Cover not available
Article published In:
Language and Linguistics
Vol. 18:1 (2017) ► pp.141–176

Fake attributives in Chinese

A prosodic grammar perspective

|

Fake attributives in Chinese are the result of the interaction between syntax and prosody. For syntactic reasons, certain objects of complex verbal constructions and verbal quantifiers cannot be realized in situ; but they can be spelled out in some roundabout ways, one of which is to form fake attributives through de-insertion. In the forming process of fake attributives, the clitic de plays an important role, and de-insertion is frequently resorted to in facilitating the correspondence between the phonological structure and the syntactic structure, with the aim of ensuring meaning conveyance. It is concluded that fake attributives are initiated, to some extent, by mismatches between syntactic and phonological structure and derived when de is inserted to enhance their correspondence.

Keywords: fake attributive, prosodic grammar, interface, mapping, de
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies on fake attributives
    • 2.1Huang’s account
    • 2.2Tang’s account
    • 2.3Liu’s account
    • 2.4Cheng et al.’s account
    • 2.5Some inspirations drawn from previous studies
  • 3.Theoretical framework of the present study
  • 4.The formation of fake attributives
    • 4.1.Syntactic motivation for the formation of fake attributives
    • 4.2The nature of de
      • 4.2.1 De as a boundary marker
      • 4.2.2 De as a clitic
    • 4.3Derivation of fake attributives
    • 4.4Occurrence of de: further discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 12 January 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.18.1.05zhu
References
Ackema, Peter
1999 Issues in Morphosyntax. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Avrutin, Sergey
1999 Development of the Syntax-Discourse Interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Mark C.
1988 Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Casielles-Suárez, Eugenia
2004 The Syntax-Information Structure Interface: Evidence from Spanish and English. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chao, Yuen-Ren
1968 A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Chen, Guohua
2009 Cong ‘de’ kan zhongxinyu gouzao yu zhongxinuyu de cilei [Centre construction and the word class of its centre: an analysis of zhe ben shu de chuban]. Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research] 41.2:92–98.Google Scholar
Chen, Qiongzan
1955 Xiushiyu he mingci zhijian de ‘de’ zi de yanjiu [An investigation of de between modifier and noun]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 101:22–27.Google Scholar
Cheng, Gong
1999 Yuyan Gongxing Lun [ Linguistic Universalism]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, Gong, Jianguo Xiong, & Guanglei Zhou
2015 Fenbushi xintaixue kuangjia xia de hanyu zhun dingyu ju yanjiu [A distributed morphology-based approach to clauses with quasi-attributives in Chinese]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 14.3:225–236.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen
2007 Verb copying in Mandarin Chinese. The Copy Theory of Movement, ed. by Norbert Corver & Jairo Nunes, 151–174. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheng, Lisa L.-S., & Rint Sybesma
2009 De as an underspecified classifier: first explorations. Yuyanxue Luncong [Essays on Linguistics] 391:123–156.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
1995 The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam, & Morris Halle
1968 The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
de Vries, Mark
2002 The Syntax of Relativization. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
Elordieta, Gorka
1997 Morphosyntactic Feature Chains and Phonological Domains. Los Angeles: University of Southern California dissertation.Google Scholar
Erteschik-Shir, Nomi
2007 Information Structure: The Syntax-Discourse Interface. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Feng, Shengli
1996 Lun Hanyu de ‘yunlüci’ [On prosodic words in Chinese]. Zhongguo Shehui Kexue [Social Sciences in China] 1996.11:161–176.Google Scholar
1997 Hanyu de Yunlü, Cifa yu Jufa [Interactions between Prosody, Morphology, and Syntax in Chinese]. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
1998 Lun Hanyu de ‘ziran yinbu’ [On natural foot in Modern Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 1998.11:40–47.Google Scholar
2000 Hanyu Yunlü Jufaxue [Prosodic Syntax in Chinese]. Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Press.Google Scholar
2001 Cong yunlü kan Hanyu ‘ci’ ‘yu’ fenliu zhi dajie [Prosodically determined distinction between word and phrases in Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2001.11:27–37.Google Scholar
2004 Dong bin daozhi yu yunlü goucifa [Verb-object inversion and prosodic morphology]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 3.3:12–20.Google Scholar
Frascarelli, Mara
