Cover not available
Part of
Current Issues in Syntactic Cartography: A crosslinguistic perspective
Edited by Fuzhen Si and Luigi Rizzi
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 267] 2021
► pp. 287–322

Chapter 13
On the syntactic representation of Chinese you (有) in “you + VP” construction

| University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,
This paper aims at drawing the syntactic maps of you(有 lit. have) in “you + VP” construction in Chinese within the cartographic framework (Rizzi 1997; Cinque 1999, and much subsequent work) and splitting IP on the basis of Huang (1988). More precisely, a syntax-semantic mismatch of you is observed in the literature, namely, previous studies claim that you can convey several semantic readings, for instance, past tense, future tense, perfective, as well as (emphatic) affirmative reading; its syntactic representation, however, is put under the syntactic node of I/T (Huang 1988, etc.). This paper first verifies the features on you and then offers a cartographic account to this mismatch. The results show that you only conveys the perfective feature and the (emphatic) affirmative feature, and it is spelled out at the phrasal lever under AffP. Besides, a You-Support Hypothesis in Chinese is suggested.
Keywords: Chinese you , split IP, AffP, you-support hypothesis, syntactic cartography
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies on “you + VP” construction
  • 3.A syntax-semantic mismatch of you
  • 4.Verification of the features on you
  • 5.A cartographic attempt: The licensing of you
    • 5.1A synthetic viewpoint
    • 5.2A syntactic analysis
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.267.13li
References (78)
References
Alexiadou, Artemis. 1997. Adverb Placement: A Case Study in Antisymmetric Syntax [Linguisik Atuell/Linguistics Today 18]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bai, Wanru 1998. Guangzhou Dialect Dictionary. Nanjing: Jiangsu Education Press (白宛如，1998，《广州方言词典》，江苏教育出版社).Google Scholar
Baunaz, Lena, De Clercq, Karen, Haegeman Liliane & Lander, Eric. 2018. Exploring Nanosyntax. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caha, Pavel. 2009. The Nanosyntax of Case. PhD dissertation, University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Cao, Feng. Fu. & Zheng, Ying. 1997. On you’s five usages and their relations in Minnan dialect. Studies on Chinese 2 (曹逢甫、郑萦，1997，谈闽南语“有”的五种用法及其间的关系, 《中国语文研究》，第 2期).Google Scholar
Chao, Yuen Ren. 1968. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa L.-S. 2019. Verb-stranding ellipsis: Evidence from Cantonese. 1st International Workshop on Cantonese Syntax, Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Chen, Haiyan. 2004. A study of the Adverbiality of you in the structure of you VP. Journal of Hainan Normal University (Social Science) 6: 90–92 (陈海燕，2004，关于“有ＶＰ”中“有”的副词性探讨—兼谈“有没有ＶＰ”中“有”的副词性，《海南师范大学学报（社会科学版）》 6：90–92).Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1957. Syntactic Structures. Gravenhage: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1989. Some notes on the Economy of Derivation. In Laka Itziar and Mahajan, Anoop (eds.) MIT Working Papers in Linguistics Vol 10: Functional Heads and Clause Structure. MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective [Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax]. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Edmondson, Jerold A. 1983. Polarized Auxiliaries. In Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, Vol. 1: Categories, Frank Heny & Barry Richards (eds), 49–68. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grice, H. Paul. 1975. Logic and conversation. In Speech Acts [Syntax and Semantics 3], Peter Cole & Jerry Morgan (eds), 41–58. New York NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gu, Mingdi. 2016. The isomorphism research on “You N” and “You V” constructions. Language Teaching and Researches 4:104–112 (顾鸣镝，2016，“有N”和“有V”的同构性研究，《语言教学与研究》 4：104–112).Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd. 1993. Auxiliaries: Cognitive Forces and Grammaticalization. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
. 1997. Possession: Cognitive Sources, Forces and Grammaticalization. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmberg, Anders. 2003. Yes/no questions and the relation between tense and polarity in English. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 3(1): 43–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. The Syntax of Yes and No. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Huang, Borong. 1996. Hanyu Fangyan Yufa Leibian. Qingdao: Qingdao Press (黄伯荣，1996，《汉语方言语法类编》，青岛出版社).Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James. 1988. On be and have in Chinese. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 59: 43–64 (黄正德，1988，說「是」和「有」，《中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊》 59:43–64).Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T James. 1989. Pro drop in Chinese: A generalized control approach. In The Null Subject Parameter, Osvaldo Jaeggli & Ken Safir (eds), 185–214. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James. 2015. On syntactic analyticity and parametric theory. In Chinese Syntax in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective, Audrey Li, Andrew Simpson & Wei-Tien Dylan Tsai, 1–48. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Kang, Xing. To appear. A cartographic analysis of broad existential sentence, Language Sciences (康兴，待刊，广义存现句的制图分析，《语言科学》).
