Article published in:
Causation, Permission, and Transfer: Argument realisation in GET, TAKE, PUT, GIVE and LET verbs
Edited by Brian Nolan, Gudrun Rawoens and Elke Diedrichsen
[Studies in Language Companion Series 167] 2015
► pp. 177–193

Ditransitive constructions in Gan Chinese

A case study of the Yichun dialect

| Zhejiang University, P.R. China
This paper studies ditransitive constructions in Gan Chinese, one of the seven main Chinese language families. Gan dialects have the ‘inverted’ double object construction, as schematized in the order of “verb-DO-IO” (DO stands for direct object and IO for indirect object), as contrasted with the ‘canonical’ double object construction in Mandarin, such as “verb-IO-DO”. According to Zhang (2010), there is no GIVE verb in Gan dialects and they use verbs like take, hold, and obtain in ditransitive constructions instead. On the basis of Zhang, we claim that ditransitives in Gan are often realized by the serial verb construction of V-DO-Directional-IO and that its inverted double object construction is derived from this sequence by deleting a directional element. We diverge from Zhang in claiming that these TAKE-HOLD verbs have developed into three-place predicates, which can be considered as genuine general-purpose GIVE verbs in Gan.
Published online: 14 January 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.167.06li
References

References

Baker, Mark C.
1988 Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing. Chicago IL: the University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa, Huang, James, Li, Audrey & Tang, Jane
1999 Hoo Hoo Hoo in Taiwanese. In Contemporary Studies on the Min Dialects[Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series 14], Pang-Hsin Ting (ed.), 146–203. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Chin, Andy
2010 Two types of indirect object marker in Chinese: Their typological significance and development. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 38(1): 1–25.Google Scholar
Feng, Shengli
2003 Prosodically constrained postverbal PPs in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics 46: 1085–1122.Google Scholar
Hashimoto, Mantaro
1976 Language diffusion on the Asian continent: Problems of typological diversity in Sino-Tibetan. Computational Analyses of Asian and African Languages 3: 49–65.Google Scholar
Lee, Hui-Chi
2011 Double object construction in Hainan Min. Language and Linguistics 12(3): 501–527.Google Scholar
Li, Y.-H. Audrey
1990 Order and Constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Dordrecht: Kluwer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Su-E.
2008 Hanyu nanfang fangyan daozhi shuangbin jiegou chutan (A study on inverted double object construction in southern Chinese dialects). Yuyan Kexue 7(3): 308–319.Google Scholar
Liu, Danqing
2001 Hanyu geiyulei shuangjiwu jiegou de leixingxue kaocha (A typological investigation of GIVE ditranstives in Chinese). Zhongguo Yuwen 5: 387–398.Google Scholar
Malchukov, Andrej L., Haspelmath, Martin & Comrie, Bernard
2010 Ditransitive construction: A typological overview. In Studies in Ditransitive Constructions: A Comparative Handbook, Andrej L. Malchukov, Martin Haspelmath & Bernard Comrie (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Margetts, Anna & Austin, Peter K.
2007 Three participant events in the languages of the world: Towards a crosslinguistic typology. Linguistics 45(3): 393–451. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paul, Waltraud & Whitman, John
2010 Applicative structure and Mandarin ditransitives. In Argument Structure and Syntactic Relations. A Cross-linguistic Perspective [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 158], Maia Duguine, Susana Huidobro & Nerea Madariaga (eds), 261–282. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Peyraube, Alain
1981 The dative construction in Cantonese. Computational Analysis of Asian and African Languages 16: 29–65.Google Scholar
Qiao, Yannong
1966 Guangzhouhua kouyuci de yanjiu (Study on in colloquial words Cantonese). Hong Kong: Overseas Chinese Press.Google Scholar
Tang, C.-C. Jane
1990 Chinese Phrase Structure and the extended X-bar Theory. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.
Takashima, Ken-ichi & Yue, Anne
2000 Evidence of possible dialect mixture in oracle-bone inscriptions. In In Memory of Li Fang-Kuei: Essays on Linguistic Change and the Chinese Dialects, Pang Hsin Ting & Anne O. Yue (eds), 1–52. Seattle & Taipei: University of Washington & Institute Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Tang, Sze-Wing
1998 On the ‘inverted’ double object construction. In Studies in Cantonese Linguistics, Stephen Matthews (ed.), 35–52. Hong Kong: The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
2003 A Parametric Theory of Chinese Dialectal Grammar. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
Xu, Liejiong & Peyraube, Alain
1997 On the double object construction and the oblique construction in Cantonese. Studies in Language 21(1): 105–127. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yichun Shizhi
1990 Gazetteer of the Yichun County. Hainan: Nanhai Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Yue-Hashimoto, Anne
1993 Comparative Chinese Dialectal Grammar. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.Google Scholar
Zhang, Min
2010 Hanyu fangyan jiwuxing jiegou nanbei chayi de chengyin: leixingxue jianjiu yingfa de xinwenti (Revisiting the alignment typology of ditransitive constructions in Chinese dialects). Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 4(2): 87–270.Google Scholar