1887
Volume 26, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1606-822X
  • E-ISSN: 2309-5067

Abstract

Abstract

This paper means to make a comparative study of the nominals denoting an event in Mandarin and English. I propose that although English has three types of eventive nominals — simple event nominal, Referential (R-) nominal, and Argument Structure (AS-) nominal — Mandarin has only simple event nominals. The category shifting, which is required in the derivation of R-nominals and AS-nominals in English, is an operation unavailable in Mandarin, a result caused by the lack of categorial (c-) functors by assumption. I propose that a Mandarin eventive nominal enters syntax as a category-less root and immediately gets an N category by merging as the complement to a semantic (s-) functor from the extended projection of N. It thus projects no argument structure and undergoes no V-N shift, resulting in its incapability of taking post-nominal arguments. The DPs interpreted as arguments are merged external to the nominal and are thus flexible in terms of their thematic roles. The analysis shows that there is a parametric variation based on the inventory of c-functors between Mandarin and English.

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2025-02-24
2026-04-11
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): argument structure; eventive nominal; exo-skeletal model; Mandarin; syntax
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