Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese

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Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese (2) a. ta hen xihuan shu 3sg very like book ‘S/He likes books very much. b. ta bi ni (geng) xihuan shu 3sg COM you more like books ‘S/He likes books more than you do.’ (3) a. *ta hen shuijiao 3sg very sleep ‘He sleeps a lot.’ b. *ta bi ni geng shuijiao 3sg COM you more sleep ‘He sleeps more than you do.’ The sentences pattern discussed in this study would be CC in the superlative degree such as (4). With the marking of the comparison word bi like (4a), we get the meaning that the first NP Zhangsan, the subject and also the topic, has a higher degree on the comparing dimension gao ‘tall’ than the second NP ni ‘you.’ That means, Zhangsan is taller than ni ‘you’. Similarly, in (4b), the degree that Zhangsan likes baseball is also higher than that of ni ‘you.’ Since Mandarin Chinese (MC) is an uninflected language, instead of using inflections on the adjectives, the syntactic structures are the way to express the meaning of comparison (Li and Thompson 1981, Chao 1968, Fu 1978). 2 中正大學 e-Thesys (94 學年度)
Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese (4) a. Zhangsan bi ni (geng 2 ) gao Zhangsan COM you more tall ‘Zhangsan is taller than you are.’ b. Zhangsan bi ni (geng) xihuan bangqiu Zhangsan COM you more like baseball ‘Zhangsan likes baseball more than you do.’ Besides, CC of the superlative degree such as (5a) and (5b) can also be expressed without the comparison word bi such as (6a) and (6b). Chao (1968) considers this comparative sentence without bi (6) as a double object like construction, in which the adjective is a predicate taking two objects- a cognate object and an analogical indirect object. The cognate object express the extent or quantity such as san gongfen ‘three centimeters’ in (6a) and san sui ‘three years’ in (6b), while Lisi and ni ‘you’ in (6a) (6b) are similar to indirect objects. In Chao’s study, BCC and CC without bi are different constructions. BCC is a serial verb construction, in which bi is the first verb; while CC without bi is adjectives in a double objects like construction. (5) a. wo bi Lisi (*geng) gao san gongfen [BCC] I COM Lisi more tall three centimeter ‘I am three centimeters taller than Lisi is.’ b. gege bi ni (*geng) lao san sui brother COM you more old three year ‘My brother is three years older than you.’ 2 geng/hai(yao) are the alternative forms of the superior degree adverbs with similar meanings like ‘more’ and ‘still.' Sometimes they even covert in the PF. This issue will be made clear in Chapter 3. 3 中正大學 e-Thesys (94 學年度)
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Syntax of the Bi Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese

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