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SVCs in disguise

The so-called “directional verb compounds” in Mandarin Chinese
  • Waltraud Paul
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New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax
This chapter is in the book New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax

Abstract

The so-called directional verb compounds or directional constructions in Mandarin Chinese, ‘V1displacement V2direction lái (come)/ qù (go)’, e.g. bān chū lái ‘transport exit come’ = ‘bring out (towards the speaker)’ are not compounds, but genuine object sharing serial verb constructions in Collins’ (1997) sense. The different positions of the shared internal argument are derived by raising one, two or three verbs to v, each verb adjoining to v as closely as possible (tucking in à la Richards 1997), thus maintaining the relative order between the verbs (cf. Collins 2002). This analysis automatically predicts that the internal argument must follow the verb (sequence) bearing the aspectual suffix, a correlation left unexplained in previous works.

Abstract

The so-called directional verb compounds or directional constructions in Mandarin Chinese, ‘V1displacement V2direction lái (come)/ qù (go)’, e.g. bān chū lái ‘transport exit come’ = ‘bring out (towards the speaker)’ are not compounds, but genuine object sharing serial verb constructions in Collins’ (1997) sense. The different positions of the shared internal argument are derived by raising one, two or three verbs to v, each verb adjoining to v as closely as possible (tucking in à la Richards 1997), thus maintaining the relative order between the verbs (cf. Collins 2002). This analysis automatically predicts that the internal argument must follow the verb (sequence) bearing the aspectual suffix, a correlation left unexplained in previous works.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. The structure of lexical and functional projections
  5. Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture 17
  6. Place and distance 77
  7. “Descriptive complements” are manner adverbials 111
  8. SVCs in disguise 133
  9. Part II. Modal verb syntax
  10. Modal movement licensed by focus 165
  11. Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min 193
  12. Part III. Syntax-semantics interactions
  13. Skolemized topicality for indefinites and universal quantifier mei -phrases in Chinese 219
  14. Chinese comparatives 249
  15. Head dependency and degree words in Mandarin 293
  16. Constraints on the representation of anaphoric definiteness in Mandarin Chinese 301
  17. Noncanonical arguments via the high applicative 331
  18. Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection 357
  19. On the syntax of incompleteness 395
  20. Part IV. The syntax and interpretation of particles
  21. On the syntax of mirativity 431
  22. On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min 445
  23. Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min 479
  24. Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese 509
  25. Part V. Acquisition of syntactic structures
  26. V- gei vs. double object construction 539
  27. Predicting the unpredictable 555
  28. Index 575
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.05pau

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. The structure of lexical and functional projections
  5. Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture 17
  6. Place and distance 77
  7. “Descriptive complements” are manner adverbials 111
  8. SVCs in disguise 133
  9. Part II. Modal verb syntax
  10. Modal movement licensed by focus 165
  11. Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min 193
  12. Part III. Syntax-semantics interactions
  13. Skolemized topicality for indefinites and universal quantifier mei -phrases in Chinese 219
  14. Chinese comparatives 249
  15. Head dependency and degree words in Mandarin 293
  16. Constraints on the representation of anaphoric definiteness in Mandarin Chinese 301
  17. Noncanonical arguments via the high applicative 331
  18. Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection 357
  19. On the syntax of incompleteness 395
  20. Part IV. The syntax and interpretation of particles
  21. On the syntax of mirativity 431
  22. On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min 445
  23. Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min 479
  24. Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese 509
  25. Part V. Acquisition of syntactic structures
  26. V- gei vs. double object construction 539
  27. Predicting the unpredictable 555
  28. Index 575
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