International Journal of Chinese Linguistics - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2021

Abstract

This study investigates the licensing conditions and interpretational variability of indefinite subjects in Mandarin. Against the ‘definiteness’ constraint of subject in Mandarin (Chao 1968; Li and Thompson 1981), three types of indefinite subjects are identified in the subject position, but they exhibit different scope behaviors: (i) you-nominals are ambiguous between a wide scope and a narrow scope, and (ii) thetic subjects are narrow-scope taking, and (iii) ‘cardinal’ subjects are scopeless. Following Cohen and Erteschik-Shir (2002), we propose that the former two types of indefinite subjects are focus elements and they fall into the position of nuclear scope, where they receive an existential interpretation, and cardinal subjects are topics and they serve as restrictor to some generic operator. Moreover, the wide/narrow scope readings of you-nominals are distinguished from each other in terms of whether a topic domain is available or not, which may serve a domain restrictor to the existential quantifier bound to you-nominals (Portner 2002).

Abstract

The Mandarin bǎ-construction has been one of the most well studied subjects in Chinese grammar. Although the previous studies have achieved some exciting results, the exact nature of bǎ and the syntactic derivation of the bǎ-construction remain largely controversial. The current paper constitutes an attempt to clarify the two issues under the minimalist framework. In particular, while keeping in line with the little v analysis of bǎ proposed by Sybesma 1999; Lin 2001 among others, I argue that there is a Middle applicative projection (an affected applicative) between V and v; the bǎ-NP is formed by a movement of VP-internal arguments to Spec.ApplPmid, which can optionally be occupied by gěi, and it gets an accusative Case from bǎ in v. With this analysis, we can better account for the core syntactic and semantic properties of bǎ-constructions. Furthermore, I will show that the proposed applicative approach has some interesting consequences for Taiwanese ka-constructions, a near counterpart of Mandarin bǎ-constructions. Finally, I will compare bǎ-constructions to languages with differential object marking in arguing that Mandarin uses a special strategy – light verb marking to mark the specific/affected objects.

Abstract

There is much evidence that individuals with aphasia (IWA) are impaired in tense or aspectual inflections and the production of non-canonical sentences like passives. On the Cartographic Approach (CA), passives are represented at the lower node in the syntactic tree, with tense or aspectual elements at the higher node. This hierarchical structure can be used to account for the selective impairments in aphasic production. The present study reports the empirical findings from Chinese agrammatism using the theory of cartography. It is found that the performance of IWA with different degrees of severity is associated with different nodes (CP, TP, and vP) in the syntactic tree. Notably, the Chinese-speaking IWA are severely impaired in vP-related elements. Finally, the present study highlights the significance of adopting a cartographic approach to aphasia studies.

Abstract

Turkic conquest and rule of China since 386 CE for nearly two hundred years had exerted its profound and long-lasting influence on many levels of Chinese society. Turkic sinification policy had induced the Xianbei National Language (XNL), which was Turkic language with selected set of Chinese characters for phonetic spelling. XNL, being spelt in Chinese characters, managed to function in Turkic-Chinese code-mixing in the bilingual communities as evidenced in bianwen 變文. Because of the Turkic politico-socio-economical dominance, some the Turkic elements in the code-mixing eventually gained prominance and have become permanent part of the northern vernacular, predecessor of modern Mandarin. This paper discusses twelve such Turkic-rooted verbal functional expressions: (1). The causative-passive qu 取; (2). Transitive passive sha 殺, sha煞, si 死; (3). Causative dou 鬥, dou 逗; (4). Continuative hai 還, que 卻; (5). Resultative que 卻; (6). Reflexive nə 呢 (7). Positive indirective mo shi 莫是; (8). Negative indirective bu dao 不道; (9). Future participle cai 才, cai 纔; (10). Conditional yao shi 要是, yao 要, yao bu shi 要不是; (11). INDUCE-base nong 弄; (12). The speech quote verb dao 道.

摘要

类型学发现，典型的双系式（applicative）结构将宾语（直接宾语或间接宾语）这个句法角色指派给一个本来不能作宾语的项。本文证明汉语中以下结构都是类型学中所谓的“双系式”：在共时层面，有普通话中的“吃食堂”结构，自陆俭明、郭锐（1998）提出以来，有诸多学者从不同角度对其进行了研究；在历时层面，上古汉语中有名词（性结构）直接作补语和介词短语作补语交替的现象。汉语虽然是典型的孤立语，（几乎）没有判断双系式的形态依据，但这些结构在语义-句法层面表现出了双系式结构的基本特点，是完全可以归类为双系式结构的。这一结论也为类型学的动词配价（valency）研究打开了新思路，即在以往对于动词配价研究更侧重形态标准的基础上，也应参考句法行为特征（syntactic behavior），这对于研究汉语类的孤立语的动词配价操作尤其重要。

This article reviews Second Language Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese Tones: Beyond First Language Transfer9789004305977