Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
59
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction Zhishuang (Nikki) Chen [email protected] Department of Language and Linguistic Science University of York February 5, 2014 1/42
Transcript of Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-VConstruction
Zhishuang (Nikki) [email protected]
Department of Language and Linguistic ScienceUniversity of York
February 5, 2014
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Outline
Introduction
Research�estions
Word order
Syn–Sem variation
Interim Summary
Analysis
Deriving word order
Syn–Sem variation
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Introduction
Introduction
In Chinese, a verb sequence V1-V2, in which V2 signals the result ofV1, is traditionally called ‘resultative verb compound’ (RVC) (Li &Thompson 1981).
(1) da-sihit-die
(2) Tahe
da-sihit-die
lePERF
lang.wolf
“He hit the wolf and the wolf died.”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Introduction
Introduction
In Chinese, a verb sequence V1-V2, in which V2 signals the result ofV1, is traditionally called ‘resultative verb compound’ (RVC) (Li &Thompson 1981).
(1) da-sihit-die
(2) Tahe
da-sihit-die
lePERF
lang.wolf
“He hit the wolf and the wolf died.”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Introduction
Introduction
The focus of this talk is about a special kind of them, called‘directional RVCs’ . In a directional RVC, V1 denotesmovement/displacement while V2 denotes a direction.
(3) song-laisend-come
(4) Tahe
song-laisend-come
lePERF
shu.book
“He sent the book (towards the speaker).”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Introduction
Introduction
The focus of this talk is about a special kind of them, called‘directional RVCs’ . In a directional RVC, V1 denotesmovement/displacement while V2 denotes a direction.
(3) song-laisend-come
(4) Tahe
song-laisend-come
lePERF
shu.book
“He sent the book (towards the speaker).”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Introduction
Introduction
More examples are:
(5) Tahe
song-qusend-go
lePERF
shu.book
“He sent the book. (away from the speaker)”
(6) Tahe
zou-shangwalk-ascend
lePERF
louti.stairs
“He walked up stairs.”
(7) Tahe
zou-jinwalk-enter
fangjian.room
“He walked into the room.”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
The Puzzle
I The word order problem
I The syntactic and semantic di�erences between the di�erentword orders
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Word order
The word order problem
When non-directional RVCs take an object, they only allow theobject to follow the whole compound.
(8) da-sihit-die
langwolf
This holds for most directional RVCs as well.
(9) zou-shangwalk-ascend
loutistairs
“walk up stairs”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Word order
The word order problem
When non-directional RVCs take an object, they only allow theobject to follow the whole compound.
(8) da-sihit-die
langwolf
This holds for most directional RVCs as well.
(9) zou-shangwalk-ascend
loutistairs
“walk up stairs”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Word order
The word order problem
However, when V2 is lai ‘come’ or qu ‘go’, they also allow the objectto intervene between their verbal elements.
(10) a. song-laisend-come
tangsoup
b. songSend
tangsoup
laicome
Thus we have 2 word orders here:
‘Vm Vd O’ and ‘Vm O Vd’
(Vm=movement verb; Vd=directional verb)
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Word order
The word order problem
However, when V2 is lai ‘come’ or qu ‘go’, they also allow the objectto intervene between their verbal elements.
(10) a. song-laisend-come
tangsoup
b. songSend
tangsoup
laicome
Thus we have 2 word orders here:
‘Vm Vd O’ and ‘Vm O Vd’
(Vm=movement verb; Vd=directional verb)
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
Syntactic and semantic variation of the two orders
1. Compatibility with location object
2. Position of perfective marker le
3. Telicity reading (bounded/unbounded event)
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
1. Compatibility with location object
When the object denotes a location, only ‘Vm O Vd’ is available.
(11) shangascend
shanmountain
laicome
“come up the mountain (towards the speaker)”
(12) *shangascend
laicome
shanmountain
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
2. Position of perfective marker le
‘Vm Vd O’ order: le cannot intervene between Vm and Vd.
(13) Tahe
song-(*le)-laisend-(*PERF)-come
lePERF
tangsoup
“He sent the soup here.”
‘Vm O Vd’ order: le can intervene between Vm and Vd.
(14) Tahe
songsend
lePERF
tangsoup
laicome
“He sent the soup here.”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
3. Telicity reading (bounded/unbounded event)
Telicity is a semantic property of a verb or verb phrase.
