A reevaluation of so-called passive constructions in ancient Chinese : from Pre-Qin to the Han dynasty

While there have been written many linguistic studies on the passive voice in Chinese, many aspects of this field of research have remained controversial, such as the emergence of various constructions, their exact syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic features, as well as the question from which period onward we can talk about a “mature” passive (i.e., passive voice). Three main opinions are presented in current scholarship. Ma, in a pioneering work from 1898 (reprinted in 2007: 160), defined the Chinese passive construction as a construction with “a patient appearing in the subject position” without clearly defining the “subject” or discussing the construction (外动字之行，有施有受。受者居宾次，常也。如受者居主次，则为受动字，明其以受者为主也。). Much later, Gao 1949 (reprinted in 2011: 226-227) argued that none of the explanations that have been provided in scholarship so far validated the assumption that the constructions could be treated similarly to the passive voice found in many western languages (汉语具有动词功能的词，实在并没有施动和受动的分别), while other recent studies have labeled the Chinese structures that had overt syntactic markers as passive structures. In order to contribute to this fundamental and long-lasting scholarly debate, this comprehensive study provides a review of the diachronic development of the so-called Chinese passive from the pre-Qin era to the end of the Han dynasty. Part 1 reviews the studies of passive in Chinese and also introduces the definition of passive in a cross-linguistic perspective. Especially, some relevant terminology, in particular, “passive sense”, “passive voice”, “passive function” and “passive construction”, are distinguished in order to better understand the passive in Ancient Chinese. Meanwhile, three important factors that could trigger a passive interpretation in Ancient Chinese are introduced as a general background of this dissertation. Part 2 examines two types of notional passive (i.e., PV construction) in Ancient Chinese, i.e., Type 1 and Type 2. It is found that most notional passives were in fact the intransitive use of labile verbs (i.e., Type 1) that could only be interpreted as a passive depending on the context. Meanwhile, in some special contexts, a few verbs with strong transitive features are also found in the notional passive construction (i.e., Type 2), which is rarely observed cross-linguistically. Type 2 should be understood as a special situation of Type 1 in which the event expressed by the verb is not likely to occur spontaneously. Part 3 focuses on the diachronic development of the four lexical items traditionally regarded as “passive markers”: jian见, bei 被, wei 为and yu于, and concludes that all are ambiguous for both passive and non-passive interpretations, since a passive interpretation is determined by the context rather than by these markers themselves, which were also used in active sentences and could also be assembled to constitute new structures and variations. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no consistent syntactic marker that specifically expressed the passive voice in Ancient Chinese. Part 4 examines whether the ke construction was a passive construction in Archaic Chinese by reviewing the formation of the ke (and ke yi) constructions, as well as the nan (yi), yi (yi) and zu (yi) constructions. It was concluded that these were more likely to be interpreted as serial verb constructions with deontic modality and a generic reading with middle characteristics that possibly also expressed a passive meaning. However, it was concluded that ke, nan, yi and zu could not justifiably be defined as passive markers. Part 5 concludes that in Chinese it is important to differentiate between the passive voice and a passive sense. From a translation perspective, some so-called passive structures were found to express passive meanings and were translated as such into English and other languages. However, as the passive meaning appeared to be pragmatically rather than syntactically determined, none of the alleged passives in Ancient Chinese can be qualified as passive voice in accordance with a syntactic definition of passive. In general, the degree of grammaticalization of the passive markers in Archaic Chinese was quite low and they are better explained from a functional grammar viewpoint rather than a transformational generative grammar perspective

Lability of Verbs and the Change-of-State Construction in Chinese.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

WHAT GETS TRANSFERRED IN L3 ACQUISITION? DITRANSITIVES AND PASSIVIZATION OF THE DOUBLE OBJECT CONSTRUCTION IN L3 MANDARIN

