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Part of
New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax: Studies in honor of Yen-Hui Audrey Li
Edited by Andrew Simpson
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 272] 2022
► pp. 133–162

SVCs in disguise

The so-called “directional verb compounds” in Mandarin Chinese

| Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l’Asie orientale (CRLAO)Paris
The so-called directional verb compounds or directional constructions in Mandarin Chinese, ‘V1displacement V2direction lái (come)/ qù (go)’, e.g. bān chū lái ‘transport exit come’ = ‘bring out (towards the speaker)’ are not compounds, but genuine object sharing serial verb constructions in Collins’ (1997) sense. The different positions of the shared internal argument are derived by raising one, two or three verbs to v, each verb adjoining to v as closely as possible (tucking in à la Richards 1997), thus maintaining the relative order between the verbs (cf. Collins 2002). This analysis automatically predicts that the internal argument must follow the verb (sequence) bearing the aspectual suffix, a correlation left unexplained in previous works.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Clearing the ground
    • 2.1Three verb classes
    • 2.2SVCs: Complex and simple: Vdisplacement (Vdirectional) lái/qù ‘come/go’
    • 2.3“Directional verb compounds” not to be analysed as SVCs
      • 2.3.1‘Vdirectional + locative NP + lái ‘come’/qù ‘go’
      • 2.3.2Locative nouns as objects in “directional verb compounds”
      • 2.3.3“Directional verb compounds” without lái ‘come’ or qù ‘go’
    • 2.4Interim summary
  • 3.Internal argument sharing SVCs (Collins 1997, 2002)
    • 3.2Previous proposals – a short overview
  • 4.Aktionsart differences between adjacent and non-adjacent orders in SVCs
  • 5.Constraints on the position of definite object DPs in SVCs
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.05pau
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