentences. A canonical basentences may ‘preliminarily be paraphrased as: the subject causes the ba-NP to undergo the event denoted by the VP’ (Sybesma 1999: 170). Therefore, ba-sentences including canonical ba-sentences and causative ba-sentences are causative sentences. 3.4 Summary In this chapter we have provided the analyses of passive causative ba-construction, event causative ba-construction and abstract predicate CAUSE. 17 Passive causatives narrow the scope of causative ba-construction. In Lü’s analyses, all the verbs of passive causatives which take up the head position of matrix VP are intransitive and all ba-NPs of passive causatives have Patient semantic roles. In Huang’s analyses of event causatives, all the subjects of causative ba-sentences are considered to be the causers of the events, ignoring the fact that the subject of a causative ba-sentence may not the agent of the event denoted by the matrix verb in ba-construction. In contrast, Sybesma’s approaches classified the causative ba-construction into causative ba-sentences and canonical ba-sentences according to the agent of the event denoted by the matrix verb in the causative ba-construction. Sybesma’s approaches give concrete accounts in investigating causative ba-construction. CHAPTER 4. BA-VARIANT FROM VERB-COPYING CONSTRUCTION In the preceding chapters we have presented the analyses including the copy theory of movement for the verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese and the causative baconstruction. In this chapter we mainly focus on the issues we observe from Cheng’s and Sybesma’s proposals. Based on these issues, we discuss our hypotheses of ba-variant of the verb-copying construction in Mandarin Chinese by examining all the subtypes of the verb-copying construction. 4.1 Issues raised from previous accounts So far we have adopted Sybesma’s analyses on causative ba-construction and Cheng’s standard movement and sideward movement in our assumptions. However, Cheng points out that the verb-copying construction with an object-result reading is interchangeable with ba-construction. The problem raised here is why ba is confined to the verb-copying construction with a subject-result reading, which has no explanation in Cheng’s analyses. Cheng attributes the movement of the object of the verb-copying construction from the complement phrase to the object-result reading. Different from Cheng, we assume the morpheme de is fused with the second verb of the verb-copying construction, which forces the postverbal NP or DP to raise to the specifier position of the VP. If the NP or DP takes up the specifier position of VP, de-phrase can not be combined to the second verb of the verb-copying construction and the verb and the morpheme de can not 18 phonologically form a V-de structure. Our hypotheses provide evidences that V-de verbcopying constructions undergo the operation of fusion. Second, Cheng claims the syntactic structures of the resultative verb-copying construction and ba-construction are hand in hand without an explanation why the first verb in the verb-copying construction can take up the head position of causative vp. Based on the notions of abstract predicate CAUSE by Sybesma, we point out the verb movement in standard movement is a way to make the CAUSE position filled phonetically. The second verb is fused with the morpheme de. As a result, both of the two verbs are spelled out as one unit. Third, Cheng’s analyses on the verb-copying construction are based on the resultative verb-copying construction, which are not sufficient to explain the verbcopying phenomenon in Mandarin Chinese. In the following we will extend Cheng’s analyses and examine ba-variants of all the subtypes of the verb-copying construction. 4.2 Our hypotheses In the following we will provide the methodological and theoretical analyses by using the data from all the subtypes of the verb-copying construction, with the aim of establishing the inner relationship between the verb-copying construction and ba-construction. Our hypotheses can be summarized as following: (27) Sideward movement Standard movement V-de (resultative) V-de(manner) No ba-variant Ba-variant V-le/guo Ba-variant with constraints We suggest that all the subtypes of the verb-copying construction can be derived through standard movement or sideward movement. In the case of standard movement, ba can take up the position of causative v. The resultative verb-copying construction with object-result reading and the manner verb-copying construction can have causative bavariants. The duration and frequency verb-copying constructions have ba-variants only under certain conditions. In the case of sideward movement, the verb-copying constructions are confined to ba-variants. We argue that only the resultative verb-copying construction with subject-result reading is derived via sideward movement. In following 19 we will account in detail to V-de verb-copying constructions and V-le/guo verb-copying constructions. 