Laka, Miren Itziar. 1990. Negation in Syntax: On the Nature of Functional Categories and Projections. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Li, Fuqiang. 2017. A Comparative Study of Light Verbs and Verb-resultative Compounds in CSL and ASL. MA thesis, Beijing Language and Culture University.Google Scholar
. To appear. A cartographic approach on “you” in “you + NumP.” Journal of Beijing International Studies University. (李富强，待刊，“有+数量结构”中“有”的句法制图分析，《北京第二外国语学院学报》).
. 2020. A Cartographic Study of Chinese “you (有)” in “you + VP” Construction. PhD dissertation, Beijing Language and Culture University.Google Scholar
Li, Jinxi. 1992. (1924/1957). New Chinese Grammar. Beijing: The Commercial Press (黎锦熙，1992(1924)，《新著国语文法》，北京：商务印书馆).Google Scholar
Li, Rong. 1998. Fuzhou Dialect Dictionary. Nanjing: Jiangsu Education Press (李荣，1998，《福州方言字典》，江苏教育出版社).Google Scholar
Li, Xuefeng. 2008. Is you an auxiliary in Chinese? Science & Technology Information 35: 649–650 (李雪峰，2008，汉语中的“有”能否被看成助动词，《科技信息》 35：649–650).Google Scholar
Liu, Li. 1997. The perfective function of you in you +VP in ancient Chinese. Journal of Xuzhou Normal University (Philosophy and Social Science) 1: 66–68 (刘利，1997，古汉语“有VP”结构中“有”的表体功能，《徐州师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版）》1：66–68).Google Scholar
Liu, Yuehua. et al. 2001. A Practical Reference of Modern Chinese Grammar. Beijing: The Commercial Press (刘月华，2001，《实用现代汉语语法》，北京：商务印书馆).Google Scholar
Luo, Chuilian. 1994. You in Ou language. Journal of Wenzhou Normal College (Ph. & So. Scs.) 2: 63–66 (骆锤炼，1994，瓯语的“有”字句，《温州师范学院学报（哲学社会科学版）》2：63–66).Google Scholar
Lv, Shuxiang. 2005 [1979]. Issues on Chinese Grammar Analysis. Beijing: The Commercial Press (吕叔湘，2005[1979]，《汉语语法分析问题》，北京：商务印务书馆).Google Scholar
. 1999. Eight Hundred Words in Modern Chinese. Beijing: The Commercial Press (吕叔湘等，1999，《现代汉语八百词》，北京：商务印书馆).Google Scholar
Pollock, Jean-Yves. 1989. Verb movement, universal grammar and the structure of IP. Linguistic Inquiry 20: 365–424.Google Scholar
Reichenbach, Hans. 1947. Elements of Symbolic Logic. New York NY: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of Grammar, Liliane Haegeman (ed.), 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2004a. Locality and left periphery. In Structures and Beyond, The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Adriana Belletti (ed.). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
(ed.). 2004b. The Structure of IP and CP. The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol. 2. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
de Saussure, Louis. 2011. Temporal reference in discourse. In Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics, Keith Allan & Katarzyna Jaszczolt (eds). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Shi, Dingxu, Wang, Canlong & Zhu, Zhiyu. 2002. Syntactic changes induced by language contact: The case of Hong Kong written Chinese. Yuyan Wenzi Yingyong 8: 23–32 (石定栩，王灿龙，朱志渝，2002，香港书面汉语句法变异：粤语的移用、文言的保留及其他，《语言文字应用》8：23–32).Google Scholar
