A Research on Functional Grammar of Chinese [1° ed.] 0367422689, 9780367422684

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Introduction: corpus and approach
Part I Information structure
1 Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese
2 Thematic structure in narration: sentence-middle modal particle
3 Thematic structure in conversation: an analysis of translocation
Part II Focus structure
4 Word order: object vs. directional complement
5 Word order: object vs. verbal classifier
6 Means for contrastive focus representation
Part III Backgrounding constructions
7 A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese
8 Imperfective clause “V着”
9 Zero cataphora of clause subject
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

Research on Functional Grammar of Chinese I

The functional perspective on Chinese syntax has yielded various new achievements since its introduction to Chinese linguistics in the 1980s. This two-volume book is one of the earliest and most influential works to study the Chinese language using functional grammar. With local Beijing vernacular (Pekingese) as a basis, the information structure and focus structure of the Chinese language are systematically examined. By using written works and recordings from Beijingers, the authors discuss topics such as the relationship between word order and focus, and the distinction between normal focus and contrastive focus. In addition, the authors also subject the reference and grammatical categories of the Chinese language to a functional scrutiny while discussion of word classes and their functions creatively combines modern linguistic theories and traditional Chinese linguistic theories. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese linguistics and linguistics in general. Bojiang Zhang is a professor from the Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is currently the Editor-in-chief of Literary Review（ 《文 学评论》). He is also a professor at University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Fudan University and Renmin University of China. He has been working on syntactic theory, functional grammar and discourse analysis of Chinese. Mei Fang is a professor from the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She is currently the Deputy Editor-in-chief of Studies of the Chinese Language 《中国语文》 ( ) and the vice president of Chinese Language Society. She has been working on Chinese grammar and discourse analysis with the functional approach, focusing on the emergent nature of grammatical patterns, pragmaticalization, and grammar in interaction.

China Perspectives

The China Perspectives series focuses on translating and publishing works by leading Chinese scholars, writing about both global topics and China-related themes. It covers Humanities and Social Sciences, Education, Media and Psychology, as well as many interdisciplinary themes. This is the first time any of these books have been published in English for international readers. The series aims to put forward a Chinese perspective, give insights into cutting-edge academic thinking in China, and inspire researchers globally. Titles in linguistics currently include: Complementarity between Lexis and Grammar in the System of Person A Systemic Typological Approach Pin Wang Language Policy A Systemic Functional Linguistic Approach Bingjun Yang, Rui Wang Patterns and Meanings of Intensifiers in Chinese Learner Corpora Chunyan Wang Assessing Listening for Chinese English Learners Developing a Communicative Listening Comprehension Test Suite for CET Zhixin Pan Research on Functional Grammar of Chinese I Information Structure and Word Ordering Selection Bojiang Zhang and Mei Fang Research on Functional Grammar of Chinese II Reference and Grammatical Category Bojiang Zhang and Mei Fang For more information, please visit https://www.routledge.com/series/CPH

Research on Functional Grammar of Chinese I Information Structure and Word Ordering Selection Bojiang Zhang and Mei Fang Translated by Linjun Liu

First published in English 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Bojiang Zhang and Mei Fang Translated by Linjun Liu The right of Bojiang Zhang and Mei Fang to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. English version by permission of The Commercial Press. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-42268-4 (set) ISBN: 978-0-367-36851-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-37339-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Contents

List of figures List of tables List of abbreviations Introduction: corpus and approach

vii viii ix 1

PART I

Information structure

17

1

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese

19

2

Thematic structure in narration: sentence-middle modal particles

43

Thematic structure in conversation: an analysis of translocation

68

3

PART II

Focus structure

99

4

Word order: object vs. directional complement

101

5

Word order: object vs. verbal classifier

136

6

Means for contrastive focus representation

166

PART III

Backgrounding constructions 7

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese

189 191

vi

Contents

8

Imperfective clause “V着”

203

9

Zero cataphora of clause subject

223

Bibliography Index

239 254

Figures

0.1 5.1 6.1

Discoursal units and syntactic units Referentiality of N Syntactic means for contrastive focus expression

4 150 183

Tables

1.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 7.1 8.1 9.1 9.2

Distribution of postpositioned themes Distribution of referential and non-referential objects Lexical forms of referential objects in Patterns A, B and D Distribution of possessive attributives vis-a-vis restrictive attributives Length of referential objects in terms of syllable number Semantic type of object and its relative order with regard to verbal classifier Statistics of referential NPs in VNM and VMN Length of N in VMN and VNM Realis vs. irrealis in VNM Distribution of realis VNM without “了／过” VMN and VNM in Lao She and Wang Shuo’s works Lexical form of N in VMN and VNM in works of different times High vs. low transitivity (adapted from Hopper & Thompson, 1980) Discourse distribution of “single verb +着” construction Syntactic level in terms of dependency and embedding Configurations of predicates in cataphoric zero-subject clauses

31 121 123 124 131 138 145 148 151 159 161 161 192 215 224 226

Abbreviations

Abbreviation

Term

ASP ASS aux. BA CL comp. conj. CRS DUR EXP GEN interj. MP

aspect marker associative (de 的) auxiliary bǎ 把 classifier comparative conjunction currently relevant state (le) durative aspect (zhe着/zài 在) experiential aspect (-guò 过) genitive (de 的) interjection modal particle (used in cases of theme postposition, where SFP does not occur sentence finally) nominalizer (de 的) passive (including gěi 给，bèi 被) pause filler perfective aspect (-le 了) possessive (de 的) reduplication sentence-final modal particle sentence-middle modal particle topic marker vocative

NOM pass. PF PFV poss. REDUP SFP SMP TM voca.

Introduction Corpus and approach

1. Functional perspective of Chinese syntax During the past fifteen years,1 the most compelling results of modern Chinese grammar research have focused on the formal analysis of syntactic structures. In the late 1980s, functionalism was introduced to the study of Chinese grammar, and the functional approach has shown strong vitality ever since. The main achieve­ ments include: the decisive effect of the reference of the nominal expression on the Chinese grammatical structure; study of anaphora, its ellipsis and recovery in discourse; study of presupposition-related syntactic and semantic phenomena; etc. These studies have shown the following characteristics: 1) researchers have gone beyond the introspective approach to language form study by attaching more importance to the impact of various speech act-related factors on discourse organization; 2) attention is paid not only to the similarities and differences of the types (as is the case in formal studies), but also to the tendencies as reflected by the number of instantiations of each type; 3) the object of study is no longer taken as static, finished products, but more as dynamic processes; and 4) instead of examining sentences (or even structures) in isolation as practiced in formal syntactic study, researchers have come to lay great emphasis on the situational context in their analysis. It should be noted that these are preliminary studies only, and the major differ­ ences between the research goals and operation methods and those of traditional structural analysis have yet to be fully displayed. Sooner or later, scholars of Chi­ nese grammar will be involved in the controversy between formalism and func­ tionalism abroad – extreme formalists emphasize the autonomy and independence of syntactic structures, whereas extreme functionalists maintain absolute depend­ ence of linguistic structures on functional factors. The reason is twofold. On one hand, some scholars who lay emphasis on structural forms in studying Chinese grammar have found that functional factors are interfering with their analysis, and that a purely formal description has too many difficulties to cope with. On the other, those who pay attention to functions mainly conduct functional analysis within the traditional framework of formal grammar, accepting indiscriminately the research results of formal analysis in their research. These two aspects show that Chinese grammar study is far from mature, and more attention should be paid

2

Introduction

to the point made by those of insight at home and abroad – we should see to the complementarity between the two lines of research. Specifically, in the face of one or one set of linguistic phenomena, is it possible to pinpoint the functional factors before identifying the autonomous aspect of the syntactic structure, so as to avoid the difficulties as incurred by approaching the issue from one end only? Unfortu­ nately, previous studies rarely made this distinction, thus resulting in some confu­ sion. Some hot syntactic analysis issues during recent years will be used here to illustrate how the distinction between functional and syntactic factors can help us better understand linguistic facts. 1.1 Variety constraints vs. semantic constraints Data of mixed varieties which lack homogeneity cannot provide us with reliable grammatical rules, a point that Zhu Dexi and Hu Mingyang have both made very clear. Zhu and Hu have repeatedly emphasized the importance of distinguishing the written variety from the spoken variety. More strictly speaking, however, the distinction between written and spoken varieties is no more than a very basic one, because language as the finished product is a mixture of different varieties to different extents. The task of language researchers, therefore, is firstly to dif­ ferentiate all the varieties, and in turn study their respective laws. For instance, we can begin with the identification of monologues and dialogues. In monologues we can further distinguish narration, argumentation, exposition and persuasion; in dialogues, daily conversations and special dialogues can be differentiated. Liao Qiuzhong’s “Argumentative structure in discourse” (Language Teaching and Research, 1988, Vol. 1) represents a study of the argumentative style; Xu Jiujiu’s “A discurse analysis of ta (‘he’) in narratives” (Studies of the Chinese Language, 1990, Vol. 5) is one of the narrative style; Shen Jiaxuan’s “Topics without com­ ments” (Studies of the Chinese Language, 1989, Vol. 5) is a study of the dialogic style. It is worth noting that Shen’s study also focuses on the relationship between dialogue and monologue. By contrasting the two, Shen makes manifest the enor­ mous explanatory power of variety distinction. In previous grammatical studies, however, variety-constrained grammatical facts are often mistaken as semantically constrained. For example, some research works that focus on patient subjects have noticed that the difference between bèi-passives and non-bèi-passives manifests the difference between narrative and expository sentences. When it comes to the issue why non-bèi-passives sometimes cannot transform to bèi-passives, however, the reason is attributed to whether the passive relation needs to be highlighted or whether the thing/ event under discussion is taken as positive. Take for example “信写好了→*信 被写好了” (Xìn xiě hǎo le → *Xìn bèi xiě hǎo le; literally ‘letter write-ready PFV→*letter bèi write-ready PFV’, meaning ‘The letter is written’). As a mat­ ter of fact, the latter version may not be unacceptable in speech in some dialects. Even in Pekingese, there is the corresponding version “信给写好了” (where 给 (gěi) is a passive marker). The difference between the two versions preceding and following the arrow is simply the manifestation of different speech styles, rather

Introduction 3 than the outcome of semantic constraints. The analysis of this simple example should arouse close attention because it inspires us to reconsider our description of the basic sentence patterns in Chinese: how many of our previous contrastive analyses between active and passive sentences, agent- and non-agent-subject sen­ tences, and bǎ- and bèi-sentences vis-a-vis common declarative sentences were conducted on the premise that stylistic analysis had been strictly done? Of course, we do not maintain that stylistic differences are the sole reason for the semantic and functional differences between all these sentence patterns. However, if we are not fully aware of the stylistic constraints, confusion may thus arise in our study. Overseas scholars pay much more attention to stylistic study. They have devel­ oped very strict standards and operable methodology. In China, stylistics used to be much discussed in composition teaching and rhetoric study. With the rise of grammatical study, however, no due weight is given to the stylistic influence on grammar. We should learn from overseas scholars, and with their scientific atti­ tude and systematic thinking, we can systematically study different Chinese vari­ eties based on Chinese language facts, and subsequently come up with research reports on specific varieties. 1.2 Discourse units vs. syntactic units Admittedly discourse structure and syntactic structure belong to different sys­ tems. Although a discourse unit may correspond to a syntactic unit from time to time (e.g., the syntactic subject is sometimes the discourse topic, or the syntactic object is sometimes the discourse focus), they have different functions in their respective systems, and thus cannot be equated. Grammatical studies in the past usually assigned a certain function of a discourse unit to a syntactic unit, which has resulted in confusions in explanation. For example, we have found that sentences whose subject is a genitive con­ struction share a striking functional connection with the so-called subjectpredicate (S-P) predicate sentences and verb-copying sentences. But in previous syntactic analysis, they have often been regarded as totally unrelated. There is a line from a film named “The Lover”, where the dubbing and the subtitles show some difference: a

b

中国人的婚姻皆由父母做主（subtitle） Zhōngguórén de hūnyīn jiē yóu fùmǔ zuòzhǔ Chinese GEN marriage all by parents decide ‘Chinese people’s marriages are all decided by the parents.’ 中国人哪，婚姻都是由父母做主的（dubbing） Zhōngguórén na hūnyīn dōushì yóu fùmǔ zuòzhǔ de Chinese SMP marriage all by parents decide aux. ‘The Chinese, their marriages are all decided by their parents.’

The two sentences are different in syntactic analysis. The subjects on the first tier are respectively “中国人的婚姻” in (a) and “中国人” in (b). From the

4

Introduction

discourse perspective, however, the topic component is “中国人” in both sen­ tences, because the subsequent part of each sentence is to comment on “中国人”. Earlier discussions of the topic component always focus on those elements resulting from syntactic segmentation, such as the subject, the adverbial, or an element that modifies the whole sentence, more often than not refusing to admit that such modifiers, when functioning as topics, can govern the whole sentence. From the perspective of discourse function, the following four sentences are near equivalents to one another: a

b

c d

我这舞跳得也够灰心的 wǒ zhè wǔ tiào de yě gòu huīxīn I this dance dance aux. too enough frustrated ‘I feel frustrated by dancing.’ 我的舞跳得也够灰心的 wǒ de wǔ tiào de yě gòu huīxīn de2 I GEN dance 我跳舞跳得也够灰心的 wǒ tiàowǔ tiào de yě gòu huīxīn de I dance (v.) 我舞跳得也够灰心的 wǒ wǔ tiào de yě gòu huīxīn de I dance (n.)

de aux.

This phenomenon shows two facts: the discourse unit is inconsistent with the syntactic unit; neither is the discourse structure consistent with the syntactic structure. In the face of one or a set of sentences, it seems that we should do functional analysis at the discourse level first, and then try to see what calls for syntactic analysis and what does not. “王冕死了父亲 (Wáng Miǎn sǐ le fùqīn, literally ‘Wang Mian died father’, meaning ‘Wang Mian’s father died’)” has become a classic example sentence in grammar works, but if the six characters are said to a person who has learned no grammar at all, he or she will ask, “So what?” Then

S T1

C1

T2

C2

Figure 0.1 Discoursal units and syntactic units T1 =我，T2 =舞／这舞／跳舞

Introduction 5 the sentence status of these six characters is called into question. We may as well refer to its original source for analysis: 元朝末年，也曾出了一个嵌崎磊落的人。这人姓王名冕，在诸暨县乡村 里住。七岁上死了父亲，他母亲做些针指，供给他到村学堂里去读书。（ 《儒林 外史》第一回） Yuáncháo mònián, yě céng chū le yī gè qiànqílěiluò de rén. Zhè rén xìng Wáng míng Miǎn, zài Zhūjìxiàn xiāngcūn lǐ zhù. qīsuì shàng sǐ le fùqīn, seven years old at die PFV father tā mǔqīn zuò xiē zhēnzhǐ, gōngjǐ tā dào cūn xuétáng lǐ qù dúshū. ‘At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there was an arduous and upright person. His name was Wang Mian, living at a village of Zhuji County. When he was seven years old, his father died. His mother did some needlework to support him to go to the village school.’ (The Scholars 《儒林外史》 ( ): Chapter 1) From the perspective of discourse analysis, a stretch of discourse always gives the reference point first so that the forthcoming speech can unfold within the framework. The reference point can be time, space, people or things. “元朝末年 (‘at the end of the Yuan Dynasty’)” is the first reference component, indicating the time; “这人 (‘this person’)” is a character reference component, governing the following five tone groups,3 meaning that all five concern this character; “七岁上 (‘at the age of seven’)” is another time reference, governing the following three clauses, in that the three clauses are all about what happened at that time. It can be very risky to put a relatively large reference component at the begin­ ning of a stretch of discourse. Take the part after the second period for example. “母亲供给他到村学堂里去读书 (‘Mother supported him to go to the village school.’)” also seems an acceptable reading; but if the context is taken into account, it can be found that the semantic meaning is more than this: the rela­ tionship between “做些针指 (‘do some needlework’)” and “供给 (‘support’)” has been sacrificed in this reading. Putting “王冕(‘Wang Mian’)” before “死 了父亲(‘father died’)” risks a similar logic fallacy. Syntactic analysis should study the structural relationship between “死(‘die’)” and “父亲(‘father’)”, not that between “王冕” and “死” or “死了父亲”, because there is no syntactic rela­ tion whatsoever between them. 1.3 Discourse function vs. syntactic function Scholars have noticed the connections between syntactic structure and some of the factors related to speech production, such as pause, stress, sentence-middle modal particles, etc., and used such connections to identify certain syntactic prop­ erties. A quite influential theory holds that the subject can often be marked off the predicate in a subject-predicate structure by means of modal particles such as a (啊), ba (吧), ya (呀), ne (呢), etc. Even after they have observed that this kind of marking does not correspond completely with subject-predicate segmentation, the

6

Introduction

scholars still consider it a prototypical feature of the subject-predicate structure by attributing non-correspondence to category fuzziness.4 Through investigation we find that the elements segmented by sentence-middle modal particles can be more complex than imagined. See examples (a) and (b): a

b

人家呀，说咱们这招牌跌份! Rénjiā ya, shuō zánmen zhè zhāopái diēfèn! People SMP say our this sign not considered the thing 人家说呀，咱们这招牌跌份! Rénjiā shuō ya, zánmen zhè zhāopái diēfèn! 人家说咱们这招牌呀，跌份! Rénjiā shuō zánmen zhè zhāopái ya, diēfèn! ‘People say that this sign of ours can’t be considered the thing!’ 我吧，从小就羡慕一种职业. . . . . . Wǒ ba, cóngxiǎo jiù xiànmù yī zhǒng zhíyè . . . . . . I SMP since early childhood just admire one CL profession 我从小吧，就羡慕一种职业. . . . . . Wǒ cóngxiǎo ba, jiù xiànmù yī zhǒng zhíyè . . . . . . 从小吧，我就羡慕一种职业. . . . . . Cóngxiǎo ba, wǒ jiù xiànmù yī zhǒng zhíyè . . . . . . 从小我吧，就羡慕一种职业. . . . . . Cóngxiǎo wǒ ba, jiù xiànmù yī zhǒng zhíyè . . . . . . 我从小就啊，羡慕一种职业. . . . . . Wǒ cóngxiǎo jiù a, xiànmù yī zhǒng zhíyè . . . . . . ‘I have admired one profession since early childhood. . . ’

We approve the introduction of the prototype category theory into cognitive lin­ guistics. As its advocates point out, if the various functions of a category are unequal in status, the one that is dominant in distribution can be taken as the basis for validation. According to our investigation, however, it is not the dominant distribution for a modal particle to occur after the subject. Moreover, the element that precedes the modal particle is not confined to nominals; it can be adverbial, conjunctive and verbal as well. Therefore, it is not reasonable enough to distin­ guish the subject-predicate structure from other structures according to this cri­ terion. Conversely, the distribution of modal particles within the sentence is far from random; they will not occur in information focus. We therefore maintain that modal particles are in fact the speaker’s means of psychological segmentation of information structure, which has no bearing on syntactic segmentation. What modal particles manifest is textual rather than syntactic functions. Sometimes syntactic analysis cannot reflect textual functions, as in the case when demonstratives “这／那” (this/that’) immediately precede nominals. Syn­ tactic analysis can only assert that they are appositives to the nominals and would be satisfied with that. Compare the use of “这” in the three sentences below:

Introduction 7 a

b

c

这老王，嘴简直跟城门似的。 Zhèi Lǎo Wáng, zuǐ jiǎnzhí gēn chéngmén sìde. this old Wang mouth simply with city gate like ‘Old Wang, his mouth is very much like the city gate.’ 这人哪，就是不能太善。 Zhe rén na, jiùshì bùnéng tài shàn. this people SMP just cannot too nice ‘People can’t be too nice.’ 我这舞跳得也够灰心的。 Wǒ zhei wǔ tiào de yě gòu huīxīn de I this dance dance aux. too enough frustrated aux. ‘I feel frustrated by dancing.’

