Causative light verbs in Mandarin Chinese (and beyond)

This talk will deal with the issue of Mandarin Chinese complex V-V verbs formed by means of a causative light V 1 , also in a comparative perspective, taking into account other Sinitic languages. Different languages may express causativity in different ways, according to the items available in their respective lexical inventories (cf. Ramchand 2008) and other language-specific characteristics. Mandarin Chinese has few lexical causatives (labile verbs), e.g.

Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 2022

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.

This talk will deal with the issue of Chinese complex V-V verbs formed by means of a causative light V1 in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM) and Hakka. Mandarin Chinese has few lexical causatives (labile verbs), e.g. 开 kāi ‘open’ and 沉 chén ‘sink’; however, even when labile verbs are available, a compound form is generally preferred to express the transitive variant. The main means to express causativity in Mandarin Chinese are periphrastics means and complex verbs formed by two verbal roots (i.e. resultative compounds and verbs formed with a light V1). The tendency to express causativity by means of compounding seems to be linked to the analytic nature of Mandarin. This is even clearer if we consider the diachronic development of the Chinese language, which is characterized by a typological shift from a synthetic to an analytic language and by a substantial change in the lexicon. These factors apparently contributed also to the change in the ways to express causativity by means of different strategies. In this talk we will focus only on complex V-V verbs formed with a phonetically realized light verb (带音的轻动词 dài yīn de qīng dòngcí), i.e. a verb that has general and abstract semantic content (see Grimshaw & Mester 1988, Feng 2005, Zhu 2005, Jie 2008), as e.g. Mandarin 打 dǎ ‘beat, strike, hit’, 弄 nòng ‘make’, 搞 gǎo ‘do’. These verbal roots, when appearing as V1s of V-V compounds often do not represent a particular action, origin or manner, as in the case of resultatives, but are blurred verbs, with a general causative meaning, forming the transitive version of intransitive change-of-state verbs, e.g. 弄沉 nòngchén ‘sink’, 弄暗 nòng’àn ‘darker’, 弄断 nòngduàn ‘break’; thus they are items involved inthe causative alternation. Light verbs do not give any semantic contribution to the whole complex verb. The compound verb just expresses the resultant state, leaving the causing event unspecified: different actions can bring about the resultant state. Among light verbs, we will illustrate one particular case, i.e. the root 打 dǎ ‘hit, beat, strike’. In V-V compounds 打 dǎ can be used either as a full verb, forming a resultative compound, or as a light verb. In a complex verb like 打死 dǎsǐ ‘dǎ-die’, the meaning of 打 dǎ could be either ‘beat and kill (make die) as a result’ or simply ‘kill (make die)’; in the latter case, the resultant state ‘die’ can be reached performing different actions, as we will show. We will compare this root with TSM 拍 phah4 ‘hit’, e.g. a 拍醒 phah4 chhin2 ‘wake’, 拍破 phah4 phoa3 ‘break’ (Lien 1999:8) and Hakka 打 da2 ‘hit’, e.g. Hailu Hakka 打壞 da2 fai3 ‘break’, 打缺 da2 kiet4 ‘chip’ Yeh 2008:67-68). In TSM and Hakka this item seems to be more grammaticalized than in Mandarin. We will show the variation of use of this item among some other Sinitic languages (in some of them the change in meaning is signalled by tonal change) and the diachronic development of this item in the Chinese language. We will argue that its causative function derives from the progressive abstracting generalization of its ‘make’ meaning (cf. Moreno 1998). Finally, we will illustrate another particular light verb, i.e. the Mandarin root 加 jiā ‘increase’, e.g. 