Introduction
Durative Phrases in chinese
Teil I
Two interpretations of duratives phrases:
(1)
-
Universität Leipzig
Semantik- Kolloqiuum
Lu Zhang
Institut für Linguisitik
PD. Dr. J. Dölling
05.06.2008
Women zou-le
liang-ge xiaoshi
we
walk-ASP two-CL hour
Ƕ‡™ƒŽ‡†ˆ‘”–™‘Š‘—”•ǤǮ
when the situation described involves no change of state
or non-completion of the event.
Æ The durative phrases measure the duration of an event.
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2
Two remarks
(2)
-
Ta yijing jiehun
san nian le
he already get-married three year PAR
Ƕ–Šƒ•„‡‡–Š”‡‡›‡ƒ”••‹…‡Š‡‰‘–ƒ””‹‡†ǤǮ
”
When the situation described involves a change of state or
the completion of an event.
Æ Durative phrases are interpreted as describing the time
elapsed since completion of the event.
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”
First, it is very natural for Chinese durative phrases to
occur with such verbs without meaning coercion.(vs. forphrase)
Second, this reading involves measuring the duration of the
consequent state resulting from an event.(vs. SCE-reading)
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Three readings of durative phrases
”
Goals
SCE- reading (Ernst(1987), Li(1987)): as the duration
since completion of an event
”
Process-related reading: wie (1)
”
Result-related reading: wie (2)
”
”
To clarify the interpretation of durative phrases which
occur with a change of state verbs(R-related vs. SCEreading)
To show that durative phrases in Chinese are not lexically
ƒ„‹‰—‘—•ȋ˜•Ǥ”•–ƒ†‹ȋͳͻͺ͹ȌǣǮ•‹…‡…‘’Ž‡–‹‘ǯƒ†
Ǯ‡˜‡–†—”ƒ–‹‘ǯȌÆ semantically
5
”
(3)
To explain why R-related duratives behave differently from
P-related duratives with respect to the word order
problem. Æsyntactically
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(4)
(a) Wo (yijing) kai jichengche ershi nian le
I
already drive taxi
twenty year PAR
ǶŠƒ˜‡ȋƒŽ”‡ƒ†›Ȍ†”‹˜‡ƒ–ƒš‹ˆ‘”–™‡–››‡”ƒ•ǤǮ
(a) Women yijing dida zhongdian shi fenzhong le
We
already reach destination ten minute PAR
Ƕ–Ǯ•ƒŽ”‡ƒ†›„‡‡–‡‹—–‡••‹…‡™‡”‡ƒ…Š‡†–Š‡
†‡•–‹ƒ–‹‘ǤǮ
(b) *Women yijing dida shi fenzhong zhongdian le
We
already reach ten minute destination PAR
Ƕ–Ǯ•ƒŽ”‡ƒ†›„‡‡–‡‹—–‡••‹…‡™‡”‡ƒ…Š‡†–Š‡
†‡•–‹ƒ–‹‘ǤǮ
(b) Wo yijing
kai ershi nian jichengche le
I
already drive twenty year taxi
PAR
ǶŠƒ˜‡ƒŽ”‡ƒ†›†”‹˜‡ƒ–ƒš‹ˆ‘”–™‡–››‡ƒ”•ǤǮ
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(5)
Dowty (1991) proposes a class of incremental themes for the
THEME/PATIENT roles of achievement and accomplishment verbs, e.g.
mow the lawn, eat an egg, build a house, demolish a building.
Æ The durative phrases in an Incremental Theme sentence should
elicit an R-related reading
”
Zhe-dong fangzi wo gai-le
san nian le
this-CL
house I build-PAR three year PAR
ȋ‹ȌǶŠƒ˜‡„‡‡„—‹Ž†‹‰–Š‹•Š‘—•‡ˆ‘”–Š”‡‡›‡ƒ”•ǤǮ
ȋ‹‹ȌǶ–Ǯ•–Š”‡‡‡›‡ƒ”••‹…‡„—‹Ž––Š‡Š‘—•‡ǤȀǫǫ„—‹Ž––Š‹•
Š‘—•‡ƒ†–Š‡”‡•—Ž–•–ƒ–‡Šƒ•‡š‹•–‡†ˆ‘”–Š”‡‡›‡ƒ”•ǤǮ
To explore how the ambiguity of the durative phrase in (5)
arises and discuss the implications of such constructions
for the semantic representation of Incremental Theme
verbs.
