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Article published In:
Concentric
Vol. 48:2 (2022) ► pp.249–284

Expressing the existence of an event with ‘you (to have) + VP’ in Taiwan Mandarin

A corpus-based investigation

| National Taiwan Normal University
| National Taiwan Normal University

The verb you ‘to have’ in standard Mandarin is typically followed by a noun. You can also take a VP as its complement (‘you + VP’) in several varieties of Mandarin. However, the function associated with it is still under debate: ‘you + VP’ has been analyzed as expressing past tense, perfective aspect, perfect aspect, or realis mood. This paper assesses these analyses by conducting a corpus-based investigation of ‘you + VP’ on the PTT platform and by looking at different morphosyntactic environments in which it is used. The data favor analyzing ‘you + VP’ as expressing an assertive modality meaning (the situation is considered true in the real world by the speaker). This analysis corroborates with the high frequency of ‘you + VP’ in assertive environments (e.g., after factual verbs in embedded clauses, with attitudinal adverbs of truth value, among others). Conversely, taking ‘you + VP’ as indicating past tense or perfective aspect is challenged by the present data, and the perfect aspect analysis cannot explain all the environments in which ‘you + VP’ is used. This paper provides new insights regarding the morphosyntactic use of ‘you + VP’ and sheds light on the meaning this construction encodes.

Keywords: Taiwan Mandarin, ‘you + VP’, corpus linguistics, assertive modality, Tense-Aspect-Modality, syntax
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.‘You + VP’: Between tense, aspect and modality
    • 2.1Theoretical background: Definitions
    • 2.2‘You + VP’ as expressing past tense
    • 2.3‘You + VP’ as expressing aspect: Between perfective and perfect
      • 2.3.1‘You + VP’ as indicating perfective aspect
      • 2.3.2‘You + VP’ as indicating existential perfect aspect
    • 2.4‘You + VP’ as expressing realis mood, factuality or assertive modality
    • 2.5Interim summary
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Frequency profiles of the distribution of the ‘you + VP’ construction
    • 4.1Clause types
    • 4.2Adverbs and adverbial phrases
      • 4.2.1Time adverbs
      • 4.2.2Aspect adverbs
      • 4.2.3Attitudinal adverbs
      • 4.2.4Other types of adverb
    • 4.3Aspect and modal markers
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1The auxiliary verb you ‘to have’ is not a past tense marker
    • 5.2The primary function of ‘you + VP’ is not to express aspectual distinctions
      • 5.2.1‘You + VP’ does not primarily express perfective aspect
      • 5.2.2Is the ‘you + VP’ construction marking existential perfect aspect?
    • 5.3‘You + VP’ as an assertive modal construction
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 29 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/consl.21046.col
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