This book defines Chinese middle constructions as generic constructions, with their highest syntactically saturated argument always understood as an arbitrary one. This working definition sets “middle construction” apart from “middle voice” in that it can be instantiated by various constructions in Chinese. By scrutinizing these constructions in the framework of Generative Syntax, the book concludes that their formation takes place at the lexical level, without resorting to any syntactic mechanisms and thus that Chinese falls into the category of “lexical middle languages”, which are in contrast to “syntactic middle languages”.
Author(s): Jiajuan Xiong
Series: Frontiers in Chinese Linguistics Volume 2
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Singapore
Year: 2018
Language: English
Tags: Linguistics; Chinese
1 The Middle Voice Versus the Middle Construction
1.1 The Middle Voice
1.2 The Middle Construction
1.2.1 The Defining Features
1.2.2 Modality in the Middle Construction
1.2.3 Modification in the Middle Construction
1.3 The Relationship Between the “Middle Voice” and the “Middle Construction”
1.4 Chinese Middle Constructions
2 Middle Constructions: Previous Research
2.1 Syntactic Approaches
2.1.1 Keyser and Roeper (1984)
2.1.2 Stroik (1992, 1995)
2.1.3 Hoekstra and Roberts (1993)
2.2 Lexical Approaches
2.2.1 Fagan (2009)
2.2.2 Hale and Keyser (2002)
2.2.3 Ackema and Schoorlemmer (1995)
2.3 Semantic Approaches
2.3.1 Steinbach (2002)
2.3.2 Davidse and Heyvaert (2007)
2.4 Parametric Approaches
2.4.1 Marelj (2004)
2.4.2 Lekakou (2005)
2.5 Chapter Summary
3 The Qilai Middle
3.1 The Various Usages of Qilai
3.1.1 Content-Bearing Qilai
3.1.2 Semantically Opaque Qilai
3.2 The [NP theme V- qilai AP] Pattern
3.2.1 Adjectives in the [NP theme V- qilai AP] Pattern
3.2.2 The [NP theme V- qilai AP] Structure: Literature Review
3.2.3 [NP theme V- qilai AP]: Syntactic Analysis
3.2.4 [V- qilai AP]: Unergativity
3.2.5 Q ilai : Grammatical Status
3.3 The Middlehood of the [NP theme V- qilai AP] Structure
3.4 Verbal Constraints on the Qilai Middle
3.4.1 Verbal Constraints in the Middle Construction: Literature Review
3.4.2 Verbs in the Qilai Middle
3.4.3 Section Summary
3.5 The Qilai Adjunct Middle
3.6 Ditransitivity in the Qilai Middle
3.6.1 Ditransitive Verbs in the English Middle
3.6.2 Ditransitive Verbs in the Qilai Middle
3.6.3 Section Summary
3.7 Chapter Summary
4 The Hao and Rongyi / Nan Middles
4.1 Two Different Uses of the Prefix Hao
4.2 Hao Versus Rongyi/Nan
4.2.1 Hao Versus Rongyi / Nan : The Similarities
4.2.2 Hao Versus Rongyi / Nan : The Differences
4.2.3 Hao Versus Rongyi/Nan : Prefix Versus Free Morpheme
4.3 The Hao Construction Versus the Rongyi/Nan Construction
4.3.1 Literature Review
4.3.2 Unergativity Versus Unaccusativity
4.3.3 [NP theme Adv Hao -V]: Syntactic Analysis
4.3.4 [NP theme Rongyi/Nan V]: Syntactic Analysis
4.4 The Middle Construction Versus the Tough Construction
4.4.1 [NP theme Adv Hao -V] and [NP theme Rongyi/Nan (*…) V PROCESS ]: The Middles
4.4.2 [NP theme Rongyi/Nan (…) V RVC ]: The Tough
4.5 Verbal Constraints on the Hao Middle and the Rongyi/Nan Middle
4.6 Are There Any Hao/Rongyi/Nan Adjunct Middles?
4.6.1 The Non-existence of Hao/Rongyi/Nan Adjunct Middles
4.6.2 Progressiveness Versus Non-progressiveness: A Key Factor in Adjunct Middle Formation
4.6.3 The Process-to-Product Reading: Progression-Induced Semantic Coercion
4.6.4 The Pseudo Hao Adjunct Middle
4.7 Ditransitivity in the Hao/Rongyi/Nan Middles
4.8 Chapter Summary
5 The de and Bu Middles
5.1 The Semantic Volatility of de Constructions
5.1.1 Data Presentation
5.1.2 (Non-) V 0 -Hood of [V A]: The Cause of Semantic Ambiguity
5.1.3 The de Constructions: A Tripartite Analysis
5.2 The Syntactic Analyses of the Three de Constructions
5.2.1 [NP theme V- de -A theme ]: The Unergative
5.2.2 [NP theme V- de (Adv.) AP theme ]: The Unaccusative
5.2.3 [NP theme V- de -A theme ] or [NP theme V- de AP theme ]: The Chameleon-Type
5.3 [NP theme V- Bu -A theme ]: The Unergative
5.4 [NP theme V- de -A theme ] and [NP theme V- Bu -A theme ]: The Middles
5.5 Formational Constraints on the de -Middle and the Bu -Middle
5.6 Are There Any Adjunct de -Middles or Bu -Middles?
5.7 Are de and Bu Full-Fledged Modals?
5.8 More on de : Its Chengdu Chinese Counterpart Te
5.8.1 [NP theme V- Te -A theme ]: The Middle
5.8.2 [NP theme V- Te ( Nei )]: Possibility Modality
5.8.3 [NP theme (Adv degree ) V- Te (Adv degree )]: Alethic Modality
5.8.4 [NP theme V- Te ( Nei )] and [NP theme (ADV degree ) V- Te (ADV degree )]: The Unergative
5.8.5 [NP theme V- Te ( Nei )] and [NP theme (Adv degree ) V- Te (Adv degree )]: The Middle
5.8.6 [NP theme V- Te ( Nei )] and [NP theme (Adv degree ) V- Te (Adv degree )]: Verbal Constraints
5.9 Chapter Summary
6 More on Chinese Middles
6.1 Transitive Middles
6.2 Genericity in Chinese
6.2.1 The Middle Constructions: Generic Operators
6.2.2 The Tough Construction: Lexical Semantics of Rongyi/Nan
6.2.3 The (Quasi-)Modal Constructions: NOP Structures
6.3 Theme-as-Subject Constructions in Chinese
6.4 Lexical Middles: Unergative and Transitive
6.5 Unergativity at the Clausal Level
6.6 Chapter Summary
7 Conclusions
Appendix A: A-Not-A Questions
Appendix B: The Verbs Attested in the Qilai Middle (from the CCLC Corpus)
References
