John Benjamins Publishing Company
Place and distance
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Abstract
The topic of this chapter is locatives containing a measure expression (like the English 60 yards behind the palace) in Mandarin and Cantonese. More generally, it is about the structure of locative PPs. The hypothesis in Terzi (2010), which says that locatives are modifiers to an N Place (which itself is the complement to a locative P), offers a helpful framework in accounting for our data. We observe that in Mandarin and Cantonese, the N Place is obligatorily overt if the location denoting expression which modifies it is not an inherent location and not headed by an AxPart. It is optionally overt when it is modified by an inherent location (like a toponym) or by a phrase headed by an AxPart.
Abstract
The topic of this chapter is locatives containing a measure expression (like the English 60 yards behind the palace) in Mandarin and Cantonese. More generally, it is about the structure of locative PPs. The hypothesis in Terzi (2010), which says that locatives are modifiers to an N Place (which itself is the complement to a locative P), offers a helpful framework in accounting for our data. We observe that in Mandarin and Cantonese, the N Place is obligatorily overt if the location denoting expression which modifies it is not an inherent location and not headed by an AxPart. It is optionally overt when it is modified by an inherent location (like a toponym) or by a phrase headed by an AxPart.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. The structure of lexical and functional projections
- Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture 17
- Place and distance 77
- “Descriptive complements” are manner adverbials 111
- SVCs in disguise 133
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Part II. Modal verb syntax
- Modal movement licensed by focus 165
- Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min 193
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Part III. Syntax-semantics interactions
- Skolemized topicality for indefinites and universal quantifier mei -phrases in Chinese 219
- Chinese comparatives 249
- Head dependency and degree words in Mandarin 293
- Constraints on the representation of anaphoric definiteness in Mandarin Chinese 301
- Noncanonical arguments via the high applicative 331
- Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection 357
- On the syntax of incompleteness 395
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Part IV. The syntax and interpretation of particles
- On the syntax of mirativity 431
- On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min 445
- Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min 479
- Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese 509
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Part V. Acquisition of syntactic structures
- V- gei vs. double object construction 539
- Predicting the unpredictable 555
- Index 575
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. The structure of lexical and functional projections
- Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture 17
- Place and distance 77
- “Descriptive complements” are manner adverbials 111
- SVCs in disguise 133
-
Part II. Modal verb syntax
- Modal movement licensed by focus 165
- Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min 193
-
Part III. Syntax-semantics interactions
- Skolemized topicality for indefinites and universal quantifier mei -phrases in Chinese 219
- Chinese comparatives 249
- Head dependency and degree words in Mandarin 293
- Constraints on the representation of anaphoric definiteness in Mandarin Chinese 301
- Noncanonical arguments via the high applicative 331
- Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection 357
- On the syntax of incompleteness 395
-
Part IV. The syntax and interpretation of particles
- On the syntax of mirativity 431
- On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min 445
- Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min 479
- Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese 509
-
Part V. Acquisition of syntactic structures
- V- gei vs. double object construction 539
- Predicting the unpredictable 555
- Index 575