2000 The Syntax-Phonology Interface in Focus and Topic Constructions in Italian. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Bruce
1989 The prosodic hierarchy in meter. Phonetics and Phonology: Rhythm and Meter, Vol. 11, ed. by Paul Kiparsky & Gilbert Youmans, 201–260. Orlando: Academic Press.Google Scholar
He, Yuan-jian, & Ling-ling Wang
2007 Lun hanyu zhong de mingwuhua jiegou [On nominalization in Chinese]. Hanyu Xuexi [Chinese Language Learning] 2007.11:13–24.Google Scholar
Hong, Zhou
1999 Cognate objects in Chinese. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 171:263–284.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James
1982 Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
1991 Verb movement, (in) definiteness, and the thematic hierarchy. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics, ed. by Paul Jen-kuei Li, Chu-Ren Huang & Ying-chin Lin, 481–498. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
1994 Verb movement and some syntax-semantics mismatches in Chinese. Chinese Languages and Linguistics 21:587–613.Google Scholar
1997 On lexical structure and syntactic projection. Chinese Languages and Linguistics 31:45–89.Google Scholar
2008 Cong ‘ta de laoshi dang de hao’ tanqi [On ta de laoshi dang-de hao and related problems]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 7.31:225–241.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James., Yen-Hui Audrey Li, & Yafei Li
2009 The Syntax of Chinese. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, Guoying
1982 ‘De’ zi de jufa, yuyi gongneng [On the syntactic and semantic functions of de]. Yuyan Yanjiu [Studies in Language and Linguistics] 11:101–129.Google Scholar
Huang, Yan
1994 The Syntax and Pragmatics of Anaphora: A Study with Special Reference to Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Inkelas, Sharon, & Draga Zec
1990 The Phonology-Syntax Connection. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
1995 Syntax-phonology interface. The Handbook of Phonological Theory, ed. by John Goldsmith, 535–549. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray
2009 Compounding in the parallel architecture and conceptual semantics. The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, ed. by Rochelle Lieber & Pavol Stekauer, 105–128. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kanerva, Jonni M.
1990 Focusing on phonological phrases in Chichewa. The Phonology-Syntax Connection, ed. by Sharon Inkelas & Draga Zec, 145–161. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kenesei, István, & Irene Vogel
1995 Focus and Phonological Structure. Newark: University of Delaware. Available at [URL] (accessed 10 October 2014).Google Scholar
Li, Charles N., & Sandra A. Thompson
1976 Subject and topic: a new typology of language. Subject and Topic, ed. by Charles N. Li, 457–489. London & New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
1981 Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei
2005 X0: A Theory of the Morphology-Syntax Interface. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yen-Hui Audrey
2008 Duanyu jiegou yu yulei biaoji: ‘de’ shi zhongxinci? [Phrase structures and categorial labeling: de as a head?]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 10.2:97–108.Google Scholar
2013 P-insertion and ellipsis. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 34.2:99–128.Google Scholar
Li, Jinxi
1924 Xinzhu Guoyu Wenfa [New Grammar of the Chinese National Language]. Shanghai: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Liu, Lijin
2009 Yetan “NP1 de NP2 + V de R” de shengcheng [The derivation of “NP1 de NP2 + V DE R” reexplored]. Waiguoyu (Shanghai Waiguoyu Daxue Xuebao) [Journal of Foreign Languages] 32.3:44–51.Google Scholar
Liu, Zhenqian, & Huibin Zhuang
2011 ‘Ta de lao shi dang DE hao’ ji xiangguan jushi: hanyu weidingyu de chansheng jizhi wenti bianzheng [On ta de laoshi dang-de hao and related constructions: mechanism of fake attributives in Chinese]. Dangdai Waiyu Yanjiu [Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies] 2011.71:7–12.Google Scholar
Lu, Jianming
2003 Dui ‘NP de VP’ jiegou de chongxin renshi [A new approach to analysis on the Chinese ‘NP de VP’ construction]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2003.51:387–391.Google Scholar
Lü, Shuxiang
1965 Yuwen zhaji [A note on Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 1965.41:287–292.Google Scholar
Nespor, Marina
1993 Fonologia. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Nespor, Marina, & Irene Vogel
1983 Prosodic structure above the word. Prosody: Models and Measurements, ed. by Anne Cutler & D. Robert Ladd, 123–140. Berlin: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 Prosodic Phonology: With A New Foreword. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ning, Chunyan
1996  De as a functional head in Chinese. UCI Working Papers in Linguistics 1, ed. by B. Agbayani, K. Takeda & Sze-Wing Tang, 63–69. Irvine: University of California at Irvine.Google Scholar
Pan, Haihua, & Jingquan Han