A telic event has a natural finishing point, like ‘eat an apple’, ‘run amile’. Any event which does not have a natural finishing point isatelic, like ‘walk’, ‘push a cart’.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
3. Telicity reading (bounded/unbounded event)
(15) Tahe
song-laisend-come
tang,soup,
#keshibut
haistill
meinot
dao.arrive
“He brought the soup,#but it has not arrived.”
(16) Tahe
songsend
tangsoup
lai,come,
keshibut
haistill
meinot
dao.arrive
“He has come with the soup, but it has not arrived.”
‘Send-come soup’ is telic.
‘Send soup come’ is atelic.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
3. Telicity reading (bounded/unbounded event)
(15) Tahe
song-laisend-come
tang,soup,
#keshibut
haistill
meinot
dao.arrive
“He brought the soup,#but it has not arrived.”
(16) Tahe
songsend
tangsoup
lai,come,
keshibut
haistill
meinot
dao.arrive
“He has come with the soup, but it has not arrived.”
‘Send-come soup’ is telic.
‘Send soup come’ is atelic.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
Tests for telic/atelic (Dowty 1979)
a. in-PP test
b. entailment test
c. ‘almost’ test
interim summary
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
in-PP test
in-PP is fine with telic events but not compatible with atelic events.
(17) John painted a picture in an hour.
(18) *John walked in an hour.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
in-PP test
in-PP is fine with telic events but not compatible with atelic events.
(17) John painted a picture in an hour.
(18) *John walked in an hour.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
in-PP test
our data:
(19) Tahe
yi-xiaoshi-neione-hour-in
songsend
laicome
tang.soup
“He brought the soup in one hour.”
(20) *Tahe
yi-xiaoshi-neione-hour-in
songsend
tangsoup
lai.come
“*He brought the soup in one hour.”
back
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
entailment testIf x is a telic verb/verb phrase, then A xed for B time does notentail that A xed was true during any time within B.
(21) John painted a picture for an hour.
‘John painted a picture’ is not necessarily true at any time duringthat hour.
If x is an atelic verb/verb phrase, then A xed for B time entailsthat any time during B, A xed was true.
(22) John walked for an hour.
‘John walked’ is true at any time during that hour.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
entailment testIf x is a telic verb/verb phrase, then A xed for B time does notentail that A xed was true during any time within B.
(21) John painted a picture for an hour.
‘John painted a picture’ is not necessarily true at any time duringthat hour.
If x is an atelic verb/verb phrase, then A xed for B time entailsthat any time during B, A xed was true.
(22) John walked for an hour.
‘John walked’ is true at any time during that hour.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
entailment testour data
(23) ?Tahe
song-laisend-come
tangsoup
songsend
lePERF
yi-xiaoshi.one-hour
He spent an hour bringing the soup.
‘he send-come soup’ was not necessarily true at any time duringthat one hour.
(24) Tahe
songsend
tangsoup
laicome
songsend
lePERF
yi-xiaoshi.one-hour
He has been bringing the soup for an hour.
‘he send soup come’ was true at any time during that one hour.18/42
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
‘almost’ test
The adverb ‘almost’ has di�erent e�ect on telic/atelic events.
(25) John almost painted a picture. TWO READINGS
(26) John almost walked. ONE READING
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
‘almost’ testour data
(27) tahe
jihualmost
song-laisend-come
tangsoup
le.SFP
He almost brought the soup.
Reading: a. He did not do the ‘soup-sending’ at all.
b. he did start out sending the soup, but it has not arrived yet.
(28) tahe
jihualmost
songsend
tangsoup
laicome
le.SFP
He almost come to send the soup.
Reading: He did not do the ‘soup-sending’ at all.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Syn–Sem variation
‘almost’ testour data
(27) tahe
jihualmost
song-laisend-come
tangsoup
le.SFP
He almost brought the soup.
Reading: a. He did not do the ‘soup-sending’ at all.
b. he did start out sending the soup, but it has not arrived yet.
(28) tahe
jihualmost
songsend
tangsoup
laicome
le.SFP
He almost come to send the soup.
Reading: He did not do the ‘soup-sending’ at all.20/42
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Interim Summary
Interim Summary
When O is a location Position of le telicityVm Vd Osend come soup
not available Vm Vd le O telic
Vm O Vd
send soup comeavailable Vm le O Vd atelic
V Vres Ohit die wolf
not applicable V Vres le O telic
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Research�estions
Interim Summary
Research�estions
I How are the two word orders derived?
