Categories�

Zixuan Li

Fu Jen Catholic University

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

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Lexical Categories

• In order to understand the syntax of Chinese, we need to understand

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• How word classes are classified?
• How words are put together to form sentences?

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• Word classes are referred to as lexical categories, or just categories for short.

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

2

Verbs and Nouns

• The fundamental distinction between N and V might be a reflection of proto-categories (Givón 1984).

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• Psychological studies of human cognition:

It is possible that our brain divides the world into two elementary kinds of entities: things that exist and situations that take place.

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• Proto-N: things that exist, with features [+N, -V].
• Proto-V: situations take place, with features [-N, +V].

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

3

Verbs and Nouns (Other Distinctions)

• All verbs can be negated by bu, and no noun can.

Verbs Nouns

不睡 *不樹

不通知 *不消息

不賽球 *不球賽

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• Nouns depend on prepositions like dui for the grammaticality of their object whereas verbs do not.

Verbs Nouns

媒體報導了那次事故。 媒體*(對)那次事故的報導

張三翻譯了一部小說‘。 張三*(對)一部小說的翻譯

老師批評了這幾個研究生。 老師*(對)這幾個研究生的批評。

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

4

Verbs and Nouns (Few Exceptions)

• Examples exist in Modern Chinese that seem to suggest that nouns can be modified by bu.

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• 不人不鬼

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• Explanation:

The few exceptions are idiomatic expressions that are not subject to the general rules.

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

5

Localizers

• Localizers resemble nouns in syntax in that they are the last words in an LP, which in syntax is referred as ‘head-final’, with L being the ‘heads’ of LP.

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屋子 裏/裡面 床 下/底下 大樹 旁/旁邊

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• When not function as the subject or the object, localizers, just like NP, usually need a pre/postposition to occur in a sentence.

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他*(在)那個城市主辦過一個展覽會。

(This statement argues against treating L as postposition.)

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

6

Localizers, de, and classifiers

• 四張床 四條腿
• 四 張?條? 床腿
• 四條床腿
• 四 張?條? 床的腿

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• N de N ⇒ NP ; N-N ⇒ compound

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• NP [_NP1 … [_NP2 … 床 ] 的 腿 ]

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

7

Head

CL

CL

Localizers, de, and classifiers

• In LPs headed by monosyllabic localizers, no de is allowed between L and the preceding N.

床(*的)下 門(*的)後 屋(*的)裏

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• A classifier before an N matches that N without a hitch.

一張床下 一扇門後 那間屋裡

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• Conclusion:

LP has the following structure: the pre-L nominal does not form a compound with L. It may have its own phrase in which a classifier is permitted.

[_LP [_NP…N] L ]

The Category of L

• What is the best categorial classification of L that explain its syntactic properties?
1. L is a subclass of N
2. L is a postposition
3. L is a separate category

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• L as a subclass of N
• LP is head-final e.g. 床下 馬路上
• It functions as the subject or the object in a sentence
• It needs a preposition if used as a locative modifier.

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• L is a postposition
• No de is used to associate L with the NP before it. 床(*的)下

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L as a subclass of N

• NP plays the role of a “possessor” in LP. If we are to choose a category for L between N and P, N seems more appropriate.

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• Q: how to account for the lack of de if L is viewed as a type of N.

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• Chomsky’s (1955) Minimalist Program: highly language-specific operations such as do-insertion are more ‘costly’ in linguistic computation because they have to be learned.
• Did Sam leave?
• Sam did not leave.
• Sam left

costly

L as a subclass of N

• The use of de is highly language-specific and therefore is a more costly operation that is subject to removal if any change is happen to the cluster.

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• 床 *的 下
• 床下

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• L keeps all the syntactic properties of N except de.

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

11

Disyllabic L

• 床(的)下面
• 門(的)後頭
• 屋子(的)裡邊

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• Monosyllabic L differs from corresponding N in not employing de. In contrast, the optional use of de with disyllabic localizers makes them resemble disyllabic nouns.

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• 門 (的) 把手
• 屋子 (的) 後門

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

12

• 那扇大門後頭 一間屋子裡邊
• *那扇大門把手 *一間屋子後門

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• Even disyllabic localizers in the absence of de take a preceding NP as complement but do not form an N-N compound the preceding N.

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• As no de is present between the NP and the localizer, the latter must be L, a deviate of N.

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• While monosyllabic localizers are exclusively L, their disyllabic cousins are ambiguous between L and N.

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By Zixuan Li, Fu Jen Catholic University

13

Adjectives

• In comparison with verbs
• Use of dui as a test for distinguishing adjectives from verbs: An NP object must be introduced by preposition of when the word taking the object is a noun or adjective. If the word is a verb, dui is not required.

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• Use of reduplication patterns test for distinguishing adjectives from verbs: the reduplication patterns correlate with the verb-adjective distinction established on the basis of dui.

Adjectives

• The dui test
• Some adjectives can be used transitively, the other needs to be introduced with dui.

他對這個結局很不滿。 我對他的去世非常傷心。

??他很不滿這個結局。 ＊我非常傷心他的去世。

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• The NP after dui is the semantic object of the adjective.

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這個工作對你很合適

＊這個工作很合適你

這個工作很適合你

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• Heshi and shihe are semantically similar; however, the former is an adjective, the latter is a verb

Adjectives

• In comparison with English

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• An NP object must be introduced by preposition of when the word taking the object is a noun or adjective.

a. She loves butterflies.

b. her love *(of) butterflies.

c. She is found *(of) butterflies.

