Chapter 10. Towards a cartography of light verbs
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Fuzhen Si
Abstract
A common goal shared by cartographic studies is “to draw maps as precise and detailed as possible of syntactic configurations” (Cinque & Rizzi 2008). In the past two decades, a great progress has been made in the study of peripheries of different domains such as CP domain, VP domain and DP domain. The “more precise and detailed” cartographic research goal enables us to rethink those projections which believed to be single projections in earlier theoretical models. A rich literature on peripheries have shown that many of these superficial single projections are actually abbreviations of much richer structural zones. For instance, the C layer is split into Topic and Focus components (Rizzi 1997; Rizzi & Bocci 2017) and Topic and Focus themselves are also conceived as Topic “field” and Focus “field” (Benincà & Poletto 2004), encoding different and hierarchically arranged topic elements or focus elements. Similarly, this chapter suggests that “light verb” can also be further analyzed as a “light verb field”, containing several layers of different light verbs, conveying different information. Following this tradition, also in light of Larson (1988, 2014), Harley (2002), and Benincà & Poletto (2004), the present chapter provides a zoom-in/zoom-out mental magnifier for the study of various light verb structures. One major assumption and two subsequent assumptions are proposed: (1) Split light verb hypothesis: from a cartographic point of view, the light verb “v” is not “ONE” head, but an umbrella name of a rather “rich structural” zone, call it “light verb field” or “light verb zone”. (2) About the argument structure, it is proposed that in the complex light verb constructions, the core of the predicate is not composed of one single argument structure, but a chain of several argument structures. (3) Correspondingly, the event structure can also be looked at in more details in these structures: the idea is that in the sentences contain chain argument structures, the event can also be analyzed as a chain of event fragments, following rule-to-rule correspondence principle.
Abstract
A common goal shared by cartographic studies is “to draw maps as precise and detailed as possible of syntactic configurations” (Cinque & Rizzi 2008). In the past two decades, a great progress has been made in the study of peripheries of different domains such as CP domain, VP domain and DP domain. The “more precise and detailed” cartographic research goal enables us to rethink those projections which believed to be single projections in earlier theoretical models. A rich literature on peripheries have shown that many of these superficial single projections are actually abbreviations of much richer structural zones. For instance, the C layer is split into Topic and Focus components (Rizzi 1997; Rizzi & Bocci 2017) and Topic and Focus themselves are also conceived as Topic “field” and Focus “field” (Benincà & Poletto 2004), encoding different and hierarchically arranged topic elements or focus elements. Similarly, this chapter suggests that “light verb” can also be further analyzed as a “light verb field”, containing several layers of different light verbs, conveying different information. Following this tradition, also in light of Larson (1988, 2014), Harley (2002), and Benincà & Poletto (2004), the present chapter provides a zoom-in/zoom-out mental magnifier for the study of various light verb structures. One major assumption and two subsequent assumptions are proposed: (1) Split light verb hypothesis: from a cartographic point of view, the light verb “v” is not “ONE” head, but an umbrella name of a rather “rich structural” zone, call it “light verb field” or “light verb zone”. (2) About the argument structure, it is proposed that in the complex light verb constructions, the core of the predicate is not composed of one single argument structure, but a chain of several argument structures. (3) Correspondingly, the event structure can also be looked at in more details in these structures: the idea is that in the sentences contain chain argument structures, the event can also be analyzed as a chain of event fragments, following rule-to-rule correspondence principle.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Section I. Theoretical and descriptive issues in syntactic cartography
- Chapter 2. Cartography and selection in subjunctives and interrogatives 15
- Chapter 3. The syntax and information-structural semantics of negative inversion in English and their implications for the theory of focus 27
- Chapter 4. Invariant die and adverbial resumption in the Ghent dialect 53
- Chapter 5. Uncovering the left periphery of Etruscan 111
- Chapter 6. Subject drop in how come questions in English 127
- Chapter 7. Causativity alternation in the lower field 139
- Chapter 8. Another argument for the differences among wa -marked phrases 161
-
Section II. Theoretical and descriptive issues in syntactic cartography
- Chapter 9. Quantifictional binding without surface c-command in Mandarin Chinese 183
- Chapter 10. Towards a cartography of light verbs 217
- Chapter 11. Attitudinal applicative in action 243
- Chapter 12. Multiple counterparts of Mandarin qu (go) in Teochew and their cartographic distributions 261
- Chapter 13. On the syntactic representation of Chinese you ( 有 ) in “ you + VP” construction 287
- Index 323
- List of contributors 328
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Section I. Theoretical and descriptive issues in syntactic cartography
- Chapter 2. Cartography and selection in subjunctives and interrogatives 15
- Chapter 3. The syntax and information-structural semantics of negative inversion in English and their implications for the theory of focus 27
- Chapter 4. Invariant die and adverbial resumption in the Ghent dialect 53
- Chapter 5. Uncovering the left periphery of Etruscan 111
- Chapter 6. Subject drop in how come questions in English 127
- Chapter 7. Causativity alternation in the lower field 139
- Chapter 8. Another argument for the differences among wa -marked phrases 161
-
Section II. Theoretical and descriptive issues in syntactic cartography
- Chapter 9. Quantifictional binding without surface c-command in Mandarin Chinese 183
- Chapter 10. Towards a cartography of light verbs 217
- Chapter 11. Attitudinal applicative in action 243
- Chapter 12. Multiple counterparts of Mandarin qu (go) in Teochew and their cartographic distributions 261
- Chapter 13. On the syntactic representation of Chinese you ( 有 ) in “ you + VP” construction 287
- Index 323
- List of contributors 328