As the pinyin transcripts show, “这” in sentence (a) is pronounced as “zhèi”, taking the stress; in sentence (b), it is produced as “zhe”, taking no stress; in sentence (c), it is read as “zhei”, again unstressed. In these three sentences, the demonstrative function of “这” is weak with no exception. What the three occur­ rences share in common is that “这” functions as a topic marker, and the differ­ ences in pronunciation happen to show the nature of each reference: it is definite in sentence (a), general in sentence (b), and non-referential in sentence (c). When the functional principle and the syntactic principle are in conflict, a functional explanation is usually preferred so as to maintain the consistency of syntactic rules. Examine a specific example. The adverb “分别” (fēnbié, ‘respectively’) requires that the multiple subjects and the multiple objects be the same in number as well as in order of occurrence. In “老周和老陈分别当了主 任和副主任” (Lǎo Zhōu hé Lǎo Chén fēnbié dāng le zhǔrèn hé fù zhǔrèn, ‘Old Zhou and Old Chen have respectively taken the office of director and deputy director.’) can only be understood as “Old Zhou is the director, and Old Chen the deputy director”, rather than the reverse.5 However, we have observed the following example: 我和德熙兄是1952年分别从清华大学和燕京大学调到北大中文系工作 时才认识的，那时他正忙于准备去保加利亚讲学，虽然住得很近，但 来往不多。（林焘《哭德熙兄》 ） Wǒ hé Déxī xiōng shì 1952 nián fēnbié cóng Qīnghuá Dàxué hé Yànjīng Dàxué diào dào Běidà Zhōngwén Xì gōngzuò shí cái rènshi de, nàshí tā zhèng mángyú zhǔnbèi qù Bǎojiālìyà jiǎngxué, suīrán zhù de hěn jìn, dàn láiwǎng bù duō. ‘I and Brother Dexi6 got to know each other when we transferred respec­ tively from Tsinghua University and Yenching University in 1952 to the Chi­ nese Department of Peking University. At that time, he was busy preparing to lecture in Bulgaria. Although we lived close by, we didn’t see each other often.’ (Lin Tao, Mourning the Loss of Brother Dexi 《哭德熙兄》 ( ))

8

Introduction

Readers familiar with the situation know that Mr. Lin was from Yenching Uni­ versity and Mr. Zhu (i.e., Dexi in the quoted example) was from Tsinghua Univer­ sity; that is, the truth is opposite to what is expressed by “分别”. In this example, the multiple entities following “分别” do not occur in the same order with the multiple subjects (“I and Brother Dexi”); instead, they follow the principle of the main theme taking precedence. In the sentence “那时他正忙于. . . . . .”, “他” still refers to Zhu, which attests to the same principle. Another example is bǎ-constructions. Traditional syntactic research attaches great importance to them, and they are gaining popularity among functionalists in recent years. Some people think that the instantiation of bǎ-constructions is restricted by the semantic meaning of contrast; others believe that the occurrence of bǎ is to indicate that the reference of the preceding object is definite. These find­ ings may or may not be comprehensive; what they amount to is the fact that bǎ­ constructions are licensed more by discourse factors than by syntactic constraints. We have also noticed that bǎ-constructions rarely occur at the beginning of a stretch of discourse; instead, they tend to appear in subsequent clauses. Compare: a

b

一只足球蹦过草地，滚到我脚下，我停住球，接着飞起一脚把球踢走。 Yī zhī zúqiú bèng guò cǎodì, gǔn dào wǒ jiǎoxià, wǒ tíng zhù qiú, jiēzhe fēi qǐ yī jiǎo bǎ qiú tī zǒu. ‘A football jumped over the lawn and rolled to my feet. I stopped it, and then flew up a foot to kick the ball away.’ 有一天我把这只足球踢出去，穿海魂衫的弟兄们急急忙忙跑起来 追球。 Yǒu yītiān wǒ bǎ zhè zhī zúqiú tī chūqù, chuān hǎihúnshān de dìxiōngmen jíjímángmáng pǎo qǐlái zhuī qiú. ‘One day, I kicked the football out. My brothers, who were in striped shirts, hurriedly ran to catch the ball.’ (The underlined is the bǎ introduced object in each case.)

Of course, the issue is far from this simple. Whether a bǎ-construction can be used discourse initially is also determined by such factors as the referential property of the object introduced by bǎ, the tense of the verb, and so on. Nonethe­ less, according to our observation, the chances for bǎ-constructions to occur in discourse initially are very slim, which reflects that bǎ-constructions are good at taking over what has been addressed in earlier discourse but poor at setting a new course for later discourse. 1.4  Functional classification vs. semantic classification Chinese grammarians are now increasingly willing to prove the rationality of their grammar by the ease with which it can be adapted for computer use. Since the results from formal analysis are far from enough, more semantic interpretations are incorporated, which indeed are among the basic requirements for computers to comprehend and generate Chinese. The point to make here is that some results of

Introduction 9 functional analysis should also be given due attention, because this is a necessary condition if computers are to generate reasonable Chinese. Take the classification of verb-object (VO) combinations for example. Nowa­ days the classification is done mainly based on the semantic relation between the object and the verb. The object is thus grouped into such semantic components as agent, patient, dative, instrument, cause, result, location, time and so on. If we change our point of view and focus on the functional attributes of the nominal object, we can come up with categories of different referentiality: a

b

c

indefinite objects: 开了一个饭馆 (kāi le yī gè fànguǎn, ‘open a restaurant’), 找个替身 (zhǎo gè tìshēn, ‘find a stand-in’), 想起来一个人(xiǎngqǐlái yī gè rén, ‘think of a person’), 打两场球 (dǎ liǎng chǎng qiú, ‘play a couple of games’) definite objects: 找着她了(zhǎo zhe tā le, ‘found her’), 逛颐和园(guàng Yíhéyuán, ‘visit the Summer Palace’), 来这儿(lái zhè-er,7 ‘come here’), 碰 见刚才说话那人 (pèngjiàn gāngcái shuōhuà nàrén, ‘ran into the person who was talking a moment ago’) non-referential objects: 说话 (shuōhuà, ‘speak’), 办事儿 (bànshì-er, ‘do something’), 睡行军床 (shuì xíngjūnchuáng, ‘sleep in the cot’), 教数学 (jiāo shùxué, ‘teach math’), 当司仪 (dāng sīyí, ‘work as MC’)

These are several representative categories, and should not be taken as exhaus­ tive. If we focus on these three categories only, we can see that they behave very differently in discourse. Sentences with indefinite objects (Category A) are strong in introducing sequent discourse, but no good at taking over previous discourse. Generally speaking, such sentences are always followed by other clauses, and it would be very unlikely for such sentences to close up the discourse. See (1) and (2): (1) 潘佑军的朋友在稻香湖开了一个马场，潘佑军几次提出去那儿玩一 趟，找找绅士的感觉。 Pān Yòujūn de péngyǒu zài Dàoxiānghú kāi le yī gè mǎchǎng, open PFV one CL horse farm Pān Yòujūn jǐcì tíchū qù nà-er wán yītàng, zhǎozhǎo shēnshì de gǎnjué. ‘Pan Youjun’s friend opened a horse farm in Daoxiang Lake. Pan Youjun has proposed several times to make a tour there, looking for the feeling of a gentleman.’ (2) 我先进去的那间摆着一张大床，摞着几只樟木箱，床头还有一幅梳着 50年代发式的年轻男女的合影，显然这是男女主人的卧室。 Wǒ xiān jìnqù de nàjiān bǎi zhe yī zhāng dà chuáng, put aux. one CL big bed luò zhe jǐ zhī zhāngmù xiāng, stack aux. several CL camphor wood box chuángtóu hái yǒu yī fú shū zhe wǔshí niándài fàshì de niánqīng nánnǚ de héyǐng, xiǎnrán zhè shì nánnǚ zhǔrén de wòshì.

10

Introduction ‘In the room I first entered, there were a big bed and a few camphor wood boxes stacked on end. At the head of the bed there was a photo of a young man and woman, wearing their hair in styles of the 1950s. Obviously, it was the masters’ bedroom.’

Sentences in Category B, whose objects are definite in reference, are strong in referring back to previous discourse, as in the examples below: (3) 我看到卫宁穿着拖鞋从家门内出来，急忙叫住他。 Wǒ kàndào Wèi Níng chuān zhe tuōxié cóng jiāmén nèi I see/saw Wei Ning wear aux. slippers from gate inside chūlái, jímáng jiàozhù tā. come out hurriedly call him ‘I saw Wei Ning come out of the gate wearing slippers, and hurriedly called to him.’ (4) 我在院门口等米兰时，朋友们毫不怀疑我是用通常的方式控制住了这 个“圈子” 。 Wǒ zài yuànménkǒu děng Mǐ Lán shí, I at gate wait Mi Lan when péngyǒu men háobúhuáiyí wǒ shì yòng friends doubt not in the least I be use tōngcháng de fāngshì kòngzhìzhù le zhègè “quānzi”. usual aux. means take control PFV this chick ‘When I was waiting for Mi Lan at the courtyard gate, my friends had no doubt whatsoever that I had controlled the chick in the usual way.’ Meanwhile, definite objects may also look ahead to the forthcoming discourse, as in (5): (5) 杜梅不答应，我只好带她去，车来了一瞧，潘佑军也带了老婆。 Dù Méi bù dāying, wǒ zhǐhǎo dài tā qù, Du Mei not agree I have to take her go chē lái le yīqiáo, Pān Yòujūn yě dài le lǎopó. car arrive PFV look Pan Youjun too take PFV wife ‘Du Mei didn’t agree, so I had to take her with me. When the car arrived, Pan Youjun also took his wife along.’ This is because the object tends to be more informative. Less informative enti­ ties are generally placed in the subject position or after bǎ. In (5), “她”(‘she’) relates to previous discourse by referring back to Du Mei while at the same time looking forward to the forthcoming discourse by contrasting with Pan Youjun’s wife. This is a basic function of definite objects. Category C is different from the former two in that the indefinite element does not refer to any discourse entity, which renders the state of affairs expressed by

Introduction 11 the sentence quite vague. Typical non-referential objects are for statement making rather than narration. (6) 我是售票员。 Wǒ shì shòupiàoyuán. I be bus conductor ‘I am a bus conductor.’ (7) 她唱女中音。 Tā chàng nǚzhōngyīn. she sing mezzo-soprano. ‘She sings mezzo-soprano.’ (8) 马走日字，象走田字。 Mǎ zǒu rìzì， xiàng zǒu tiánzì. Horse walk character 日 Premier walk character 田 ‘The Horse (in Chinese chess) moves with the route as indicated by the Chinese character 日, and the Premier follows the route as indicated by 田.’ The actual performance of these sentence patterns can be more complicated than is elaborated here. The general tendency, however, will remain unchanged, which no doubt will help with the computer’s comprehension and generation of Chinese discourse. If we admit that language is a tool for human communication, we have to admit that communicative needs are of primary importance in shaping language struc­ ture. The language system can be approached by conducting pure formal analysis of the structure or analyzing the semantic meaning systematically; what cannot be ignored in so doing are the functional factors underlying the formal /semantic per­ formance. This chapter is not a systematic discussion of the impact of language function. Instead, we aim merely to illustrate with some specific examples the functional constraints on syntax. Some of them are no longer fresh topics among overseas scholars, and Chinese grammarians have also achieved some original research results not known to outsiders yet. But if we intend to further advance the study of Chinese grammar, it is time to enhance our theoretical consciousness and combine the good practice of traditional Chinese studies with the new and better perspectives of overseas scholars.

2. Research value of spoken Pekingese 2.1 Spoken Pekingese and Chinese grammar study The study of the grammar of spoken Pekingese, in Zhu Dexi’s view, “is the foun­ dation of the study of modern Chinese grammar”. Zhu lays great emphasis on the grammar of spoken Pekingese. He produces three reasons: 1) Pekingese is a basic dialect of modern standard Chinese; 2) Pekingese, a living language spo­ ken by millions of people, is basically stable and homogeneous; 3) to study the grammar of Pekingese is helpful for us to discover the fundamentals in modern

12

Introduction

Chinese grammar, such as the basic sentence patterns, the important functions of grammatical components, the relationship between prosody and syntax, etc. Zhu is very insightful in stressing the stability and homogeneity of spoken Pekingese. Throughout the history of the study of Chinese grammar, the most influential monographs, such as Wang Li’s Modern Chinese Grammar 《中国现代语法》 ( ), Lü Shuxiang’s 800 Words in Modern Chinese 《现代汉语八百词》 ( ), and Zhu Dexi’s Lectures on Grammar 《语法讲义》 ( ), are all based on spoken Pekingese without exception. Chao Yuen Ren’s Mandarin Primer 《北京口语语法》 ( ) and A Grammar of Spoken Chinese 《中国话的文法》 ( ), both written in the middle of the 20th century, make it ever clearer that the grammar of Pekingese should be the grammar of spoken Chinese. The two monographs by Chao have reached an unprecedented height in credibility of data and fairness of analysis. Grammar study over the past forty years in China has basically inherited the predecessors’ good tradition of prudent treatment of data, but at the same time there is also some chaos. Zhu Dexi (1987) represents a comment on such phenomena, but unfortunately his reminder has failed to receive enough attention. So far we can still see articles addressing grammar issues where the reliability of the conclu­ sion is undermined by improper treatment of data. Chao Yuen Ren has a famous saying: Do not express an opinion before you are ready with “for examples”. Younger generations of grammarians should keep in mind the elder’s advice, and only in this way can we refrain from coming up with absurd conclusions due to inappropriate treatment of data, and in turn benefit from deepened understanding of language facts. Zhu’s proposal that grammar study of Pekingese should be helpful for the dis­ covery of the fundamentals in modern Chinese grammar is also extremely enlight­ ening. From the perspective of the general trend of world linguistics development, gone are the days for the formalist approach to dominate the discipline; instead, the functional approach, which gives importance to living spoken languages, is gaining in popularity. Especially since the 1970s both formalists and functional­ ists have begun to consciously abandon the research method of solely analyzing isolated sentences that are produced introspectively out of context. Conversely, they have turned to studying actual language use in natural contexts, with a view to identifying the decisive factors that have been left out of analysis in formal research, and in turn generalizing authentic linguistic facts. In recent years func­ tionalists abroad, by consciously focusing their analysis on spoken Pekingese when studying Chinese grammar, have discovered many important facts and come up with some brand-new understandings of Chinese grammar. From this point of view, Zhu’s formulation is indeed farsighted. Currently, domestic research still fails to pay due attention to the grammar of spoken Pekingese; on the other hand, overseas endeavors are still trapped by the congenital deficiency in accurately interpreting the linguistic phenomena in spoken Pekingese. The two aspects lumped together render it urgent to make a comprehensive and systematic study of spoken Pekingese. We are of the view: a normative grammar of standard Man­ darin should be based on Pekingese, given the fact that the latter is the base dialect of the former; research on dialect grammars should take spoken Pekingese (not

Introduction 13 Mandarin) for reference; in comparative studies between Chinese and foreign lan­ guages, a systematic description of spoken Pekingese can test the applicability of the more general theories of language; and diachronic study of language depends on the comparison between the oral materials from contemporary Pekingese and the ancient oral materials. All in all, the grammar of spoken Pekingese constitutes a fundamental research topic with ontological significance. But there is the say­ ing: a thing cannot exist without its basis. More efforts, therefore, need to be made to change the weak status quo of grammar research on spoken Pekingese. 2.2 Levels of spoken Pekingese Many aspects of the research subject put forward by Zhu Dexi deserve our further exploration. When he says that spoken Pekingese is reliable, Zhu makes the point in general terms by claiming that spoken Pekingese is relatively stable and homo­ geneous. When a comprehensive and systematic study of spoken Pekingese is conducted, however, the first challenge is how to view and handle the diachronic variations and synchronic differences in the language. The authors of this book, when studying at Peking University, participated in a series of surveys directed by Lin Tao into the speech sounds and words of Pekingese. From the research results that Lin Tao has published, Pekingese shows clear internal variation in pronun­ ciation and lexicon. But it is not as easy to determine the parameters related to grammar as those for pronunciation or lexicon, probably because grammatical changes are not as clear as those of pronunciation and lexicon, and thus not easy to track. As living informants, we feel that the synchronic social differences (e.g., level of education, social status, gender, etc.) in spoken Pekingese, though observ­ able, are not as significant as the diachronic variations over the past half century. Lao She’s novels and Hou Baolin’s crosstalk represent Pekingese of about half a century ago, and would impress a modern Beijing ear as “old flavoured”. When first taking its shape in the mid-1980s, contemporary spoken Pekingese used to be ridiculed as flattering and faux fun. In the 1990s, spoken Pekingese represented by Wang Shuo’s novels, Liang Zuo’s crosstalk and Feng Xiaogang’s movies not only spread to all social ranks, but appeared openly on the pages of all major newspapers in the capital city and gradually mixed with other dialects as well. It is, therefore, safe to say that Pekingese after the 1980s is different from that of Lao She’s era. Lin Jinlan, an experienced writer, published an article entitled “Pekingese is not homogeneous” (“北京语言不共同”) in the journal of Southern Weekend 《南方 ( 周末》). In the article, Lin writes, “Lao She writes about Beijing; so does Wang Shuo. Lao She writes about common Beijing citizens; Wang Shuo also writes about them. The ‘words’ that they ‘write’ are all excellent Beijing language. Lao She drives home the very essence of Pekingese; Wang Shuo has also developed his unique style. Their use of the language, polished as it is, can be poles apart. They share the same topics, Beijing people, Beijing stories and Pekingese; but it so happened that they two share no ‘common’ language.” Wang Shuo himself writes in his autobiography, “I do not quite understand old Pekingese. . . . The

14

Introduction

language I use in my writings is mainly borrowed from the spoken variety. Novels should use living speech, so that later generations can know how people talk at the moment.” If we look farther back at The Legend of Heroes 《儿女英雄传》 ( ), a book writ­ ten a century ago by Wen Kang that embodies spoken Pekingese at that time, we can find that the language is not only very different from today’s Pekingese, but also different from that in Lao She’s era. Therefore, in studying the development of spoken Pekingese, it would be very meaningful to regard Wen Kang, Lao She and Wang Shuo as representatives of three different stages. Oota Tatsuo (1988) main­ tains that modern Pekingese was formed at the end of the 18th century on the basis of the following seven criteria: 1) distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns by means of “咱们”(zánmen) and “我们”(wǒmen), rather than “俺”(ǎn), “咱”(zán), etc.; 2) the introduction of preposition “给”(gěi); 3) the auxiliary use “来着”(láizhe); 4) substituting auxiliary “呢”(ne) for “哩”(li); 5) the prohibitive use of adverb “别”(bié); 6) degree adverb “很”(hěn) for adverbial use; and 7) post-adjectival use of “～多了”(duō le) as substitute for “. . . . . .得多”(de duō) or “. . . . . .得远”(de yuǎn) (meaning ‘much more than . . .’ or ‘much farther than . . .’)”. It is generally acknowledged that spoken Pekingese in Lao She’s era has undergone some changes from the end of the Qing Dynasty, but so far we have seen nobody raise criteria in the same manner as Oota Tatsuo to illustrate the development over that half century. It would be ideal if backtrack research could be conducted. We can begin by summarizing the grammatical phenomena in con­ temporary spoken Pekingese and then compare them with Lao She’s works with a view to establishing some signs as the criteria. Then we can go on to backtrack from Lao She’s works to have a comprehensive and objective understanding of the development of spoken Pekingese over the past century. During the past hundred years Beijing has been the political and cultural center of China. Social changes constitute the main cause of the changes in spoken Pekingese. The May 4th New Culture Movement and the “Cultural Revolution” have left distinctive markings on Pekingese in different periods. The manifesta­ tions in lexicon and rhetoric are obvious but subtle in grammar. Lao She and Wang Shuo are different in literary orientation and social evaluation, but their representation of the oral grammar of their respective times is very real. This may be especially true in Wang Shuo’s case. His works collect both praise and criti­ cism, but his language achievement is recognized by all. His works are the objec­ tive reflection of the natural use of contemporary Pekingese without any tailoring, which provides great convenience for functional analysis. 2.3 About the examples cited in these two volumes Most of the examples cited in these two volumes are taken from spoken Peking­ ese. Specifically, there are two sources. One is the written materials, mainly the literary works of writers from Beijing. The other is the recordings, which can be further divided into two subcategories: TV recordings and the recordings of natu­ ral speech. Written materials are mostly from Lao She and Wang Shuo’s works.

Introduction 15 The focus of study is on the dialogues; narrative and descriptive texts are avoided so as to reduce the impact of the written style on language use. The TV recordings selected are those that were recorded on location, because this type of material is closer to natural spoken language. Also, a comparison between the recorded material and the original script can be very conducive to a deeper understanding of the features of spoken language. The recordings of natural speech are mainly from Peking University’s systematic survey into Pekingese under the guidance of Lin Tao (from 1982 to 1984). This survey, with socio-dialectal significance, is a comprehensive one involving 449 informants from 25 urban and suburban areas in Beijing who are different in age, gender, educational level and ethnic group. As participants of the survey, the coauthors of these two volumes gained a better understanding of the various aspects of Pekingese from the actual implementation of the survey. At the same time we recognized further the deep impact of corpus analysis and screening on research work. The data we have collected here can reflect spoken Pekingese from different angles and are very beneficial for our current research. Throughout the two volumes we will indicate one by one the sources of the examples that attest to a particular grammatical rule while leaving out the sources of those illustrating a general grammatical phenomenon.

Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The Chinese original was first published in 1996. [Translator’s note.] For simplicity no gloss is done for the part that is repeated in b, c and d. For the concept of tone group see Fan Jiyan (1985). See Yuan Yulin (1995). This rule is summarized in Liao Qiuzhong (1992a) as “the principle of correspondence”. Translated literally to maintain the original order of occurrence. Retroflex “儿” is transcribed in pinyin as “-er” throughout the two volumes.

Part I

Information structure

1

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese

1.1 Thematic structure outlined 1.1.1 Word order and information structure Each and every language has its own system of syntactic rules, which is a deter­ mining factor of the law for word order. In the meantime, language, as an impor­ tant tool for human communication, is used by people to satisfy communicative needs, which preordains that word order is also arranged for information trans­ mission, a common feature shared by various languages. This chapter focuses on the study of the information structure in spoken Chinese, with a view to exploring the functional constraints on Chinese word order. For a long time, Chinese grammarians have been accustomed to using the framework of “subject-predicate” to explain the information structure of the Chi­ nese language. For example, Lü Shuxiang observes, “It is the general trend for us to move from known to unknown information in talking. . . . The known comes to mind first, which is then followed by the unknown” (1946, as seen in 1990c, p.469). He then maintains that the subject-predicate distinction “may not be said to be purely mechanical; instead, it also follows psychological instructions at the same time” (ibid.) Since the 1970s more scholars tend to describe known and new information in terms of the dichotomy of “topic-comment”, as Li and Thompson (1981) point out that topics “set a framework in naming what the sentence is about, and they must be either definite or generic” (p.56). This argument can be claimed to be more in line with Chinese language facts. However, if the infor­ mation structure of Chinese sentences is examined comprehensively, it can be seen that there are many situations that cannot be covered by “subject-predicate” or “topic-comment”. It is well established that both subject and topic are entityreferring components that occur sentence initially. However, there are also some non-substantive components before or after them, such as the modal component, the text-connecting component and so on. They also play various roles in the information structure but are often left unexplained in terms of subject-predicate or topic-comment. Therefore we propose to use the dichotomy “theme-rheme” to describe the information structure of spoken Chinese.

20

Information structure

1.1.2 Thematic structure and information structure Segmenting a sentence into theme and rheme was initially advanced by Mathesius of the Prague School, who maintains that this segmentation is different from the formal segmentation of sentences into grammatical components, in that it aims to study how a sentence is related to the context. Mathesius believes that sen­ tences are formed exactly on the basis of such specific contexts. Basically, theme expresses the starting point (i.e., something that is known or at least easy to learn in the context, from which the speaker starts), and rheme is the core of the expres­ sion (the speaker’s comment on the stating point). As we can see, this analysis is geared towards the function of information transmission. Although later linguists define theme and rheme somewhat differently, the basic spirit of reflecting the information structure remains unchanged. Some linguists’ views are of important inspiration for our study. Halliday (1985), for instance, maintains that the thematic part of an English clause can con­ sist of components of three aspects, namely, the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual. The ideational components are those that play a role in the transitivity structure of the clause; the interpersonal components include mood and attitude indicating expressions and vocatives; the textual components refer to various con­ junctive and relational components. In English, the thematic and rhematic compo­ nents can be identified in terms of intonation. For example, an English sentence can be analyzed as follows: (1) On the other hand, textual

maybe interpersonal

on a weekday, ideational

it would be less crowded. rheme

This analysis can highlight the information focus in the rheme by putting sec­ ondary information in the thematic part of the clause. Recognizing three kinds of thematic components and identifying information focus by means of clause stress are also of reference value in the analysis of Chinese information structure. There are some intrinsic syntactic means for highlighting focal information in Chinese (see Chapters 2, 3 and 6), but there are a number of phenomena that go beyond syntactic configuration as well. For instance, the prosody and stress pattern in the following examples cannot be reflected in traditional syntactic segmentation: (2) 说实话我们厂的产品，我第一个不买。 Shuō shíhuà wǒmen chǎng de chǎnpǐn, speak truth our factory GEN products wǒ dìyīgè bù mǎi. I first not buy ‘To tell the truth, I’ll be the first to refuse to buy the products from our factory.’ (3) 我代表我们全厂三十多位职工和四十多位退休老工人， 给您道谢了。 wǒ dàibiǎo wǒmen quánchǎng sānshí-duō-wèi zhígōng I on behalf of our entire factory thirty-over-CL worker

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 21 hé sìshí-duō-wèi tuìxiū lǎo gōngrén, and forty-over-CL retired old worker gěi nín dàoxiè le. give you thank aux. ‘On behalf of over 30 workers and more than 40 retired workers of the entire factory, I extend my gratitude to you.’ (4) 你们俩在里边，是不是都晕菜了? Nǐmen liǎ zài lǐbiān, shìbúshì dōu you two in inside yes or no both ‘The two of you inside, aren’t you dumbfounded?’

yūncài dumbfounded

le? aux.

(5) 我就纳闷这王家，有爹有妈姑姑舅舅一大堆，一个孩子非让个外人领 走。 Wǒ jiù nàmèn zhè Wáng jiā, I just wonder this Wang family yǒu diē yǒu mā gūgū jiùjiù yīdàduī, have father have mother aunt uncle a lot yīgè háizi fēi ràng gè wàirén lǐngzǒu. one child must let CL outsider take away ‘The Wangs are so confusing. The child has both father and mother, and a lot of uncles and aunts. Why should s/he be taken away by an outsider?’ The commas in these sentences truthfully reflect the speakers’ apparent pauses, but none of them represents the first point of syntactic segmentation. More impor­ tantly, although the part preceding the comma in each case can be analyzed into different syntactic components, the speaker always produces it in one tone group which bears no sentence stress. The sentence stress, instead, often falls on the lat­ ter part of the sentence, that is, “我第一个不买” in (2), “给您道谢了” in (3), “都 晕菜了” in (4), and “非让个外人领走” in (5). In other words the prosodic pattern reflects the “theme-rheme” organization in each case. Given that the speaker determines the form of expression according to the com­ municative needs of the context of situation, sentences expressing the same content may often have different “theme-rheme” segmentation. We can analyze the example cluster below with some simplification; that is, only the first-tier theme and rheme are separated by a slash, with further analysis left undone. (6) 这伙人／没事总爱在胡同口大槐树底下玩台球。 Zhè huǒ rén / méishì zǒng ài zài hútòng kǒu this CL people have nothing to do always love at hutong mouth dà huáishù dǐxià wán táiqiú. big locust tree beneath play billiards ‘When free, these people like to play billiards beneath the big locust tree at the entrance to the hutong alleyway.’

22

Information structure

(7) 这伙人没事／总爱在胡同口大槐树底下玩台球。 Zhè huǒ rén méishì/zǒng ài zài hútòng kǒu dà huáishù dǐxià wán táiqiú. (8) 这伙人没事总爱／在胡同口大槐树底下玩台球。 Zhè huǒ rén méishì zǒng ài/zài hútòng kǒu dà huáishù dǐxià wán táiqiú. (9) 这伙人没事总爱在胡同口大槐树底下／玩台球。 Zhè huǒ rén méishì zǒng ài zài hútòng kǒu dà huáishù dǐxià/wán táiqiú. An advantage of the theme-rheme approach lies in its meticulous analysis of the information structure of the sentence, or in Halliday’s terminology, it reflects the metafunctions of the sentence. But the problem is also obvious: if we analyze all sentences according to the stress pattern or prosody, it may appear a bit too arbitrary, which would make theme-rheme a meaningless distinction. Chen Ping (1987c) makes a similar comment on Halliday’s functional grammar, maintaining that the key to the problem is how to make objective judgments on the information structure. Although we can analyze the thematic structure in Chinese sentences as illustruted in (6) to (9), we believe that the establishment of a concept and a means of analysis still demands sufficient formal basis. This chapter introduces two typi­ cal representations of the thematic structure in spoken Chinese. 1.1.3 Information units and syntactic units As mentioned earlier, information segmentation and syntactic segmentation are sometimes inconsistent, indicating that the information unit and the syntactic unit may not necessarily correspond. In English, a thematic structure is bounded by a tone group which contains a stressed tone; in Chinese, by contrast, it is bounded by the theme marker and the subsequent focus information. Because the linear arrangement of spoken sentences in the foremost reflects the speaker’s analysis of the information structure, it is not necessarily a direct reflection of the syntacticsemantic structure. Therefore, the Chinese thematic structure can be as large as a so-called complex sentence or as brief as part of a clause or phrase, which will be further discussed following the example analysis below.

1.2 Thematic structure in narratives 1.2.1 Theme and its markers In spoken Chinese, the theme is often explicitly marked, and the markers are sentence-middle modal particles, including a (啊), ba (吧), na (哪), etc. These particles used to be regarded as subject or topic markers, but in fact the compo­ nents marked by such particles are far more than the subject and topic components in terms of their nature. Look at the following excerpt: (10) 她不想拆散老师的家庭， Tā bù xiǎng chāisàn lǎoshī de she not want break up teacher GEN ‘She doesn’t want to break up her teacher’s family.’

jiā tíng, family

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 23 而且不想让她爱的人哪陷入苦恼， érqiě bù xiǎng ràng tā ài de rén na and not want let she love NOM person SMP xiànrù kǔnǎo, fall into worry ‘Neither does she want to make the man she loves sink into worries.’ 所以她一直啊没有把这一片痴情啊告诉老师， suǒyǐ tā yīzhí a méiyǒu bǎ so she always SMP has not BA chīqíng a gàosù lǎoshī, passion SMP tell teacher ‘So she has never revealed her passion to her teacher,’

zhè yī this one

piàn CL

但又无法从心灵深处呢抹掉这个人。 dàn yòu wúfǎ cóng xīnlíng shēnchù ne mǒdiào zhègè rén. but again no way from heart depth SMP erase this man ‘but she can by no means erase the man from the depth of her heart.’ It can be clearly seen that the components before the modal particles are neither subjects nor topics. The parts following the modal particles, namely, “陷入苦恼”, “告诉老师” and “抹掉这个人”, are where the important information lies in the information structure. Moreover, they also bear the sentence stress. Therefore, the position where the modal particle occurs is precisely the demarcation between theme and rheme. The thematic structure of spoken Chinese can also be subdivided into three categories: the ideational component, the interpersonal component and the textual component, which will be correspondingly referred to as the ideational theme, the interpersonal theme and the textual theme. 1.2.2 Textual theme The commonly seen textual themes in oral Chinese discourse are the words and clauses which are used to indicate the semantic transitions between sen­ tences. These components always occur in sentences initially and constitute a common category of a theme whose main function is to connect the statements and introduce the subsequent content. Such themes are generally not involved in the composition of sentence proposition. They are followed by modal parti­ cles to mark clear pauses, prompting the listener to attend to the forthcoming discourse. (11) 其实吧，你也就是一般人。 Qíshí ba, nǐ yě jiùshì yībān in fact SMP you too just common ‘In fact, you too are no more than an ordinary person.’

rén. person

24

Information structure

(12) 所以呀他说这么重大的演出一定得有你。 Suǒyǐ ya tā shuō zhème zhòngdà de yǎnchū so SMP he say so important ASS show yīdìng děi yǒu nǐ. by all means must have you ‘So he said that such a big show could by no means do without you.’ (13) 一上这小楼啊就特别地兴奋。 Yī shàng zhè xiǎolóu a jiù tèbié de xìngfèn. once climb this small building SMP just particularly aux. excited ‘I’m particularly excited to climb up this small building.’ Since textual themes are relatively simple in both form and function, these examples will satisfy. 1.2.3 Interpersonal theme The interpersonal theme is the part expressing the speaker’s attitude towards a discourse stretch as a communicative unit. From the semantic point of view it shows the speaker’s volition, comment, modality and so on. (14) 我建议啊，从现在起咱们谁也不要使这个电话了。 Wǒ jiànyì a, cóng xiànzài qǐ zánmen I suggest SMP from now on we búyào shǐ zhègè diànhuà le. do not use this phone aux. ‘I suggest that none of us use the phone from now on.’

shuí who

yě too

(15) 我觉得吧，你特有才气哎! Wǒ juéde ba， nǐ tè I think SMP you exceptionally ‘I think you’re exceptionally talented.’

yǒu have

cáiqì talent

ai! SFP

(16) 要我说啊，都不是东西! Yào wǒ shuō a， dōu búshì if I say SMP all is not ‘In my opinion, none of them are good people.’

dōngxi! thing!

(17) 好啊，谁也别欠谁的情儿。 Hǎo a， shuí yě bié qiàn shuí de good SMP who too not owe who aux. ‘It’ll be good for one to owe no favour to any other people.’

qíng-er. favour

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 25 (18) 起码啊，比斯特里普年轻。 Qǐmǎ a， bǐ at least SMP comp. ‘At least, (she) is younger than Streep.’

Sītèlǐpǔ Streep

niánqīng. young

(19) 不如哇，就改成知音姥姥，让咱牛大姐负责。 Búrú wa, jiù gǎichéng zhīyīn lǎolao, not as good as SMP just change to bosom friend granny ràng zán Niú dàjiě fùzé. let our Niu sister take charge ‘Why not change it to Bosom Friend Granny and let our sister Niu to take charge?’ (20) 一不留神哪，说不定混出一反派大腕儿来。 Yībúliúshén na, shuōbúdìng hùnchū yī fǎnpài dàwàn-er lái. inattentively SMP maybe survive one villain bigshot come ‘Inattentively (you) may survive as a big villian.’ It can be seen that the interpersonal themes identified from the communicative point of view do not correspond to the results of traditional syntactic analysis, in that some of the themes used to be taken as adverbials, some as predicates, and some simply as non-syntactic elements. Modal particles here provide the basis for functional analysis.

1.2.4 Topical theme A topical theme is an entity that participates in the event as stated in the sen­ tence. It helps to establish a basic frame of statement for the subsequent part which predetermines that it is definite in reference. The components that can function as topical themes include: general nominal expressions (including temporal and spatial components), prepositional phrases, nominalized verb phrases, etc. (21) 我们啊不打算马上结婚，喜糖啊还得等一阵子才吃呢。 Wǒmen a bú dǎsuàn mǎshàng jiéhūn, we SMP not plan immediately marry xǐtáng a háiděi děng yīzhènzi cái chī ne happiness candies SMP still must wait some time only eat SFP ‘We don’t plan to marry right away. You’ll have to wait some time for hap­ piness candies.’

26

Information structure

(22) 我们女人哪就是倔，我年轻那会儿啊也有这种情况。 Wǒmen nǚrén na jiùshì juè， we Woman/men SMP be stubborn wǒ niánqīng nàhuì-er a yě yǒu zhè zhǒng qíngkuàng. I young then SMP too have this type situation ‘We women are stubborn. When I was young, I was also faced with such situations.’ (23) 我头几年呀也蹉跎了那么一阵子岁月。 Wǒ tóujǐnián ya yě cuōtuó I several years ago SMP too idle away yīzhènzi suìyuè. some time time ‘I also idled some time away several years ago.’

le PFV

nàme so

(24) 平常啊老同志说你们一句，你们有八句在那儿等着! Píngcháng a lǎo tóngzhì shuō nǐmen yī jù, usually SMP old comrade say you one sentence nǐmen yǒu bā jù zàinà-er děng zhe! you have eight sentence there wait aux. ‘Usually, when the senior comrades blame you for one thing, you’ll have eight in store for them.’ (25) 自幼哇，家境贫寒。 Zìyòu wa, jiājìng pínhán. from childhood SMP family poor ‘From childhood (his) family was poor.’ (26) 跟聪明人啊我也不抖机灵儿了。 Gēn cōngmíng rén a wǒ yě bú dǒujīlíng-er le. with smart person SMP I too not play petty tricks aux ‘With smart people, I know better than to play petty tricks.’ (27) 装扮成哪种类型的智能人啊无所谓。 Zhuāngbàn chéng nǎ zhǒng lèixíng de zhìnéngrén a pretend become what CL type ASS intelligent robot SMP wúsuǒwèi. not matter ‘I can pretend to be any type of intelligent robot; it doesn’t matter.’ (28) 我那儿有一条被子吧，面儿稍微旧了点儿。 Wǒ nà-er yǒu yī I there have one miàn-er shāowēi jiù le diǎn-er. cover a bit old PFV a little ‘I have a quilt, but the cover is a bit old.’

tiáo CL

bèizi quilt

ba， SMP

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 27 1.2.5 Order of multiple themes When two or more of the above-mentioned thematic components appear simul­ taneously, they follow a certain order, which is generally: textual theme > interpersonal theme > topical theme. When multiple themes occur, it is not necessary for each theme to be marked by a modal particle. Our approach then is to take all components before the sentence-middle modal particle as thematic. According to our observation so far, we can only conclude that the three types of themes do occur in the order delineated above, but no formal marking can be identified to distinguish the three components. Some examples are analyzed below, where “tex.” is used to represent textual theme, “int.” for interpersonal theme, and “top.” for topical theme. Again, only the top-tier thematic structure is analyzed, with the laws at lower tiers to be detailed in the next chapter. (29) 要

别的省遭灾吧，绝对不会麻烦你，安徽是你老家呀!

tex. top. Yào biéde shěng zāozāi ba, juéduì búhuì if other province suffer calamity SMP absolutely will not máfán nǐ， Ānhuī shì nǐ lǎojiā ya! bother you Anhui be your hometown SFP ‘If it were a different province that was hit by a natural calamity, you’d be the last one to be bothered. But Anhui is your hometown!’ (30) 可是 咱们国家吧，又没有去那儿的飞机。 tex. top. Kěshì zánmen guójiā ba， yòu méiyǒu qù nà-er de fēijī. but our country SMP again not have go there NOM plane ‘But our country has no planes flying there.’ (31) 过去我真是错看小余，光觉着 这个人啊混得可以，没想到 . . . . . . int. top. Guòqù wǒ zhēnshì cuòkàn Xiǎo Yú，guāng juézhe in the past I really mistake little Yu, just feel zhègèrén a hùn-de-kěyǐ, méixiǎngdào . . . . . . this person SMP do well did not expect ‘Indeed I mistook Mr. Yu in the past, thinking he did pretty well. I didn’t expect. . . ’ (32) 一上这小楼啊就特别地兴奋，觉着 上班啊，还真有个乐儿。 int. top. Yī shàng zhè xiǎolóu a jiù tèbié de once climb this small building SMP just particularly aux. xìngfèn, juézhe shàngbān hái zhēn yǒu gè lè-er. excited feel work still really SMP CL fun ‘I’m particularly excited to climb this small building, feeling there is indeed fun in working.’

28

Information structure

(33) 而且 不想 让她爱的人哪陷入苦恼。 tex. int. top. Érqiě bú xiǎng ràng tā ài de rén na moreover not want let she love NOM person SMP xiànrù kǔnǎo. sink into worry ‘Moreover, she doesn’t want to make the person she loves to sink into worries.’ (34) 所以

她一直啊没有把这一片痴情啊告诉老师。

tex. int top. Suǒyǐ tā yīzhí a méiyǒu bǎ zhè so she always SMP did not BA this chīqíng a gàosù lǎoshī passion SMP tell teacher ‘So she has never unbosomed her passion to her teacher. ’

yī one

piàn CL

There is no doubt that the textual theme will occur at the beginning of a sen­ tence. The relative order of the interpersonal and the topical theme, however, demands further discussion. Consider the following example: (35) 篇幅我觉得太长，是不是请作者压缩一下? Piānfú wǒ juéde tài cháng， length I think too long shìbúshì qǐng zuòzhě yāsuō yīxià? yes or no ask author shorten one time ‘The article, I think, is a bit too long. Is it alright to ask the author to shorten it a bit?’ →我吧，觉得篇幅太长了，. . . . . . Wǒ ba， juéde piānfú tài cháng le,. . . . . . I SMP think length too long aux. →我觉得吧，篇幅太长了，. . . . . . Wǒ juéde ba, piānfú tài cháng le,. . . . . . →我觉得篇幅吧，太长了，. . . . . . Wǒ juéde piānfú ba, tài cháng le,. . . . . . →篇幅吧，我觉得太长了，. . . . . . Piānfú ba，wǒ juéde tài cháng le,. . . . . . →*篇幅我吧，觉得太长了，. . . . . . *Piānfú wǒ ba，juéde tài cháng le,. . . . . . →*篇幅我觉得吧，太长了，. . . . . . *Piānfú wǒ juéde ba，tài cháng le,. . . . . . This example shows that the interpersonal theme cannot occur after the topical theme in the thematic structure, which implies that the relative position of the two types of themes are fixed on the same tier.

