Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese
Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese
Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese
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<strong>Syntax</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Bi</strong> <strong>Comparative</strong> <strong>Construction</strong> <strong>in</strong> Mandar<strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>ese<br />
<strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> common predicte <strong>of</strong> BCC <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> surface structure may br<strong>in</strong>g some<br />
problems shown <strong>in</strong> (39). If <strong>the</strong> first comparative clause is <strong>the</strong> antecedent clause, <strong>the</strong>n<br />
<strong>the</strong> elliptical clause can have only <strong>the</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> only (39b), not (39c).<br />
(39) a. Zhangsan bi Lisi congm<strong>in</strong>g, Wangwu ye shi<br />
Zhangsan COM Lisi smart Wangwu also AUX<br />
‘Zhangsan is smarter than Lisi, and so does Wangwu.’<br />
b. Zhangsan bi Lisi congm<strong>in</strong>g, Wangwu ye bi Lisi<br />
Zhangsan COM Lisi smart Wangwu also COM Lisi<br />
congm<strong>in</strong>g<br />
smart<br />
‘Zhangsan is smarter than Lisi, and so does Wangwu.’<br />
c. Zhangsan bi Lisi congm<strong>in</strong>g, Wangwu ye hen congm<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Zhangsan COM Lisi smart Wangwu also very smart<br />
‘Zhangsan is smarter than Lisi, and Wangwu is very smart, too.<br />
Hs<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>ks that sentences like (39a) should be analyze as “[Zhangsan] [VPbi Lisi<br />
congm<strong>in</strong>g]” not “[Zhangsan bi Lisi] [VPcongm<strong>in</strong>g]”. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, <strong>the</strong> second<br />
compared items should be <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> adjunction relationship to <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> predicate.<br />
2.2.3 Adjunction Analyses<br />
2.2.3.1 A Transformational Analysis (Fu 1978)<br />
Fu (1978) studies <strong>the</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>ese CC with bi under a transformational framework.<br />
He proposes a hypo<strong>the</strong>sis that <strong>the</strong> underly<strong>in</strong>g structure <strong>of</strong> BCC consists <strong>of</strong> three<br />
clauses as shown <strong>in</strong> (a). He takes <strong>the</strong> abstract bijiao ‘compare’ as a predicate which<br />
takes two parallel propositions as its arguments. The two compared propositions, S1<br />
22<br />
中正大學 e-Thesys (94 學年度)
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