Resultative verb constructions RVCs (hereafter) are a special type of serial verb construction in Mandarin Chinese, in which the verbs hold an action-result relation. On the one hand, they behave like compounds, e.g., the verbs can be questioned as a single verb but cannot be separately modified, and no NP can possibly intervene. On the other hand, they also behave like phrases, i.e, for some types, the verbs can be split by an NP and can be separately modified. There has been controversy about the best way to analyze RVCs. There are two general positions: the pre-lexical syntactic approach and the pre-syntactic lexical approach. The former holds that resultative verb constructions are a syntactic phenomenon which can be derived by transformational rules. The latter, claims that RVCs are best considered a lexical phenomenon, i.e., verb compounds.This dissertation argues that neither approach sufficiently accounts for this phenomenon, in that both only shift the problem from one level of linguistic description to another. I propose a linguistic prototype analysis in which RVCs are seen as conventionalized serial verb constructions. I argue that the properties of the prototype and the conventionalized serial verb construction are subject to constraints in three areas: the semantic and syntactic dependency of the verbs, iconicity, and clause linkage. Through the analysis of the syntactic, semantic, and phonological behavior of various types of serial verb constructions, it is shown that serial verb constructions are on a structural continuum, i.e., from syntax to lexicon. RVCs are seen as close to the lexicalization end on the continuum.This dissertation shows the interplay of syntax, semantics, and phonology in the processes of syntactization and morphologization in Mandarin. It not only helps account for serial verb constructions but also has implications for other serial type phenomena on the word level, such as compounding and incorporation in Mandarin. / Department of English

Deng, Xiangjun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-184). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.vi / List of Tables --- p.ix / List of Figures --- p.x / Abbreviations --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Resultatives and the resultative verb compound in Mandarin --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Compositionality and event structure --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Compositionality --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Event structure --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Linguistic representation of the Mandarin RVC --- p.10 / Chapter 1.4 --- Issues of language acquisition --- p.11 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- Acquisition of the resultatives and complex morphological forms --- p.11 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- Issues addressed by previous studies on the acquisition of Mandarin RVCs --- p.14 / Chapter 1.5 --- Objectives of the present study --- p.16 / Chapter 1.6 --- Organization of the thesis --- p.18 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- The Resultative Verb Compound in Mandarin and Acquisition Issues --- p.20 / Chapter 2.1 --- RVC typology --- p.20 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- The result-state RVC --- p.23 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- The directional RVC --- p.24 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- The completive RVC --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2 --- The lexicalist approach to the RVC --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- The syntactic vs. lexicalist approaches --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- In defense of the lexicalist analysis of RVCs --- p.37 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Lexical formation rules and acquisition --- p.46 / Chapter 2.3 --- Compositionality and event structure --- p.48 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Compositionality --- p.48 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- "Event structure, aspect and headedness" --- p.55 / Chapter 2.4 --- Issues in the acquisition of Mandarin RVC --- p.68 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Rule-based vs. usage-based learning --- p.68 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Event structure and aspect --- p.73 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Predictions --- p.76 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- RVCs in the Naturalistic Speech of Two Mandarin-speaking Children --- p.78 / Chapter 3.1 --- Methodology --- p.78 / Chapter 3.2 --- Overview of the results --- p.83 / Chapter 3.3 --- Types of RVCs used by children --- p.84 / Chapter 3.4 --- Compositionality --- p.89 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- ZTX's data --- p.90 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- CY's data --- p.95 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Discussion --- p.98 / Chapter 3.5 --- Event structure and aspect --- p.109 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Children's use of aspect markers --- p.109 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Children's use of the RVC with le --- p.113 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- V1-only uses --- p.120 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Children's Comprehension and Production of Novel RVCs --- p.124 / Chapter 4.1 --- Methodology --- p.124 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Rationale --- p.124 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Subjects --- p.125 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Materials --- p.126 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- Testing procedure --- p.130 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- Data analysis --- p.135 / Chapter 4.2 --- Experimental results --- p.138 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Child performance on novel RVCs --- p.138 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Adult performance on novel RVCs --- p.140 / Chapter 4.3 --- Error analysis --- p.142 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Errors in children's comprehension and use of RVCs --- p.142 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Errors in adults' comprehension and use of RVCs --- p.145 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary of findings --- p.147 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussion and Conclusions --- p.152 / Chapter 5.1 --- "Children's use of RVCs: productivity, compositionality and event structure" --- p.152 / Chapter 5.2 --- Theoretical implications --- p.155 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The lexicalist vs. syntactic approaches --- p.155 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- The rule-based vs. usage-based accounts --- p.156 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Compositionality and event structure --- p.160 / Chapter 5.3 --- Conclusions --- p.162 / Appendices --- p.166 / Appendix 1 Subjects of the experiment --- p.166 / Appendix 2 Test items in the experiment --- p.168 / Appendix 3 Compositional and non-compositional RVCs used by children --- p.171 / References --- p.179

