A comparative study of strong and weak resultative verb compounds in Mandarin under Distributed Morphology
Based on Washio's(1997)classification of strong and weak resultatives,this study examines the distinction between strong and weak resultative verb compounds(RVCs)in Mandarin and their generations.Three diagnostic tests are established to distinguish the two types of RVCs in light of their syntactic behaviors,testifying to the dichotomy in Mandarin from a syntactic-semantic perspective.The generation of strong and weak RVCs is analyzed under the framework of Distributed Morphology,and their distinctive syntactic properties are attributed to the difference in how roots with deficient features are categorized in syntax.In strong RVCs,the two verb roots acquire their categorial features with different functional heads before they merge into a compound.In weak RVCs,however,the two roots merge first to form a compound root,which is then categorized by the upper head.The"separating status"and the"bonding status"of the two roots in derivations not only reflect their semantic implication relations,but also determine the distinction in syntactic behaviors between strong and weak RVCs.
万方数据
维普
