Mandarin Serial Verbs

Deborah Cunningham & Stephen SelfAL 5406 – Phinnemore

6 February 2013

Grammar Assignment 4: Serial Verbs

1. Introduction

It is easy to find evidence of clusters of verbs sharing one or more arguments and acting as a single unit in Mandarin in such a way that could be characterized as ‘serial verb’ behavior. It is, unfortunately, far more challenging to find a coherent and widely agreed upon definition for what serial verb constructions (henceforth SVCs) actually are. For example, Li and Thompson (1989:595-621) include in the category ‘serial verbs’ everything from multi-verb constructions indicating temporal consecution, purpose, alternatives, and circumstance to control complements and descriptive clauses. For the purposes of this assignment, we shall adopt the “characteristic and diagnostic features of SVCs” defined in Kroeger (2004:229-230), including such properties as argument sharing with only one grammatical subject, no overt coordination or subordination, single event interpretation, word order iconicity, and only one specification for tense, aspect, and modality. Our purpose, however, is not to provide detailed syntactic evidence in defense of every decision to designate given constructions in Mandarin as SVCs. Rather, we aim merely to use Kroeger’s characteristics and example sentences as guides in pointing out constructions in Mandarin that appear to belong to the same category of construction, namely the SVC.

1.1 Types of SVCs in Mandarin

Kroeger (2004:227-228) lists several functions of canonical SVCs, most all of which are exemplified in our Mandarin data. SVCs in Mandarin function to express: 1) instrument of action; 2) beneficiary; 3) goal or direction of motion/action; 4) result or extent of action; 5) purpose; 6) accompaniment; and 7) location. Adopting concepts and terminology from Foley and Olson’s (1985:33-39) discussion of SVCs from the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (henceforth RRG), we also note that Mandarin SVCs exhibit both nuclear juncture (i.e. complete sharing of all arguments among the verbs in the SVC) and core junction (i.e. sharing of only one argument, namely the subject).

1.2 SVCs versus PPs as competing encoding of adjuncts

It has been recognized that one of the chief motivations behind the SVC is the ability to encode what are often expressed in languages that do not permit SVCs as adjuncts in prepositional phrases (Schiller 1989:410-11). That is, SVCs are one possible method (prepositional phrases being the other) of encoding adverbial notions like instrument, beneficiary, goal, accompaniment, purpose, location, and the like. It is for this reason that we concluded that to allow an adjunct element such as one of these into the VP of a SVC was ultimately not a serious impediment to the SVC analysis of a number of Mandarin constructions. After all, even in languages that have prepositions instead of SVCs, simple adverbs, adjuncts par excellence, are routinely counted as parts of VPs.

2. Instrument

In Grammar Assignments 1 and 2, we have already given examples of instrumental phrases using the verb juŋ⁴ ‘use’. Example (1) below illustrates this structure again with the constituent structure given in Figure 1.

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self

(1) /nan² - ɻən² juŋ⁴ kʰuai⁴tsi tʂi¹ fan⁴/male – person use chopsticks eat meal‘The man eats the meal with chopsticks.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V'

V

juŋ⁴

use

NP

[OBJ]

N

kʰuai⁴tsi

chopsticks

V'

V

tʂi¹

eat

NP

[OBJ]

N

fan⁴

meal

Figure 1: Constituent structure for (1)

Note that, in this sentence, the two verbs inside the V’s of the SVC share only one of their arguments: the external subject ‘man’. This core juncture in the RRG parlance is indicated in the constituent structure by the pairing of each V with its own unique NP[OBJ].

As we noted in Grammar Assignment 2, reversing the order of the V’ constituents, placing the adjunct instrument after the act of eating, destroys the single event interpretation of the whole SVC. The utterance in (2) is interpreted by the LC as comprising two clauses, expressing two separate ideas, exemplified in constituent structure in Figure 2.

