A Syntactic Study Of Chinese Intransitives Used Transitively

The phenomenon of intransitives used transitively refers to the S-Vi-O structure, in which noun shouldn’t have appeared in the object position, such asfei beijing fly to Beijing, pao cailiao run for the material, Wangmian si-le fuqin Wangmian’s father died. In the deep structure, the noun may be moved from the subject, the adverbial or the adjunct position. Recently, the appearing frequency of the S-Vi-O structure is on the rise, which catches the attention of many grammatists.Many scholars have made exhaustive studies on the definition of intransitives from the perspective of meaning, form and valency. In the paper, we put forward a dynamic filtering process to distinguish various verbs. We first filter out intransitives on the basis of verbs’ ability of being followed by patient objects in traditional dichotomy. According to Perlmutter’s Unaccusative Hypothesis, intransitives are classified into unaccusative verbs and unergative verbs. Traditional transitives are further divided into quasi-transitives, ergative verbs and transitives, among which, we make a critical reference to Xu.lie’s quasi-transitives. Through modifying the criteria of ergative verbs put forth by Zeng Living, we differentiate ergative verbs from unaccusative verbs.In the paper, we mainly focus on the transitive usage of unaccusative verbs and unergative verbs (subcategories of intransitives). The phenomenon of intransitive verbs used transitively refers to the fact that intransitives can be followed by all kinds of objects except patients. It can be roughly generalized as the following sentence patterns:(1) V+NP,(2) S+V+(j) O/L,(3) S+V+T,(4)(j) L/T+V+S,(5) N1+V+N2,(6) S+V’+(j)NP.On the basis of Chinese grammar, some scholars apply rules of S-Vt-O(substitute objects) construction in explaining the S-Vi-O construction and some think that a clause has a government on both the structure and the semantic meaning of "Verb-object extraordinary collocation". Some scholars, from the verb valency, think the S-Vi-O construction is the result of raising the necessary component of two-argument verb or of the constituent part of one-argument two-place verb introduced by the preposition to the object position. Scholars from the angle of cognitive grammar think that the S-Vi-O construction is the blending of NPl+Vt+NP2and NP2+VL Others made substantially significant explorations from Generative Grammar, like Pan Haihua. Han Jingquan. Xu.lie. Wen Binli, Zhu Xingfan etc. In Huang’s Light Verb Theory, light verbs are series of eventuality predicates, which hav concrete thematic contents but no phonetic form. Though Huang’s theory can explain S-Vi-O structures like (1) V+NP,(4)(j)L/T+V+S,(5) N1+V+N2well, it fails to reason out S-Vi-0structures caused by the shedding of prepositions. As for how prepositions shed in the (2) S+V+(j) O/L,(3) S+V+T,(6) S+V’+G) NP, Chenjie puts forth a Null Preposition Hypothesis and explains with High Applicative Construction. As far as he is concerned, verbs together with prepositions form predicates followed by objects. Due to the constraint of prosodic rule NSR, prepositions shed within predicates. However, in Vi+PP, not all prepositions with the verb can be considered as a unity and form the (Vi+P)+NP construction.Illuminated by Larson’s VP Shell Hypothesis and Huang’s Light Verb Theory, we make a Light Preposition Hypothesis to explore the reason of the shedding of prepositions within PPs. As far as we are concerned, like light verbs, light preposition has concrete thematic content but no phonetic form in the deep structure. The semantic content of the light preposition comes from the semantic relation between the Vi and the NP. Whether it be a verb or a preposition, once it raises to the light verb or the light preposition’s position, there must be a semantic blending process. During the semantic blending of light verb and the verb, verb’s meaning has been prominent, resulting in the appearance of the verb in the surface structure. While in the semantic blending of light preposition and the preposition, if the preposition’s meaning is covered, the preposition sheds in the surface structure; if the preposition’s meaning is prominent, then the preposition retains. In the S-Vi-O structure, as the preposition’s meaning is relatively abstract, it is covered by the light preposition’s meaning, leading to the shedding of the preposition in the surface structure. Light Preposition Hypothesis, in this thesis, only provides a possible explanation for the S-Vi-O construction with null preposition. In the language facts, there do exist both pao cailiao, fei beijing and wei-le cailiao er pao, feiwang beijing. As for on what conditions should the light preposition’s meaning be covered or prominent, it needs further investigating.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One provides a brief overview of the thesis. Chapter Two reviews the development of the study of the Chinese S-Vi-O construction. Chapter Three reviews various definitions of intransitives by grammatists, and puts forth a dynamic filtering process to distinguish various verbs. Chapter Four gives an exact definition of intransitives used transitively and sums up sentence patterns. Chapter Five is the key part, in which we introduce Huang’s Light Verb Theory and Chen Jie’s Null Preposition Hypothesis and the Applicative Construction, and illustrate our "Light Preposition Hypothesis" and the tests. Chapter Six serves as a conclusion that tells the achievements and the deficiencies of the thesis.