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Previous analyses
Tang(1990, 1994)
” Direct objects are projected in the specifier position of VP
and the verb is moved to a higher functional
head.(Duration- Object)
(6)
”
Sybesma(1999)
” The durative phrase function as massifiers in a nominal
structure. (Duration-Object)
” ...
[FP F [VP Duration [VP Object [ǯ V Duration]]]
”‘„Ž‡™‹–Šƒ‰ǯ•—†›„‡•ƒǯ• solutions
” Both analyses fail to distinguish P-related duratives from
R-related duratives. As noted, while P-related duratives
may precede or follow the direct object, R-related
duratives only follow the object.
...
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12
Why the R-related duratives do not appear before the object NP?
Huang(1991, 1997)
ta kan- le
san
tian shu
He read-ASP three day book
”
Teng(1975)
” an R-related durative is not a constituent within the VP but
the main predicate of the sentence.
Ta lai
meiguo you liang nian le.
He come America have two year PAR
Ƕ–Šƒ•„‡‡–™‘›‡ƒ”••‹…‡Š‡…ƒ‡–‘‡”‹…ƒǤǮ
[... [DO V [IP[I´ Duration [VP V Object ]]]]]
Problem
” It is not clear how the object-durative word order is
derived.
” Nor is it clear how his analysis prevents R-related duratives
from appearing before the object NP.
Li(1987)
”
in addition to functioning as the main predicate of a
sentence, R-related duratives (and P-related duratives) can
also be VP constituents.
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Li(1987)
” When a durative phrase occurs before the object NP, it
forms a constituent with the object NP and is the specifier
of the NP.
Æ the durative phrase is interpreted as quantifying over the
˜‡”„ǡ‹Ǥ‡ǤǡǶ–Š‡“—ƒ–‹–›‘”‡š–‡–‘ˆ…‡”–ƒ‹ƒ…–‹˜‹–›ǮǤ
*Ta lai
san-ge yue
(de)
meiguo.
He come three-CL month MOD America
Ƕ–Ǯ•„‡‡–Š”‡‡‘–Š••‹…‡Š‡…ƒ‡–‘‡”‹…ƒǤǮ
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The Problem ™‹–Š‹Ǯ•ƒ’’”‘ƒ…Š
” It is not possible that a durative phrase is always the
specifier of an NP.
” De-insertion is possible only when the object NP is a bare
noun.
ta du-le
san-ge xiaoshi de *zhe-ben shu/shu.
he read-ASP three-CL hour
MOD this ȂCL
book/book.
Ƕ‡”‡ƒ†‡†–Š”‡‡Š‘—”•ȗ‘ˆ–Š‹•„‘‘Ȁ‡”‡ƒ†‡†ȋ–Š‹•Ȍ„‘‘
ˆ‘”–Š”‡‡Š‘—”•ǤǮ
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”
Ernst(1987)
” The semantic rule interpreting this marked reading
restricts it to VP-final position.
Why a [duration+NP] phrase quantifies over events rather
than result states?
Æ for atelic activity situations : states/activities
ta du-le
san-ge
xiaoshi de
shu.
He read-ASP three-CL hour MOD book
Æ for telic situations: accomplishments/achievements??
*ta dida san-ge
xiaoshi de
zhongdian.
He reach three-CL hour
MOD destination
Problem
” What is the semantic rule?
” Why this rule has the property it has?
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An alternative account
Von Stechow (1995,1996)
” a rather abstract syntax which decomposes telic verbs into
their subcomponents(CAUSE+BECOME+STATE)
”
”
”
”
”
(7)
(a) Ali Baba Sesam wieder öffnete (restitutive/repetive)
Subj.
