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Chinese Raising Adverbials

Chinese Raising Adverbials. presented by Emmie Li Ph. D. student of Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Hen Nan & Hen Rongyi. E.g. Zhangsan hen rongyi shengqi = Zhangsan is easy to get angry. he nan equals to “It is hard/difficult to….”. E.g. Zhangsan hen nan xiang xin bieren

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Chinese Raising Adverbials

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  1. Chinese Raising Adverbials presented by Emmie Li Ph. D. student of Tsing Hua University in Taiwan

  2. Hen Nan & Hen Rongyi E.g. Zhangsan hen rongyi shengqi = Zhangsan is easy to get angry. • he nan equals to “It is hard/difficult to….” E.g. Zhangsan hen nan xiang xin bieren = It is difficult for Zhangsan to believe any person. • hen rongyi equals to “….is easy to….”

  3. Eval P Spec Eval´ Eval0 VP Theory Construction • The whole theory is constructed with the normal X-bar theory. • The seemingly random alternations of surface structure with this kind of adverbials are in fact shaped by factors such as semantic relation and syntactic function.

  4. Semantic Evidence • This kind of adverbials always express speaker’s evaluation or judgment upon the whole proposition. • These adverbials take the whole proposition within their semantic scope domain Eg. Zhe shan men hen nan kai = It is difficult to open the door. hen nan [ e kai zhe shan men] difficult [ e open the door]

  5. t´i S S S to S raising S to S raising Object preposing Syntactic Evidences • These adverbials are able to lift the subject NP/IP or even the object out of the lower clause and make the former lower subject or object a derived main subject. hen nan [IP S V O ] ti zhe shan meni hen nan[IPe [VPkai zhe shan men]] ti ]]

  6. To fulfill the EPP. 1. Why raise? D-S: hen nan [IP e [VP kai zhe shan men ]] Every Sentence must have its subject. S-S: hen nan [IP e [VP kai ]] zhe shan men i t i 2. Evidences support for raising. (1) Subject Specificity requirement is violable. (2) Relativized Minimality requirement must be observed.

  7. Violation of Subject Specificity • In Mandarin Chinese, the subject of a sentence has to be specified. (1) *San ge xigua shi Mama mai de (three watermelons were Mama bought.) (2) Zhe san ge xigua shi Mama mai de (the three watermelons were Mama bought.) (3) San ge xigua hen nan yi tsi chi wuan. ( three watermelons hard to at the same time eat all)

  8. Observation of Relativized Minimality E.g. hen nan [ Zhangsan xiang xin bieren ] difficult [ Zhangsan believe anyone ] (It is difficult for Zhangsan to believe anyone else.) • Relativized Minimality: constituent may block the way of the other one if they have the same property.  Zhangsan ihen nan [ t i xiang xin bieren ]  *  Bieren hen nan [ Zhangsan xiang xin e ]

  9. ` • Semantic evidence: they tend to take the whole proposition within their scope domain. • Syntactic evidences: 1. The requirement of Subject Specificity is violable. 2. The requirement of Relativized Minimality has to be observed.

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