2005 Xianxing feibinge dongci jiegou de jufa yanjiu [The syntax of surface unaccusative constructions]. Yuyan Yanjiu [Studies in Language and Linguistics] 25.3:1–13.Google Scholar
Pan, Haihua, & Jianhua Hu
2008 A semantic-pragmatic interface account of (dangling) topics in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics 40.11:1966–1981. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pullum, Geoffrey K., & Arnold M. Zwicky
1988 The syntax-phonology interface. Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey (Volume I1), ed. by Frederick J. Newmeyer, 255–280. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Radford, Andrew
1997 Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ren, Ying
2008 ‘Zhebenshu de chuban’ fenxi zhong de jige yidian: cong ‘zhebenshu de chuban’ yu xiangxin jiegou lilun nanti shuo qi [Fresh queries about the word class of chuban in the phrase zhe ben shu de chuban]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 2008.41:320–328.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi
1997 The fine structure of the left periphery. Elements of Grammar, ed. by Liliane Haegeman, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 On the position ‘int(errogative)’ in the left periphery of the clause. Current Issue in Italian Syntax, ed. by Guglielmo Cinque & Giampaolo Salvi, 287–296. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
2004 Locality and left periphery. Structures and Beyond: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol1. 31, ed. by Adriana Belletti, 223–251. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elisabeth
1984 Phonology and Syntax: The Relation Between Sound and Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
1986 On derived domains in sentence phonology. Phonology 3.1:371–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 The syntax-phonology interface. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, ed. by Neil J. Smelser & Paul B. Baltes, 15407–15412. Oxford: Pergamon. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shen, Jiaxuan
2007 Ye tan ‘ta de laoshi dang de hao’ ji xiangguan jushi [Revisiting ta de laoshi dang de hao and related problems]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 91:1–12.Google Scholar
2012 ‘Ling ju’ he ‘liushui ju’ — wei Zhao Yuanren xiansheng danchen 120 zhounian er zuo [On minor sentences and flowing sentences in Chinese: in commemoration of the 120th birthday of Yuen Ren Chao]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2012.51:403–415.Google Scholar
Shi, Dingxu
2009 Wuding daici yu duli ‘de’ zi jiegou [Indefinite pronouns and independent de construction]. Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research] 41.2:83–91.Google Scholar
Shi, Yuzhi
2001 Hanyu de zhuyu yu huati zhi bian [The distinction between subject and topic in Chinese]. Yuyan Yanjiu [Studies in Language and Linguistics] 2001.21:82–91.Google Scholar
Si, Fuzhen
2002 Hanyu de biaojuci ‘de’ ji xiangguan de jufa wenti [On the Chinese complementizer de and some related syntactic problems] Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies] 2002.21:35–40.Google Scholar
2004 Zhongxinyu lilun he hanyu de DeP [Head theory and DeP in Chinese]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 6.1:26–34.Google Scholar
2006 Zhongxinyu lilun he Bulongfeierde nanti [The head theory and the Bloomfieldian puzzle]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 8.1:60–70.Google Scholar
Simpson, Andrew
2002 On the status of modifying De and the structure of the Chinese DP . On the Formal Way to Chinese Language, ed. by Sze-Wing Tang & Chen-sheng Liu, 74–101. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Spencer, Andrew
1991 Morphological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tang, Chih-Chen Jane
1990 Chinese Phrase Structure and the Extended X-Bar Theory. Ithaca: Cornell University dissertation.Google Scholar
Tang, Sze-Wing
2008 Xingyi cuopei yu mingwuhua de canshu fenxi [On ‘syntax-semantics mismatches’ and a parametric analysis of nominalization]. Hanyu Xuebao [Chinese Linguistics] 2008.41:72–79.Google Scholar
2009 ‘Ta de laoshi dang de hao’ ji hanyu fangyan de mingwuhua [Ta-de laoshi dang-de hao and nominalization in Chinese dialects]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 8.3:239–247.Google Scholar
2010 ‘Xingyi cuopei’ yu hanying de chayi: zaitan ‘ta de lao shi dang de hao’ [Syntax-semantics mismatches and their variation in Chinese and English: Ta-de laoshi dang-de hao revisited]. Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies] 2010.31:51–56.Google Scholar
Tokizaki, Hisao
1999 Prosodic phrasing and bare phrase structure. Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 29, Vol. 11, ed. by P. N. Tamanji, M. Hirotani & N. Hall, 381–395. Amherst: University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
2005 Pause and hierarchical structure in sentence and discourse. Proceedings of the IDP05 International Symposium on Discourse-Prosody Interfaces, ed. by C. Auran, R. Bertrand, C. Chanet, A. Colas, A. Di Cristo, C. Portes, A. Reynier & M. Vion, 1–16. Aix-en-Provence: Universite de Provence. Available at [URL] (assessed 9 October 2014).Google Scholar