Obj.
again opened
(8)
FP
”
”
REPETITIVE
MODIFIER
again
Oe[VoiceP(e)]
Ošǣ‘‹…‡ǯ
NP
SUBJECT
V(e)
”
(&)
”
”
XP
”
”
(b) Ali Baba wieder Sesam öffnete (only repetitive)
Subj.
again Obj. opened
”
”
”
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RESTITUTIVE MODIFIER
again
V
BECOME
XP
NP
OBJECT
Voice
ACTIVE
agent(x)(e)
X
RESULT
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(9)
(a)
(b)
Foli(2002) and Ramchand(2003)
e[again(Oe[agent(Ali Baba)(e) & BECOME (opened(Sesam))(e)] )]
e[agent(Ali Baba)(e) & BECOME[again (opened(Sesam))(e)]]
”
three sub-event projections for a lexical expression that entails a
result state:
- ǮvPǯ‹–”‘†—…‡•–Š‡…ƒ—•ƒ–‹‘‡˜‡–ƒ†Ž‹…‡•‡•†‹ˆˆ‡”‡––›’‡•‘ˆ
external argument.
- ǮVPǯ•’‡…‹ˆ‹‡•–Š‡ƒ–—”‡‘ˆ–Š‡…Šƒ‰‡‘”’”‘…‡••ƒ†Ž‹…‡•‡•–Š‡
entity undergoing change or process.
- Ǯǯ ‰‹˜‡•–Š‡Ǯtelosǯ‘”Ǯ”‡•—Ž–•–ƒ–‡ǯ‘ˆ–Š‡‡˜‡–ƒ†Ž‹…‡•‡•–Š‡
entity that comes to hold the result state.
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The distribution of durative phrases
Lin(2007)
”
”
Syntactic assumption: Each verb carries some semantic features
that need to be checked by a head in the syntax. And in Chinese,
AgroP is located below VoiceP and above VP.
Semantic assumption: durative phrases impose an aspectual
homogeneity requirement on the constituent that they modify
(Moltmann 1991, Dini and Bertinetto 1995), hence that, durative
phrases in Chinese have this homogeneity requirement as part
of their selectional restriction.
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”
DP with a state/activity verb(P-related)
(10)
[AgrsP wok [VoiceP tk [‘‹…‡ǯ kaij [AgroP ershi nian [AgroP jichengchei [‰”‘ǯAgroj [VP ershi nian [VP ti [ǯ Vj] ]]]]]]
I
drive twenty year taxi
twenty year
ƒ…Šƒ†ǯ• (2003) feature checking system
The verb has to check all relevant eventuality features. When the
durative phrase is adjoined to VP, the object-durative is derived;
when the durative phrase is adjoined to AgroP, the durative-object
is derived.
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References
”
DP with an achievement/accomplishment verb(R-related)
(12) [AgrsP womenk [VoiceP tk [‘‹…‡ǯ didaj [AgroP *shi fenzhong [AgroP zhongdiani [‰”‘ǯ
We
reach
ten minute
destination
Agroj [VP *shi fenzhong [VP ti [ǯ Vj [RP shi fenzhong[RP ek [ǯ tj ti] ]]]]]]]]]]]]
ten minute
ten minute
- In (12), among the five projections, RP, VP, AgroP, VoiceP and AgrsP, only the
most deeply embedded projection RP represents a homogeneous eventuality.
- The durative NP must follow the direct object.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
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Carnie, Andrew(2002): Syntax, a generative introduction, Oxford, Blackwell.
Liao, Wei-™‡ȋʹͲͲͷȌǣǶ•’‡…–—ƒŽ–”—…–—”‡ƒ†–Š‡›–ƒš‘ˆŠ‹‡•‡—”ƒ–‹˜‡Š”ƒ•‡•ǯǡ
unpublished manuscript, Link:
http://semanticsarchive.net/Archive/WE2ZTJkM/aspect_durative.doc
Lin, Jo-wang (2007): DzEvent Decompostion and the Syntax and Semantics of Chinese
Durative Phrasesdzǡ‹‘Šƒ‡•Dölling & Tatjana Heyde-Zybatow (eds.) Event Structures
in Linguistic Form and Interpretation Series: Language, Context and Cognition, Mouton de
Gruyter.
PiñónǡŠ”‹•–‘’Š‡”ȋͳͻͻͻȌǣDz—”ƒ–‹˜‡†˜‡”„‹ƒŽ•ˆ‘”‡•—Ž––ƒ–‡•dzǡ—’—„Ž‹•Š‡†ƒ—•…”‹’–ǡ
Universität Düsseldorf.
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