A semantic-syntactic analysis of Chao's sentences with a verbal subject and a nominal predicate (in Chinese)

Abstract

摘要:子句可以分成题元层、形态层与话语层，这三层可用来定义逻辑主语、语法主语与心理主语(话题)等三种主语。话题化为 A'-移位，涉及论元与附加语，对赵氏"动主名谓句"来说，就是标补子句与状语子句充当话题。标补子句是谓词的论元，可提升为语法主语与话题，如"不下雨已经三个月了"中的"不下雨"；状语子句是句子的附加语，不能充当语法主语，但可提升为话题，如"逃孱头"中的"逃"。汉语时制范畴缺乏形态，允许空主语，也不需要动词性宿主。前者使得汉语子句可以以动词或动词短语的形式呈现，如"谁逃"呈现为"pro 逃"；后者使得汉语名词性短语可以不借助系词充当谓语，如"谁是孱头"呈现为"谁孱头"。两者的合力产生了赵氏"动主名谓句"，如"pro 逃 pro 孱头"。赵氏"动主名谓句"对普遍原则不构成挑战，它的存在跟汉语时制范畴的特征相关。ABSTRACT:The clause can be divided into three layers: the thematic layer, the inflectional layer and the discourse layer, within which there exist the corresponding logical subject, grammatical subject and psychological subject. Topicalization belongs to A'-movement which involves an argument and an adjunct. For Chao's sentences with a verbal subject and a nominal predicate (CS, for short), the topicalized elements are complement clauses and adverbial clauses. The complement clause is the nominal predicate's argument in CS, acting as the predicate's logical subject, such as 'bu xiayu' in 'bu xiayu yijing sangeyue le'. It can be raised into the Spec of T or Top, hence, as a grammatical subject or a topic. The adverbial clause is an adjunct of the TP. It can't act as a grammatical subject, but can be raised as a topic, such as 'tao' in 'tao cantou'. Since Chinese lacks of inflection in T, the null subject can be licensed and the verbal host doesn't need. The former makes the clause represent as a bare verb or a verbal phrase, and the latter makes the nominal phrase act as a predicate without the copula's support. Hence, the CSs can be produced with the two types of strength, for instance, in 'pro tao pro cantou', the subject is null as pro and the predicate has no copular. The CSs do not challenge the universal principles in the Chomskian linguistics, and they are related with the feature of T in Chinese.