2007 Intrasentential prosody: conjunction, speech rate and sentence length. Nouveaux Cahiers de Linguistique Française 281:359–367.Google Scholar
Truckenbrodt, Hubert
2007 The syntax-phonology interface. The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology, ed. by Paul de Lacy, 435–456. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
1994 On Economizing the Theory of A-Bar Dependencies. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D., Jr
2005 Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vogel, Irene
2009 The status of the Clitic group. Phonological Domains: Universals and Deviations, ed. by Janet Grijzenhout & Bariş Kabak, 15–46. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Mao-lin
2005 Hanyu ziran huayu yunlü zukuai de youxuanlun fenxi [An OT analysis of the prosodic chunking of Chinese spontaneous speech]. Jinan Xuebao (Zhexue Shehui Kexue Ban) [Journal of Jinan University (Philosophy and Social Sciences)] 27.4:85–87.Google Scholar
Wu, Changan
2006 ‘Zhe ben shu de chuban’ yu xiangxin jiegou lilun nanti [Zhe ben shu de chuban: a challenge to Bloomfield’s theory of endocentric construction]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 8.3:193–204.Google Scholar
Wu, Gang
2000 Hanyu ‘de zi cizu’ de jufa yanjiu [The syntax of DeP in Chinese]. Xiandai Waiyu [Modern Foreign Languages] 23.1:1–12.Google Scholar
Wu, Huaicheng
2008 ‘Zhundingyu + N + V de R’ jushi de chansheng jizhi [On the creation mechanism of the sentence pattern ‘para-attribute + N + V DE R’]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences] 7.2:127–134.Google Scholar
Xiong, Zhongru
2005 Yi ‘de’ wei hexin de DP jiegou [A DP structure headed by de]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 7.2:148–165.Google Scholar
2008 Yuyin jiegou yu mingci duanyu neibu gongneng fanchou de jufa weizhi [Phonological structures and the syntactic positions of functional categories in the nominal phrases]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2008.61:523–534.Google Scholar
Yang, Da-ran
2008 Lingyou mingci duanyu fenlie yu hanyu huati jiegou [Possessor phrase splitting and topic constructions in Chinese]. Jiefangjun Waiguoyu Xueyuan Xuebao [Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages] 31.3:17–23.Google Scholar
Yang, Yongzhong
2008 ‘De’ de jufa diwei ji xiangguan lilun wenti [On the syntactic status of de and some related theoretical issues]. Hanyu Xuebao [Chinese Linguistics] 2008.31:51–63.Google Scholar
Zhang, Jing
1980 Xinbian Xiandai Hanyu [Grammar on Contemporary Chinese]. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.Google Scholar
Zhang, Nianwu
2006 ‘De zi cizu’ de jufa fenxi [A syntactic analysis of de-phrases]. Waiyu Xuekan [Foreign Language Research] 2006.2:71–76.Google Scholar
Zhou, Guoguang
2005 Dui ‘zhongxinyu lilun he hanyu de DeP’ yi wen de zhiyi [Head theory and DeP in Chinese revisited]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 7.2:139–147.Google Scholar
2006 Kuohao beilun ‘de-X’ de yugan: yi “de” wei hexin de jiegou’ yinan qiujie [Revisiting the de-X structure: the bracketing paradox and linguistic intuition]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 8.1:71–75.Google Scholar
Zhu, Dexi
1961 Shuo ‘de’ [On de]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 1961.121:1–15.Google Scholar
1982 Yufa Jiangyi [Lecture Notes on Grammar]. Bejing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Huibin
2014a Daiti binyu de jufa yuyi yunzhun wenti [On licensing oblique objects in Chinese]. Aomen Yuyan Xuekan [Macau Journal of Linguistics] 2014.21:116–128.Google Scholar
2014b Yunlü yufa shijiao xia ‘de’ de yinxian yuanze [The rule of occurrence of de: a perspective from prosodic grammar]. Yuyan Yanjiu [Studies in Language and Linguistics] 34.4:65–74.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Huibin, & Zhenqian Liu
2012 ‘De’ de yunlü yufa yanjiu [On de: a perspective in Chinese prosodic grammar]. Hanyu Xuexi [Chinese Language Learning] 2012. 31:34–42.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Huibin, Wenlei Shi, Meihua Wang, & Zhenqian Liu
2013 On DE: its nature and features. Chinese Lexical Semantics: 14th Workshop, ed. by Pengyuan Liu & Qi Su, 56–65. Heidelberg: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Hong, Yu-Siang, Chen-Yu Chiang, Yih-Ru Wang & Sin-Horng Chen
2022. 2022 25th Conference of the Oriental COCOSDA International Committee for the Co-ordination and Standardisation of Speech Databases and Assessment Techniques (O-COCOSDA), ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Hong, Yu-Siang, Chen-Yu Chiang, Yih-Ru Wang & Sin-Horng Chen
2023. An approach to constructing prosodic grammar for Mandarin read speech. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 153:4 ► pp. 2406 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 april 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.