On Chinese Control Constructions

This thesis discusses the syntactic and semantic features of Chinese control constructions within the minimalist framework. It investigates the finiteness and non-finiteness distinction from the interaction of semantic tense [T] feature and morphological marking (modal morphemes) [Modal] feature, the syntactic features of PRO and the classification of control constructions in Chinese. The local environment of the embedded clause must provide all the necessary information to determine whether it is finite or nonfinite. The related features are [T] and [Modal]. [+T] reflects semantic tense, [-T] reflects the absence of semantic tense. [+Modal] reflects that all of overt/covert modal morphemes co-exist with a predicate in its natural environment, [-Modal] reflects that not all of modal morphemes co-exist in the position. We assume that a finite construction involving an I(nfl) head which is positively specified for both features [+T,+Modal] will necessarily license a lexical subject or pro. In contrast, a nonfinite construction involving an I head with any negative specification [+T, -Modal], [-T,+Modal], [-T,-Modal] will necessarily license PRO. According to different co-index of PRO, Chinese control constructions are classified into exhaustive control, split control, variable control, implicit control and arbitrary control. The controller of PRO could be subject, or object, or both subject and object, or either subject or object, or implicit object, or any person. By studying Chinese control constructions, we analyze the structural differences between Chinese and English control constructions.Chapter one raises the research question and the motivation for this topic. Chapter two reviews major previous studies on English and Chinese control constructions in the generative literature. Chapter three explores some important principles of the Minimalist Program (MP) and a few assumptions on control construction based on MP. Chapter four discusses Chinese control constructions. We revise Landau's assumption to account for Chinese control constructions and study the derivation of Chinese control. We investigate the control predicates in different control constructions, and try to figure out the differences between English and Chinese control constructions. Chapter five summarizes what this thesis has investigated. By investigating Chinese control constructions within MP framework, we find that the classification and features of Chinese control constructions bear the universality of control constructions. Chinese control constructions and English control constructions share a lot of similarities because both nations have some similarities in thinking. So there are many sentences in Chinese that have the same sentence structure in English. The co-index of PRO and its controller in both languages are alike in many cases. However Chinese control constructions have its own distinct features due to the speciality of Chinese, that is, Chinese is an isolating language. Hopefully, this study could make some contribution to the intrinsic understanding of Chinese control constructions.