加宽 jiākuān ‘increase + wide = widen’, 加深 jiāshēn ‘increase + deep = deepen’. We will propose that the root 加 jiā ‘increase’ 1) represents the causative component, forming the transitive variant of verbs of change of state based on open-range adjectives involving an increase in the property denoted by the adjective; 2) is the spell-out of one relevant part of the logical representation, i.e. the increasing event (cf. Hay, Kennedy & Levin 1999). Also, we will show that to form the transitive variant of change-of-state verbs based on open-range adjectives denoting a decrease in some properties (increase in negative properties), a V1 that marks the negative direction of the change in degree is required (cf. Steffen Chung 2006). Instances of this kind of formations can be found in TSM and Hakka too, e.g. TSM 加強 gāgiǒng ‘strengthen’, Meixian Hakka 加長ka44 tsoŋ 31. References CAO, R.F. (2004). 陽泉方言的动词词缀「打」‘The verbal affix dǎ in the Yangquan dialect’. 語文研究 Yuwen yanjiu 4：55-57。 CHIANG, C.L. (2006). Causative and Inchoative Alternation in Taiwanese Southern Min: In Comparison with Mandarin and English. MA dissertation, Hsinchu, National Tsinghua University. FENG, S.L. (2005). 轻动词移位与古今汉语的动宾关系 ‘Light verb movement and the verb-object relationship in Old and Modern Chinese’. 语言科学 Yuyan kexue 4 (1):3-16. GRIMSHAW, J. & MESTER, A. (1988). Light verbs and theta-marking. Linguistic Inquiry 19:205-232. HAY, J., KENNEDY, C., LEVIN, B. (1999). Scalar structure underlies telicity in "degree achievements". In T. Mathewsand & D. Strolovitch (eds.), SALT IX, CLC Publications: Ithaca, 127–144. HU, M.Y. (1984) . 说 “打” ‘On 打 dǎ’. 語言论集 Yuyan lunji 2: 151-202。 JIE, Z.M. (2008). 轻动词假说与词典释义 ‘The light verb hypothesis and dictionary definition’. 辞书研究 Cishu Yanjiu 4:30-44. LI, K.F. (2005). 重庆方言的 “打” ‘打 dǎ in the Chongqing dialect’. 宜賓学院学报 Yibin xueyuan xuebao 5 (9):98-103。 LIEN, C.F. (1999). A Typological Study of Causatives in Taiwan Southern Min. The Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 29 (4): 395-422. LIN, T.H. (2001). Light Verb Syntax and the Theory of Phrase Structure. PhD dissertation, University of California, Irvine. MEI, T.L. (1991). 从汉代 “动、杀”、“动、死” 来看动补结构的发展——兼论中古时期起词的施受关系的中立化 ‘The development of verb-complement construction looking at ‘V-die’, ‘V-kill’ in the Han dinasty: a discussion of the neutralization of the agent–patient relationship in verbs since the Middle Chinese period’. In 语言学论丛 Yuyuanxue luncong 16: 112-136. MORENO, J.C. (1993). “Make” and the semantic origin of causativity: A typological study. In B. COMRIE & M. POLINSKY (eds.), Causatives and transitivity. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 155-164. PULLEYBLANK, E.G. (2004). From Archaic Chinese to Mandarin. In G. Booij, C. Lehmann & J. Mugdan (eds.), Morphologie (Morphology), Number 2: Ein Internationales Handbuch Zur Flexion und Wortbildung (An International Handbook on Inflection and Word-Formation), 1730-1740. QIU, X.Y. (2008). 客家話“打”字語法化初探 ‘A preliminary discussion on the grammaticalization of “打” in Hakka’. 國文學誌 Guowen xuezhi 16:75-103。 SCHUESSLER, A. (2007). ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. STEFFEN CHUNG, K. (2006). Mandarin compound verbs. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics, Book Series in Chinese Linguistics. Taipei: Crane. YEH, C.S. (2008).. A Family of da2 ‘hit’ Constructions in Hakka: An Inspection of Argument Realization and Transitivity MA dissertation, Taipei, National Chengchi University. ZHANG, G.Y. (2006). 现代汉语形容词 ‘Modern Chinese adjectives’. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan chubanshe. ZHU, J.J (2002). 近代汉语动词“打"的语义泛化 ‘The extension in meaning of Pre-Modern Mandarin “打 dǎ”’. 烟台大学学报 Yantai Daxue Xuebao 15 (3):354-360. ZHU, J.J (2003). 近代汉语动词前缀“打一’’演变探析 ‘An exploration of the prefix “打 dǎ” in Pre-Modern Mandarin’. 烟台大学学报 Yantai Daxue Xuebao 16 (4):470-476. ZHU, X.F. (2005). 轻动词和汉语不及物动词带宾语现象‘Light verbs and the phenomenon of Chinese intransitive verbs bearing an object’. 现代外语 Xiandai Waiyu 28 (3): 221-231.