I How can we account for the syntactic and semanticdi�erences observed?
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Proposal
I ‘Vm Vd O’ and ‘Vm O Vd’ reflect two di�erent originalmerge structures.
I When presenting a ‘Vm Vd O’ order, Vd merges with O first andthen raises to Vm.
I When presenting a ‘Vm O Vd’ order, Vd is the main predicatewhile the constituent consisting of [Vm O] is an adjunctadjoined to Vd.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
V-V is not a compound
The term ‘resultative verb compound (RVC)’ is misleading becauseevidence shows that the verb sequence Vm-Vd is not a compound.
A commonly accepted Chinese compound verb, such as pi-ping‘criticize-comment’ (criticize), zhu-yi ‘pour-mind’ (pay a�ention),shuo-ming ‘speak-clear’ (clarify), has the following characteristics:
1. The morphemes are inseparable.
2. At least one is a bound morpheme.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
V-V is not a compound
The term ‘resultative verb compound (RVC)’ is misleading becauseevidence shows that the verb sequence Vm-Vd is not a compound.
A commonly accepted Chinese compound verb, such as pi-ping‘criticize-comment’ (criticize), zhu-yi ‘pour-mind’ (pay a�ention),shuo-ming ‘speak-clear’ (clarify), has the following characteristics:
1. The morphemes are inseparable.
2. At least one is a bound morpheme.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
V-V is not a compoundHowever, our verb sequence Vm-Vd di�ers:
1. Potential morpheme de/bu ‘can/cannot’ can be inserted inbetween the two verbal morphems.
(29) Tahe
jinenter
bucannot
lai.come
“He cannot come in.”
2. Both morphemes are free.
Vm and Vd can be an independent verb themselves
(30) Tahe
laicome
xuexiaoschool
le.SFP
“He came to school.”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
V-V is not a compoundHowever, our verb sequence Vm-Vd di�ers:
1. Potential morpheme de/bu ‘can/cannot’ can be inserted inbetween the two verbal morphems.
(29) Tahe
jinenter
bucannot
lai.come
“He cannot come in.”
2. Both morphemes are free.
Vm and Vd can be an independent verb themselves
(30) Tahe
laicome
xuexiaoschool
le.SFP
“He came to school.”
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
V-V is not a compoundHowever, our verb sequence Vm-Vd di�ers:
1. Potential morpheme de/bu ‘can/cannot’ can be inserted inbetween the two verbal morphems.
(29) Tahe
jinenter
bucannot
lai.come
“He cannot come in.”
2. Both morphemes are free.
Vm and Vd can be an independent verb themselves
(30) Tahe
laicome
xuexiaoschool
le.SFP
“He came to school.”25/42
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
V-V is not a compound
Suggestion: Vm-Vd is a phrase rather than a compound.
Many V-V sequences in the examples of Li and Thompson’s(1981) ‘resultative verb compound’, such as da-si ‘hit-die’,should be viewed as phrases for the same reason.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Two di�erent original merge structures
1. When presenting a ‘Vm Vd O’ order, Vd merges with O first andthen raises to Vm.
(31) songsend
laicome
tangsoup
“sent the soup here”
VP
send-come XP
soup <come>
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Two di�erent original merge structures
1. When presenting a ‘Vm Vd O’ order, Vd merges with O first andthen raises to Vm.
(31) songsend
laicome
tangsoup
“sent the soup here”
VP
send-come XP
soup <come>
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Two di�erent original merge structures
Similar to Sybesma’s (1997) structure for construction like ‘hit-diewolf’.
(32) dahit
sidie
langwolf
“hit the wolf and thewolf died”
VP
V
hit
ExpP
Exp XP
NP2
wolf
Vres
die
We observed that ‘Vm Vd O’ and ‘V Vres O’ behave similarly.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Two di�erent original merge structures
Similar to Sybesma’s (1997) structure for construction like ‘hit-diewolf’.
(32) dahit
sidie
langwolf
“hit the wolf and thewolf died”
VP
V
hit
ExpP
Exp XP
NP2
wolf
Vres
die
We observed that ‘Vm Vd O’ and ‘V Vres O’ behave similarly.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Two di�erent original merge structures
2. When presenting a ‘Vm O Vd’ order, Vd is the main predicatewhile the constituent consisting of [Vm O] is an adjunct adjoined toVd.
