PhD Candidate in Linguistics, with interest in syntax, comparative linguistics, second language acquisition, Chinese linguistics, English linguistics, and Romance linguistics.
The Chinese Causative Resultative V-V, also referred to as "resultative verb compound", is a cons... more The Chinese Causative Resultative V-V, also referred to as "resultative verb compound", is a construction that expresses caused-result meanings. A prominent feature of this construction exists in its word order: the cause-denoting V and the result-denoting V are in adjacency. While exhibiting compound nature, this construction also shows productivity, semantic compositionality, and semantic ambiguity. Within the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Progrram, under the general assumptions of Distributed Morphology, this study proposes a structure for this construction, attempting to account for its properties holistically. We propose that these V-Vs involve root-selecting causativization and Manner Conflation. In spite of being syntactically formed, each V-V functions in a similar way as a V 0 .
Based on the caused eventuality, causation can be subdivided into the causation of activity and c... more Based on the caused eventuality, causation can be subdivided into the causation of activity and causation of change of state. By analyzing how causatives are expressed in European Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese, this study shows that these two languages exhibit quite many differences in expressing causation of change of state. We observe that many Portuguese verbs that intrinsically involve causative meanings do not have Chinese equivalence in simplex verb forms-their Chinese counterparts may take complex forms, including a construction we call Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs). Differences are also found in the derivational process: whereas anticausation plays a significant role in Portuguese, causation is the primary process in Chinese. We attribute the contrast to different semantics of verb roots in the two languages: Portuguese exhibits plenty of result roots that can intrinsically express caused-result meanings; in contrast, Chinese roots tend to denote either a pure activity or a pure (change of) state, and a causative structure is needed to express causative meanings.
In this study, we propose a syntactic structure for Chinese Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs),... more In this study, we propose a syntactic structure for Chinese Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs), which are also known as “resultative verb compounds”, in the attempt to account for the semantic ambiguity phenomenon observed in some instances. We claim that a possible interpretation of a CR V-V should be compatible with the proposed structure and must be culturally recognized. We showcase our account’s explanatory and predictive power by presenting some CR V-Vs with semantic ambiguity (and non-ambiguity).
The Chinese Causative Resultative V-V, also referred to as "resultative verb compound", is a cons... more The Chinese Causative Resultative V-V, also referred to as "resultative verb compound", is a construction that expresses caused-result meanings. A prominent feature of this construction exists in its word order: the cause-denoting V and the result-denoting V are in adjacency. While exhibiting compound nature, this construction also shows productivity, semantic compositionality, and semantic ambiguity. Within the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Progrram, under the general assumptions of Distributed Morphology, this study proposes a structure for this construction, attempting to account for its properties holistically. We propose that these V-Vs involve root-selecting causativization and Manner Conflation. In spite of being syntactically formed, each V-V functions in a similar way as a V 0 .
Based on the caused eventuality, causation can be subdivided into the causation of activity and c... more Based on the caused eventuality, causation can be subdivided into the causation of activity and causation of change of state. By analyzing how causatives are expressed in European Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese, this study shows that these two languages exhibit quite many differences in expressing causation of change of state. We observe that many Portuguese verbs that intrinsically involve causative meanings do not have Chinese equivalence in simplex verb forms-their Chinese counterparts may take complex forms, including a construction we call Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs). Differences are also found in the derivational process: whereas anticausation plays a significant role in Portuguese, causation is the primary process in Chinese. We attribute the contrast to different semantics of verb roots in the two languages: Portuguese exhibits plenty of result roots that can intrinsically express caused-result meanings; in contrast, Chinese roots tend to denote either a pure activity or a pure (change of) state, and a causative structure is needed to express causative meanings.
In this study, we propose a syntactic structure for Chinese Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs),... more In this study, we propose a syntactic structure for Chinese Causative Resultative V-Vs (CR V-Vs), which are also known as “resultative verb compounds”, in the attempt to account for the semantic ambiguity phenomenon observed in some instances. We claim that a possible interpretation of a CR V-V should be compatible with the proposed structure and must be culturally recognized. We showcase our account’s explanatory and predictive power by presenting some CR V-Vs with semantic ambiguity (and non-ambiguity).
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