Chinese Lexical Semantics. CLSW 2022, 2023

Analytic causative constructions with 使 shǐ 'make' and 让 ràng 'make, let', commonly used as [NP1 + SHI/RANG + NP2 + VP], are canonical constructions in Mandarin. Previous scholarship has rarely compared the interactions between the two constructions and the verbs in the VP slot. This study fills this gap by using a collostructional analysis. The prototypical verbs, prototypical constructional meanings and distinctive verbs are investigated. It is found that 1) The prototypical verbs used in SHI construction are change-of-state and change-ofpossession verbs, whose constructional meaning refers to the change of NP2 in quantity or quality under the effect of NP1; for RANG construction, its prototypical verbs are psychological verbs and verbs of getting information, and its constructional meaning refers to NP2's perception of something under the influence of NP1; 2) The 17 distinctive verbs for SHI construction are change-of-possession verbs, existential verbs, motion verbs, verbs of phenomenon, change-of-state verbs, verbs of physical manipulation and creation; the 14 distinctive verbs for RANG construction are change-of-state verbs, psychological verbs, verbs of getting information, intellectual verbs and change-of-possession verbs. Although there is overlap in verb categories, the specific verbs which have different preferences for the two constructions are significantly different.

CHAPTER IV: EMBEDDED COMPOUND VERBS 4.1 TYPES OF COMPOUND VERBS WITH EMBEDDING 4.2 LEXICAL ASPECT 4.2.1 Defining and exemplifying lexical aspect 4.2.2. Inceptive action: The aspect markers: 起 qi 3 'to rise', 啟 qi 3 'to open', 興 xing 1 'to activate', 創 chuang 4 'to create' 4.2.3 From concrete to aspectual verb: 開 kai 1 'to open' and 發 fa 1 'to emit' 4.2.4 Inceptive aspect compounds with miscellaneous verbs: TABLE OF CONTENTS vi 就 jiu 4 'to realize', 承 cheng 2 ' to assume', 獲 huo and 得 de 2 'to obtain, get', 行 xing 2 'carry out', 作 zuo 4 'to do' 4.2.5 Embedded compounds formed with the light verb 打 da 3 'to strike' 4.2.6 Terminative aspect: 停 ting 2 'to stop', 止 zhi 3 'to stop', 休 xiu 1 'to stop, suspend, rest', 斷 duan 4 'to break off, sever', 拒 ju 4 'to resist, refuse', 防 fang 2 'to prevent'; 失 shi 1 'to lose, fail to' 162 4.2.7 Continuative or resumptive action: 續 xu 4 and 繼 ji 4 'to continue, renew' 4.2.8 Additive and supplemental aspect: 加 jia 1 and 增 zeng 1 'to add on to, do additionally, do anew'; 補 bu 3 'to compensate for, supplement' 4.2.9 Commutative action: 改 gai 3 'to change', 換 huan 4 'to change, to trade one thing in for another', 轉 zhuan 3 'to transfer to' 4.3 LEXICAL PASSIVE COMPOUNDS 4.4 LEXICAL CAUSATIVE AND PASSIVE-CAUSATIVE COMPOUNDS 4.4.1 Lexical causatives 4.4.2 Passive-causatives: Emissive compound verbs 4.4.3 'Available for'