On the V-DE Construction in Mandarin Chinese

摘要

A bstract The paper proposes a novel classification and analysis of the V- DE construction in Mandarin Chinese. On this proposal, the V- DE construction is divided into two types, predicative and non-predicative. The predicative type can be further divided into entity-predicative V- DE constructions and eventuality-predicative V- DE constructions. With respect to the analysis of the V- DE construction, the paper identifies four different structures. It points out that the de -part (i.e. the part after and marked by 得 - de ) in most V- DE constructions is a clause with or without an overt subject. Moreover, with respect to the cases where the de -part has an overt NP that can be interpreted as the Patient argument of the verb before - de and at the same time is semantically compatible with the VP or AP in the de -part, the paper proposes that the overt NP in such cases is syntactically the subject of the de -clause and syntactically is not the direct object of V- DE or the verb before - de . Finally, when the de -part of an entity-predicative V- DE construction has an overt NP between - de and the predicate of the de -clause, the AP or VP of the de -part generally needs to be predicated of the overt NP in the de -part. This constraint, however, can be occasionally relaxed to allow for a pragmatically-inducted interpretation when both of the following conditions are met: (i) the de -part is a well-formed clause in both form and meaning and (ii) the pragmatically-induced interpretation is pragmatically plausible.