Previous studies hold that the ambiguity of"chaiyidian mei VP"is condi-tional on whether the speaker expects VP to occur.There are,however,some exceptions to this view.A number of scholars have proposed such differentiation conditions as posi-tive/negative,normal/accidental,consensual/nonconsensual,expected/unexpected,etc.,but none is without exception.This paper argues that the core meaning of"chayidian X"is"only a small distance from reaching a certain result or state",and the fundamental fac-tor restricting the"realized/unrealized"interpretation of"chayidian mei VP"is"pur-pose",that is,whether VP represents the target event that the agent or the central person intends to achieve.The reason why"purpose"becomes the condition of the difference in the meaning of"chayidian mei VP"is that"chayidian"also expresses the subjective meaning of"pitiful or fortunate",and results in the pattern of"three players looking for one more player"of positive/negative and purpose/non-purpose,thus providing the possi-bility for the form"chayidian mei VP"to express the"unrealized"meaning.Chayidian-mei is actually a compound word when it expresses the meaning of"unrealized",so there is no so-called"redundant negation".
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