(33) songsend
tangsoup
laicome
“come with the soup”
VP
XP
send soup
VP
come
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Deriving word order
Two di�erent original merge structures
2. When presenting a ‘Vm O Vd’ order, Vd is the main predicatewhile the constituent consisting of [Vm O] is an adjunct adjoined toVd.
(33) songsend
tangsoup
laicome
“come with the soup”
VP
XP
send soup
VP
come
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Account for the syntactic and semantic di�erences
1. Compatibility with location object
2. Position of perfective marker le
3. Telicity reading (bounded/unbounded event)
aspect
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Compatibility with location object
(34) *shangascend
laicome
shanmountain
“come up the hill”
[VP ascend [XP mountain come]]
(35) Shangascend
shanmountain
laicome
“come up the hill”
[VP [XP Ascend mountain] [VP come]]
back
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Compatibility with location object
(34) *shangascend
laicome
shanmountain
“come up the hill”
[VP ascend [XP mountain come]]
(35) Shangascend
shanmountain
laicome
“come up the hill”
[VP [XP Ascend mountain] [VP come]]
back
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Theoretical background: Aspect
The aspect system of human languages consists of two componentswhich are viewpoint aspect and situation aspect. (Smith 1997)
I Viewpoint aspect:
I signaled by grammatical morphemes
I perfective, imperfective etc.
I for example: -ing, le, zhe
I Situation aspect:
I expressed by verb and its arguments
I activity, accomplishment, achievement, state
I for example: ‘eat an apple’ is accomplishment
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Theoretical background: Aspect
Travis (2010): Both viewpoint aspect and situation aspect arerealized as a head.
I adopt her idea that:
I The situation aspect is realized as a head IAsP (Inner aspect)while the viewpoint aspect is realized as a head OAsp (Outeraspect).
I IAsp head carries a feature [+/- telic] whose value is computedby the elements within its domain. This value would decide thetelicity reading.
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
(36) T
T’ OAspP
Spec OAsp’
OAsp EP
Spec E’
E vP
Spec v’
v IAspP
Spec IAsp’
IAsp VP
Spec V’
V XP
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Combined with my proposal, we have:
(37) send come soup
IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
send-come XP
soup <come>
(38) send soup come
IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
XP
send soup
VP
come
back
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Position of perfective le
(39) send come le soup
OAsp’
le ……
… IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
send-come XP
soup <come>36/42
Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Position of perfective le
(40) send le soup come
OAsp’
le ……
… IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
XP
send le soup
VP
come
XP
… …
le …
… IAspP
IAsp VP
send soup
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Position of perfective le
(40) send le soup come
OAsp’
le ……
… IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
XP
send le soup
VP
come
XP
… …
le …
… IAspP
IAsp VP
send soup
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Telicity reading
(41) send come soup: telic
IAspP
IAsp[uTel:res] VP
send-come XP
soup <come[res]>
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Analysis
Syn–Sem variation
Telicity reading
(42) send soup come: atelic
IAspP
IAsp[uTel:unbounded] VP
XP
send soup
VP
come[unbounded]
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
(43) send come soup
IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
send-come XP
soup <come>
(44) send soup come
IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
XP
send soup
VP
come
1. Trigger of the raise of Vd in the case of Vm Vd O
2. The split order
Vm Vd2 O Vd1
(45) zouwalk
shangascend
shanmountain
laicome
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
(43) send come soup
IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
send-come XP
soup <come>
(44) send soup come
IAspP
IAsp[uTel :] VP
XP
send soup
VP
come
1. Trigger of the raise of Vd in the case of Vm Vd O
2. The split order
Vm Vd2 O Vd1
(45) zouwalk
shangascend
shanmountain
laicome
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
Thank you !
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Movement and Direction in the Chinese V-V Construction
Conclusion and Remaining�estions
References I
Dowty, D. R. (1979), Word meaning and Montague grammar: Thesemantics of verbs and times in generative semantics and inMontague’s PTQ, Vol. 7, Springer.
Li, C. & Thompson, S. (1981), Mandarin Chinese: A functionalreference to Chinese grammar, Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress.
Smith, C. S. (1997), The parameter of aspect, Vol. 43, Springer.
Sybesma, R. (1997), ‘Why chinese verb-le is a resultative predicate’,Journal of East Asian Linguistics 6(3), 215–261.
Travis, L. (2010), Inner aspect: The articulation of VP, Vol. 80, Springer.
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