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 29 1.2.6 Theme marking outlined Given an abstract sentence each analyst may come up with a different “themerheme” segmentation according to his or her own understanding. The use of modal particles on the part of the speaker, however, provides formal markers for theme­ rheme analysis. Consider examples (6) ~ (9). Different analysts may have different ideas; the different segmentations we have made are based on the availability of modal particles or major pauses. In traditional grammatical analysis, the research object is often regarded as a static product; that is, the examples selected from writ­ ten as well as spoken language were processed without considering those factors that fall into the category of the so-called linguistic performance. When a sentence is analyzed only in terms of its basic components and basic semantic relations, examples such as (6) ~ (9) can have one and the same analysis only. The func­ tional perspective, in contrast, regards the research object as a dynamic process and takes into account the speaker’s cognitive strategy and psychological process, with a view to grasping the intention, means, procedure, as well as the effect of speech acts. No linguistic phenomenon that reflects such dynamic processes will be ignored. In order to highlight the important information to be conveyed, the speaker often adopts such means as delaying, pausing, stressing or adding modal particles, all of which are an important basis for inferring the speaker’s psychologi­ cal process. In addition to the sentence-middle modal particles as analyzed above, the following examples should also be seen as having explicit theme markers. (36) 高强，你觉得. . . . . .方波怎么样? Gāo Qiáng， nǐ juédé . . . . . . Fāng Bō Gao Qiang you think Fang Bo ‘Gao Qiang, what do you think of Fang Bo?’

zěnmeyàng? how

(37) 你觉得他这人，怎么说呢——可靠么? Nǐ juéde tā zhèrén， zěnmeshuō you think he this person how to say ‘Do you think he, how to say, is reliable?’

ne — SMP

kěkào me? reliable SFP

(38) 这孩子看上去，啧，总是不太朴实。 Zhè háizi kànshàngqù， ze， zǒngshì this child look interj. always ‘The child looks, well, not so simple.’

bú not

tài too

pǔshí. simple

The pauses as materialized by the ellipsis, dash and insertions such as “怎么说呢” and “啧” in these examples are not where first-tier traditional syntactic segmenta­ tion would lie. It would be difficult to truly reveal the organization and develop­ ment of discourse if these formal markers are not taken into account. If thematic markers are to mark the dividing line between secondary and pri­ mary information, then they will never occur within the focus component: (6’) * 这伙人没事总爱在胡同口大槐树底下玩儿啊台球。 * Zhè huǒ rén méishì zǒng ài zài hútòng kǒu dà huáishù dǐxià wán a táiqiú.

30

Information structure

(11’) * 其实你也就是啊一般人。 * Qíshí nǐ yě jiùshì a yībān rén. (14’) * 咱们谁也不要使啊这个电话了。 * Zánmen shuí yě búyào shǐ a zhègè diànhuà le. (17’) * 最好谁也别欠啊谁的情儿。 * Zuìhǎo shuí yě bié qiàn a shuí de qíng-er. (30’) * 咱们国家又没有啊去那儿的飞机。 * Zánmen guójiā yòu méiyǒu a qù nà-er de fēijī. A further look at this issue shows that it is not so much for a theme marker to mark the theme than to mark the rheme; that is to say, what sentence-middle modal particles mark is the beginning of primary information regardless of the fact that they also mark the end of secondary information. A modal particle can be said to be a signal which the speaker uses to direct the listener’s attention to the forthcoming discourse (i.e., primary information). In other words, if it is difficult to decide what modal particles can follow, it would be a rule of thumb for them to precede information focus.

1.3 Themes in dialogues In this section, the focus is on another typical form of the thematic structure in spoken language: the postpositioned theme. 1.3.1 Thematic structure, stylistic feature and sentence pattern In our view, theme preceding rheme in narratives is a manifestation of the proces­ sibility principle in pragmatics; that is, beginning with something familiar to the lis­ tener before introducing new and important information is in line with the listener’s psycho-cognitive processes and thus a reasonable manner of information organiza­ tion in relaxed situations. In brief and compact dialogues, by contrast, the speaker is required to communicate important information to the listener within a brief period of time. In such cases the economy principle and the clarity principle turn out to be particularly important. The primary information then becomes the content that the speaker is eager to impart, and the secondary information will be backgrounded to an insignificant position. Thus arises the phenomenon of theme postposition. (39) 别打岔，到底去不去你? Bié dǎchà， dàodǐ Not interrupt on earth ‘Don’t interrupt; are you going or not?’

qù-bú-qù go-not-go

nǐ? you

(40) 怎么都不说话?好看么倒是? Zěnme dōu bù shuōhuà? Hǎokàn me how all not speak good-looking MP ‘How come no one speaks up? Does it look fine or not?’

dǎoshì? actually

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 31 Western scholars tend to think that theme cannot be postpositioned; for us, the dichotomy of “theme-rheme” is in essence the opposition of secondary vs. pri­ mary information. An analysis of the examples in this section can show that the postpositioned themes are never stressed, even often elliptical. A brief discussion of historical grammar in Section 1.4 will also show that theme postposition is a word order representative of the Chinese language. Experimental study of psychology shows that in general conversations, it is the sentence-initial component that is mostly likely to attract the listener’s attention. Therefore, the dialogic variety, where speakers are pressed by time to put important information at the beginning of the sentence, is both the reflection of the speaker’s linguistic psychology and a convenient means to arouse the listener’s attention. In the corpus we have examined over 96% of the postpositioned themes that occur in dialogues, indicating that theme postposition is a phenomenon specific to the dialogic variety. In terms of the sentence types where this particular phenomenon is observed, some characteristics emerge. Here are the statistics of the distribution of postpositioned themes in declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative and negative sentences: Table 1.1 Distribution of postpositioned themes Sentence type

declarative

interrogative

exclamatory

imperative

negative

number percentage

33 17.10%

92 47.67%

35 18.14%

19 9.84%

14 7.25%

Below are examples in terms of sentence types. First, look at the postpositioned themes in declarative sentences. (41) 我这么小心注意着成天价，就因为实在不是个圣人。 Wǒ zhème xiǎoxīn zhùyì zhe chéngtiānjià， I so carefully attend aux. all day long jiù yīnwéi shízài búshì gè shèngrén. just because really not CL saint ‘I pay so close attention all day long, just because I’m no saint.’ (42) 她骂了我一顿，为你。 Tā mà le wǒ she scold PFV me ‘She scolded me, for your sake.’

yī one

wéi for

dùn， CL

Below are examples in interrogative sentences: (43) 对不对嘛我说的? Duì-búduì ma wǒ right or wrong MP I ‘(Is it) right or wrong, what I have said?’

shuō say

de? aux.

nǐ. you

32

Information structure

(44) 我干什么了究竟? Wǒ gàn shénme I do what ‘What on earth have I done?’

jiūjìng? on earth

le PFV

Postpositioned themes in exclamatory sentences: (45) 这还没结婚呢他们! Zhè hái méi now yet not ‘They aren’t married yet!’

jiéhūn marry

ne MP

tāmen! they

(46) 多不容易呀，能凑到一起。 Duō bù róngyì ya， néng how not easy MP can ‘It’s so difficult for them to come together.’

còu-dào-yīqǐ. come together

Postpositioned themes in imperative sentences: (47) 快出去吧你，帮不上忙还净添乱。 Kuài chūqù ba nǐ, bāngbúshàngmáng hái jìng tiānluàn. Quickly go out MP you give no help yet only add to the confusion ‘You hurry out, please. Instead of giving help, you only add to the confusion.’ (48) 要离就真离，别光说——你要有志气。 Yào lí jiù zhēn lí， bié guāng shuō– if divorce just really divorce don’t just say nǐ yào yǒu zhìqì. you if have pride ‘If you want to divorce, just do it. Don’t keep saying that – if you have pride.’ Postpositioned themes in negative sentences: (49) 不关自己的事反正。 Bù guān zìjǐ de not concern self GEN ‘None of one’s own business, anyway.’

shì business

(50) 不嫌寒碜都。 Bù xián hánchen not dislike disgraceful ‘(They) don’t even take it as disgraceful.’

dōu. even

fǎnzhèng. anyway

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 33 As can be seen from the statistics, the percentage of interrogative sentences ranks at the top with about half of the total occurrences, and exclamatory, impera­ tive and negative sentences altogether amount to more than one-third. These four types of sentences are generally referred to as marked sentences, and their shared function is to highlight the focus information: the point in question, the exclama­ tion, the information made imperative, and the information negated with regard to the sentence type. Unmarked sentences (i.e., declaratives), by contrast, count for only 17% of the total, which is very different from the general situation: of the sentences where the theme precedes the rheme, unmarked sentences make up the vast majority. The reason lies exactly in the function of theme postposition – to emphasize the rhematic part. The word order that gives prominence to the rheme is a means to highlight the focal information in marked sentences. 1.3.2 Function types of postpositioned themes Postpositioned components can be approached from the functional perspective. Pre­ vious studies have paid attention to this phenomenon, often from a syntactic point of view. Specifically, the major syntactic structures of Chinese are examined one by one, with a view to showing which allow postpositioning and which do not. This kind of practice has the following problems. First, since the test is only based on the commonly seen syntactic structures, some important phenomena may be missed; second, sentence type cannot show that there is a common law shared by various phenomena of “dislocation”; third, no reasonable explanation can be proposed with regard to what occasions license or reject “dislocation”. We believe that theme postposition is a means of function representation and that taking function as the key link can reveal its essential law. In what follows we examine respectively the postpositioning of the ideational, interpersonal and textual components of the theme. 1.3.2.1 Postpositioning of the topical theme The theme is the starting point of the sentence, which can be said to provide a basic reference point for the forthcoming comment. Typical reference points in discourse are temporal and spatial components, which may take the form of common nouns of time and location, or time- and space-indicating prepositional constructions. The postpositioning of such components are illustrated below. (51) 对不起，周华，我是太急了点儿刚才。 Duìbuqǐ, Zhōu Huá， wǒ shì tài jí le diǎn-er gāngcái. sorry Zhou Hua I indeed too anxious aux. a bit just now ‘I’m sorry, Zhou Hua, I was a bit too anxious just now.’ (52) 我不想结婚现在。 Wǒ bù xiǎng I not want ‘I don’t want to marry now.’

jiéhūn marry

xiànzài. now

34

Information structure

(53) 有录音机没有这儿? Yǒu lùyīnjī have recorder ‘Do you have a recorder here?’

méiyǒu not have

zhè-er? here

(54) “别听我瞎说啊，我这是喝了酒胡说，我难受，这儿。 ” 范建平指指 心窝。 “Bié tīng wǒ xiāshuō a, don’t listen me talk rubbish SFP wǒ zhè shì hē le jiǔ húshuō, I this be drink PFV wine talk nonsense wǒ nánshòu, zhè-er.” I feel bad here Fàn Jiànpíng zhǐ-zhǐ xīnwō. Fan Jianping point-REDUP pit of the stomach ‘Don’t take my words seriously. I’m talking nonsense after drinking. I feel bad, here.’ Fan Jianping said, pointing at the pit of his stomach. (55) 可大街你随便敲人家门去，问问可有一个乐意拉着你们满北京兜风 的——在这夜深人静的时候。 Kědàjiē nǐ suíbiàn qiāo rénjiā mén qù, along the street you randomly knock others door go wèn-wèn kě yǒu yī gè lèyì lā zhe nǐmen ask-REDUP can have one CL willing take DUR you mǎn Běijīng dōufēng de throughout Beijing air aux. ——zài zhè yèshēnrénjìng de shíhòu. at this still of night ASS moment ‘You may go along the street, knocking at whichever door you like to see if there is anyone who’d like to drive you around throughout Beijing, in the still of night.’ (56) 我也看见了你，在望远镜里。 Wǒ yě kànjiàn le nǐ， I too see PFV you ‘I saw you too, through the telescope.’

zài in

wàngyuǎnjìng telescope

lǐ. inside

In addition to temporal and spatial components, topical themes indicating people and things are often postpositioned as well. (57) 周华，你得管管你们方波，太自私了他! Zhōu Huá, Zhou Hua

nǐ you

děi must

guǎn-guǎn discipline-REDUP

nǐmen you

Fāng Bō, Fang Bo

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 35 tài zìsī le tā! he too selfish aux. ‘Zhou Hua, you must discipline your Fang Bo. He’s so selfish!’ (58) 怪不得瞅着您眼熟。幸会幸会!那戏我可是哭了，整整教育了一代人 哪您! Guàibudé chǒu zhe nín yǎnshú. no wonder look aux. you familiar Xìnghuì-xìnghuì! Nà xì wǒ kěshì kū le， nice to meet you-REDUP that play I indeed cry PFV zhěng-zhěng jiāoyù le yī dài rén na nín! totally-REDUP educate PFV one generation people MP you ‘No wonder you look familiar to me. Nice to meet you! Indeed that play moved me to tears, and you’ve educated a whole generation of people.’ (59) 启森啊，那女孩子，是谁?. . . . . .是谁啊，那女孩子? Qǐsēn a nà nǚháizi, shì shuí?. . . . . . Qisen voca. that girl is who nà nǚháizi? that girl ‘Qi Sen, that girl, who is she? Who is that, the girl?’

shì is

shuí who

a， MP

(60) 那您处理吧这稿子，没准儿是我看太多遍陷进去了。 Nà nín chùlǐ ba zhè gǎozi， méizhǔn-er then you handle MP this manuscript probably shì wǒ kàn tài duō biàn xiàn jìnqù le. be I read too many times sink into CRS ‘You handle the manuscript, please. Probably it is because I’ve read it too many times that I’ve got stuck.’ (61) 哎哟，想死我了这事! Āiyō， xiǎngsǐ interj. miss very much ‘Wow, I miss it so much!’

wǒ I

le aux.

zhèshì! this

People and things can often be introduced with the prepositional structure: (62) 看见林蓓了么?她也来了和那个宝康。 Kànjiàn Lín Bèi le le me? Tā yě lái See Lin Bei PFV SFP she too come hé nàgè Bǎokāng. with that Baokang ‘Have you seen Lin Bei? She has come too, with that Baokang.’

le PFV

36

Information structure

(63) 毛主席保证我不认识姓刘的——除了他。 Máo Zhǔxí bǎozhèng wǒ bú rènshí xìng Liú de — Chairman Mao assure I not know name Liu NOM chúle tā. apart from him ‘Chairman Mao can assure that I know no one named Liu – apart from him.’ (64) 没吵架，和方波? Méi chǎojià, hé not quarrel with ‘No quarreling with Fang Bo?’

Fāng Bō? Fang Bo

Topical themes can be fulfilled not only by nominals, but also by verbal com­ ponents, as in (65) to (68). (65) 干嘛呢站在街上?打算去哪儿? Gànma ne zhàn zài jiēshàng? Dǎsuàn why MP stand at street plan ‘Why standing on the street? Where are you going?’

qù go

nǎ-er? where

zhàn stand

zhe. DUR

(66) 够累的，一天老得站着。 Gòulèi de， yī tiān lǎo děi very tiring aux. one day always have to ‘It’s very tiring, having to stand all day long.’

(67) “咳，有莉莉盯着，有我没我无所谓。 ” “太有所谓了有你没你。你的戏多好啊，要是你能排，宋导准保省 劲儿多了。” “Ke， yǒu Lìli dīng zhe， yǒu-wǒ-méi-wǒ wúsuǒwèi.” PF have Lili see to it DUR have me or not not matter “Tài yǒusuǒwèi le yǒu-nǐ-méi-nǐ. very much matter aux. have you or not Nǐde xì duōhǎo a， yàoshì nǐ néng pái， your acting so good SFP if you can rehearse Sòng Dǎo zhǔnbǎo shěngjìn-er duō le.” Director Song surely save energy much aux. ‘ “Well, since Lili is there seeing to it, it doesn’t matter much whether I’m there or not.” ’ “It matters so much, you being there or not. Your acting is so good. If you can rehearse, Director Song will be able to save lots of energy.” ’ (68) 我这是跟谁呀?使这么大劲。 Wǒ zhè shì gēn shuí ya? Shǐ zhème I this is with whom SFP use so ‘Who am I contesting with? Using so much energy.’

dà big

jìn. strength

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 37 1.3.2.2 Postpositioning of the interpersonal theme For the convenience of discussion, the postpositioning of interpersonal themes can be divided into two types. A commonly seen type consists of the link verb, some psychological verbs (e.g., shuō ‘say’, xiǎng ‘think’, kàn ‘see’, and so on) and voli­ tive verbs, together with a preceding demonstrative or personal pronoun. Such com­ binations are not syntactic units, but often freeze together as interpersonal themes. (69) 干嘛呢这是?这么热闹。 Gàn ma ne Do what MP ‘What’s going on? So lively.’

zhè this

shì? be

Zhème so

rènào. lively

(70) “什么呀这是?” “面膜，白给的，一个洋白菜的，一个柿子椒的。” “Shénme ya zhè shì?” What MP this be “Miànmó， báigěi de， face mask for free aux. yī gè yángbáicài de， yī gè shìzǐjiāo de.” one CL cabbage aux. one CL sweet pepper aux. ‘ “What are they?” “Face masks, for free. One is made from cabbage, one from sweet pepper.” ’ (71) 何必呢你说，到底有多少是不可调和的敌我矛盾呢? Hébì ne nǐ shuō, dàodǐ yǒu duōshǎo shì búkětiáohé why MP you say on earth have how many be irreconcilable de díwǒmáodùn ne? ASS contradictions between ourselves and the enemy SFP ‘Why bother, you say? How many on earth are irreconcilable contradictions?’ (72) 我一定跟她说。会谈通的我想。 Wǒ yīdìng gēn tā shuō. Huì tán tōng de wǒ xiǎng. I surely with her say will talk through aux. I think ‘I’ll surely talk to her. I can persuade her, I believe.’ (73) 还可以呀我看，再大就该招灰了。 Hái kěyǐ ya wǒ kàn， zài dà jiùgāi zhāohuī still good MP I see still big shall gather dirt ‘Look good to me. They may gather dirt if still bigger.’

le. aux.

(74) 我就是这么表现的，我认为。 Wǒ jiùshì zhème biǎoxiàn I just so behave ‘I just behaved this way, I believe.’

de， aux.

wǒ I

rènwéi. think

38

Information structure

This type of theme, if restored, will be first-tier themes occurring in a sentence initially. The other type of postpositioned interpersonal theme is by no means the original sentence-initial component. Consider (75) ~ (78). (75) 这房子也是我们单位刚分的我，过去没家都。 Zhè fángzi yěshì wǒmen dānwèi gāng fèn de wǒ， this flat too our unit recently allot aux. me guòqù méi jiā dōu. in the past not have home even ‘This flat is what my working unit recently has allotted to me. In the past, I didn’t have home even.’ (76) 就是别那么吹，太吹了他也! Jiùshì bié nàme chuī， tài chuī just not so brag too much brag ‘Just don’t brag that much. He is bragging too much!’

le aux.

tā he

yě! aux.

(77) 老范，我认为你就应该评二级——至少! Lǎo Fàn, wǒ rènwéi nǐ jiù yīnggāi píng èrjí — zhìshǎo! old Fan I think you just should apply for 2nd rank at least ‘Mr. Fan, I think you should apply for the 2nd rank, at least.’ (78) 往往多数婚姻都没爱情呢——还! Wǎngwǎng duōshù hūnyīn dōu méi usually most marriage all not have ‘Usually most marriages don’t even have love.’

àiqíng love

ne — MP

hái! aux.

That we regard these phenomena as postpositioned interpersonal themes is based on the fact that when restored all of them can be marked by theme markers, as in “过去都哇没个家 (guòqù dōu wa méi gè jiā)”, “你至少啊应 该评二级 (nǐ zhìshǎo a yīnggāi píng èrjí)”, and “往往多数婚姻都呀没爱情 呢 (wǎngwǎng duōshù hūnyīn dōu ya méi àiqíng ne)”. Therefore, we see (75) ~ (78) as variants of the following statements: “没家过去都／过去没家我 都 (méi jiā guòqù dōu／guòqù méi jiā wǒ dōu)”, “太吹了他也 (tài chuī le tā yě)”, “我认为就应该评二级你至少 (wǒ rènwéi jiù yīnggāi píng èrjí nǐ zhìshǎo)”, and “往往没爱情呢多数婚姻还(wǎngwǎng méi àiqíng ne duōshù hūnyīn hái) ”. The difference between the two types above is that the postpositioned theme is composed of a nominal component and its predicate in the first type, while in the second type the nominal component is missing though recoverable. The fol­ lowing type is different from the former two, in that the postpositioned part in the former two types, be it with the nominal component or not, can be moved to the beginning of the sentence or its original slot, whereas the postpositioned part in the following examples can be regarded either as a temporary postposition or as a conventionalized sentence pattern.