(2) /nan² - ɻən² tʂi¹ fan⁴ juŋ⁴ kʰuai⁴tsi/male – person eat meal use chopsticks‘The man eats the meal (and) he uses chopsticks.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V

tʂi¹

eats

NP

[OBJ]

fan⁴

meal

Conj

ø

VP

V

juŋ⁴

use

NP

[OBJ]

kʰuai⁴tsi

chopsticks


We can also add another verbal combination that likewise serves to indicate the instrument of action. Instead of juŋ⁴ ‘use’, this structure employs the compound verb la² kʰi² ‘pick up’. An example sentence is given in (3) with constituent structure in Figure 3.

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(3) /nan² - ɻən² la²kʰi² tʂuəi²tsi kiau¹ suəi⁴ pwə¹ni²/male – person pick.up hammer knock break window‘The man knocks and breaks the window with a hammer.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V'

V

la²kʰi²

pick.up

NP

[OBJ]

N

tʂuəi²tsi

hammer

V'

V'

V

kiau¹

knock

V

suəi⁴

break

NP

[OBJ]

N

puə¹ni²

window


Notice that in the constituent structure above, the verbs ‘knock’ and ‘break’ both share all of their arguments (i.e. both subject and object). In the RRG parlance, this complete argument sharing is known as nuclear juncture; it is indicated in the phrase structure tree by the close conjunction of the sister Vs under a single mother node which is itself a sister to the shared NP[OBJ].

3. Beneficiary

Example (4) illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express a beneficiary. Here, the implication is that the act of buying has taken place on behalf of the woman, who might herself be disposing of the book in any number of different ways. There is no implication of the book’s being given by the proxy buyer to the woman. Figure 4 shows the constituent structure. Here again, we have core juncture or core serialization.

(4) /nan² - ɻən² kəi³ ny³ - ɻən² mai³ le i¹ pən ʂu¹/male - -person give female – person buy PFV one

CLAS book‘The man bought a book for (i.e. on behalf of) the woman.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V'

V

kəi³

give

NP

[OBJ2]

N

ny³ɻən²

woman

V'

V

mai³

buy

ASP

le

PFV

NP

[OBJ]

CP

Num

i¹

one

C

pən

CLAS

NP

N

ʂu¹

book


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Owing to the principle of iconicity of word order in SVCs, which argues that the internal word order of a SVC reflects the order of actions in the conceptual world (Tai 1985:49-50), the sentence in example (4) is quite different from that in example (5), though they are of equivalent phrase structure. The different ordering of the verbs gives rise to a purposive interpretation of (5), such that the clear implication is of the man’s actually giving the purchased book to the woman. For more on purpose relations in Mandarin SVCs, see section 6 below.

(5) /nan² - ɻən² mai³ le i¹ pən ʂu¹ kəi³ ny³ - ɻən²/male - -person buy PFV one CLAS book give female – person‘The man bought a book to give to the woman.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V'

V

mai³

buy

ASP

le

PFV

NP

[OBJ]

CP

Num

i¹

one

C

pən

CLAS

N

ʂu¹

book

V'

V

kəi³

give

NP

[OBJ2]

N

ny³ɻən²

woman


4. Goal/directionExample (6) illustrates a SVC in Mandarin serving to express the goal or direction of action. Figure

6 shows the constituent structure with nuclear juncture or nuclear serialization.

(6) /nan² - ɻən² fəi¹ tau⁴ pei³kiŋ¹/male – person fly go.to Beijing‘The man flies to Beijing.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V'

V

fəi¹

fly

V

tau⁴

go.to

NP

[goal]

pei³kiŋ¹

Beijing


5. Result

Example (7) illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express the result of action. Note that, in this sentence, the two verbs inside the SVC share all of their arguments. Again, this nuclear juncture is indicated in the constituent structure in Figure 7 by the closer juncture of the two Vs as daughters of the V’, which is itself a sister to the shared object NP.

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(7) /ny³ - ɻən² ʂə⁴ si³ nan² - ɻən²/woman shoot kill man‘The woman shoots the man dead.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

ny³ɻən²

woman

VP

V'

V

ʂə⁴

shoot

V

si³

kill

NP

[OBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man


6. Purpose

Example (8) illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express the purpose of action. V’2 states the purpose for the motion described in V’1. A phrase structure tree showing the constituent structure follows in Figure 8. Note that here we have core serialization with each V inside the V’s having its own unique object.