Shi, Youwei. 1984. On verb+you . Essays on Linguistics 13 (史有为，1984，关于“动+有”，《语言学论丛》，第十三辑).Google Scholar
Shi, Yuzhi. 2004. The possession verb of Chinese and the expression of perfect aspect. Studies in Language and Linguistics 2: 34–42 (石毓智，2004，汉语的领有动词与完成体的表达，《语言研究》（2）：34–42).Google Scholar
Shi, Yuzhi & Li, Ne. 2001. A History of Grammaticalization in Chinese: Motivations and Mechanisms of Evolution of Chinese Morpho-syntax. Beijing: Beijing University Press (石毓智，李讷，2001，《汉语语法化的历程—形态句法发展动因和机制》，北京：北京大学出版社).Google Scholar
Si, Fuzhen. 2002. Multiple Feature Checking and its Syntactic Consequences. PhD dissertation, Beijing Language and Culture University.Google Scholar
. 2018a. New developments of the theory of syntactic cartography. China Social Science Newspaper (司富珍，2018a，句法制图理论在中国的新进展，《中国社会科学报》，2018-01-02(003)).Google Scholar
. 2018b. Syntactic cartography of light verbs. Yuwen Yanjiu 1:11–17 (司富珍，2018b，轻动词结构的层级制图，《语文研究》第1期11–17).Google Scholar
. 2019. New horizons in syntactic cartographic studies. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies 3: 25–37 (司富珍，2019，句法制图研究的新视野，《语言教学与研究》3：25–37).Google Scholar
Smith, Carlota S. 1997. The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Song, Jinlan. 1994. New research on You-sentence: The aspectual usage of you . Journal of Qinghai Shizhuan (2):33–37 (宋金兰，1994，“有”字句新探：“有”的体助词用法，《青海师专学报》，第2期33–37).Google Scholar
Starke, Michal. 2002. The day syntax ate morphology. Class taught at the EGG summer school, Novi Sad.Google Scholar
. 2005. Nanosyntax. Seminar taught at CASTL, University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
. 2009. Nanosyntax: A short primer to a new approach to language. Nordlyd 1(36): 1–6.Google Scholar
. 2014. Towards an elegant solution to language variation: Variation reduces to the size of lexically stored trees. In Linguistic Variation in the Minimalist Framework, Carme M. Picalo (ed.), 140–153. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2018. Complex left branches, spellout, and prefixes. In Exploring Nanosyntax, Lena Baunaz, Karen De Clercq, Liliane Haegeman & Eric Lander (eds), 239–249. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Stowell, Tim. 2008. Where the past is in the perfect. In Tiempos compuestosy formas verbales complejas [Lingüistica Iberoamericana 34], Ángeles Carrasco Gutierrez (ed.), 103–118. Madrid & Frankfurt: Iboamericano & Vervuert. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sun, Honglin. 1996. Existence sentence composed by V+you . Chinese Teaching in the World 2 (孙宏林，1996，由“V+有”构成的存在句，《世界汉语教学》，第2期).Google Scholar
Sun, Jing. 2005. A Study on “You (有)+VP” Structure in Mandarin Chinese. MA thesis, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Tai, James H-Y. 1984. Verbs and times in Chinese: Vendler’s four categories. In Papers from the Parasession on Lexical Semantics, Chicago Linguistic Society, David Testen, Veena Mishra & Joseph Drogo (eds), 289–296. Chicago IL: CLS.Google Scholar