4.2.1 V-de verb-copying construction 4.2.1.1 Resultative V-de Following Cheng’s (2007) analyses on syntactic structure of the resultative verb-copying construction, we will give an extensive explanation on ba-variant of the resultative verbcopying construction. In the case of object-result reading, ba can take up the position of causative v. In the case of subject-result reading, both the verb and the copied one are spelled out, which has no ba-variant. We observe that ba can take up the head position of causative vp in the syntactic structure of the verb-copying construction resulting from the fact that it is an alternative way of verb movement. The verb in V-de construction is fused with the morpheme de. Fusion is an operation that ‘a vocabulary item expresses feathers of more than one node in the syntax, then these nodes must be fused in order for insertion to take place’ (Bobaljik 1995: 33). In this study the morpheme de is considered to be the head of de Phrase which marked as de P. The morpheme de is a suffix attached to the verb, forming ‘a phonological word based on pure linear adjacency’ (Huang, Li and Li 2009: 88) but structurally separated. The verb in the verb-copying construction is fused with the morpheme de at the phonetic form (PF).Compare the following sentences: (28) a. ta ting-de hen renzhen. he listen-DE very seriously ‘He listened very seriously.’ b. *ta ting-de gushi hen renzhen. he listen-DE story very seriously ‘He listened the story very seriously.’ c. ta gushi ting-de hen renzhen. he story listen-DE very seriously ‘The story, he listened very seriously.’ Sentence (28a) can be represented in the structure as shown in (29). The vp-VP configuration is used for the construction with two postverbal constituents. The verb ting ‘listen’ is raised from head-VP to head-vp. If the NP gushi ‘story’ takes the specifier 20 position of VP, as shown in (28b), de-phrase can not be combined to the verb ting ‘listen’. Thus the NP gushi ‘story’ must move out of the specifier position of VP, as shown in (28c). The verb ting ‘listen’ and the morpheme de can phonologically form a V-de structure. As a result, if there is a verb suffixed with the morpheme de, the NP or DP on its right must move to the specifier position of the VP though A-movement. (29) In the case of the resultative verb-copying construction with an object-result reading, it undergoes the operations of copy, fusion and ba-insertion, exemplified by (30). (30) a. ta pian wo pian-de tuantuanzhuan. she cheat me cheat-DE run around ‘She cheated me like a fool.’ b.ta ba wo pian-de tuantuanzhuan. she BA me cheat-DE run around ‘She cheated me like a fool.’ In example (30a) the DP ta ‘she’ is located in the specifier of the whole TP from spec-vp to get the nominative Case through A-movement. The subject of this sentence is derived. The DP wo ‘me’ starts from the de-phrase and moves to spec-VP though Amovement for satisfying the Case Filter. According to Li (1990), every overt NP must be 21 licensed by some Case assigner and ‘a verb normally assigns Case to only one NP under adjacency’ (Li 1990: 71). The verb pian ‘cheat’ originally takes up the head position of the VP. The verb which occupies the position of causative v is the copied one through standard movement, as shown in (31). (31) Inserting ba is an alternative way of the standard movement in filling the CASU position phonetically. After the second verb in the resultative verb-copying construction is fused with de, ba can be inserted in the head position of CAUS P. Both the verb in the verb-copying construction and causative ba can be spelled out. Sentence (30b) can be represented as following in (32). Ba is base-generated in the head position of causative vp. The DP wo ‘me’ starts from the de-phrase and takes up the specifier position of the VP as its landing-site. The DP wo ‘me’ undergoes a A-movement to adjoin ba for satisfying the Case Filter. 