Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection
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
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Acknowledgments
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Notes
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References