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 39 (79) 别来劲啊，给你脸了是不是? Bié láijìn a， gěi not get excited SFP give ‘Don’t get excited ah. What a nerve!’

nǐ you

liǎn face

le aux.

shìbushì? yes or no

(80) 若有所动鼻子一酸心头一热也没准。 Ruòyǒusuǒdòng bízi yīsuān xīntóu yīrè yě méizhǔn. get moved nose sour heart warm also maybe ‘It is also possible to get moved, with a twitched nose and a warmed heart.’ (81) 没准将来艾滋病被你治了也说不定。 Méizhǔn jiānglái àizībìng bèi nǐ zhì le yě shuōbúdìng. Maybe future AIDS pass. you cure aux. also perhaps ‘Maybe you can cure AIDS in the future, who can tell?’ (82) 兄弟搞了一生现代派还没入门——不瞒您说。 Xiōngdì gǎo le yīshēng xiàndàipài hái méi rùmén I [brother] do PFV life modernism yet not learn the ABC — búmánnínshuō. to be honest with you ‘I’ve been working on modernism my whole life, but haven’t learned the ABC yet, to be honest with you.’ (83) 离你就下决心离，要么就不离，离了也别再娶，天下乌鸦一般黑我 还告诉你! Lí nǐ jiù xiàjuéxīn lí， yàome jiù bù lí， divorce you just determine divorce or just not divorce lí le yě bié zài qǔ， divorce PFV also not again marry tiānxià wūyā yībān hēi wǒ hái gàosù nǐ! world crow same black I also tell you ‘If you want to divorce, just be determined to do so; or you just stay mar­ ried. If you divorce, don’t marry again. All crows in the world are black, I can assure you.’ 1.3.2.3 Postpositioning of the textual theme The postpositioned textual theme has a feature: it is not a discoursal conjunction that is postpositioned, but a prepositional phrase or a clause that conjoins clauses together in terms of cause, purpose or condition. (84) 许童童这么说着脸却红了，由于兴奋。 Xǔ Tóngtóng Xu Tongtong

zhème so

shuō say

zhe DUR

liǎn face

què yet

hóng redden

le， PFV

40

Information structure yóuyú xìngfèn. because of excited ‘On saying this Xu Tongtong’s face turned red, with excitement.’

(85) 不饿也得吃，为了工作。 Bú è yě děi chī， wèile gōngzuò. not hungry too must eat for work ‘Even if you are not hungry, you’ll have to eat as well, for work’s sake.’ (86) 怎么样，心情好点儿了吧?听到别人倒霉? Zěnmeyàng， xīnqíng hǎodiǎn-er le well mood better a little aux. Tīngdào biérén dǎoméi? hear others have bad luck ‘Well, do you feel a little better? On hearing others have bad luck?’

ba? SFP

(87) 我们有办法叫他开口——只要到了我们那儿。 Wǒmen yǒu bànfǎ jiào tā kāikǒu — we have method let him open mouth zhǐyào dào le wǒmen nà-er. so long as arrive at PFV our there ‘We have a way to let him open his mouth – so long as he comes to our place.’ 1.3.2.4 Postpositioning of multiple themes When two or more themes are postpositioned, their relative order is free when they are of the same nature. (88) 我还用跟她来这个?我要能演，搁过去。 Wǒ hái yòng gēn tā lái zhègè? I yet use with her do this wǒ yào néng yǎn， gē guòqù. I if can play in past ‘I wouldn’t have asked for her favour in the past. Only if I could play (the role).’ →我还用跟她来这个?搁过去，我要能演。 Wǒ hái yòng gēn tā lái zhègè?gē guòqù, wǒ yào néng yǎn. (89) 夸我呢是吧，刚才你们? Kuā wǒ ne praise me MP ‘Were you praising me just now?’ →夸我呢是吧，你们刚才? Kuā wǒ ne shìba，nǐmen gāngcái?

shìba, yes

gāngcái just now

nǐmen? you

Thematic structure of spoken Pekingese 41 In (88), both “我要能演” and “搁过去” are textual themes, and in (89) both “刚才” and “你们” are topical themes. In contrast, thematic components of dif­ ferent natures cannot be postpositioned simultaneously. Consider the following example: (90) a. 什么呀，都是，他们那两个条件? Shénme ya， dōushì， tāmen nà liǎng What MP both their those two ‘What are they, both, the two conditions of theirs?’

gè CL

tiáojiàn? condition

b. 什么呀，他们那两个条件都是? Shénme ya，tāmen nà liǎnggè tiáojiàn dōushì? ‘What are they, both of their conditions?’ (90a) should be taken as having undergone postpositioning twice, because the inter­ personal theme “都是” and the topical theme “他们那两个条件” are not on the same tier. The topical theme is on the first tier, and when it is postpositioned, “都 是什么呀他们那两个条件” results; the second step is the postpositioning of the interpersonal theme “都是”, which results in (90a). (90b), however, should not be so analyzed; instead, “他们那两个条件都是” should be seen as a whole, postposi­ tioned and functioning as an interpersonal theme. These two different analyses can be justified by the different modes of segmentation in the two versions: there are two distinct pauses in (90a), but only one in (90b), all marked by a comma in writing. Co-occurrence of multiple themes is more common in the narrative style because in narration speakers have an easier time, which renders it possible to sequence information in a more reasonable manner. In dialogues, however, the speaker’s mental process is relatively simple. And the speech environment does not allow a complex layout of information. Therefore, co-occurrence of multiple themes is not so common in dialogues as in narratives.

3.4 Reflections This chapter demonstrates by way of examples that information structure some­ times does not align with syntactic structure. But it does not end there. Since the great majority of syntactic rules are the results of the solidification of pragmatic principles, to study the synchronic tendencies of pragmatic functions can then help us see the changes in syntactic rules. Historical grammarians are of the view that the disappearance of topic markers from ancient Chinese has prompted the Chinese word order to transit from SVO to SOV. Topic marking in ancient Chi­ nese is illustrated in (91) and (92). (91) 今也，每食无余。（The Book of Songs (《诗经》)） Jīn yě， měi today TM every ‘Today, there is surplus for no meal.’

shí meal

wú no

yú. surplus

42

Information structure

(92) 十亩之间兮，桑者闲闲兮。（The Book of Songs (《诗经》)） Shí mǔ zhījiān xī， sāngzhě xián-xián ten mu between TM mulberry pickers idle-REDUP ‘On the paths of the field strolled the mulberry pickers. ’

xī. TM

(91) is very similar to topic marking as described in this chapter. When it comes to (92) Chauncey Chu’s explanation is as follows: Both ‘兮’ are topic markers. . . . What is missing is the comment. This is what poetry is designed for. The implica­ ture: the poet wants to express a certain view, but feels reluctant to make it explict; on such an occasion, topic marking gives a hint about it. Chu also makes it clear that ancient Chinese has a reversed word order where the topic is postpositioned, as in (93). (93) 贤哉回也。（ 《论语》(The Analects)） Xián virtuous ‘Virtuous is Hui.’

zāi MP

Huí Hui

yě. TM

This seems to echo theme postpositioning at a distance. So far, we have seen no detailed description of the disappearance of topic mark­ ers from ancient Chinese and how this process impacts topicalization of the Chi­ nese language. When modern Chinese is examined from a different perspective, neither information structure nor syntactic structure is monolithic, which ren­ ders very noteworthy the ever-obvious specializing tendency of sentence-middle modal particles and the regularizing tendency of dislocation.

2

Thematic structure in narration Sentence-middle modal particles

In Pekingese modal particles can be used in the middle of a sentence, as in “他啊, 喜欢吃糖葫芦” (Tā a, xǐhuān chī tánghúlu, ‘He likes to eat candied haws.’), where 啊 is a modal particle. This phenomenon has been discussed by many senior linguists, and there are two common understandings on the nature and function of sentencemiddle modal particles: 1) they are pause markers; 2) they are used to arouse the lis­ tener’s attention while expressing a certain tone at the same time. As pause markers, the sentence-middle modal particles are often regarded as means of understanding the structure of a spoken sentence. When talking about the subject-predicate struc­ ture in his book Lectures on Grammar 《语法讲义》 ( ), Zhu Dexi points out that the loose structure between the subject and the predicate is the most prominent feature of Chinese in comparison with Indo-European languages. This looseness is manifested mainly in two aspects: 1) there is often a pause between the subject and the predicate, and the subject can be marked off the predicate with modal particles such as 啊 a, 呢 ne, 吧 ba, 么me; 2) as long as no misunderstanding is incurred, the subject can often be omitted. In discussing the relationship between subject and topic, Tsao Feng-fu (1979) argues that topic can be marked off the other components in the same sentence by means of modal particles, which can be viewed as a feature that distinguishes topic from subject. It can be seen then that the sentence-middle modal particle plays a very important role in sentence analysis. After a detailed examination of the use of sentence-middle modal particles, however, we find that Tsao’s conclusion above does not constitute a comprehen­ sive or accurate summary of the usage and function of modal particles in question, no matter how different the definitions of topic and subject are. The following examples can by no means be covered by the aforementioned delineation: Zhu Dexi’s “他喜欢啊，吃冰糖葫芦”(Tā xǐhuān a, chī tánghúlu, ‘He likes to eat can­ died haws.’) from Lectures on Grammar, Lü Shuxiang’s “所以呀，你得请我们” (Suǒyǐ ya, nǐ děi qǐng wǒmen, ‘So you’ll have to invite us’, where 呀 is a modal particle following the conjunction 所以), and “总共啊，哥还是脸皮儿薄，拉 不下脸来磕这个头” (Zǒnggòng a, gē háishì liǎnpí-er báo, lā bú xià liǎn lái kē zhègè tóu, ‘In all, I’m not reckless enough to kowtow’, where 啊 is a modal parti­ cle occurring in the middle of the sentence) from Essentials of Chinese Grammar

44

Information structure

《中国文法要略》 ( , 17.87). This chapter presents a comprehensive examination of the functions of sentence-middle modal particles.

2.1 Nature of the sentence-initial component that precedes the modal particle 2.1.1 Types of sentence-initial components that precede modal particles The sentence components that precede modal particles fall roughly into five categories: (A) The component preceding the modal particle is both the subject and the topic, as in (1): (1) 我吧，就是特爱钻研1。 Wǒ ba， jiùshì I SMP just ‘I just love study especially well.’

tè especially

ài love

zuànyán. study

(B) The component before the modal particle is the topic of the sentence, with its subject status being controversial. (2)

他这把年纪吧，办收养手续也是难了点儿。 Tā zhèbǎ niánjì he this age yěshì nán be difficult ‘At his age, it’s a bit adoption.’

(3)

(4)

ba， SMP le aux. difficult

bàn shōuyǎng shǒuxù go through adopt formalities diǎn-er. a bit for him to go through the formalities for

袖子里头啊，湿得什么似的。 Xiùzi lǐtóu a, shī sleeve inside SMP wet ‘The inside of the sleeve is soakingly wet.’

de aux.

shénme what

sìde. like

拍马屁啊，也得会拍，拍得不是地方倒坏了事。 Pāimǎpì a, yě děi huì pāi, flatter SMP also have to know flatter pāi de búshì dìfāng dào huài le shì. flatter aux. is not place on the contrary mess up aux. thing ‘Flattering, you need know the tactics in it. If you can’t do it the right way, you may get things messed up. ’

Thematic structure in narration 45 According to Chao Yuen Ren (1968) and Zhu Dexi (1982), the components pre­ ceding the modal particles in these three examples are both topics and subjects; but in Li and Thompson (1981), they are just topics, not subjects. (C) The component preceding the modal particle is the topic, not the subject. (5)

跟聪明人啊，我也不抖机灵儿了。 Gēn cōngmíng rén a, wǒ yě bú dǒujīlíng-er le. with smart person SMP I too not play petty tricks aux. ‘With smart people, I know better than to play petty tricks.’

(6)

打小吧，我也以为自己是文曲星下凡，. . . . . . Dǎxiǎo ba, wǒ yě yǐwéi zìjǐ since childhood SMP I too think self shì wénqǔxīng xiàfán, . . . . . . is Star of Wisdom descend ‘In childhood, I also considered myself the Star of Wisdom that had descended upon earth. . . . ’

In these two cases, the components preceding the modal particles are both preposi­ tional structures, which in general are not regarded as subjects but can be regarded as topics. Hu Yushu (1982) and Lu Jianming (1986) have fairly clear explanation for such treatment. (D) The part that precedes the modal particle is a conjunction, an adverb, a prepo­ sition, or a phrase that links the host sentence to previous discourse. (7)

反正呀，待会儿再买半斤怎么也够了。 Fǎnzhèng ya, dàihuì-er zài mǎi bànjīn anyway SMP in a minute again buy a half catty zěnme yě gòu le. anyhow too enough aux. ‘Anyway, I’ll buy another half catty in a minute, and that’ll be enough for sure.’

(8)

一直啊，我这心里就不踏实，总觉得要出事。 Yīzhí a, wǒ zhè xīnlǐ jiù bù tāshi, always SMP my this heart just not at ease zǒng juéde yào chūshì. always feel will meet with mishap ‘It’s been some time that I don’t feel at ease. I always feel that some mishap will pop up.’

46 (9)

Information structure 比如吧，胖子就比一般人爱出汗，还动不动就喘。 Bǐrú ba, pàngzi jiù bǐ yībānrén for instance SMP fat people just comp. average men hái dòngbúdòng jiù chuǎn. also at every move just gasp for breath ài chūhàn, love perspire ‘For instance, fat people are more likely to perspire than average people. They also gasp for breath at every move.’

(10) 说到底啊，你没有我就是办不成事。 Shuōdàodǐ a, nǐ méiyǒu wǒ jiùshì after all SMP you without I simply ‘After all, you can’t get things done without me.’

bàn-búchéng-shì. cannot get things done

These sentence-initial components are neither subjects nor topics. Some scholars treat them as adverbials of the sentences as a whole or as insertions. (E) The part before the modal particle is not the outcome of syntactic segmenta­ tion; that is, syntactically the two parts separated by the modal particle are not immediate constituents of the sentence. (11) 我从小吧，就特羡慕革命烈士， . . . . . Wǒ cóngxiǎo ba, jiù tè xiànmù gémìng lièshì, . . . I since childhood SMP just very admire revolution martyrs ‘I have admired the revolutionary martyrs very much since I was very young.’ (12) 我这次生病吧，发现好多人都特别好。 Wǒ zhècì shēngbìng ba fāxiàn hǎoduō rén dōu I this time fall sick SMP find many people all tèbié hǎo very good ‘During the time I was sick, I found that many people were very nice.’ (13) 咱们得给灾区人民哪，出个好主意。 Zánmen we chū work out

děi have to gè hǎo CL good

gěi for zhǔyì. idea

zāiqū disaster areas

rénmín people

na, SMP

‘We have to work out a good idea for the people in the disaster areas.’

Thematic structure in narration 47 (14) 我一天到晚忙得吧，根本就没时间打扮自己。 Wǒ yītiāndàowǎn máng de ba, I all day long busy aux. SMP gēnběn jiù méi shíjiān dǎbàn zìjǐ. at all just not have time dress up self ‘I’m so busy all day long that I have no time at all to dress myself up.’ (15) 我知道就是大伙儿吧，平时都挺不待见我的。 Wǒ zhīdào jiùshì I know just píngshí dōu tǐng usually all very ‘I know no one likes me usually.’

dàhuǒ-er everybody bú not

ba, SMP dàijiàn like

wǒ me

de. aux.

Immediate constituent analysis of these examples will show the first-tier seg­ mentation as follows (the vertical bar marking the segmentation): 我|从小 吧，. . . . . .；我|这次生病吧，. . . . . .；咱们|得给灾区人民哪. . . . . .；我|一天 到晚忙得吧. . . . . . . In (15) the modal particle has penetrated into the third tier of the syntactic structure. The places where the vertical bars are inserted are marked by no pauses whatsoever in the speaker’s actual speech; the part preceding the modal particle in each case constitutes a very compact whole. This is one of the bases for our analysis here. Accordingly, “他喜欢” (‘he likes’) cannot be taken as the sentence-initial component of “他啊，喜欢啊，吃糖葫芦” or “他，喜欢 啊，吃糖葫芦”, in that there is a pause or a pause particle in there. From the five types of examples above, it can be seen that the relationship between the two parts separated by the modal particle in each case cannot be explained in terms of syntactic-semantic relations, which inspires us to seek explanation from the perspective of representation. 2.1.2 Primary information and secondary information It can be seen from the previous examples that the modal particle seems to occur in any position of the sentence, and that the discourse before the modal particle is not constrained by component type. But after examining a large number of modal particle uses, we find that the modal particle always appears before the core compo­ nent of the primary information of the sentence, never within the focus component. (16) 最好啊，谁也别欠谁的情儿。 Zuìhǎo a, shuí yě bié qiàn best SMP who too not owe ‘The best is for one to owe favour to no one.’

shuí who

de aux.

qíng-er. favour

48

Information structure 最好谁啊，也别欠谁的情儿。 Zuìhǎo shuí a, yě bié qiàn shuí de qíng-er. 最好谁也啊，别欠谁的情儿。 Zuìhǎo shuí yě a, bié qiàn shuí de qíng-er. ?最好谁也别啊，欠谁的情儿。 ? Zuìhǎo shuí yě bié a, qiàn shuí de qíng-er. *最好谁也别欠啊，谁的情儿。 *Zuìhǎo shuí yě bié qiàn a, shuí de qíng-er.

From (16) it can be seen that the closer to the end of the sentence, the more unlikely it is for a modal particle to be inserted.2 In some emphatic sentence pat­ terns, the modal particle tends to occur even earlier than in (16). (17) 一看啊，你就透着书卷气。 Yīkàn a, nǐ jiù tòu one look SMP you just show ‘Just one look can tell that you’re scholarly.’

shūjuànqì. scholarliness

zhe DUR

一看你啊，就透着书卷气。. . . . . . Yī kàn nǐ a, jiù tòu zhe shūjuànqì. . . . . . . *一看你就啊，透着书卷气。 *Yī kàn nǐ jiù a, tòu zhe shūjuànqì. In (16) the modal particle cannot be inserted between the predicate and the object, and is marginally acceptable between the adverbial and the predicate plus its object. In contrast, (17) is a bipartite emphatic sentence pattern conjoined by “一. . . . . .就”, where the modal particle can occur before “就” but not after. And for those sentence patterns that have displaced the focus information to the beginning of the sentence, no modal particle can be inserted. In other words, no content to be deliberately stressed can be placed before the modal particle in the sentence. See (18): (18) * 一次生鱼啊，也没吃过。 * Yīcì shēng yú once raw fish ‘Raw fish, I’ve never eaten.’

a, SMP

yě too

méi not

*连饺子啊，都不爱吃了。 *Lián jiǎozi a, dōu bù ài even dumplingSMP even not like ‘Even dumplings are no longer to (people’s) liking.’

chī eat

chī eat

*是瓦特啊，发明的蒸汽机。 *Shì Wǎtè a, fāmíng de zhēngqìjī. be Watt SMP invent aux. steam engine ‘It was Watt who invented the steam engine.’

guò. EXP

le. aux.

Thematic structure in narration 49 It then can be seen that the sentence-middle modal particle is actually the external­ ized manifestation of the speaker’s psychological division of primary information and secondary information. The content preceding the modal particle is what the speaker thinks not so important; what follows is the primary information that calls for the lis­ tener’s special attention. Therefore, it is understandable why the location of the modal particle sometimes is not consistent with syntactic segmentation. It is also because the sentence takes the modal particle as a dividing point and the left-to-right linearity manifests the process of secondary information leading to primary information that the part before the modal particle is articulated in a light and compact manner. There is other proof for us to regard the position of the modal particle in the sentence as the demarcation point between primary and secondary information. The phenomenon illustrated above always occurs in the more relaxed, relatively calm narrative context, especially in monologues. In dialogues, by contrast, it is often manifested in the form of “translocation”, as in (19) to (23).3 (19) 快出去吧你! Kuài chūqù Hurry go out ‘Go out right away, you!’

nǐ! you

ba MP

(20) 几点呀现在? Jǐdiǎn ya what time MP ‘What time is it now?’

xiànzài? now

(21) 搁哪儿了我给? Gē nǎ-er put where ‘Where did I put it?’

wǒ I

le PFV

gěi? aux.

