Action-Motion Expressed by Serial Verb Constructions in Standard Mandarin Chinese and Jinjiang Southern Min
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ls ia er at M ed ht ig yr op : C ss e The r © 2020 by the Journal of Chinese Linguistics. ISSN 0091-3723/ Action-motion expressed P by serial verbJournal constructions of Chinese in Linguistics Standard Mandarin Chinese and Jinjiang Southern Min. g By Ying Fan. All rights reserved. on K g on f H ACTION-MOTION EXPRESSED BY SERIAL VERB o CONSTRUCTIONS IN STANDARD MANDARINvol.48, no.1 (January 2020): 97 ty si CHINESE AND JINJIANG SOUTHERN MIN er iv ABSTRACT n This paper focuses on the phenomenon that the same combination of U verbs denoting the meaning of action-motionFujian University can occurof Technology, in two different Fujian e syntactic subtypes of Serial Verb Construction, i.e., the nuclear s – e 146 in serialization and core serialization, based on the general distinction made h in studies that adopt a variety of theoretical frameworks. Despite the similar meaning expressed by the two constructions andYing their Fan C e instantiations that share the same component verbs, the nuclear and core h serializations can be distinguished from each other in terms of their T argument structure and constituency structure. In this paper, I attempt to offer an adequate description of the properties of these syntactic subtypes of action-motion SVC attested in two Sinitic varieties: Standard Mandarin Chinese and Jinjiang Southern Min. In addition, I argue that only the directional verb (V2) in the core serialization can be optionally followed by a locative noun phrase due to its partly independent argument structure Acknowledgements the University of Manchester for their continuous discussions with me regarding this topic. The Jinjiang Southern Min data were collected during two fieldwork trips sponsored by the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at the University of Manchester. I am also indebted to Dr. Tiansong Lin for checking the Jinjiang Southern Min data presented in this article. I appreciate all the helpful comments and suggestions given by the anonymous reviewers on different versions of this paper. All errors are my own. I would like to thank Prof. Eva Schulze-Berndt and Prof. John Payne at Ying Fan Technology, Tian Jia Bing Building, 33 Xuefu Nan Road, Minhou, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, 350118, P. R. China; ( 㤳㧩 ) [[email protected]]; School of Humanities, Fujian University of https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8316-3224 97 ls ia er at M ed ht ig yr op : C ss 98 JOURNAL OF CHINESE LINGUISTICS VOL.48, NO.1 (2020) re P in the core serialization, a characteristic not observed in the nuclear ng serialization. While both syntactic subtypes of action-motion SVC can be o found in Mandarin Chinese, in Jinjiang Southern Min, the meaning of action-motion can only be encoded by the core serialization. The use of K g contrasting structures to encode action-motion expressions in Mandarin on Chinese and mainland Southern Min also indicates the diversity of H grammar found in different Sinitic varieties (also see Chappell 2015; f Chappell and Li 2015). o ty KEYWORDS i S rs erial Verb Construction ve ni U e properties of a particular semantic type of Serial Verb Construction es (hereafter SVC),In this the paper, action-motion I aim to offer SVC, an adequateby adopting description a theory-neutral of the syntactic in approach to the data of two Sinitic varieties, Standard Mandarin Chinese h (hereafter Mandarin) and Jinjiang Southern Min (hereafter Jinjiang) E C vent Fusion e include Mandarin, Wu, Min, Yue, Hakka, Xiang, Gan, Jin, Hui and h Pinghua mainlyThe Siniticon the languages basis of can their be classifiedphonological into andten brancheslexical that T characteristics, according to Min variety can be divided further into five sub-varieties, including Southern Min, Northern Min, Central Min, Eastern Min and Puxian (Yuan A rgument Coindexation 2001, 235), and they are not mutually intelligible (Chappell and Li 2015, 618). Southern Min is the largest group of the Min sub-varieties, the speakers of which in mainland China amount up to 27 millions; in mainland China, it is mainly spoken in the southeast of coastal Fujian province in China, including cities such as Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, northeastern and southern Guangdong and on Hainan Island Language Atlas of China (Chappell 2018). city is a county-level city of Quanzhou. Jinjiang is a variant of Quanzhou Southern MinThis (Lin paper 2009, discusses 15). As otherthe action-motion Southern Min SVC dialects, in Jinjiang. it shows Jinjiang distinct linguistic features in phonology, morphology and syntax, by means of which they can be distinguished from other Sinitic varieties. For 1 2 (Zhang 2012). The . 146 JOURNAL OF CHINESE LINGUISTICS VOL.48, NO.1 (2020) ≹䈝Პ䙊䈍оᱻ⊏䰭ই䈍ѝ 㺘䘠“ࣘ-ս〫”ѹⲴ䘎ࣘᔿ 㤳㧩 ⾿ᔪᐕ〻ᆖ䲒 ᪈㾱 ls ᵜ᮷สҾཊ亩⹄ウѝᱮ⽪ⲴޣҾ䘎ࣘᔿⲴа㡜ᙗ४࡛ˈ䳶ѝ᧒䇘⭘ԕ ia er 㺘䘠“ࣘ—ս〫”ѹⲴ਼Ⲵа㓴ࣘ䇽ਟࠪ⧠൘ਕ⌅㊫࡛н਼Ⲵ䘎ࣘat ᔿ(ণབྷǃሿṨᗳ䘎ࣘᔿ)ѝⲴ⧠䊑DŽ㲭❦བྷǃሿṨᗳ䘎ࣘᔿਟԕ㺘䗮 M լⲴ䈝ѹф਼Ⲵ䘎㔝ࣘ䇽ਟԕࠪ⧠൘㔃ᶴн਼Ⲵ䘎ࣘᔿѝˈնᱟd te ᆳԜ൘䇪ݳ㔃ᶴ઼㓴ᡀ㔃ᶴᯩ䶒㺘⧠н਼DŽᵜ᮷䈅മѪ≹䈝Პ䙊䈍઼h ig ᱻ⊏䰭ই䈍ѝ㺘䘠“ࣘ—ս〫”ѹնਕ⌅㔃ᶴн਼Ⲵ䘎ࣘᔿᨀݵyr ࠶Ⲵ᧿߉DŽ↔ཆˈᵜ᮷䇪䇱ˈ↓ᱟഐѪަ䜘࠶⤜・Ⲵ䇪ݳ㔃ᶴˈਚᴹop བྷṨᗳ䘎ࣘᔿѝⲴᯩੁࣘ䇽(V2)ݱ䇨ަਾ䘹ᤙᙗࠪ⧠ൠ⛩䇽⸝: C 䈝ˈ䘉а⢩⛩൘ሿṨᗳ䘎ࣘᔿѝࡉ㿲ሏнࡠDŽ൘≹䈝Პ䙊䈍ѝˈབྷǃss ሿṨᗳ䘎ࣘᔿ൷ਟ⭘ԕ㺘䘠“ࣘ—ս〫”ѹˈ㘼ᱻ⊏䰭ই䈍ਚ⭘བྷṨre P ᗳ䘎ࣘᔿ㺘䘠լⲴѹDŽ≹䈝Პ䙊䈍о䱶䰭ই䈍⭘н਼Ⲵ㔃ᶴ㕆ng ⸱“ࣘ—ս〫”ѹҏ㺘᰾Ҷ≹䈝ᯩ䀰䈝⌅Ⲵཊṧᙗo (ҏ৲㿱 Chappell K 2015; Chappell and Li 2015) DŽ g on ޣ䭞䇽 f H 䘎ࣘᔿ һԦ㶽ਸ 䇪 oݳ਼ḷ ity rs ve ni U se ne hi C e Th .