Low predicate inversion in Mandarin

Abstract

A VP, AP, or NP in a predicate can undergo a clause-internal movement in Mandarin Chinese (e.g., Ta yaomai shuqu ‘He wants to buy books’, Tashoude hen ‘He is very thin’, and Ta shibendanyi ge ‘He is a fool’). The pfmoving element must be predicative, and the landing site must be lower than any functional element in the IP-domain of the clause. The paper shows that there is a formal dependency between a low functional head and the predicate in the clausal spine. The exponents of the functional head for stative predicates are different from those for non-stative predicates, and the predicative category that is attracted by the functional head carries a stativity feature. Similar predicate raising can be obligatory and can land above a subject if the latter remains in situ in some languages. Moreover, the stativity contrasts of predicates are morphologically visible in some languages. The paper severs the syntactic licensing of predicates from the syntactic licensing of other parts of a clause, arguing that while subjects need their formal features such as Case to be licensed, predicates need their stativity feature to be licensed. In both cases, licensing of an element can be achieved by either its relation to a local c–commanding functional head or the movement of an element that bears the relevant feature to the Spec of the functional head.

Appendices: Other miscellaneous issues of LPI in MC

1.1 Appendix 1: Hen versus other degree words in Deg-LPI

This appendix proposes a unified account for two questions regarding degree expressions in MC. Question A, why does a Deg-LPIC not have a weak reading that is available in the canonical version? It has long been noted that hen may have a weak or the so-called bleached meaning (Li and Thompson 1981: 143, 340). Depending on the context, it may have either a strong or a weak reading in the canonical (87a), but a strong one only in the LPIC in (87b).

(87)	a.	Axin	hen	gao.		b.	Axin	gao	de	hen.
		Axin	very	tall			Axin	tall	de	very
		Strong: ‘Axin is very tall.’					Strong: ‘Axin is very tall.’
		Weak: ‘Axin is tall.’ (hen must not be stressed)

Following Zhang (2019c), I assume that a degree word is able to focus an element, in addition to being able to rule out a comparative reading of a gradable expression (see Liu 2010; Grano 2012; Zhang 2019a for various proposals to explain the latter function). In the absence of a Deg-LPI, two positions are available for hen, as shown in (88a) and (88b).

If hen remains in situ, as in (88a), it heads a DegP and c-commands and focalizes a gradable XP. In this case, a strong reading of hen appears. I assume that hen is also able to move to St, as in (88b). In this high position, it scopes the whole predication, which includes (the lower copy of) the subject, and thus focalizes the whole predication, rather than the gradable XP. In this case, a weak reading of hen appears. I assume that the raising of hen is a syntactic head movement, which may have interpretation effect (Harizanov and Gribanova 2019). In the presence of a Deg-LPI, however, St is realized by de and hen remains in DegP (assuming that the merger of de is preferred to the raising of hen in satisfying DEPP), as shown in (88c). When hen remains in DegP, as in (88a), it focuses the gradable expression and has a strong reading only, and thus the inversion necessarily gives the strong reading. This answers question A.

In any case, an LP-Movement is not driven by any semantic motivation. Rather, the observed obligatory strong reading of hen in a Deg-LPIC is a by-product of the merger of de in the construction. The presence of de rules out a structure that has a weak reading of hen.

Question B: why can’t other degree words be stranded by LPI, as shown by (89b)?

(89)	a.	Axin	chao	gaoxing.		b.	*Axin	gaoxing	de	chao.
		Axin	super	glad			Axin	glad	de	super
		‘Axin is super glad.’

Unlike hen, other degree words such as ting, chao, te, xiangdang, and feichang never have a weak reading. One account for the difference is that they never move to St. Cross-linguistically, degree words can select a gradable XP, as the head of DegP, or be an adjunct of a gradable XP (Neeleman et al. 2004; Berghoff and Bylinina 2020). I assume that unlike hen, some other degree words in Chinese are adjuncts of a gradable XP, rather than the head of DegP. They can saturate the d argument of the gradable XP in semantics, without projecting DegP in syntax. Thus, first, they may not occur with another degree word, as shown in (90), since the d argument of the same gradable expression can be saturated only once. Their presence also rules out a comparative reading of the gradable expression (see Liu 2010; Grano 2012; Zhang 2019a for various accounts for the obligatory presence of a degree word with a grable adjective in certain constructions but not others). Since such degree words are not head elements, they never move to St, and thus they never have a weak reading.

(90)	*Axin	hen	chao	gaoxing.
	Axin	very	super	glad

Second, like some adjuncts, such degree words are never stranded, as seen in (89b). Instead, some of them may be able to move together with the stative XP to SpecStP [cf. the movement of da bendan ‘big fool’ in (15b)], with the de-support at St, as seen in (91). The structure of (91b) is (91c). This answers question B. Thus, both questions are linked to the head movement possibility of a degree word. [(91a) is adapted from Lü 1985: 31). The two examples in (105) are similar to the one in (99).

(105)

a.

Wo

{lai/qu}

peibushi

qu.

(Lu 1985: 31)

I

come/go

apologize

go

‘I’ll go to apologize.’

b.

Zhe

shir

hai

dei

you

nin

{lai/qu}

gen

dahuor

shuo

qu.

this

matter

rather

need

by

you

come/go

to

people

explain

go

‘This matter needs you to explain it to the people.’

Our claim is also compatible with our observation that in an LPI, it is a lexical predicate that is inverted (2.2). In the rejected choice (103b), the intended inverted part is the complement of the control verb, and this part is a nonfinite clause, rather than a VP.