(8) /nan² - ɻən² tau⁴ kuŋ¹yən² tu³ ʂu¹/male – person go.to park read book‘The man goes to the park to read a book.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²ɻən²

man

VP

V'

V

tau⁴

go.to

NP

[OBJ]

N

kuŋ¹yən²

park

V'

V

tu³

read

NP

[OBJ]

N

ʂu¹

book


7. Accompaniment

Example (9) illustrates the use of a SVC in Mandarin to express accompaniment or the comitative function. Figure 9 shows the constituent structure. Here again we have core juncture.

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(9) /nan² - hai² kən¹ pʰəŋ²jəu kʰy⁴ kuŋ¹yən²/male – child follow friend go.to park‘The boy goes to the park with [his] friend.’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²hai²

boy

VP

V'

V

kən¹

follow

NP

[OBJ]

N

pʰəŋ²jəu

friend

V'

V

ky⁴

go.to

NP

[goal]

N

kuŋ¹yən²

park


8. Location

Example (10) illustrates a SVC in Mandarin serving to indicate location. Figure 10 shows the constituent structure with core serialization.

(10) /nan² - xai² tsai⁴ na³ kə xyəi²xiau⁴ xyəi²xi² han⁴jy³/male – child be.in what CLAS school study Chinese‘In what school does the boy study Chinese?’

S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²hai²

boy

VP

V'

V

tsai⁴

be.in

NP

CP

Interrog

na³

what

C

kə

CLAS

N

xyəi²xiau⁴

school

V'

V

xyəi²xi²

study

NP

[OBJ]

Han⁴jy³

Chinese


Again, reversing the order of the V’ constituents, placing the adjunct location after the act of studying, destroys the single event interpretation of the whole SVC. The utterance in (11) is interpreted by the LC as comprising two clauses, expressing two separate ideas, exemplified in constituent structure in Figure 11.

(11) /nan² - xai² xyəi²xi² han⁴jy³ tsai⁴ na³ kə xyəi²xiau⁴/male – child study Chinese be.in what CLAS school‘The boy studies Chinese? (and) In what school?’

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S

NP

[SUBJ]

N

nan²hai²

boy

VP

V

xyəi²xi²

study

NP

[OBJ]

Han⁴jy³

Chinese

Conj

ø

VP

V

tsai⁴

be.in

NP

CP

Interrog

na³

what

C

kə

CLAS

N

xyəi²xiau⁴

school


9. Conclusion

In this paper, we have used the characteristic and diagnostic features of SVCs as adumbrated in Kroeger (2004) along with his example sentences drawn from genetically unrelated languages spread across the globe as guides in pointing out structures in our Mandarin data that match quite closely the canonical definitions and uses of SVCs as expressing: 1) instrument of action; 2) beneficiary; 3) goal or direction of motion/action; 4) result or extent of action; 5) purpose; 6) accompaniment; and 7) location. We have not attempted detailed syntactic analysis of the Mandarin sentences to show strict monoclausality or to conclusively prove that they are not covert coordinate structures, as such analysis falls well outside the scope of this modest project. Instead, we believe we have been able to demonstrate the high probability that the structures presented here do in fact qualify for the label SVC under the rather stringent criteria applied by Kroeger (2004). Much work and more detailed analysis remain to be done in order to offer conclusive syntactic evidence.

10. References

Foley, William A. and Mike Olson. 1985. Clausehood and verb serialization. Grammar inside and outside the clause, ed. by Johanna Nichols and Anthony C. Woodbury, 17-60. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kroeger, Paul R. 2004. Analyzing syntax: A lexical-functional approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Schiller, Eric. 1989. On the phrase structure of serial verb constructions. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society (CLS) 25:405-419.

Tai, James H.-Y. 1985. Temporal Sequence and Chinese Word Order. Iconicity in Syntax, ed. by John Haiman, 49-72. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

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Mandarin Serial Verbs