Vendler, Zeno. 1967. Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Dongmei. 2014. On assertion and description from shi, de, you and le . Zhongguo Yuwen 1: 22–34 (王冬梅，2014，从“是”和“的”、“有”和“了”看肯定和叙述，《中国语文》1：22–34).Google Scholar
Wang, Guoshuan & Ma, Qingzhu. 2008. The structure of “you + VP” (+le) in Putonghua. Nankai Yuyanxuekan 2: 87–91 (王国栓，马庆株，2008，普通话中走向对称的“有＋ＶＰ（＋了）”结构，《南开语言学刊》2：87–91).Google Scholar
Wang, Sen, Wang, Yi & Jiang, Li. 2006. On the constructions of youmeiyou/you/mei”you + VP” . Zhongguo Yuwen 1: 10–18 (王森，王毅，姜丽，2006，“有没有／有／没有＋ＶＰ”句，《中国语文》1：10–18).Google Scholar
Wang, Shuying. 2007. You-wu sentence in Minnan dialect. Journal of Minjiang College 4:34–38 (王树瑛，2007，闽南方言中的“有-无”句，《闽江学院学报》（4）：34–38).Google Scholar
Wen, Suolin. 2012. You (有) as an informational focus marker in the construction of ‘you + quantative phrase’. Studies of the Chinese Language 1: 29–37 (温锁林，2012，“有+数量结构”中“有”的自然焦点凸显功能，《中国语文》1：29–37).Google Scholar
Xiang, Mengbing. 1997. Liancheng Hakkahua Yufa Yanjiu. Beijing: Yuwen Chubanshe (项梦冰，1997，《连城客家话语法研究》，语文出版社).Google Scholar
Xing, Fuyi. 1990. Youmeiyou VP question sentence. Journal of Huazhong Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences) 1: 83–87 (邢福义，1990，“有没有ＶＰ”疑问句式，《华中师范大学学报（人文社会科学版）》1：83–87).Google Scholar
Xiong, Zhongru. 2016. A syntactic analysis of degree construction with you in Chinese. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies 4: 46–55 (熊仲儒，2016，汉语量度有字句的句法分析，《语言教学与研究》4：46–55).Google Scholar
Xu, Baohua & Gongtian, Yilang. 1999. Chinese Dialect Dictionary. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company (许宝华，宫田一郎，1999，《汉语方言大词典》，中华书局).Google Scholar
Yang, Wenquan & Dong, Yuwen. 2003. Language change: On Chinese “you + VP” . Yuwen Jianshe Tongxun 75 (杨文全，董于雯，2003，语言变异：汉语“有＋ＶＰ”句简析，《语文建设通讯》75).Google Scholar
Yan, Yiming. 2000. Zhenan Ou Language. Sjanghai: Huadong Normal University Press (颜逸明，2000，《浙南瓯语》，华东师范大学出版社).Google Scholar
Zhai, Aitang. 1988. On the morphology of Sino-Tibetan languages. Minority Language of China 4 (翟霭堂，1988，论汉藏语言的形态，《民族语文》，第4期).Google Scholar
Zhang, Bin. 2005. Ten Talks on Modern Chinese Grammar. Sjanghai: Fudan University Press (张斌，2005，《现代汉语语法十讲》，复旦大学出版社).Google Scholar
Zhang, Zhenxing. 1983. Taiwan Minnan Fangyan Jilue. Taibei: Wenshizhe Press (张振兴，1983，《台湾闽南方言记略》，台北：文史哲出版社).Google Scholar
Zheng, Yide. 1985. You-Sentence in Fuzhou Dialect, Dialects 4: 309–313 (郑懿德，1985，福州方言的“有”字句，《方言》4：309–313).Google Scholar
Zhou, Changji. 1998. Xiamen Dialect Dictionary. Nanjing: Jiangsu Education Press (周长楫，1998，《厦门方言词典》，江苏教育出版社).Google Scholar
Zhu, Xiaohong. 2004. A new view on “you + VP” structure. Journal of Language and Literature Studies 11: 102–103 (祝晓宏，2004，“有＋VP”结构新探，《语文学刊》，第 11期102–103).Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Li, Fuqiang
2024. 词汇多义性和句法连续性. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.