{"title":"The syntax and semantics of descriptive V-de constructions","authors":"C. Tsai","doi":"10.1075/IJCHL.17006.YU","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n This paper tackles the long-standing problem of the phrase structure of the descriptive V-de construction in Mandarin, and proposes a variant of the Primary Predication analysis. I argue that the suffix -de is a nominalizing head that turns the verb to which it attaches into a nominal event argument, which is in turn predicated over by the descriptive adjectival phrase, the primary predicate of the construction. This syntactic analysis allows for a straightforward explanation for the presupposition-focus semantics of this construction based on structured event quantification. In addition, it is shown that previous arguments that go against the Primary Predication hypothesis (including the distribution of the A-not-A form and negation, and the scope relation between an IP-level element and the adjectival phrase) either do not constitute counterevidence or are simply irrelevant. Further support for the proposal is provided that draws on a number of syntactic properties of the descriptive V-de construction and on the distinction between the descriptive adjectival phrase on the one hand and secondary predicates and adverbial adjuncts on the other hand.","PeriodicalId":41020,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Chinese Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2018-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/IJCHL.17006.YU","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Chinese Linguistics","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1075/IJCHL.17006.YU","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
This paper tackles the long-standing problem of the phrase structure of the descriptive V-de construction in Mandarin, and proposes a variant of the Primary Predication analysis. I argue that the suffix -de is a nominalizing head that turns the verb to which it attaches into a nominal event argument, which is in turn predicated over by the descriptive adjectival phrase, the primary predicate of the construction. This syntactic analysis allows for a straightforward explanation for the presupposition-focus semantics of this construction based on structured event quantification. In addition, it is shown that previous arguments that go against the Primary Predication hypothesis (including the distribution of the A-not-A form and negation, and the scope relation between an IP-level element and the adjectival phrase) either do not constitute counterevidence or are simply irrelevant. Further support for the proposal is provided that draws on a number of syntactic properties of the descriptive V-de construction and on the distinction between the descriptive adjectival phrase on the one hand and secondary predicates and adverbial adjuncts on the other hand.