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study investigated the neural bases underlying representation of nouns and verbs at the semantic, lexical form, and morpho-syntactic levels in Mandarin Chinese, a language with little inflectional morphology. Compared with other studies employing European languages with rich inflections, examination of Chinese would allow the separation of conceptual and morpho-syntactic operations based on different stimulus formats and experimental paradigms. To deal with both the theoretical and design issues in previous studies, several additional measures were taken. First, at each cognitive level, two experiments, one receptive and one expressive, were conducted. Moreover, convergence across experiments at the same cognitive level was computed in order to search for taskindependent grammatical class effects. Second, both concrete and abstract nouns and verbs were included, and conjunction analyses across the two concreteness levels were employed to ensure the generalizability of the findings to all nouns and verbs. Results revealed greater activation for verbs in the left posterior lateral temporal gyri in experiments at both semantic and morpho-syntactic levels, and stronger responses in the prefrontal cortex, including left BA47 and the supplementary motor area, only for morpho-syntactic processing associated with nominal grammatical morphemes, namely, classifiers. No differential levels of activation for nouns and verbs were observed in tasks emphasizing word form representation. While greater activation for processing of nominal classifiers in prefrontal areas may reflect differences in computational complexity associated with selection of grammatical morphemes, the involvement of left posterior lateral temporal cortex has been interpreted as reflecting semantic processing of verbs. The nature of processes represented in each of these regions was further discussed with findings from previous relevant studies. Finally, future studies are proposed for further exploration into the neural mechanisms underlying presentation of nouns and verbs using more recently developed methods of analyses. / published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Xiao, Wen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-114). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

黃坤堯. / 手稿本, 複本影印手稿本. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院中國語文學部. / Shou gao ben, fu ben ying yin shou gao ben. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 534-559). / Huang Kunyao. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan Zhongguo yu wen xue bu. / Chapter 第一章 --- 前言 --- p.5 / Chapter 第二章 --- 前人研究異讀的檢討 --- p.16 / Chapter 第一節 --- 古代的異讀研究 --- p.16 / Chapter j --- 《經典釋文》及其在訓詁學上承先啟後的學術地位 --- p.16 / Chapter k --- 《群經音辨》對異讀的綜合研究　 --- p.28 / Chapter l --- 宋元明清有關異讀的研究情況　 --- p.39 / Chapter 第二節 --- 當代的異讀研究 --- p.52 / Chapter j --- 西方語言學理論的影響　 --- p.52 / Chapter k --- 周祖謨、嚴學宭注意漢讀 --- p.59 / Chapter l --- 王力、Downer論詞的派生　 --- p.69 / Chapter m --- 周法高論音變　　　 --- p.80 / Chapter 第三節 --- 本文的研究方向 --- p.92 / Chapter 第三章 --- 《釋文》異讀的內容 --- p.100 / Chapter 第一節 --- 《序錄》所見的分類　 --- p.100 / Chapter j --- 意義相同 --- p.102 / Chapter k --- 區別兩字兩義或假借 --- p.105 / Chapter l --- 區別動詞和名詞 --- p.112 / Chapter m --- 虛詞異讀 --- p.118 / Chapter 第二節 --- 動詞異讀　 --- p.124 / Chapter 第四章 --- 《釋文》動詞異讀的分類研究　 --- p.151 / Chapter 第一節 --- 自敗敗他類：敗、壞、沈、解 --- p.156 / 〔辯證〕：折、斷　 --- p.185 / Chapter 第二節 --- 動詞是否後帶名詞類：雨、語、禁、足、昭（炤） --- p.189 / Chapter 第三節 --- 表示動作有目的或方向類：射、刺、走、趨　 --- p.211 / Chapter 第四節 --- 治國國治類：治、解、聞、繫　 --- p.229 / Chapter 第五節 --- 染人漁人類：染、漁、縫、凌 --- p.256 / 〔辯證〕：管（館） --- p.268 / Chapter 第六節 --- 相見請見類：見、告、觀、視（示） --- p.272 / Chapter 第七節 --- 區別致使類：食、飲、啖（啗）、趣　 --- p.298 / 〔辯證〕：出、去　 --- p.314 / Chapter 第八節 --- 區別動作方向類：借、假、藉、貸、乞、稟、學 --- p.321 / 〔辯證〕：糴糶、匄 --- p.346 / Chapter 第九節 --- 區別上下尊卑類：養、仰、風　 --- p.349 / Chapter 第十節 --- 形容詞好惡遠近類：好、惡、遠、近、先、後、前、難　 --- p.362 / 〔辯證〕：卑、空、善（繕）、齊、和、調、遲、陰 --- p.410 / Chapter 第十一節 --- 形容詞高深長廣厚類：高、深、長、廣、厚 --- p.420 / Chapter 第十二節 --- 勞苦勞之類：勞、從 --- p.442 / 〔辯證〕：聽、張 --- p.456 / Chapter 第十三節 --- 勞來供養類：來、供、毀　　 --- p.464 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結論 --- p.478 / Chapter 第一節 --- 動詞異讀統計表及有關說明 --- p.478 / Chapter 第二節 --- 陸德明對動詞的認識難與現代語法範疇吻合　　 --- p.488 / Chapter 第三節 --- 陸德明推廣異讀的目的 --- p.499 / 注釋 --- p.504 / 附錄：主要參考書目