(22) 造福人类吧你就! Zàofú rénlèi benefit mankind ‘Benefit mankind, you!’

nǐ you

ba MP

jiù! just

(23) 夸我呢是吧，你们刚才? Kuā wǒ ne shì praise me SMP be ‘Praising me you were just now, right?’

ba, MP

nǐmen you

gāngcái? just now

According to our observation all the five categories as listed in Section 2.1.1 can place the part preceding the modal particle to the end of the sentence, and this kind of “translocation” occurs in much higher ratios in what are generally referred to as non-canonical interrogative, negative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences rather than in declarative sentences (interrogative sentences accounting

50

Information structure

for 48%, exclamation sentences 18%, imperative sentences 10%, and negative sentences 7%; that is, non-canonical sentences accounting for a total of 83%). Non-canonical sentences front the focus of the sentence in order to highlight the primary information, and consequently put the secondary information to the rear part of the sentence. This fact shows that the use of “translocation” to emphasize the focus information and the use of the modal particle to weaken the second­ ary information are the speaker’s means of expression corresponding respectively to the dialogic and the narrative style, and to non-canonical and canonical sen­ tences. Therefore the phenomenon of “translocation” proves, from another angle, our explanation of the relationship between the modal particle and the sentential information structure. 2.1.3 Theme and theme marking In Chinese grammar, there is no analysis of the sentential information structure. Although the opposition of “subject-predicate” and “topic-comment” have certain correspondence with “old information-new information,” they cannot accurately reflect the information structure of the sentence. As can be seen from the previ­ ous discussion, the discourse stretch preceding the modal particle is much more varied than the subject or topic (see Section 2.1.1), and from the point of view of expression, the part in question is not the important message of the sentence (see Section 2.1.2), but only the starting point that the speaker has chosen for his/ her speech. Nominal components, verbal components, prepositional structures, discourse-linking functional expressions, as well as non-segmentational content parts, can all serve as the starting point, which attests to the argument that the part preceding the modal particle is actually the theme of the sentence, the part follow­ ing the modal particle the rheme of the sentence,4 and the sentence-middle modal particle the marker specific to spoken Chinese. Halliday (1985) points out that the distinction between theme and rheme in English is mainly based on the distribution of the sentence stress, sentence-middle pauses and the prosodic means, and that in Japanese is realized by the special­ ized marker wa (“は”) attached to the theme, distinguishing the theme from the rheme. Our observation shows that Pekingese uses both the prosodic means simi­ lar to those of English and the more formal markings – sentence-middle modal particles. Unlike in Japanese, the sentence-middle particles in Pekingese have not grammaticalized into compulsory sentence components (like wa in Japanese). Nor have they been fixed down into a specific linguistic form, which renders them contingent in status. Except a (啊) and ba (吧), other sentence-middle modal particles still bear a certain modal role. Nonetheless, they still constitute fairly distinctive formal markers for theme identification, which is a great step forward in analyzing the information structure of the sentence in comparison with relying solely on the prosodic features such as pause, delay, stress pattern, etc.

Thematic structure in narration 51 2.1.4 Theme marking and modal meaning In previous grammar works, there have been various statements regarding the modal meanings of the sentence-middle modal particles, such as assumption, enumeration, prompting, and so on. Then what is the relationship between these modal particles and the theme markers as discussed here? In other words, are sentence-middle modal particles always theme markers? Is the so-called modal meaning omni-present in all occurrences of modal particles? Below is a compre­ hensive study of the function of modal particles.

2.2 Functional classes of sentence-middle modal particles 2.2.1  Prosodic basis of classification The prosodic features of the discourse stretch preceding the modal particle can be divided into three categories: 1 2 3

Sentence stress5 follows the modal particle; the stress pattern of the whole sentence is the light followed by the heavy; and the part preceding the sentence-middle modal particle is not accompanied by a rising tone. Sentence stress precedes the modal particle; the stress pattern of the whole sentence is the heavy followed by the light; and the part preceding the sentence-middle modal particle is not accompanied by a rising tone. The discourse stretch preceding the modal particle takes both sentence stress and a rising tone.

Many examples of the first category have been listed in Section 2.1.1 (such as (1) to (15)). The modal particles in these sentences have little or no modal mean­ ing and can be regarded as purely theme markers. Typical examples of the second category are as follows: (24) 孩子嘛，哪有不淘气的。 Háizi ma, nǎ yǒu child SMP where have ‘As for children, they are all naughty.’

bù not

táoqì naughty

de. aux.

(25) 男人嘛，就是得靠自己。 Nánrén ma, jiùshì děi man SMP just have to ‘As for a man, he has to rely on himself.’

kào rely on

(26) 你呀，还是幼稚。 Nǐ ya, you SMP ‘You are still naive.’

háishì still

yòuzhì. naive

zìjǐ. self

52

Information structure

Examples of this category have the following characteristics: the sentence stress precedes the modal particle, and the meaning of the forthcoming part is sometimes self-evident and may be left implicit in certain contexts, such as (27). (27) “这孩子真是气死人了， Zhè this

háizi child

zhēnshi really

qìsǐrén exasperating

le, CRS

bùliǎo not

yīgè one

zhōngtóu hour

回家用不了一个钟头 huíjiā back home

yòng use

能把你所有的东西 néng can

bǎ BA

nǐ your

suǒyǒu all

de ASS

dōngxi things

从抽屉里翻出来， cóng from

chōuti drawer

lǐ inside

fān turn

chūlái, out

扔个一地。” rēng throw

gè aux.

yīdì.” all over the ground

“唉，孩子嘛。” “Ài, háizi ma.” well child SFP ‘ “The child is exasperating. When he is home, it won’t be an hour before he gets all your things out of the drawers and throws them all over the ground.” “Well, a child is a child.” ’ Thus, from the point of view of expression, the function of the part preceding the modal particle in the examples of this category is equivalent to that of a clause, with a semantic load far beyond that of the discourse stretch preceding the modal particle. The modal particles in these cases bear a clear sense of mood, and there­ fore are not theme markers. The third category resembles asking a question and answering it by oneself. Although the written form may not always use a question mark after the modal particle, the spoken version is clearly accompanied by an ascending tone, as in (28).

Thematic structure in narration 53 (28) a. 爸爸呢，他干脆就不理你。 Bàba ne, tā gāncuì jiù father SMP he simply just ‘As for dad, he’ll simply ignore you.’

bù not

lǐ acknowledge

nǐ. you

b. 老王呢，他来不来都没关系， Lǎo Wáng old Wang

ne, SMP

tā he

lái-bu-lái come or not

dōu all

méiguānxì, not matter

有你在就行。 yǒu nǐ zài jiùxíng. have you stay alright ‘As for Mr. Wang, it doesn’t matter whether he comes or not. It’ll do so long as you’re here.’ The first part of examples of this category functions to arouse the listener’s attention, with the second part making comments on the first part. If the two parts are broken down, a question and its answer will result, as in (29). (29) a. “爸爸呢?” “他干脆就不理你。 ” ‘ “What about father?” “He’ll simply ignore you.” ’ b. “老王呢?” “他来不来都没关系，有你在就行。 ” ‘ “What about Mr. Wang?” “It doesn’t matter whether he comes or not. It’ll do so long as you’re here.” ’ “A, ba, mo (ma), ne (啊, 吧, 嚜（嘛） , 呢)” are among the often cited sentencemiddle modal particles in grammar works. Their distribution, however, is very different. Of them, a and ba are generally used only in the first type of situation as described above; that is, they are used as theme markers, bearing no or little modal meaning. In contrast, mo, ma and ne still bear distinct modal meaning and are fre­ quently used in the second and third types of situations, although sometimes they are also used in situations of the first type as theme markers. A comment needs to be made with regard to ya (呀) and la (啦), two other sentence-middle modal particles. In previous grammatical works these two modal words are mostly described as variants of a: ya is the outcome of the influence of the tail vowel of the former syllable -i, and la is the combination of le (了) and a (啊). In short, both are sound changes in speech flows, and fulfil no different func­ tions from a. However, our study shows that ya and la in spoken Pekingese have gradually detached from the mere identity of phonetic variants and developed

54

Information structure

distinct functions from those of a. For detailed analysis of these two sentencemiddle modal particles, see Section 2.2.4. 2.2.2 Topic markers: a (啊) and ba (吧) When a and ba are used as sentence-middle modal particles, they are theme markers only, no longer expressing modal meaning. There are six phonetic variants of a: a, na, nga, ra, ya and wa. Although a and ba are similar in function, the two differ in that a is a generally accepted form while ba is preferred by Beijingers younger than 40 years of age. As a theme marker, ba can therefore be seen as a social variant of a. A number of grammar works are of the view that ba bears the meaning of giv­ ing examples, the often cited examples including “譬如. . . . . .吧／拿. . . . . .来 说吧” (pìrú. . . . . . ba/ná. . . . . . lái shuō ba, ‘take . . . for example/speaking of’). A little contrast, however, will show that the meaning of giving examples does not come from ba. When the speaker is clarifying his point of view, a, ba, ne and me can all be used after the discourse connecting component that gives the example(s), as in (30). (30) 拿老张来说吧／啊／呢／嚜，家里生活是最困难的。 Ná Lǎo Zhāng láishuō ba/a/ne/me, take old Zhang for example SMP jiālǐ shēnghuó shì zuì kùnnán family life be most hard ‘Take Mr. Zhang for example, his family life is the hardest.’

de. aux

On the other hand, if you keep the discourse connecting component but remove the subsequent modal particle, the sentence still maintains the meaning of giving example(s). (31) 拿老张来说，家里生活是最困难的。 Ná Lǎo Zhāng láishuō, jiālǐ shēnghuó shì zuì kùnnán de. If the discourse connecting component is removed while leaving ba intact, the meaning of giving examples will be subject to the context in which the sentence occurs. If the sentence preceding ba is the topic sentence of a long stretch of discourse, it is possible for the ba-marked part to make specifications with regard to the topic sentence, which grants the part the example giving meaning. But it should be noted that this meaning is determined by the position of its occurrence, rather than by the particle ba itself. (32) 厂子生产不景气， Chǎngzi factory

shēngchǎn production

职工普遍生活水平下降了，

bù not

jǐngqì, prosperous

Thematic structure in narration 55 zhígōng Staff

pǔbiàn generally

shēnghuó living

shuǐpíng standard

xiàjiàng decline

le, PFV

人人都有情绪。 rénrén everyone

dōu all

yǒu have

qíngxù. depression

老张吧，家里上有老下有小， Lǎo Zhāng old Zhang

ba, jiālǐ SMP at home

shàng up

yǒu have

lǎo old

xià down

yǒu have

xiǎo, young

是最困难的。 shì zuì kùnnán de. be most hard aux. ‘The factory production has seen a downturn. The workers’ living standards have fallen. Everyone is depressed. As for Mr. Zhang, with both old and young at home, his life is the hardest.’ (33) 今天早上我特别倒霉， Jīntiān today

zǎoshang morning

wǒ I

tèbié especially

dǎoméi, unlucky

梳头吧把卡子弄掉了， shūtóu comb the hair

ba SMP

bǎ BA

qiǎzi clip

nòngdiào drop

le, aux.

跪在地上摸卡子又把头给磕了。 guì zài dìshàng mō kneel on ground feel ‘I was very unlucky this the hair, and when I knelt head.’

qiǎzi yòu bǎ tóu gěi kē le. clip again BA head pass. knock aux. morning. I dropped the clip when combing down to feel for the clip, I got a crack on the

If we remove “厂子. . . . . .人人都有情绪” from (32) and “今天早上我特别倒 霉” from (33), we do not see any example giving meaning in “老张吧，. . . . . .” or “梳头吧. . . . . .”. Therefore, it is a misunderstanding to assign an example giving meaning to bǎ. We think that in the analysis of the sentence-middle modal particle it is important to distinguish between the meaning of the modal particle itself and the meaning of an utterance stretch that is assigned by its position of occurrence in the discourse, a point which has failed to arouse due attention in previous discussions of modal particles. In comparison with several other modal particles, a and bǎ are flexible in their position of occurrence in the sentence, and can be used after various types of thematic components.

56

Information structure

(A) Both can be used after the textual component in all kinds of spoken dis­ course,6 as shown in the following examples: (34) 原先吧，我跟他根本就不认识。(temporal sequence) Yuánxiān ba, wǒ gēn tā previously SMP I with him ‘Previously, I didn’t know him at all.’

gēnběn at all

jiù just

bú not

rènshi. know

(35) 其次啊，就是你们怎么相处的问题了。(logical sequence) Qícì a, jiùshì nǐmen zěnme xiāngchǔ de wèntí le. secondly SMP just you how get along aux. issue aux. ‘Secondly is the issue of how you get along with each other.’ (36) 要不是这样啊，我们恐怕下午还到不了呢。(condition) Yàobùshì zhèyàng a, wǒmen kǒngpà xiàwǔ if not so SMP we afraid afternoon hái dào-bù-liǎo ne. still cannot arrive SFP ‘Had it not been so, I’m afraid that we couldn’t have arrived in the afternoon.’ (37) 可见啊，他这人一点儿也靠不住。(inference) Kějiàn a, tā zhèrén yīdiǎn-er it can be seen SMP he this person a little ‘It can be seen that he is not reliable at all.’

yě too

kàobùzhù. not reliable

(38) 顺便说几句啊，凡是没交钱的赶快把钱交上来。(external to the sub­ ject matter) Shùnbiàn shuō jǐ jù a, fánshì méi by the way say several sentence SMP all not jiāo qián de gǎnkuài bǎ qián jiāoshànglái. hand in money NOM quickly BA money hand in ‘By the way, all those who haven’t handed in the money hand it in as soon as possible.’ (B) They are used after the topical component: (39) 对于作者啊，得说得委婉点儿。 Duìyú zuòzhě a, děi shuō de wěiwǎn to author SMP have to say aux. tactful ‘To the author, we have to speak a bit more tactfully.’

diǎn-er. a little

(40) 这个唱歌吧，起源于劳动。 Zhège this

chànggē singing

ba, SMP

qǐyuán originate

yú from

láodòng. working

Thematic structure in narration 57 ‘Singing, ah, originated from working.’ (41) 我那儿有条被子吧，面儿稍微旧了点儿。 Wǒ nà-er yǒu tiáo I there have CL miàn-er shāowēi jiù le cover a little old aux. ‘I have a quilt, but the cover is a little bit old.’

bèizi quilt diǎn-er. a little

ba, SMP

(C) They can be used after modal components that indicate the speaker’s willing­ ness, attitude, evaluation, etc. (42) 我觉得吧，你特有才气哎。 Wǒ juéde bǎ, I think SMP ‘To me, you’re so gifted.’

nǐ you

tè especially

yǒu have

cáiqì talent

ai. SFP

(43) 我建议啊，从现在起咱们谁也不要使这个电话了。 Wǒ jiànyì a, cóng xiànzài qǐ zánmen I suggest SMP from now on we bùyào shǐ zhège diànhuà le. not use this phone aux. ‘I suggest that from now on we not use this phone.’

shuí who

yě too

The textual, topical and modal components (respectively referred to as the textual, topical and interpersonal themes in our analysis of thematic structure in spoken Pekingese in Section 1.2.2 to 1.2.5) can sometimes co-occur in one sentence. Other times, two of them may occur together. The sequence of their occurrence is: textual component > modal component > topical component. When a sentence contains two or more of the thematic components, it is of higher frequency for the textual and topical components to be theme-marked, as in (44) to (47).7 (44) 现在啊，我觉得这个市场上啊，洋快餐太多。 —— a —— b ————— c Xiànzài a, wǒ juéde zhège shìchǎng shàng now SMP I think this market on yáng kuàicān tài duō. foreign fast food too much ‘Now, I think there is too much foreign fast food on the market.’

a, SMP

(45) 比较而言啊，就你儿子这话啊跟夸我也差不多。 ———— a —————— c Bǐjiàoéryán comparatively speaking

a, SMP

jiù just

nǐ your

érzi son

zhè this

huà remark

a SMP

58

Information structure gēn kuā wǒ yě chàbùduō. with praise me aux. almost ‘Comparatively speaking, your son’s remarks are very much like praises for me.’

(46) 我觉得这个办刊物吧应该有话则长，无话则短。 —— a ———— c Wǒ juéde zhège bàn kānwù ba yīnggāi I think this run journal SMP should yǒu huà zé cháng, wú huà zé duǎn. have words then long have not words then short ‘When it comes to running a journal, I think you can make it long when you have a lot to say and make it short when you have little to say.’ (47) 你说这骗子对咱们国家的事儿还挺门儿清。 — a — c1 ——————c2 Nǐ shuō zhè piànzi duì zánmen guójiā de shì-er you say this cheat to our country GEN affairs hái tǐng mén-erqīng. still very clear ‘So you see that the cheats are very clear about the affairs in our country.’ 2.2.3 Quasi-theme markers: me (嚜/么), ma (嘛), ne (呢) When the discourse stretches, the preceding me, ma and ne show type A pro­ sodic features; these modal particles bear very little modal meaning or function, similar to a and ba. When the part preceding them shows the prosodic features of the second and the third categories, these modal particles will express a strong modal meaning, thus functioning differently from the cases when they bear the type A features. Since me, ma and ne are indeterminate in function and meaning, we call them quasi-theme markers. 2.2.3.1 me, ma Modal particle me is rarely used in spoken Pekingese.8 Of a total of 150 examples of sentence-middle modal particles that we have collected, only one uses me.9 In the context where me is used as observed by our prede­ cessors, contemporary Pekingese often uses ma. According to Hu Mingyang (1981), ma is the combined use of me and a, and our study shows that the function and meaning of ma when used in the middle of the sentence manifest the features of both me and a. (A) Ma is used as a theme marker, bearing little modal meaning, as shown in (48).

Thematic structure in narration 59 (48) 这药嘛，有效多吃，没效少吃，有效没效您都别来了。再来两趟， 可就当面儿抽我的嘴巴了。 Zhè yào ma, yǒu xiào duō chī, this medicine SMP have effect more eat méi xiào shǎo chī, yǒu xiào méi xiào nín dōu bié lái le. Zài lái liǎng tàng, kě jiù dāngmiàn-er chōu wǒ de zuǐba le. ‘This medicine, well, if it’s effective, eat more; if not, eat less. Be it effec­ tive or ineffective, please don’t come back again. If you do a couple of more times, it’ll be slapping me in the face.’ This example is recorded from an audio material. “这药”, which precedes ma, was produced very lightly, thus bearing no contrastive stress. The speaker spoke about no drugs before this, nor did he talk about treatments other than medication. The sentence was uttered as the first sentence when he finished writing the prescription and handed it over to the patient. Here ma is no different in function from a, which gives it the status of a theme marker. (B) When it is used to shift to a new topic, ma sometimes bears contrastive stress, as in (50), and other times does not, as in (49). (49) 我是个农村姑娘，从小生活在山沟里，有些卫生习惯可能跟你们城 里人不大一样。有时候可能俩月仨月也不洗一回澡，衣服嘛，半年 一换，你们嫌不嫌? Wǒ shì gè nóngcūn gūniang, cóngxiǎo shēnghuó zài shāngōu lǐ, yǒuxiē wèishēng xíguàn kěnéng gēn nǐmen chénglǐrén bú dà yīyàng. Yǒushíhou kěnéng liǎ yuè sā yuè yě bù xǐ yī huí zǎo, yīfu ma, bànnián yī huàn, nǐmen xián bù xián? clothes SMP half a year one change ‘I am a rural girl, spending my childhood in the ravine. Some of my health habits may be different from you city people’s. Sometimes it may be two or three months before I take a bath. When it comes to clothes, I exchange once every half year. Will you dislike me?’ (50) “最后开给你多少钱吧?” “五千。他愣把大头给扣啦!” “对别的演员呢?” “都扣!. . . . . .男演员都动手儿啦!” “京油子把脸都丢到洞庭湖里去啦!后来呢?” “. . . . . .吴胖子私下里跟我说，他先回来，派车到北京站接 我，酬金的事儿，对我嘛，单独商量. . . . . .” “Zuìhòu kāi gěi nǐ duōshǎo qián ba?” “Wǔqiān. Tā lèng bǎ dàtóu gěi kòu la!”

