VERB REDUPLICATION IN MANDARIN CHINESE
Bianca Basciano and Chiara Melloni (University of Verona)
INTRODUCTION
Cross-linguistically, the most attested function of reduplication is to intensify/augment the base
meaning, yielding different semantic nuances according to the categorial and semantic type of the
input. However, reduplication also displays counter-iconic functions, as in those cases where the
meaning of the base is attenuated or diminished. This is what happens with total reduplication of
verbs in Mandarin.
DATA
Diminishing reduplication (DR) is limited to the verbal domain and adds to the base the so-called
'delimitative' aspect (e.g. Chao 1968, Li & Thompson 1981, Tang 1988, Tsao 2001); the base is
reduplicated as a whole, hence yielding the pattern [A][A] or [AB][AB], depending on the mono- or
disysillabic structure of the input. Further, with monosyllabic bases, the reduplicant loses its tone (as
it happens to clitics and grammaticalized roots in Mandarin; see Chao 1968 and Zhou 1999) and
can be preceded by the numeral 一 yī > yi ‘one’. No difference in meaning is revealed by the
presence or absence of yi ‘one’ since the meaning of the reduplicated verb remains delimitative.
Structure
Function
Input Cat.
Output
Cat.
[A] (一) [A]
yi 'one'
Diminishing
V
[AB][AB]
Base
Reduplication
看 kàn 'look/read'
看(一)看
kàn (一 yi) kan
'have a look'
V
介绍 jièshào
'introduce/present'
介绍介绍
jièshào-jièshào
'introduce (a little)'
Given its temporally bounded meaning, DR is incompatible with the progressive aspect marker (正)
在 (zhèng)zài and the durative aspect marker 着 zhe, but is fully compatible with the perfective
aspect marker 了 le, expressing action completed or terminated (see Smith 1991):
1)
a. 打扫了打扫 dǎsǎo le dǎsǎo 'sweep PFV sweep'
b. 看了看 kàn le kan 'look PFV look’
Interestingly, the perfective particle, which always follows the verb (also in the case of verbal
compounds), appears between base and reduplicant in the case of both mono- and disyllabic input.
MAIN GENERALIZATIONS ON DR IN MANDARIN
i. DR is sensitive to the aspectual structure of its input: it only applies to verbs expressing
[+controlled, +dynamic, +durative] situations which, crucially, lack an inherent result state. It
therefore excludes achievement, resultative and (most) state verbs (see Tsao 2001).
ii. The reduplicant adds a [+bounded] temporal path to the [-bounded] situation codified by the base
verb.
iii. Under an approach that treats reduplication as a strictly morphological phenomenon (see Zhou
1999), DR challenges the Lexical Integrity Hypothesis (see Lapointe 1979), since morphemes
such as 一 yī 'one' (only in monosyllabic verbal reduplication) and the perfective aspect marker
了 le can occur between the base and the reduplicant.
CLAIMS
From the generalizations above, we derive that DR is a syntactic phenomenon where the reduplicant
occupies a dedicated syntactic position in the complex structure of vP. Specifically, we claim that
the reduplicant identifies the bounded (temporal) path of the verbal base (see generalization iii). The
reduplicant is therefore a DP, whose head can be null (as is normally in Mandarin) or instantiated by
the numeral morpheme yi (whose occurrence is conditioned by the phonological weight of the
reduplicant).
REDUPLICATION AND COGNATE OBJECT CONSTRUCTION
Cognate object constructions (COCs) are usually understood as verb-object constructions where a
typically unergative verb takes an object that: 1. is a corradical form of the verb; 2. is a syntactic
object (hence it is the verb complement); 3. delimits the extent of the event expressed by the base
verb (see En. smile a charming smile). According to these basic definitional criteria, DR in
Mandarin resembles COCs according to both morphosyntactic and semantic parameters, except for
the fact that DR applies to both transitive and unergative verbs (see Chao 1968 and Zhou 1999).
ANALYSIS
We will propose an analysis of verbal reduplication in Mandarin adopting the constructionist
framework put forth by Ramchand (2008), which is based on a syntactic decomposition of the event
structure. In this system, the event structure can be decomposed into a maximum of three subevents,
each represented with its own projection, ordered in a hierarchical (causal) embedding relation: the
causative subevent (initP), which introduces the causation event and licenses the external argument
(Initiator); the process subevent (procP), which specifies the nature of the change or process and
licenses the entity undergoing change or process (Undergoer); the result subevent (resP), which
provides the telos or result state and licenses the subject of result (Resultee). We propose that the
base verb lexicalizes the structurally higher verbal head and the reduplicant, encoding a bounded
‘path’, is base-generated in the complement position of procP. The presence of the intervening
morphemes in reduplicated items is derived in different ways: 一 yi is base-generated in the
complement position of procP as the head selecting the reduplicant (in complementary distribution
with its null allomorph);了 le appears between the base and the reduplicant as a result of the base
Verb movement out of vP to AspP, where it incorporates into the AspP head (lexicalized by 了 le).
Further, no incompatibility arises in this framework between reduplicated transitive verbs and the
syntactically realized object of the verb (试试衣服 shì shi yīfu 'try try dress') since the object (衣服
‘dress’) would originate in the specifier position of procP (the structural position of Undergoers in
Ramchand’s framework), hence it would occupy a different structural position from that of the
reduplicant, which sits in the complement position of procP.
CONCLUSIONS
This analysis derives many hitherto unexplained properties of full verb reduplication in Mandarin.
First, it provides a straightforward explanation for the delimiting/diminishing semantics of this
pattern, usually defined as a counter-iconic semantic value. Second, it structurally accounts for the
incompatibility between Result State (resP is the complement of procP in Ramchand's framework)
and DR, since result state and reduplicant cannot be base-generated in the same structural position.
Third, it captures a direct parallelism between DR and COC, where the reduplicant is the corradical
and delimiting object of the verb. Finally, it accounts for the lack of lexical integrity of the complex,
since - as a phenomenon affecting the “first phase syntax” of the verb - DR is not expected to
behave as a syntactic atom.
REFERENCES
CHAO, Y.R. (1968). A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press;
LAPOINTE, Steven G. (1979). A theory of Grammatical Agreement. Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst; LI, C. N. & S. THOMPSON (1981). Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley:
University of California Press; RAMCHAND, G. (2008). Verb Meaning and the Lexicon: A First-Phase Syntax.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; SMITH, C. (1991). The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer; TANG T.-C.
(1988). 国语形容词的重叠规律 [Reduplication rules for adjectives in Mandarin Chinese]. In T. Tang (ed.). 汉语词法
句法论集 [Studies on Chinese Morphology and Syntax]. Taipei: Student Book Co., 29-57; TSAO, F.F. (2001).
Semantics and Syntax of Verbal and Adjectival Reduplication in Mandarin and Taiwanese Southern Min. In H. Chappell
(ed.), Sinitic grammar: Synchronic and Diachronic perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press, 285–308; ZHOU,
H. (1999). Cognate objects in Chinese. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 17, 263-284.