Bu 'Not' in Mandarin Chinese: A Lexical Stative Negator

IF 0.3 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Taiwan Journal of Linguistics Pub Date : 2006-12-01 DOI:10.6519/TJL.2006.4(2).2

林惠玲, Huei-Ling Lin

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Bu as a negator in Mandarin Chinese cannot co-occur with an aspect marker such as le. Moreover, bu cannot occur with the first verb in a descriptive/resultative construction. Huang (1988) suggests that the sequences [bu V le] and [bu descriptive/resultative construction] are ruled out for semantic reasons. That is, bu is first attached to V and then le is attached to the negated verb. Such a sequence [[bu-V]-le] is semantically absurd since the event that has not happened cannot be said to have been completed. [Bu descriptive/resultative construction] is ruled out for similar semantic reasons. The problem this paper proposes to tackle is: At which level is bu attached to V? Two arguments may be posited for the proposal that bu is lexically attached to V. The first argument comes from a consideration of the status of both bu and le and it is shown that only when bu is attached to V in the lexicon can the ungrammatical sequence [bu V le] be explained. Further evidence comes from the focus/contrast markers, shi and bu-shi, which have a flexible distribution. If bu is lexically attached to shi and then together bu-shi is inserted as a focus/contrast marker, then the flexible distribution can be explained. Throughout the discussion, it will be shown that bu can be the manifestation of bu alone, bu-Modal, or bu-shi. That is, unlike what it appears to be, bu is not just bu.

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但是汉语中的“不”:一个词汇静态否定词

但作为汉语普通话中的否定词，不能与象le这样的词性标记同时出现。此外，在描述性/结果式结构中，bu不能与第一个动词连用。Huang(1988)认为，由于语义原因，序列[但V - le]和[但描述性/结果结构]被排除在外。也就是说，bu首先与V连用，然后le与否定动词连用。这样的顺序[[bu-V]-le]在语义上是荒谬的，因为没有发生的事件不能说已经完成。[但描述性/结果式结构]由于类似的语义原因被排除在外。本文要解决的问题是:在哪个层次上，bu是依附于V的?对于bu在词汇上依附于V的说法，可以提出两个论点。第一个论点来自对bu和le的地位的考虑，结果表明，只有当bu在词汇中依附于V时，才可以解释不符合语法的序列[bu V le]。进一步的证据来自于焦点/对比标记物“是”和“不是”，它们具有灵活的分布。如果在词法上把“不”与“是”连用，然后把“不”与“不”连用作为焦点/对比标记，那么这种灵活的分布就可以解释了。在整个讨论中，我们将会看到，bu可以是bu单独、bu- modal或bu-shi的表现形式。也就是说，不像它看起来的那样，但不仅仅是“但是”。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Taiwan Journal of Linguistics LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

20 weeks

期刊介绍： Taiwan Journal of Linguistics is an international journal dedicated to the publication of research papers in linguistics and welcomes contributions in all areas of the scientific study of language. Contributions may be submitted from all countries and are accepted all year round. The language of publication is English. There are no restrictions on regular submission; however, manuscripts simultaneously submitted to other publications cannot be accepted. TJL adheres to a strict standard of double-blind reviews to minimize biases that might be caused by knowledge of the author’s gender, culture, or standing within the professional community. Once a manuscript is determined as potentially suitable for the journal after an initial screening by the editor, all information that may identify the author is removed, and copies are sent to at least two qualified reviewers. The selection of reviewers is based purely on professional considerations and their identity will be kept strictly confidential by TJL. All feedback from the reviewers, except such comments as may be specifically referred to the attention of the editor, is faithfully relayed to the authors to assist them in improving their work, regardless of whether the paper is to be accepted, accepted upon minor revision, revised and resubmitted, or rejected.