60

Information structure “Duì bié de yǎnyuán ne?” “Dōu kòu!. . . . . . Nán yǎnyuán dōu dòngshǒu-er la!” “Jīngyóuzi bǎ liǎn dōu diū dào Dòngtínghú lǐ qù la! Hòulái ne?” “. . . . . . Wú pàngzi sīxiàlǐ gēn wǒ shuō, tā xiān huílái, pài chē dào Běijīngzhàn jiē wǒ, chóujīn de shì-er, duì wǒ ma, dāndú shāngliàng. . . . . .” remuneration ASS affair to me SMP alone negotiate ‘ “How much did they pay you in the end?” “Five thousand. He stunned the bulk of the buckle!” “How about other actors?” “The same! . . . The male actors were hands-on!” “Beijing playboys have lost face to Dongting Lake! What happened next?” ‘ “. . . . . . Fatty Wu privately told me that he’d come back first. Then he’d send a car to pick me up at Beijing Railway Station. As for the remuneration, in my case we can have a private discussion. . . . . . ” ’

The part preceding ma represents a new topic in both cases. The difference lies in the fact that the change of clothes is generally seen as a joint action after bath, so from the perspective of information transmission, it is not brand new but inferable information. Therefore, “衣服” may not bear contrastive stress. In (50), “对我” is in clear contrast with other actors, which makes it brand new in information status and carry the contrastive stress. (51) 我一向不赞成婚事大操大办。结个婚嘛，无非是两个人搬到一起 住，从此不太平。哭一场倒在情理之中，有什么可庆祝的? Wǒ yīxiàng bù zànchéng hūnshì dàcāodàbàn. Jié-gè-hūn ma, wúfēi shì liǎng gè rén bān dào yīqǐ zhù, cóngcǐ bú tàipíng. getting married SMP Kū yī chǎng dào zài qínglǐ zhī zhōng, yǒu shénme kě qìngzhù de? ‘I’m always against wedding extravagantly. Getting married is nothing more than two people moving to live together and enjoying no peace hence­ forth. It would be more reasonable to have a good cry over it. What is there to be celebrated?’ In this example, “getting married” is not a specific behaviour of a specific person; instead, it is of generic reference. (52) 这就对喽。男人嘛，就是得靠自己。 Zhè jiù duì lou. Nánrén ma, jiùshì děi kào zìjǐ. man SMP just have to rely on self ‘That’s right. Since you’re a man, you’ll have to rely on yourself.’ In this example, “男人嘛” is actually a statement by itself. Therefore, “男人” needs to be stressed, and the modal meaning of “嘛” is the same as when it occurs in a sentence finally, indicating that the speaker believes that the logic is

Thematic structure in narration 61 too obvious to elaborate. (52) differs from (50) in that “嘛” in (52) is heavier in tone and the forthcoming part of the sentence can be omitted in certain contexts while “嘛” in (50) is very light in tone and the part following it cannot be omit­ ted in general. From (48) to (52), we can see a cline of function and meaning of “嘛”. It is a pure theme marker in (48); when it comes to (52), it is actually a sentence-final modal particle, irrespective of the fact that it occurs after a single word. 2.2.3.2 ne Unlike ma, ne normally does not occur in the discourse initial sentence. In a com­ paratively long discourse, ne tends to occur in later produced clauses or sentences. Moreover, it usually marks the shift to a new subject matter or a new aspect of conversation. (53) 那四位写了多少字，才给群众留下个印象。您呢，一句话就流传甚 广。 Nà sìwèi xiě le duōshǎo zì, cái gěi qúnzhòng liúxià gè yìnxiàng. Nín ne, yī jù huà jiù liúchuán shèn guǎng. you SMP one CL words just spread very wide ‘How many words did the four of them write before they could leave an impression on the masses? You have only one line, but it spreads so widely.’ (54) 他说他能拿着那儿的签证儿了，可是咱们国家吧又没有去那儿的飞 机，别的国家呢又不让持那种签证的人过境。 Tā shuō tā néng názhe nà-er de qiānzhèng-er le, kěshì zánmen guójiā ba yòu méiyǒu qù nà-er de fēijī, biéde guójiā ne yòu bú ràng chí nà zhǒng qiānzhèng other country SMP again not let hold that kind visa de rén guòjìng. NOM people transit ‘He said that he could get the visa of that country, but our country did not have flights to go there, and other countries would not allow people holding that type of visa to transit.’ In these two examples the part in front of ne takes the sentence stress. In (53), “ 您” constitutes a new topic with reference to “那四位” (‘the four of them’); and it is the same with “别的国家” in relation to “咱们国家” (‘our country’) in (54). In earlier publications ne is mostly taken as expressing the meaning “as for” or “speaking of ”. In our point of view the meaning of “as for” or “speaking of ” in such cases should be attributed to the contrast between the new topic with the old; ne is only a sign to mark the shift of topic. In narrative statements the topic that precedes ne, say “您” in (53) and “别的国家” in (54), is a sentence internal topic. In dialogues, by contrast, the occurrence of ne often means that the textual topic is changed. Compare (55) and (56):

62

Information structure

(55) 什么都没改变，老师还是从前的老师，连错别字都跟从前错的是同 一个字。. . . . . .学生呢，也是一点没学聪明。 Shénme dōu méi gǎibiàn, lǎoshī háishì cóngqián de lǎoshī, teacher still before ASS lián cuòbiézì dōu gēn cóngqián cuò de shì tóng yīgè zì. . . . . . . Xuéshēng

ne,

yěshì

yīdiǎn

méi

student

SMP

too

a little

not

xué

cōngmíng.

learn smart ‘Nothing has changed. The teacher is still the former teacher, who still writes the same character wrong. . . . The students, well, get no smarter either.’ In this example, the first sentence “什么都没改变” is a topic sentence, and the following are all its comments, where “老师” (‘teacher’) and “学生”(‘student’) are both topical components at a down-ranked level. When the topic shifts from “老师” to “学生”, ne occurs. The topic shift here is sentence internal; that is, with reference to the topic sentence “什么都没改变”, the introduction of the sentential topic “学生” does not change the scope of aboutness. (56) is an example of ne used in dialogue: (56) 大立：你来了，找我? 金枝：刚才忙什么哪，逮耗子? 大立：没有没有，瞎忙。 金枝：我看也是，瞎忙!愣着干什么，坐下呀!这酒吧嘛，忙活得不 坏，可别的事呢，真是，瞎忙! 大立：没错儿。 金枝：比如说吧，那天晚上，在我们家门口，你祝贺我什么?又献花 又动感情的。. . . . . . DÀLÌ: Nǐ lái le, zhǎo wǒ? JĪNZHĪ: Gāngcái máng shénme na, dǎi hàozi? DÀLÌ: Méiyǒu méiyǒu, xiā máng. JĪNZHĪ: Wǒ kàn yěshì, xiā máng! Lèng zhe gànshénme, zuòxià ya! Zhè This kě but DALI:

jiǔbā bar biéde other

ma, SMP shì affair

mánghuo busy ne, SMP

de aux. zhēnshi, really

bú not xiā blindly

huài, bad máng! busy

Méi cuò-er. Bǐrú shuō ba, nèitiān wǎnshàng, zài wǒmen jiā ménkǒu, nǐ zhùhè wǒ shénme? Yòu xiànhuā yòu dòng gǎnqíng de. . . . . . . JINZHI:

Thematic structure in narration 63 ‘DALI: You’re here, to find me? JINZHI: What were you busy with just now? Chasing the mouse? DALI: No, no, fuss. JINZHI: I agree, fuss! Why distracted? Please be seated! This bar, well, is not bad. But other things, really, are all fuss! DALI: Yes, right. JINZHI: For example, that night, at my door, what did you congratulate me on? With flowers and emotions. . . . ’ In this example, “别的事” in front of ne is a sentential topic which changes the topic by contrasting with “这酒吧” in the previous sentence. In the meantime, it leads to the sequence topic. “比如说吧，. . . . . .” in the following part represents some specification of this new discoursal topic. Here “别的事” bears the contras­ tive stress, but ne is not accompanied by a rising tone. In dialogues, if ne appears in the first turn, it is often accompanied by a ris­ ing tone, and the part before it bears the contrastive stress. For example, after a person opens the door, he says, “怎么，就你们俩，其他人呢?” (Zěnme, jiù nǐmen liǎ, qítā rén ne?, ‘Why, just you two? Where are others?’). Here “呢” is a sentence-final modal particle, which resembles (28a) or constitutes a case of the third category. The only difference is that the former requires the other party to answer while the latter is to be answered by the speaker him- or herself. 2.2.4 Sentence-middle modal particles that are not theme markers When the so-called quasi-theme markers manifest the prosodic features of the second and the third categories, they do not function as theme markers. In addi­ tion to these modal particles, there are two other modal particles ya (呀) and la (啦) that do not mark themes, irrespective of the stressing pattern of the part preceding them. They are purely modal particles and usually occur after parallel items, as in the following examples: (57) 我们那儿什么都产，桃呀、李子、柿子呀，都有。 Wǒmen nà-er shénme dōu chǎn, We there what all produce táo ya, lǐzi, shìzi ya, dōu yǒu. peach SMP plum persimmon SMP all have ‘Our hometown produces everything. Peach, plum, persimmon, we all have.’ (58) 大伙儿说呀、笑呀，整整热闹了一夜。 Dàhuǒ-er everybody

shuō say

ya, SMP

xiào laugh

ya, SMP

64

Information structure zhěngzhěng rènào le yī yè. exactly have a jolly time PFV one night ‘Everyone was talking and laughing. We had a jolly time the whole night.’

La can be used to substitute ya in (57), but not in (58): (58’) * 大伙儿说啦、笑啦，整整热闹了一夜。 * Dàhuǒ-er shuō la, xiào la, zhěngzhěng rènào le yī yè. But VP+la, when occurring in the subject position, is acceptable, as in (59): (59) 写（字）啦，画（山水）啦，他都在行。 Xiě (zì) la, huà (shānshuǐ) write (characters) SMP paint (landscape) tā dōu he all ‘Be it writing or painting, he’s an expert.’

la, SMP zàiháng. be an expert

This comparison shows that la requires that the part in front of it be generic in reference, whereas ya has no such restriction on the preceding part. Another point worth noting is that ya is not the sound combination of a with the final /i/ sound of the preceding word, as shown in (57). Likewise, la requires the preceding part to be general in meaning, which renders it impossible for la to be the sound combination of le+a. In the grammar books of the past, such use of modal particles is generally interpreted as enumeration of examples. We would argue that the use of modal particles after parallel items only adds a relaxed tone to the discourse, and that the meaning of enumeration is brought about by the parallel format, which has noth­ ing to do with modal particles. Compare (60) and (61): (60) a. 吃、喝、嫖、赌、抽，你都占全了! Chī, hē, piáo, dǔ, chōu, nǐ dōu zhàn quán le! eat drink prostitute gamble smoke you all take up all aux. ‘Eating, drinking, prostituting, gambling, smoking, you do what not!’ b. *吃呀、喝呀、嫖呀、赌呀、抽呀，你都占全了! *Chī ya, hē ya, piáo ya, dǔ ya, chōu ya, nǐ dōu zhàn quán le! (61) 吃呀、住呀，这些事你就别操心了，我全包了。 Chī eat nǐ you

ya, SMP jiù just

zhù live bié not

ya, SMP cāoxīn worry

zhèxiē these le, wǒ aux. I

shì thing quán all

bāo undertake

le. aux.

Thematic structure in narration 65 ‘Food, shelter, you don’t have to worry about these things. I’ll take care of them all.’ Speakers tend to use no modal particles when toughly emphasizing the serious­ ness of something, as in (60a). When modal particles are used, the tone becomes relaxed, and sometimes understatements may result, as in (61). In summary, the sentence-middle modal particles that are commonly seen in spoken Pekingese can be divided into three categories: 1 2

3

theme markers: a (and its variants), ba. Sentence-middle modal particles of this category, when used in places where pauses can occur, no longer bear modal meaning; rather, they serve the sole function of theme marking. quasi-theme markers: ma, ne. The function and meaning of sentence-middle modal particles in this category may vary with the context. In some contexts, they bear almost no modal meaning, functioning very similarly ta a and ba; in other contexts, the strong modal meaning they convey gives clear traces of their origin as sentence-final modal particles. non-theme markers: la, ya. These two modal particles are not phonetic vari­ ants of a, and they occur in relatively constrained contexts (say after multiple parallel items).

2.3 Reflections Historically the sentence-middle modal particles in spoken modern Chinese have evolved from sentence-final modal particles, during the process of which their questioning and exclamatory modal meanings have been gradually bleached to varying extents. In the meantime some new modal meanings have emerged when they occur post the sentence-initial component. Generally speaking the newly emerged meanings evolve roughly toward the direction of theme and topic mark­ ing. The phenomenon of modal particles functioning as theme markers as we have argued in this chapter shows that in contemporary Pekingese some modal particles (such as a and ba) have lost their meaning of estimation, questioning or exclamation and exhibited a clear trend of specialization in function. This on one hand shows that the development of modal particles presents a diversified evolutionary trend, and on the other, the functional forms in spoken Pekingese are becoming more and more entrenched and enriched. In recent years there has been debate among scholars on the extent to which the question particles express the questioning mood. When it comes to the number of modal particles in spoken Mandarin, some think that there are four of them, others think that there is only one, and still others think that there are two and a half. We do not mean to comment on this; we just want to point out that when this issue was discussed in the past, it seems to be common that modal particles were examined with reference to very brief discourse stretch only, which makes it hard to distin­ guish sentence-middle modal particles from sentence-final ones. Here we would like to reiterate Chao Yuen Ren’s argument: “We have considered the subject in a

66

Information structure

full sentence as the question and the predicate . . . as the answer to the question” (1968, p.82). Chao further points out, “Among minor sentences, some serve to pre­ sent or call attention to things, while others have more to say and are more in the nature of comments. . . . But if you put two minor sentences together, then you get exactly the makeup of a full sentence. . . . Thus we have arrived at the surprising, and yet obvious, conclusion that a full sentence is a complex sentence consisting of two minor ones”(1968, pp.82–83). Chao’s remarks are thought provoking. In actual speech, what sentences can be taken as constituting a full sentence in its general sense in terms of their internal logical relationship demands careful analy­ sis. This is why we insist on examining the meaning of modal particles in larger language fragments – discourse in this chapter. We identify the various functions of modal particles by means of an integrated analysis of the information structure, the topic structure and the stress pattern in discourse stretches, and have come up with a more systematic understanding, which we hope can also be helpful for a com­ prehensive recognition of the semantic functions of sentence-final modal particles.

Notes 1 The formulation of the modal particles in the examples cited in this chapter is based on the original source; no change of Chinese characters is made. 2 Yue-Hashimoto (1971) finds that Chinese does not allow insertion of modal particles between verbs and their objects. 3 For details concerning theme, rheme and stylistic features of Chinese, see Chapters 1 and 3 in this volume. 4 For details concerning theme, rheme and stylistic features of Chinese, see Chapters 1 and 3 in this volume. 5 Stress as used here refers to the default stress without any contrastive meaning. 6 On the basis of Liao Qiuzhong’s (1986c) classification of discourse-linking compo­ nents, our analysis of modal particle use of each type shows that almost all linking components in spoken discourse can be marked by a and ba while the use of ne, me and ma is somewhat constrained. 7 In the line immediately below, the Chinese character version, letter “a” represents the textual component, “b” the modal component, and “c” the topical component. 8 Lü Shuxiang points out in Essentials of Chinese Grammar that me is frequently used in Southern Mandarin, but not much used in North China. 9 If ma (嘛) is substituted, the example below would read more like Pekingese: 李东宝：“别生他气，张老师，他是一粗人。” 余德利：“对，我是一粗人。这俩细人跟你说了半天细话，咱说会儿粗话如何?” 张明高：“还得等会儿，我还拐不过这弯儿呢。本来么，刚听点儿好话儿听得有几分舒 畅，冷丁换上你来，要是你能接受得了么?将心比心。” LI DONGBAO: “Bié shēng tā qì, Zhāng lǎoshī, tā shì yī cūrén.” YU DELI: “Duì, wǒ shì yī cūrén. Zhè liǎ xìrén gēn nǐ shuō le bàntiān

xìhuà, zán shuō huì-er cūhuà rúhé?” ZHANG MINGGAO: “Hái děi děnghuì-er, wǒ hái guǎibúguò zhè wān-er ne. Běnlái me, gāng tīng diǎn-er hǎohuà-er tīng de yǒu jǐfēn shūchàng,

Thematic structure in narration 67 lěngdīng huàn shàng nǐ lái, yàoshi nǐ néng jiēshòu-de-liǎo me? Jiāngxīnbǐxīn.” ‘LI DONGBAO: “Don’t be angry with him, Mr. Zhang, he is a rough guy.” YU DELI: “Yes, I’m a rough guy. Since they two have talked with you in refined language for a long time already, can we say something rough? ZHANG MINGGAO: “You’ll have to wait a minute. I need to make the turn. Originally, I felt a bit better after listening to some nice words. All of a sudden, you offered to substitute them. If you were me, could you accept it? If you care to feel for me.” ’

3

Thematic structure in conversation An analysis of translocation

3.1 Basis for translocation: information structure and stylistic features As has been pointed out in Chapter 1, Mathesius’s proposal to analyze sentences into two parts – theme and rheme – from the perspective of information trans­ mission is of universal significance. What we are interested in is that such an approach, when used to analyze spoken Chinese, can give a consistent interpreta­ tion of a series of seemingly “special” phenomena. Our predecessors have approached Chinese word order from the functional per­ spective. For instance, Chao Yuen Ren (1968) and Zhu Dexi (1982) both maintain that the subject of Chinese is the topic, and the predicate is the comment. But just as Lü Shuxiang has pointed out, in “前天有人从太原来” (Qiántiān yǒurén cóng Tàiyuán lái, ‘The day before yesterday, someone came over from Taiyuan.’) and “一会儿又下起雨来” (Yīhuǐ-er yòu xià qǐ yǔ lái, ‘A moment later, it began to rain.’), neither “前天” nor “一会儿” is topic-like (Lü Shuxiang, 1979). Then it seems that topic-comment cannot embody the general law of Chinese word order; theme-rheme appears to be more appropriate for this purpose. In Chinese there are many instances where the theme is not the topic, as in (1) to (3): (1)

我觉得吧，这一男一女能撞上而且有戏，不在他们多出众多有 钱，. . . . . .主要看缘分。 (4–498)1 Wǒ juéde ba, I think SMP zhè yī nán yī nǚ néng zhuàngshàng érqiě yǒuxì, búzài tāmen duō chūzhòng duō yǒu qián, . . . . . . zhǔyào kàn yuánfèn. ‘I think, well, it is fate that makes a man and a woman to meet and have a pass at each other. It’s not that important for them to be outstanding or very rich.’

(2)

我从小吧，就特羡慕革命烈士，江姐呵，赵一曼呵，当然还有洪 常青。打心眼儿里敬佩他们。 (4–172) Wǒ I

cóngxiǎo from childhood

ba, SMP

Thematic structure in conversation 69 jiù tè xiànmù gémìng lièshì, Jiāng Jiě a, Zhào Yīmàn a, dāngrán háiyǒu Hóng Chángqīng. Dǎ xīnyǎn-er lǐ jìngpèi tāmen. ‘From childhood, I, ah, envied the revolutionary martyrs, say Jiang Jie and Zhao Yiman. Of course, there is also Hong Changqing. I admired them from the bottom of my heart.’ (3)

其实吧，你也就是一般人儿。(TV series “The Story of the Editorial Board: Whom to marry”(《编辑部的故事 .娶个什么好》)) Qíshí ba, nǐ yě jiùshì in fact SMP you too just ‘In fact, you are no more than an average person.’

yībān average

rén-er. person

We have addressed the issue in detail in Chapters 1 and 2, maintaining that the sentence-initial components which are marked by modal particles in spoken Pekingese can all be taken as themes, though some of them may not be topics. These components can be nominal or verbal, or even adverbs that are more func­ tional than contentful. The component preceding the modal particle is essentially the starting point of the sentential message, so from the expression point of view, the word order in spoken Chinese sentences is for the theme to precede the rheme in principle.2 In this chapter we analyze an anomaly; that is, the postpositioning of themes: (4)

别打岔，到底去不去你? (A-470) Bié dǎchà, dàodǐ not interrupt on earth ‘Don’t interrupt; are you going or not?’

(5)

qù-bù-qù go or not

nǐ? you

怎么都不说话?好看么倒是? (3–67) Zěnme dōu bù shuōhuà? Hǎokàn me how all not speak good-looking MP ‘How come none of you speaks? Is it good-looking or not?’

dǎoshì? actually

We regard such sentences as having postpositioned themes on the basis of the following two observations: 1) the postpositioned part is always light in tone, with the stress falling on the preceding part without fail, which is in line with the prosodic pattern of “light theme, stressed rheme”; 2) the postpositioned part always expresses secondary information of the sentence, some having appeared in previous context, some present in the speech situation, and some being shared knowledge of the speaker and the listener (see below for detailed discussion), whereas the preceding part is the comment that it initiates. Theme postpositioning is above all a phenomenon particular to the dialogic style. In our view, theme preceding rheme in narratives is a manifestation of the pro­ cessibility principle in pragmatics; that is, beginning with something familiar to the listener before introducing new and important information is in line with the listener’s psycho-cognitive process and thus a reasonable manner of information

70

Information structure

organization in relaxed situations. In brief and compact dialogues, by contrast, the speaker is required to communicate primary information to the listener within a very brief time, which gives priority to the economy principle. The primary infor­ mation becomes the content that the speaker is eager to impart, and the secondary information is backgrounded to an insignificant position. Experimental studies of psychology show that it is the sentence-initial component that is most likely to catch the listener’s attention. Therefore, in dialogues where processing time is limited, translocation is the direct psychological reaction on the part of the speaker as well as a convenient means to arouse the listener’s attention to the sentence-initial com­ ponent. In the data we have collected, more than 96% of translocated themes occur in dialogues. Secondly, translocation is also frequently observed in the interrogative, impera­ tive, exclamatory and negative sentences. From the functional perspective these sentence types are non-canonical in that they are all means to enhance informa­ tion focus (see also Section 1.3.1). This phenomenon further indicates that theme postpositioning is to give emphasis to the rheme, an assertion also supported by our language data.