22 (32) In the case of subject-result reading, the resultative V-de verb-copying construction undergoes the operations of copy, fusion and spell-out, without a ba-variant. Consider the following sentence as in (33). (33) ta xue fayu xue-de hen lei. he learn French learn-DE very tired ‘He is tired from learning French.’ As a result of subject-result reading, sentence (34) is represented as following in (34). (34) tai [[VP1 xue fayu] [VP2 xue-de ti hen lei]] he learn French learn-DE very tired ‘He is tired from learning French.’ 23 On the basis of the sideward movement by Nunes (2004), the DP ta ‘he’ is primarily originated from the resultative phrase indicating it is ta ‘he’ that learnt French and got very tired. Then DP ta ‘he’ leaves a trace in the resultative phrase. The verb xue ‘learn’ firstly is originally located in VP1 and copied once. The copied verb is merged to dephrase through sideward movement. The second verb is fused with the morpheme de which results in the fact that both verbs are phonetically spelled out. Ba-variant is not allowed. 4.2.1.2 Manner V-de Different with resultative V-de structure, manner verb-copying construction contains an extent phrase which is generally controlled by the object or the event or action denoted by the verb. We propose the manner verb-copying can have a ba-variant. We explain bavariant of the manner verb-copying construction in terms of the manner verb-copying construction involving definite NP objects and the manner verb-copying construction involving indefinite NP objects. We argue the manner verb-copying construction is derived via standard movement. Consider the following example in (35). (35) ta xie zhe-ge zi xie-de hao. he write this-CL word write-DE well ‘He wrote this word very well.’ In this sentence, the extent phrase hao ‘well’ is controlled by the definite NP object zhe-ge zi ‘this word’, which yields the standard movement. The verb in the manner verbcopying construction is fused with the morpheme de at the phonetic form (PF). As the structure (36) indicates, the definite NP object zhe-ge zi ‘this word’ starts from the lowest level phrase zhe-ge zi hao ‘this word well’ though A-movement for satisfying the Case Filter. The verb xie ‘write’ is originally located in the head position of the lower VP. The copied verb takes up the head position of causative vp. (36) 24 Ba can be generated as a strategy to phonetically fill the head position of CAUS P. We observe that fusion is happened at PF in manner V-de. As the structure (37) indicates, ba is base-generated in the head position of causative vp. The DP zhe-ge zi ‘this word’ starts from the de-phrase and takes the specifier position of the VP as its landing-site. The DP zhe-ge zi ‘this word’ undergoes an A-movement to adjoin ba for satisfying the Case Filter. (37) 25 In light of causative ba-construction, the manner verb-copying construction involving indefinite NP objects is different from those containing definite NP objects. Compare the following sentences: (38) a. ta xie zhe-ge zi xie-de hao. he write this-CL word write-DE well ‘He wrote this word well.’ b. ta ba zhe-ge zi xie-de hao. he BA this-CL word write-DE well ‘He wrote this word well.’ (39) a. ta xie zi xie-de hao. he write word write-DE well ‘He is good at writing.’ b.ta ba zi xie-de hao. he BA word write-DE well ‘He is good at writing.’ 26 The causative verb in (38a) denotes an event. Causative ba-construction in the manner verb-copying construction involving definite NP objects is eventive, as illustrated in (38b). The DP ta ‘he’ in this sentence is an individual also the causer denotes the cause in the event that this word is wrote very well. The extent phrase modifies the definite NP object zhe-ge zi ‘this word’. In contrast, sentence (39a) which is a manner verb-copying construction involving indefinite NP object indicates a state. The verb which appears with the generic object achieves a non-referential, generic activity reading. Causative ba in (39b) denotes a property that he writes very well in every event. The state is an integration of indefinite events. 4.2 V-le/guo verb-copying construction In this section we propose NPs which are permitted in ba-variant of V-le/guo verbcopying construction are not a random group. Ba-variants can occur in V-le/guo verbcopying constructions with demonstrative NP objects as in (40), bare NP objects with specific interpretations as in (41), possessive NP objects as in (42), universally quantified NP objects as in (43) and bare numeral Det objects as in (44). (40) a. ta ji zhe-feng xin ji-le liang-hui. she send this-CL letter send-LE two times ‘She sent this letter two times.’ b. ta ba zhe-feng xin ji-le liang-hui. she BA this-CL letter send-LE two times ‘She sent this letter two times.’ (41) a. ta zhu jiaozi zhu-le ban-ge xiaoshi. she cook dumpling cook-LE half-CL hour ‘She cook the dumplings for half an hour.’ b. ta ba jiaozi zhu-le ban-ge xiaoshi. she BA dumpling cook-LE half-CL hour ‘She cook the dumplings for half an hour.’ (42) a. ta ca wo-de zhuozi ca-le he clean my san-bian. table clean-LE three times ‘He cleaned my table three times.’ b. ta ba wo-de zhuozi ca-le san-bian. 27 he BA my table clean-LE three times ‘He cleaned my table three times.’ (43) a. ta kan suoyou shu kan-le wu-ge xiaoshi. he read all-CL book read-LE five-CL hour ‘He read all the books for five hours.’ b. ta ba suoyou shu kan-le wu-ge xiaoshi. he BA all-CL book read-LE five-CL hour ‘He read all the books for five hours.’ (44) a. ta ting yi-shou ge ting-le san-bian. she listen one-CL song listen-LE three times ‘She listened to one song three times.’ b.ta ba yi-shou ge ting-le san-bian. she BA one-CL song listen-LE three times ‘She listened to one song three times.’ V-le/guo refers to the duration verb-copying construction and the frequency verbcopying construction. The duration verb-copying construction contains aspectual suffix le and the frequency verb-copying construction contains aspectual suffix -le or -guo. Consider a V-le/guo verb-copying construction with a demonstrative NP object, as shown in (45). (45) ta ting zhe-shou ge ting-le haoduo-bian. she listen this-CL song listen-LE many times ‘She has listened to this song for many times.’ The structure of sentence (45) can be represented in (46). The aspectual suffix –le and the verb ting ‘listen’ structurally form a word ting-le ‘listen-LE’ (The syntactic status of le will not be concerned in the following representation). The verb is copied once to fill the CAUS position phonetically. The DP zhe-shou ge ‘this song’ is raised from the lower DP to the specifier position of the VP through A-movement for satisfying the Case Filter. (46) 28 We examine ba-variants of V-le/guo verb-copying constructions by the concept of checking theory. Under the general framework of Minimalist Program, checking theory is a theory of feature-checking which is designed to examine the grammatical features carried by some words are compatible with other words within the same sentence (see Chomsky 1995). Liu (1990) classifies NPs into two subcategories, generalized (G) – specific NPs and non-specific NPs. Demonstrative NPs, bare NPs with specific interpretations, possessive NPs, universally quantified NPs and bare numeral Dets are involved in G-specific NPs which denote quantifier scopes. G-specific NPs are suggested to carry the interpretable [QUANTIZATION] feature. They have inherent endpoints, which are related to Event Structure represented as ‘a line bounded at one end by a point that marks the initiation of the event and at the other by a point that marks its termination’ (Ritter and Rosen 2001: 429). Sentence (47a) is the ba-variant of sentence (45). The object in (45) can be zhe-shou ge ‘this song’ with a interpretable [QUANTIZATION] feature or ge ‘song’ without the interpretable [QUANTIZATION] 29 feature. However, the object in causative ba-construction must have the interpretable [QUANTIZATION] feature, as illustrated in (47b). (47) a. ta ba zhe-shou ge ting-le haoduo-bian. she BA this-CL song listen-LE many times ‘She has listened to this song for many times.’ b.* ta ba ge ting-le haoduo-bian. she BA song listen-LE many times ‘She has listened to (this) song for many times.’ Perfective le and experiential guo are two aspectual markers in Mandarin Chinese which indicate the various internal temporal constitutions of a situation. The aspectual marker le or guo indicates an event or action which has a termination. We follow Lyn (2009) that perfective le and experiential guo have the uninterpretable grammatical feature of [TERMINATION]. The frequency phrase is denoted by the second verb ting ‘listen’ attached by suffix -le, which indicates a bounded Event Structure. Liu (1997) argues that ba-construction denotes a bounded event or situation which has no ‘internal stages that are static or stages that can be viewed as such’ (Huang, Li and Li 2009: 190). Ba modifies the bounded event which is terminated before utterance time. So ba carries an interpretable [TERMINATION] feature. On the other hand, ba has the Event Structure which carries an interpretable [QUANTIZATION] feature. Consider the following structure which is a representation of sentence (47). (48) 30 The aspectual suffix –le and the verb ting ‘listen’ structurally form a word, which carries [TERMINATION] feature. Ba is inserted in the head position of CAUS P to make the CAUS position be filled in phonetically. Ba carries the [TERMINATION] and [QUANTIZATION] features. The feature [TERMINATION] can be checked by the V-le which carries [TERMINATION] feature. The DP zhe-shou ge ‘this song’ is raised from the lower DP to the specifier position of the VP in order to check the [QUANTIZATION] feature of ba. So Ba-variants can occur in V-le/guo verb-copying constructions with [QUANTIZATION] features and specific interpretations. CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION To sum up, we have examined four subtypes of the verb-copying construction, which is categorized as V-de (resultative V-de and manner V-de) and V-le/guo (duration and 31 frequency) structure. First of all, we explore Cheng’s analyses on syntactic structure of the resultative verb-copying construction and present a discussion on ba-variant of the resultative verb-copying construction. In the case of subject-result reading, the verbcopying construction is derived from three independent operations: copy, fusion and spell-out. The subject of the construction is derived from the specifier position of the second VP. The verb of the construction is originally located in the head position of the first VP. Then the verb is copied to take up the head position of the second VP. The copied verb is fused with the morpheme de. Both of the two verbs are spelled out without a ba-variant. In the case of object-result reading, the verb-copying construction is derived from three independent operations: copy, fusion and ba-insertion. The object of the construction is derived from the specifier position of resultative de-phrase. The verb of the construction is originally located in head position of the lower VP. According to Sybesma (1999), the head position of CAUS P must be phonetically filled by two ways: one is triggering the verb in the lower VP to move out to take up the position of CAUS as its landing-site, and the other is inserting the causative ba. In terms of standard movement, the verb in the lower VP is copied to fill in the head position of causative vp, yielding a verb-copying construction. The original verb is fused with the morpheme de. On the other hand, the causative ba can be inserted in the CAUS. In arguing for the manner verb-copying constructions, we propose they can have bavariants. Different from the resultative verb-copying constructions, manner verb-copying construction is derived from standard movement based on the fact that the extent phrase is controlled by the object NP or the event or action denoted by the verb. The manner verb-copying construction has a ba-variant the same as the resultative verb-copying construction with an object-result reading. If the object NP in the manner verb-copying construction is definite, causative ba-construction is eventive. If the object NP in manner verb-copying construction is indefinite, causative ba-construction is considered as generic with the integration of indefinite events. Finally, we observe that duration and frequency verb-copying constructions are likely to have ba-variants under the constraints of demonstrative NP objects, bare NP objects with specific interpretations, possessive NP objects, universally quantified NP objects and bare numeral Det objects, which are involved in G-specific NPs. As a 32 causative verb, ba has interpretable [TERMINATION] and [QUANTIFICATION] features. Interpretable [TERMINATION] feature can be checked by the uninterpretable [TERMINATION] feature of aspectual markers le or guo. Perfective le or experiential guo indicate a bounded event which has the termination before the utterance time. The object NP is derived from the duration or frequency phrase and moved to the specifier position of VP. Thus the object NP must carry the [QUANTIFICATION] feature to check the [QUANTIFICATION] feature of causative verb ba. 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