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• This is exactly what happens in Chinese. For nouns and adjectives, the NP object must be introduced by dui.

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Adjectives

• The reduplication pattern test

A. AB → ABAB

檢查 🠒 檢查檢查 計畫 🠒 計畫計畫

B. AB → AABB

乾淨 🠒 乾乾淨淨 簡單 🠒 簡簡單單

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• Verbs can only have the ABAB pattern, while adjectives have AABB pattern.
• These patterns correlate with the (non-)use of dui.

他明白這個道理。 他對這個道理明白。

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• Applying different reduplication patterns to the word yields the sharp contrast.

他應該明白明白這個道理。 *他(應該)明明白白這個道理。

*他(應該)對這個道理明白明白。 他對這個道理明明白白。

Adjectives

• 和名詞的異同

(1)形容詞和名詞的相似之處為皆須借助於介係詞的存在

　媒體對那起事故的報導。 這個工作對你很合適。

　 　＊媒體那起事故的報導。 ＊這個工作很合適你。

(2)相異之處則為是的需要與否。做為謂語時，名詞需要是的存在，而形容詞則不需要。

　他是英雄。 Ｎ 他很英勇。　　　　Ａ

　?他英雄。 ＊他是很英勇。

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• AABB不一定是形容詞

前面提到AABB和ABAB詞性的差異，以下例句顯示了不同的結果：

　他把那件衣裳縫縫補補，穿了很多年。

　＊他縫縫補補那件衣裳，穿了很多年。

因此先前的假設應修改為：AABB的形式使該詞類喪失了接直接賓語的能力。

Prepositions

• 根據介係詞的句法分部特性(P+N)，以下紅字的部分“有可能”是介係詞

　關於這件事，他們已經討論過了。

　他從那裡帶回來很多紀念品。

　他給班裡的人做過不少事情。

　他把貴重的首飾藏在瓦罐裡。

接下來再刪除錯誤的選項。首先用移位來測試，一個詞組(constituent)可以自由移動：

　[從那裡]，他 t 帶回來很多紀念品。

　[給班裡的人]，他 t 做過不少事情。

　＊[把貴重的首飾]，他 t 藏在瓦罐裡。

　[關於這件事]，我聽說他們已經討論過 t 了。

所以把不是介係詞。接下來討論關於、從、以及給的句法分佈：

　＊我們的會議關於那起事故。　＊他從南方。　他給了我一把劍。

　我們的會議討論了那起事故。　他喜歡南方。

關於和從不能當作動詞使用，但是給可以。以下列舉更多例子：

　他把那張照片[寄給]了我。 他把信[放在]書裡。 孩子們高興的[衝向]山頂。

　他寄了一張照片給我。 ?他放了一封信在書裡。

　[括號裡面]是複合動詞，此種現象較特別，後面會再作介紹。

Prepositions

• 給的句法分佈

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　a. 他給我做了很多事

　b. 給我，他做了很多事。

　c. ＊他做給我很多事。

　d. ＊他做了很多事給我。

由先前和以上的例子可以發現，給可以當作P或V使用，例句(a, b)中的給相當於for的用法。(c, d)不合語法是因為這是前面提到的複合動詞，既然在這裡給是當作介係詞，自然不能和動詞合併，形成複合動詞。

Feature-based characterization of lexical categories

[+N] : 不可直接加上名詞

N

[-V] : 不可當作謂語 無授格能力

[+N] : 須插入介係詞對

A

[+V] : 可當作謂語

[-N] : 可直接加上名詞

P 有授格能力

[-V] : 不可當作謂語

[-N] : 可直接加上名詞

V

[+V] : 可當作謂語

實詞－虛詞兩分法的不足

[Fn]：F stands for functional

n ≥ 0

n 愈小，其所代表的功能性愈弱

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• 以N為例:[_D 那[_Num 一[_CL 桿[_N 槍]]]]

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N = [F0, +N, -V] lexical category

CL = [F1, +N, -V] 離lexical category愈遠，其功能性愈強 (n愈大)

Num = [F2, +N, -V]

D = [F3, +N, -V]

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實詞－虛詞兩分法的不足

• 以V為例：

了、著、過在過去當作動詞使用，但在現代漢語已沒有此種用法（過除外，如例句：天啊！我句法學沒過！在此表“通過”之意），因此在現代漢語中，這些體貌記號是“類似動詞的功能詞”。

現在考慮英語中的complementizer (C) :

Pat thinks that the moon is made of Wisconsin cheese.

Pat asks if the moon is made of Wisconsin cheese.

C有兩種功能，一是帶出後面的子句，二是標示子句的類型。That表陳述、if表疑問，因此可將C視為CT (clause-typers)。同樣的，漢語中的吧、嗎、呢也可以用此標準分類：

　你們走吧。　　　 祈使

　他去過嗎？ yes-no問句

　誰寫這一章呢？ wh問句

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實詞－虛詞兩分法的不足

• [F] & 的

(1) 在[X 的 Y] 結構中，如果Y = N，X可以是NP 、AP 、PP 、甚至是子句。

　[_NP 這位學者]的觀點

　[_AP 十分誘人]的條件

　[_PP 關於戰爭]的傳言

　[_S 我去國外]的理由

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Y = N

可將的視為[Fi, +N, +V]（i > 0）形容詞性的功能詞，因為的可以將任何短語轉變為NP的修飾語。

(2) 也可以將的分析為不帶任何特徵的[Fx, N, V]；[XP的]會繼承X的詞性，這時的的功能僅用以連接兩個短語。