Proquest Dissertations
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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI" ARGUMENT STRUCTURE, HPSG, AND CHINESE GRAMMAR DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Qian Gao, B.A., M.A. ******* The Ohio State University 2001 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Carl J. Pollard, Adviser Professor Peter W. Culicover _____ Professor Robert D. Levine A'dyjfser Department of Linguistics UMI Number: 9999392 UMI UMI Microform 9999392 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT In this thesis, I argue that in Chinese, topic structure can be uniformly treated as additional-type, thus creating a third unmarked NP or LP (locative phrase) position in a sentence (in addition to subject and object); on this analysis the empty element traditionally analyzed as a wh-trace is now treated as a null resumptive pronoun. Words traditionally analyzed as prepositions are shown to function essentially as case markers of the NP/LP they combine with, thereby forming the marked complements in a sentence. Arguments of a verb are shown to form an list (ordered by presence/absence of proto-agent and proto-patient properties) that determines their linear order, with the most agent-like argument realized as subject, the most patient-like as the object (unmarked complement, which is always postverbal), and the remaining arguments as (preverbal) marked complements, with the marking determined by thematic properties. Variations in sentences (such as ba- vs. non-ba-constructions) are argued to arise from valence alternations of the head verb, according to its transitivity reqirements. Transitive verbs are divided into nominal-transitives, which require NPs as their object, and locative-transitives, which require LPs as their object. Even though Chinese is shown to be an SVO language, the process of losing preposition while gaining markers has given it some SOV characteristics. This mixed word order can be seen from the ways that resultative verb compounds (RVCs) are formed. I propose that RVCs in Chinese can be not only right-headed, following the traditional head-initial system, but also left-headed, thereby giving rise to a special kind of verb — the middle verbs — which permits the ba- altemation. Under this analysis, multiply ambiguous sentences such as Zhângsân zhuilèi-le Usa (meaning (a) 'Zhangsan chased Lisi and got himself tired.', (b) 'Zhangsan chased Lisi and got him tired.', and (c) 'Chasing Zhangsan got Lisi tired.') can now be explained satisfactorily. Dedicated To my family m VTTA March 28, 1955 .............................Bom - Lanzhou, China 1979 .............................................. B.A. English, Xinjiang University 1979 -1987 .................................... Instructor, Xinjiang University 1987 - 1990...................................Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Pittsburgh 1991 .............................................. M.A. Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh 1990 - present .............................. Graduate Research and Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University 1998 - 2000...................................Instructor, Wright State University PUBLICATIONS 1. Resultative Verb Compounds and the BA-Construction in Chinese. Jaimal o f Chinese Linguistics.25:?>A-13Q (1997) 2. A Lexical-Ruleless Approach to Certain Valence Alternations in Chinese. In Proceedings o f of the Seventh North America Conference on Chinese Linguistics. (1996) 3. The Syntactic Structure of Chinese Formal Focus. In David Dowty et al. (eds.) OSU Working Papers in Linguistics 47: Varia 21-46.(1995) 4. The Focus Criterion: Evidence from Chinese. In Jose Camacho and Lina Choueiri (eds.) Proceedings o f the Sixth North America Conference on Chinese Linguistics, Vol 2, 51-73. (1995) 5. Chinese NP Structure. Linguistics 32, 475-510. (1994) 6. Mandarin Resultative Verb Compounds with the BA-Construction. In Gail Coelho and Daniel Everett (eds.) University o f Pittsburgh Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. II, 1-25 (1993) 7. Chinese NP Structure. In Andreas Kathol and Carl Pollard (eds.)OSU Working Papers in Linguistics 43: Papers in Syntax, 88-116.(1993) iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT It is a pleasure for me to thank all those who helped me, first of aU my adviser, Carl J. Pollard, not only for his intellectual support, encouragement and enthusiasm in my thesis, but also for his patience in correcting both my stylistic and technical errors. His penetrating comments and stimulating suggestions forced me to sharpen my linguistic views, gave me new insight, and helped me concentrate on the real problems dealt with in this thesis. This thesis would be impossible without his untiring guidance. I also wish to thank my other dissertation committee members Peter Culicover and Robert Levine. Their critical comments and insightful suggestions have made this thesis a better one. I am also very grateful to Professor James Tai, whose insightful discussions on various issues of Chinese grammar have greatly helped me form some wonderful ideas in the early stages of the thesis. Special thanks also go to Professor Brian Joseph, who not only saved me several times from losing sight of my academic carear, but also made me a strong fighter as a linguist through his loving care for my academic life in Columbus. The faculty members of the Department, most notably Mary Beckman, David Dowty, Michael Geis, Beth Hume, Rich Janda, Keith Johnson, Robert Kasper, David Odden, Craige Roberts, Donald Winford, and Arnold Zwicky have provided me with opportunities to talk seriously about lots of things that make life worth living, including linguistics. My fellow colleagues around Cunz Hall and Oxley Hall, Benjammin Ao, Christie Block, Mary Bradshaw, Mike Cahill, Michael Calcagno, Chang Chung, Kevin Cohen, John Dai, Paul Fallen, Jason Frank, Svetlana Godjevac, Guangyoon Goh, Karin Golde, Craig Hilts, Tsan Huang, Shunde Jin, Soyoung Kang, Andreas Kathol, Steven Keiser, Hyeree Kim, No-Ju Kim, Claudia Kurz, Gina Lee, Zhiyong Liu, Jean Mo, Nasiombe Mutonyi, Frederick Parkinson, Ruth Roberts-Kohno, Charlotte Schaengold, Misun Seo, Halyna Sydorenko, Kate Walker, Jiyi Wang, Pauline Welby, Neal Whitman, Chuck Yocom, Eun Jung Yoo, and Jae-Hak Yoon, are hereby thanked for their time shared with me and their kindness. Their friendship has been important in making me feel at home in Columbus. Thanks are also due to my former teachers and colleagues both at University of Pittsburgh and Xinjiang University, and other academic units thoughtout the world. Due to space limit, I can only mention a few of them below. Sarah Thomason, Edward Anthony, and Daniel Everett have kindly introduced me to the linguistics world. Judy Yogman, Bonnie Young, Jenny Wang, Tienwei Xie, and Jianhua Bai shared lots of Linguistic discussions with me. Peiliang Hou, Dengzhang Gao, Zhunsheng Liu, Yarning Guo, Margaret Sun, Xueqin Hong, Lanling Liang, and Xianghui Gao have never failed to encourage me to look at languages through a linguist eye. James Huang, Lisa Cheng, Thomas Ernst, and Marie-Claude Paris have kindly sent their valuable works to me. The love and sacrifice my family has shown me are tremendous ones. I wish to thank my wife. Ping Sun, for her understanding and tolerance to my endless request for judgment on Chinese expressions. I also like to thank my sons, Frank Gao and Robert Gao, for their support and pretending interests in my work, even though they don't know much about it. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................ ü DEDICATION........................................................................................................................ üi VTTA....................................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT....................................................................................................