Download A Study of the Verbs of Verb-copying Construction in Mandarin

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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.’
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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. This study is ended here
with the representations of ba-variants of all the subtypes of the verb-copying
construction.
33
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