by Tan Lee Yong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-157). / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- The Aspectual Properties of Motion Verbs / Chapter 2.0 --- Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- The classification of verbs in English with regard to aspectual properties --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- The classification of verbs in Chinese with regard to aspectual properties / Chapter 2.3 --- The aspectual properties of motion verbs --- p.26 / Chapter 2.4 --- Conclusion --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter Three --- The Ergativity of Motion Verbs / Chapter 3.0 --- Introduction --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1 --- What is ergativity? --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2 --- The semantic approach to ergativity --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3 --- The syntactic approach to ergativity --- p.46 / Chapter 3.4 --- The syntactic-semantic approach to ergativity --- p.49 / Chapter 3.5 --- The ergativity of motion verbs --- p.60 / Chapter 3.6 --- The interrelationship of ergativity and aspectuality of motion verbs --- p.66 / Chapter 3.7 --- Ergativity in Chinese --- p.78 / Chapter 3.8 --- Conclusion --- p.91 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Lexicalization Patterns of Motion Verbs / Chapter 4.0 --- Introduction --- p.94 / Chapter 4.1 --- What are lexicalization patterns? --- p.96 / Chapter 4.2 --- More on the properties of motion verbs --- p.97 / Chapter 4.3 --- Lexicalization patterns of motion verbs: a crosslinguistic review --- p.100 / Chapter 4.4 --- Lexicalization patterns of motion verbs in English --- p.112 / Chapter 4.5 --- Lexicalization patterns of motion verbs in Chinese --- p.121 / Chapter 4.6 --- Conclusion --- p.135 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Summary and Conclusion --- p.136 / Notes --- p.145 / References --- p.148 / Appendix 1 A comprehensive list of motion verbs in English --- p.158 / Appendix 2 A comprehensive list of motion verbs (roots only) in Chinese --- p.160

This dissertation is an exploration of Chinese middle constructions, which starts with distinguishing the middle construction from the middle voice, considering that these two terms have long been used interchangeably with different connotations. Consequently, middle data presented in the literature vary tremendously, both intra-linguistically and inter-linguistically. In order to delineate a clear boundary for the middle construction, this study defines it as a generic semantic category with the obligatory non-realization of a verb’s highest argument. By contrast, the middle voice is a morphological category with various syntactic and semantic features. Starting from the working definition arrived at, the study identifies several middle constructions, viz., the qilai middle, the hao middle, the rongyi/nan middle, the de middle (and the te middles in Chengdu Chinese), the bu middle and transitive middles. Most of these middle constructions come with middle markers, though these are both morphologically and syntactically diversified. In the case of transitive middles, middle formation depends on an idiosyncratic argument realization of a small group of verbs and does not include markers. In this sense, the presence of middle markers is not a design feature of Chinese middles. Moreover, the occurrence of the identified middle markers does not necessarily lead to a middle analysis, because they can also mark other constructions, e.g., the qilai unaccusative construction, the rongyi/nan tough construction, and the de-resultative unaccusative construction. Syntax-wise, Chinese middles can have both complex predicates (e.g., [V-qilai AP] and [rongyi/nan V]) and simple predicates (e.g., hao-V, V-de-A, V-bu-A, V-te-A, V-te), both of which are proved to be unergative in nature. Consequently, these middle constructions are collectively termed “unergative middles”, which stand in contrast with “transitive middles” in terms of transitivity. However, “unergative middles” and “transitive middles” share one property: they do not involve any movement mechanisms. Therefore, both of them are subsumed under the rubric of “lexical middles”, which in addition exhibit the cross-linguistic lexical middle properties proposed by both Marelj (2004) and Lekakou (2005). This study is the first to adopt a parametric approach to Chinese middle constructions. It adds Chinese to languages like English, Dutch and German on the list of lexical middle languages, to be distinguished from syntactic middle languages like French, Italian, Portuguese, and Serbian/Croatian. / published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Chinese

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Chinese