Chinese A+I Construction And Unaccusative Theoires

Under the framework of Generative Grammar, this thesis studies certain Chinese V-deconstructions by means of unaccusative theories, in order to demonstrate our assumption that theessential distinction between Chinese object-control verb and raising verb rests on unaccusativesand unergatives.Chinese A+I construction is proposed by Hu and Wen (2007). They make an analysis ofEnglish A+I construction, demonstrating generative syntactic positions of nominals after thematrix verbs as well as their thematic roles. They maintain that regarding A+I construction asthe raising structure and control structure is a universal phenomenon. Furthermore, they make asimple contrast between Chinese raising structures and control structures with respect to theirsyntax features. Their study leaves an unsolved problem, that is, shi ‘make’sentences in whichstatic verbs are predicates of complement clauses can be changed into ergative structures.However, other constructions don’t have relevant ergative structures. Therefore, probing intospecific distinctions between Chinese raising structures and control structures is the start of thisstudy.In order to solve this problem, in Chapter3this thesis chooses Chinese V-de constructionsas corpora to demonstrate our assumption which focuses on influence of unaccusatives andunergatives towards Chinese raising structures and control structures. Because of the variety ofChinese V-de constructions, we classify the corpora into three types on the basis of Gu’s (1996)and Huang’s (2007) studies. The constructions with “de” we study are the most complex insyntax, and they are complex causatives in semantics. The criteria of classification rely on twosides. One is attributes of matrix verbs and the other is event types. For the first and third types,matrix verbs are unaccsatives and they are theme-centered events that focus on denoting state.For the second type, matrix verbs are unergatives and they are agent-centered events which focuson presenting action. We list the third type called “inverted causative structures” in a singlegroup, about which studies are seldom within Generative Grammar. Only Gu (1996) makes abrief analysis of it, by virtue of unaccusative theories. Besides, we find there are thematicoverlapped phenomena in three types “de” constructions when analyzing them with eventstructure theories.The focus of this thesis is demonstrating the existence of control structures and raisingstructures in three types Chinese V-de constructions. In Chapter4, based on unaccusatives andunergatives of matrix verbs, we analyze internal syntactic structures of three types “de”constructions. We find they are raising structures when matrix verbs are unaccusatives. Whenmatrix verbs are unergatives, they are control structures. In terms of empty categories, we find the distribution of NP-trace and PRO in three types “de” constructions. When matrix verbs areunaccsatives, the nominals move forward to check their object case and leave the trace. Whenthe matrix verbs are unergatives, the base-generated PRO is found. Meanwhile, the existence ofNP-trace and PRO also solves the thematic overlapped problem. For the analysis of NP-trace inrelevant structures, there are still some different opinions, such as Cheng (2007). Thus, wefurther discuss the assignment of thematic role towards NP. Cheng argues that analysis ofNP-trace in the relevant structures makes NP assigned two thematic roles in the process ofraising, which violates θ-criterion. We argue that unaccusatives can solve this problem. Asunaccusative verb can’t assign the thematic role to its external argument, nominals are notassigned the thematic role after the raising, which is accordant with Chomsky’s empty theories inGB. Thus, the analysis of NP-trace in relevant structures doesn’t violate θ-criterion. Chomskydistinguishes four empty categories and proposes that the antecedent of PRO occupies theθ-marked position and NP trace is bounded by non-θ-marked argument. Thereby, forconstructions in which unaccusatives are matrix verbs, nominals occupied non-θ-markedposition so the empty category in the construction has to be NP-trace rather than PRO. However,NP is assigned the thematic role when we analyze three types “de” constructions by means ofevent structure theories. We postulate it is the eventuality predicate BECOME that assigns thethematic role experiencer to NP.