Ph.D

New Advances in Formosan Linguistics

The present volume is a festschrift in honour of Lillian M. Huang, who, in a very few years, became a leading figure in Formosan linguistics after she obtained her PhD degree in 1987. Over the past twenty-eight years, she has been involved in important groundwork, in both academia and indigenous language policies in Taiwan, as we will show below (sections 3 and 4). She has been engaged in the development of both through her pre-eminent role in projects relating to typological studies on Formosan languages in the early 1990s, and on language teaching materials and proficiency tests since the late 1990s and early 2000s. Lillian may retire in a few years. Before she does, we thought it would be most appropriate to honour her by putting together papers by a number of scholars and students who have benefitted from or have been in contact with her in one way or another (e.g. through collaborative work, teaching, supervising, advising etc.). The idea of such a volume was conceived by Elizabeth Zeitoun in the autumn of 2009. Further plans were initially worked out with Stacy F. Teng, soon joined by Joy J. Wu. The three editors have been close to Lillian since the early and mid 1990s. Of the three, Zeitoun, who has been working with her on diverse projects for over twenty years, is her closest collaborator on the academic level. Both Wu and Teng were Lillian’s MA supervisees. Through her fieldwork courses, she introduced Wu to Amis and Teng to Puyuma, languages on which they are still working. The title of the present volume, New advances in Formosan linguistics, reflects our pursuit of publishing cutting-edge, provocative, and thoughtful papers that explore new directions and perspectives on Formosan languages and linguistics. It is worth noticing that this is the first collected volume on Formosan languages that has not issued from a workshop or a conference—the papers included in this volume are thus varied in terms of topic coverage—and the first that specifically deals with (and covers nearly all) the Formosan languages, a grouping understood in its broader context, that is, including Yami, a Batanic (Philippine) language spoken on Orchid Island under the political jurisdiction of Taiwan. (Note: first three paragraphs of foreward)

Syntax inside the grammar

This volume collects novel contributions to comparative generative linguistics that “rethink” existing approaches to an extensive range of phenomena, domains, and architectural questions in linguistic theory. At the heart of the contributions is the tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy which has long animated generative linguistics and which continues to grow thanks to the increasing amount and diversity of data available to us. The chapters address research questions on the relation of syntax to other aspects of grammar and linguistics more generally, including studies on language acquisition, variation and change, and syntactic interfaces. Many of these contributions show the influence of research by Ian Roberts and collaborators and give the reader a sense of the lively nature of current discussion of topics in synchronic and diachronic comparative syntax ranging from the core verbal domain to higher, propositional domains

The development of bei2 dative constructions in early child Cantonese.

