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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. 357–394

Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection

| Kasisto AI

This article examines a range of data involving non-canonical objects in Mandarin mono- and di-transitive sentences. It argues that these represent applied object constructions, in which an oblique argument is “promoted” to the status of a direct object. The core theoretical apparatus employed is that of Larson (2014), which recasts θ-roles as formal syntactic θ-features and θ-role assignment as θ-feature agreement and provides a general account of structure projection and argument inversions like those involved with applied objects. We show that this approach can bring together a wide range of constructions in Mandarin. We conclude with a discussion of these results for the broader understanding of selection. Mandarin non-canonical objects strongly suggest a purely syntactic approach to selection, rather than the semantic approach which is more typically assumed.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Oblique arguments in Mandarin
    • 2.1Monotransitives with circumstantial roles
    • 2.2Monotransitives with possessive roles
    • 2.3Ditransitives
  • 3.Projection via θ-features
    • 3.1θ-roles as formal features
    • 3.2More on syntactic features (Pesetsky and Torrego 2007)
    • 3.3Further refinements
    • 3.4Argument inversion
      • 3.4.1Movement and minimality
      • 3.4.2“Transitive Agreement”
  • 4.Mandarin oblique arguments as applied objects
    • 4.1Monotransitives with canonical subjects and objects
    • 4.2Monotransitives with canonical subjects and circumstantial objects
    • 4.3Monotransitives with circumstantial subjects and objects
    • 4.4Ditransitives
      • 4.4.1PP Datives
      • 4.4.2Double object constructions
      • 4.4.3Preverbal datives
    • 4.5Monotransitives with possesor subjects and possessum objects
  • 5.Syntax, semantics and selection
    • 5.1Selection as semantic
    • 5.2Selection as syntactic
    • 5.3Cross-linguistic variation in selection
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.13lar
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