Chan Wing Shan Angel.Thesis submitted in: Novemeber 2003.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-157).Abstracts in English and Chinese.AcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsList of Tables and FiguresAbstractChapter Chapter One --- IntroductionChapter 1.0 --- IntroductionChapter 1.1 --- The Target ConstructionChapter 1.1.1 --- The Canonical [bei2-T-R] Double Object FormChapter 1.1.2 --- The Non-Canonical [bei2-R-T] Double Object FormChapter 1.1.3 --- The Non-Canonical [bei2-T-bei2-R] Serial Verb FormChapter 1.1.4 --- The Extended bei2-Da.tiveChapter 1.2 --- A Review of Cantonese Dative ConstructionsChapter Chapter Two --- Theoretical BackgroundChapter 2.0 --- IntroductionChapter 2.1 --- The Markedness HypothesisChapter 2.2 --- The Iconicity HypothesisChapter 2.3 --- The Input Frequency HypothesisChapter 2.4 --- Relevance to CantoneseChapter 2.4.1 --- The Markedness Hypothesis: Empirical PredictionsChapter 2.4.2 --- The Iconicity Hypothesis: Empirical PredictionsChapter 2.4.3 --- The Input Frequency Hypothesis: Empirical PredictionsChapter 2.4.4 --- An Interim Summary of Empirical PredictionsChapter 2.5 --- The Null Dative Marker HypothesisChapter 2.6 --- Conceptualization of End-State Knowledge: Construction GrammarChapter 2.7 --- Introducing the Usage-Based Theory to Child Language AcquisitionChapter Chapter Three --- The Input Properties Hypothesis and Adult Cantonese InputChapter 3.0 --- IntroductionChapter 3.1 --- SchematizationChapter 3.2 --- The Input Properties HypothesisChapter 3.3 --- Two Empirical Hypotheses on the Theme-Recipient AsymmetryChapter 3.3.1 --- Unexpressed Arguments: The Theme Versus The RecipientChapter 3.3.2 --- Susceptibility to Displacement: The Theme Versus The RecipientChapter 3.4 --- A Corpus Study Of Adult InputChapter 3.4.1 --- Methodology For Adult Input AnalysisChapter 3.4.2 --- Corpus FindingsChapter 3.4.2.1 --- The Missing Theme: bei2-Datives with Frequent Null ThemeChapter 3.4.2.2 --- The Non-Canonical [bei2-R-T] FormChapter 3.4.2.3 --- The Non-Canonical [bei2-T-bei2-R] FormChapter 3.4.2.4 --- The Frequent [bei2-R] SequenceChapter 3.5 --- Cantonese Adult Input Properties: Implications for Early SchematizationChapter 3.6 --- Chapter SummaryChapter Chapter Four --- Methodology and Early Developmental FindingsChapter 4.0 --- IntroductionChapter 4.1 --- MethodologyChapter 4.1.1 --- Longitudinal Corpus DataChapter 4.1.1.1 --- Monolingual Child Data: The Hong Kong Cantonese Child Language Corpus (CANCORP)Chapter 4.1.1.2 --- Cantonese-English Bilingual Child Data: The Hong Kong Bilingual Child Language CorpusChapter 4.1.2 --- "Cantonese-English Bilingual Diary Data: Cheung (2002, p.c.)"Chapter 4.1.3 --- Clinical Child Data: Local Speech Therapists in Hong KongChapter 4.1.4 --- Procedures for Data AnalysisChapter 4.2 --- Early Developmental FindingsChapter 4.2.1 --- Non-Full bei2-Datives Before Full bei2-DativesChapter 4.2.2 --- The First Spontaneous Use of Full bei2-DativesChapter 4.2.3 --- All Full bei2-Datives AttestedChapter 4.2.4 --- Early Preference for Non-Canonical FormsChapter 4.2.4.1 --- Possible Priming EffectsChapter 4.2.4.2 --- Placement of PausesChapter 4.2.5 --- The Late Acquisition of the Canonical [bei2-T-R] FormChapter 4.2.6 --- The Non-Target Use of bei2-DativesChapter 4.2.6.1 --- The Non-Target [bei2-R-T] FormChapter 4.2.6.2 --- The Non-Target [bei2-T-bei2-R] FormChapter 4.3 --- Usage Patterns in Older ChildrenChapter 4.4 --- Summary of Major FindingsChapter Chapter Five --- Discussion of FindingsChapter 5.0 --- IntroductionChapter 5.1 --- A Review of Established Empirical PredictionsChapter 5.2 --- The Markedness HypothesisChapter 5.3 --- The Iconicity HypothesisChapter 5.4 --- The Input Frequency HypothesisChapter 5.5 --- The Input Properties HypothesisChapter 5.6 --- Markedness From the UG perspectiveChapter 5.7 --- The Early Preference for Non-Canonical Forms: A Functional PerspectiveChapter 5.8 --- The Source of the Early Non-Canonical bei2-datives: A Usage-Based PerspectiveChapter 5.8.1 --- The Early [bei2-R-T] FormChapter 5.8.1.1 --- Against Learning Directly From The Adult Speech ModelsChapter 5.8.1.2 --- Against Generating Directly From The [bei2-R-T] Verb Specific SchemaChapter 5.8.1.3 --- Against Overgeneralizing the Abstract [V-R-T] SchemaChapter 5.8.2 --- The Early [bei2-T-bei2-R] FormChapter 5.8.2.1 --- Against Learning Directly From The Adult Speech ModelsChapter 5.8.2.2 --- On Overgeneralizing The [V-T-bei2-R] SchemaChapter 5.9 --- Remaining QuestionsChapter 5.10 --- Chapter SummaryChapter Chapter Six --- Conclusions and Further ResearchChapter 6.0 --- IntroductionChapter 6.1 --- Principal ConclusionsChapter 6.2 --- ContributionsChapter 6.3 --- Suggestions for Further ResearchChapter 6.3.1 --- Elicited Production StudiesChapter 6.3.2 --- Comprehension StudiesChapter 6.3.3 --- Cross-Linguistic InvestigationsAppendicesReference

Syntactic architecture and its consequences I

This volume collects novel contributions to comparative generative linguistics that “rethink” existing approaches to an extensive range of phenomena, domains, and architectural questions in linguistic theory. At the heart of the contributions is the tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy which has long animated generative linguistics and which continues to grow thanks to the increasing amount and diversity of data available to us. The chapters address research questions on the relation of syntax to other aspects of grammar and linguistics more generally, including studies on language acquisition, variation and change, and syntactic interfaces. Many of these contributions show the influence of research by Ian Roberts and collaborators and give the reader a sense of the lively nature of current discussion of topics in synchronic and diachronic comparative syntax ranging from the core verbal domain to higher, propositional domains. This book is complemented by volume II available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/276 and volume III available at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/277