3.2 Semantic types of postpositioned components The theme is the starting point of the sentence. The starting point that the speaker chooses can be the temporal/spatial component, the actor, a general entity, a behaviour, or even the manner, condition, reason or purpose of a behaviour or an event. Below is an enumeration of such postpositioned components. 3.2.1 Postpositioned temporal and spatial components The components in question can be common time or space words, or time and space indicating prepositional phrases, as in (6) to (9). (6)

对不起，周华，我是太急了点刚才。(A-38) Duìbùqǐ, Zhōu Huá, wǒ shì tài jí le diǎn gāngcái. sorry Zhou Hua I indeed too anxious aux. a bit just now ‘I’m sorry, Zhou Hua, I was a bit too anxious just now.’

(7)

“. . . . . .别听我瞎说呵，我这是喝了酒胡说，我难受，这儿。” 范建平指指心口窝。(A-64) “Bié tīng don’t listen wǒ zhè I this wǒ nánshòu, I feel bad Fàn Jiànpíng Fan Jianping

wǒ xiāshuō me talk rubbish shì hē be drink zhè-er.” here zhǐ-zhǐ point-REDUP

a, SFP le PFV

jiǔ wine

húshuō, talk nonsense

xīnwō. pit of the stomach

Thematic structure in conversation 71 ‘ “Don’t take my words seriously. I’m talking nonsense after drinking. I feel bad, here.” Fan Jianping said, pointing at the pit of his stomach.’ (8)

可大街你随便敲人家门去，问问可有一个乐意拉着你们满北京兜风 的——在这夜深人静的时候。 (4–299) Kědàjiē nǐ along the street you

suíbiàn randomly

qiāo knock

rénjiā others

mén door

qù, go

wèn-wèn ask-REDUP

kě can

yǒu have

yī one

gè CL

lèyì willing

lā take

zhe DUR

mǎn throughout

Běijīng Beijing

dōufēng air

de aux.

——zài at

zhè this

yèshēnrénjìng still of night

nǐmen you

de shíhòu. ASS moment ‘You may go along the street, knocking at every door you like to see if there is someone who’d like to drive you around throughout Beijing, in the still­ ness of night.’ (9)

我也看见了你，在望远镜里。 (1–2) Wǒ yě kànjiàn le nǐ, I too see aux. you ‘I saw you too, in the telescope.’

zài in

wàngyuǎnjìng telescope

lǐ. inside

The time/space components in these examples, even if fronted to the sentence initial position, can hardly be taken as the topic of each respective sentence. Nor are they direct participants of the actions/events. Instead they are used to provide a temporal/spatial reference point for the whole sentence, and with the reference point, the content of the sentence is more clearly bounded in time/space. Gener­ ally speaking, such reference points, when used in a sentence initially, cannot be omitted because their omission will render the whole sentence indefinite in time or space. If postpositioned, such spatio-temporal reference points would become less important. A certain reference point may have been established in previous discourse or in the situational context, which renders it unnecessary to repeat the reference point, because no misunderstanding will incur from the omission. This represents a unique functional value of sentences with translocation. Examine (10) and (11):

72

Information structure

(10) “周华，我们结婚吧。. . . . . .这不是我们一直说好的事情吗?” “不是一直，是曾经。” “对于我来说，是‘一直’。” “但结婚是双方的事情。” “你什么意思?” “我不想结婚，现在。” (A-391) Zhōu Huá, wǒmen jiéhūn ba. . . . . . . Zhè búshì wǒmen yīzhí shuō hǎo de shìqíng ma?” “Búshì yīzhí, shì céngjīng.” “Not always, be once.” “Duìyú wǒ lái shuō, shì ‘yīzhí’.” “Dàn jiéhūn shì shuāngfāng de shìqíng.” “Nǐ shénme yìsi?” “Wǒ bù xiǎng jiéhūn, xiànzài.” I not want marry now ‘ “Zhou Hua, let’s marry. . . . Isn’t it something that we have always been in agreement?” “Not always, but once.” “For me, it’s ‘always’.” “But marriage is a thing for both sides.” “What do you mean?” “I don’t want to marry, now.” ’ By saying “不是一直，是曾经”, Zhou Hua means that her agreement to marriage is no longer applicable to the moment. When the other side stresses once again that “It’s always”, she reiterates her point “我不想结婚” (‘I don’t want to marry’) and complements it with “现在” (‘now’), so that the statement will not be interpreted as applicable all the time. Look at an example of a postpositioned spatial component: (11) 范建平来了，拎一尼龙兜东西. . . . . .打开兜，开掏. . . . . . 取出两盒磁带，细细检查，完好，满意道：“还好还好，两盒磁带 尚存。有录音机没有这里?” (A-294) Fàn Jiànpíng lái le, līn yī nílóng dōu dōngxi. . . . . . dǎkāi dōu, kāi tāo. . . . . . qǔchū liǎng hé cídài, xì xì jiǎnchá, wánhǎo, mǎnyì dào: “Háihào háihǎo, liǎng hé cídài shàng cún. Yǒu lùyīnjī méiyǒu zhèlǐ?” Have recorder not have here ‘Fan Jianping came in, carrying a nylon pocket. . . . He opened the pocket and began to get things out. . . . He got out two cassettes. He carefully checked them, and, finding them intact, he said satisfactorily, “Not bad, not bad. The two cassettes have survived. Do you have a tape recorder, here?” ’ In this sentence, the referent of the speaker’s “这里” (‘here’) refers to the scene of communication; but if the spatial expression is omitted, it is possible for “有录音 机没有” to be interpreted otherwise.

Thematic structure in conversation 73 3.2.2 Postpositioned person/entity indicating components Such components may take the following lexical forms: personal pronouns, demonstrative+noun constructions, attributive+noun constructions, and bare nouns. These are all typical expressions of definite reference, not indefinite refer­ ence, which indicates that they all convey old information. As can be seen from the following examples, the referents of the postpositioned components have been mentioned earlier, and the postpositioned expressions simply refer back to their respective antecedents. The underlined parts in the example sentences are the ana­ phoric expressions. (12) 周华，你得管管你们方波，太自私了他! (A-45) Zhōu huá, nǐ děi guǎn-guǎn nǐmen Fāng Bō,

tài zìsī le too selfish aux. ‘Zhou Hua, you’ll have to discipline your Fang Bo. So selfish he is!’

tā! he

(13) 怪不得瞅着您眼熟。幸会幸会！那戏我可是哭了，整整教育了一代 人哪您! (A-22) Guàibùdé chǒu zhe nín yǎnshú. Xìnghuì xìnghuì! Nà xì wǒ kěshì kū le, zhěngzhěng jiāoyù le yī-dài-rén na nín! totally educate PFV one-generation-people MP you ‘No wonder you look familiar to me. Nice to meet you! Indeed that play moved me too tears, and you educated a whole generation of people.’ (14) 安启森放下电话，安夫人用一种漫不经心的口吻问： “启森啊，那女孩子，是谁?” “妈，那花经得住您这么个浇法么?都要发大水成灾区了!”安夫人 放下水壶：“是谁啊，那女孩子?” (A-397) Ān Qǐsēn fàngxià diànhuà, Ān fūrén yòng yīzhǒng mànbùjīngxīn de kǒuwěn wèn: “Qǐsēn a, nà nǚháizi, shì shuí?” “Mā, nà huā jīng-de-zhù nín zhème gè jiāo fǎ me? Dōu yào fā dà shuǐ chéng zāiqū le!” Ān fūrén fàngxià shuǐhú: “Shì shuí a, nà nǚháizi?” be who MP that girl ‘An Qisen put down the phone. Mrs. An asked in a casual tone: “Qisen, that girl, who is she?” “Mother, can the flowers be watered your way? You’re flooding them!” Mrs. An put down the kettle, “Who is that, the girl?” ’ (15) “说他那稿子呢?那稿子我看过，不是挺好吗?” “那您处理吧这稿子，没准是我看太多遍陷进去了。” (4–516) “Shuō tā nà gǎozi ne? Nà gǎozi wǒ kàn guò, bùshì tǐng hǎo ma?” “Nà nín chǔlǐ ba zhè gǎozi, then you deal with MP this manuscript méizhǔn shì wǒ kàn tài duō biàn xiàn jìnqù le.”

74

Information structure ‘ “Are you talking about that manuscript? I have read it. Isn’t it good?” “Then you deal with it please, that manuscript. It may be that I’ve got trapped after reading it too many times.” ’

(16) “回家管管你儿子去，你不回家他不睡，这么晚了。” “孩子睡觉分工你管。. . . . . .分析分析原因，为什么没我不行 没你可以——孩子?” (A-22) “Huíjiā guǎn-guǎn nǐ érzi qù, nǐ bù huíjiā tā bú shuì, zhème wǎn le.” “Háizi shuìjiào fēngōng nǐ guǎn. . . . . . . Fēnxī fēnxī yuányīn, wèishénme méi wǒ bùxíng méi nǐ kěyǐ—— háizi?” why without me not do without you ok child ‘ “Go home to take care of your son. If you do not go home, he won’t sleep. It’s so late now.” “It’s your duty to see to the child going to bed. . . . . . . Try analyzing the reason. Why is he no good without me but alright without you – the child?” ’ Sometimes the antecedent may not be a simple lexical form: (17) 其实我本意不是想当一流氓头儿. . . . . .我想当将军。统帅大 军，冲锋陷阵，驰骋疆场，直到把敌人全歼。保卫祖国，打击侵 略者，维护世界和平，凯旋!会师! 总攻——哎哟，想死我了这事! (4–174) Qíshí wǒ běnyì búshì xiǎng dāng yī liúmáng tóu-er. . . . . . wǒ xiǎng dāng jiāngjūn. Tǒngshuài dàjūn, chōngfēngxiànzhèn, chíchěngjiāngchǎng, zhídào bǎ dírén quán jiān. Bǎowèi zǔguó, dǎjī qīnluèzhě, wéihù shìjiè hépíng, kǎixuán! Huìshī! Zǒnggōng——āiyō, xiǎng sǐ wǒ le zhè shì! miss die I aux. this matter ‘In fact, I didn’t mean to become a rogue head. . . . . . I wanted to be a gen­ eral, to command the army, charge forward, and surf the battlefield, until the enemies were wiped out. I wanted to defend the motherland, combat the invaders, and maintain world peace. Triumph! Join forces! Launch the general attack – Oh my, I miss it so much, such a life!’ The postpositioned components in these examples are all direct participants of the action in the rheme. Although some are agents and others are patients, they are all what the statements are about. As the starting points of the information that the sentences impart, they should have been the sentence-initial components. However, they have occurred in the immediate preceding context, which makes it possible for them to occur sentence finally, a position secondary to the sentence-initial position. If they are omitted, the sentences may be subject to misinterpretation. For instance, if “他” is omitted in (12), the person who is selfish can be Zhou Hua. Likewise the omission of “您” in (13) may lead to the reading that “the play has educated a generation of people”. Example (16) may be very hard to understand if “孩子” is

Thematic structure in conversation 75 left unsaid. If “这事” is omitted in (17), people may not relate the statement to the intended life described above, because according to the general understanding, it tends to be a person rather than something that makes people miss very much. 3.2.3 Postpositioned non-direct participant components This class usually appears as a prepositional structure. The speaker uses a prepo­ sition to introduce a participant. This participant does not directly participate in the action as delineated in the sentence; that is, it cannot be derived from the semantics of the verb proper, but it is an inalienable part of the situational context of speech. In this sense, such a component could also be the starting point of the sentence, because it would be difficult to determine the meaning of the sentence without such a starting point. Examine the examples below: (18) “好小说和坏小说用什么标准来区分?” “以我画线。”丁小鲁说，“我喜欢的就是千古佳作，我不喜欢的 那就是狗屁不通。” “就这么直接说——对作者?” (4–147) “Hǎo xiǎoshuō hé huài xiǎoshuō yòng shénme biāozhǔn lái qūfēn?” “Yǐ wǒ huà xiàn.” Dīng Xiǎolǔ shuō,“Wǒ xǐhuān de jiùshì qiāngǔ jiāzuò, wǒ bù xǐhuān de nà jiùshì gǒupìbùtōng.” “Jiù zhème zhíjiē shuō—— duì zuòzhě?” just so directly say to author ‘ “What is the difference between good and bad novels?” “I’m the dividing line.” Ding Xiaolu said, “The ones that I like are the mas­ terpieces; the ones that I don’t like are bullshit.” “Directly say this – to the author?” ’ (19) 后来呢?后来方波走了她就睡了。后来呢?没有后来了。没吵架，和 方波?没吵。也许因为没吵她心里才觉堵得慌。 (A-120) Hòulái ne? Hòulái Fāng Bō zǒu le tā jiù shuì le. Hòulái ne? Méiyǒu hòulái le. Méi chǎojià, hé Fāng Bō? Méi chǎo. not quarrel with Fang Bo? Yěxǔ yīnwèi méi chǎo tā xīnlǐ cái jué dǔdehuāng. ‘Later? Later, Fang Bo left and she went to bed. Still later? Nothing later. No quarrel, with Fang Bo? No quarrel. Perhaps it was just because there was no quarrel that she felt disturbed.’ (20) 但我发觉她有轻微的抗拒，如果不属于厌恶的话——对我的一些习 惯动作。 (2–479) Dàn wǒ fājué tā yǒu qīngwéi de kàngjù, rúguǒ bù shǔyú yànwù dehuà—— duì to

wǒ my

de GEN

yīxiē some

xíguàn habitual

dòngzuò. action

76

Information structure ‘But I find that she has slight resistance, if not disgust – towards some of my habitual actions.’

(21) 我是科班毕业，杨冠华是野路子出身，论导的戏我比他还多一部， 他一级我二级凭什么? (A-221) Wǒ shì kēbān bìyè, Yáng Guànhuá shì yělùzi chūshēn, lùn dǎo de xì wǒ bǐ tā hái duō yī bù, tā yījí wǒ èrjí píng shénme? he first level I second class against what ‘I have received professional training; Yang Guanhua is nothing but an amateur. In terms of conducted plays, I outnumber him by one. He ranks Level 1 and I Level 2 – how come?’ Not all the prepositional objects in these examples have been mentioned in the preceding discourse, but they are old information to both sides of communication as part of their background knowledge: novels have their authors; habits entail habitual actions; and unfairness presumes the existence of evaluation criteria. These components are mentioned for the first time in the context which makes their occurrence necessary; in the meantime, they are not important in information status, which explains why they are postpositioned. 3.2.4 Postpositioning of reason, purpose, manner and condition indicating components This category mainly consists of verbal expressions which make up part of the rheme in semantics and convey relatively old information in pragmatics. (22) “嗨，有莉莉盯着，有我没我无所谓。” “太有所谓了有你没你。你的戏多好啊，要是你能排，宋导准保省 劲多了。” (A-125) “Hēi, yǒu Lìlì dīng zhe, yǒu-wǒ-méi-wǒ wúsuǒwèi.” PF have Lili see to it DUR have me or not not matter “Tài yǒusuǒwèi le yǒu nǐ méi nǐ. very matter aux. have you without you Nǐ de xì duō hǎo a, yàoshì nǐ néng pái, Sòng Dǎo zhǔnbǎo shěngjìn-er duō le.” ‘ “Well, since Lili is there seeing to it, it doesn’t matter much whether I’m there or not.’ “It matters so much, you being there or not. Your performance is so good. If you can rehearse, Director Song will be able to save lots of energy.” ’ (23) “童童，赶明儿给我张票我也开开眼。” “就那么回事，看不看的。不喜欢坐那也是受罪。” (A-20) “Tóngtóng, gǎnmíng-er gěi wǒ zhāng piào wǒ yě kāikāiyǎn.”

Thematic structure in conversation 77 bù kàn de. “Jiù nàme huí shì, kàn just so CL thing look not look aux. Bù xǐhuān zuò nà yěshì shòuzuì.” ‘ “Tongtong, get me a ticket sometime so that I can widen my vision.” “Just so so, watch it or not. You’ll have a hard time sitting there if you don’t like it.” ’ (24) “周华怎么样了?” “挺好的看着。可能没什么事吧。” (A-50) “Zhōu Huá zěnme yàng le?” “Tǐng hǎo de kàn zhe. Kěnéng méi shénme shì ba.” very good aux. look aux. ‘ “How is Zhou Hua?” “Fairly good, she looks. Probably there’s nothing serious.” ’ (25) 许童童这么说着脸却红了，由于兴奋。 (A-25) Xǔ Tóngtóng zhème shuō zhe liǎn què hóng Xu Tongtong so say DUR face but red yóuyú xīngfèn. because of excitement ‘On saying this, Xu Tongtong got blushed, because of excitement.’

le, aux.

(26) 肚子一点不觉饿，不饿也得吃，为了工作。 (A-469) Dùzi yīdiǎn bù jué è, bú è yě děi chī, stomach a bit not feel hungry not hungry too have to eat wèile gōngzuò. for work ‘I don’t feel hungry at all. Even if I’m not hungry, I’ll still eat, for work’s sake.’ (27) 怎么样，心情好点了吧?听到别人倒霉? (A-93) Zěnmeyàng, xīnqíng hǎo diǎn le Well mood good a little aux. Tīngdào biérén dǎoméi? hear others unlucky ‘Well, do you feel a bit better? Hearing others being unlucky?’ (28) 干吗呢站在街上?打算去哪儿? (4–15)

ba? SFP

Gàn ma ne zhàn zài jiēshàng? Dǎsuàn qù nǎ-er? do what MP stand in street plan go where ‘What are you doing, standing in the street? Where do you plan to go?’ (29) 我们有办法叫他开口——只要到了我们那儿。 (4–110) Wǒmen we

yǒu have

bànfǎ method

jiào let

tā him

kāikǒu—— open mouth

78

Information structure Wǒmen yǒu bànfǎ jiào tā kāikǒu—— zhǐyào dào le wǒmen nà-er. as long as reach PFV our there ‘We have a way to let him open his mouth – as long as he comes to our place.’

(30) 我们全跟你学坏了——本来挺好。 (4–103) Wǒmen quán gēn nǐ xué huài le – we all with you learn bad aux. běnlái tǐng hǎo. originally very good ‘We are all bad now with you as our model – (we) used to be good.’ (31) 不容易呵，又能聚在一起。 (1–355) Bù róngyì a, yòu néng not easy MP again can ‘It’s no easy, (we) can get together again.’

jù gather

zài in

yīqǐ. together

These postpositioned components, in regular word order, may be analyzed as the subject, adverbial, or the first part of serial predicates, none being new information. Moreover, examples (24), (25), (27), (28), (29) and (30) also embody the time-order principle which is associated with the information structure – the action represented by the theme occurs before that represented by the rheme. Verbal structures are not referential by nature, but their old-information status can still be inferred from the context. In (22), for example, there is already the same form of expression in the foregoing text; in other examples, the preceding text contains either synonymous expressions or clues for the postpositioned com­ ponents. (32) is an example of background knowledge. (32) “你在那儿［昆仑饭店］是公关部的?” “不，我是西餐厅的。” “工作忙吧?” “还行。客人不是太多。” “够累的，一天老得站着。” (A-132) “Nǐ zài nà-er [Kūnlún Fàndiàn] shì gōngguān bù de?” “Bù, wǒ shì xīcāntīng de.” “Gōngzuò máng ba?” “Háixíng. Kèrén búshì tài duō.” “Gòu lèi de, yītiān lǎo děi zhàn zhe.” rather tiring aux. day always have to stand DUR ‘“Are you working at the Public Relations Department there [Kunlun Hotel]?” “No, I work at the Western Restaurant.” “Are you busy with work?”

Thematic structure in conversation 79 “Not quite. There are not that many guests.” “Fairly tiring, having to stand all day long.” ’ The foregoing part of the conversation shows that one of the speakers is a waiter at a restaurant. The shared background knowledge regarding this industry is that the waiters have to stand all day long. So the other party of the conversation sim­ ply says “fairly tiring” so as to make the conversation coherent while saving the thematic part to the end of the sentence. 3.2.5 Postpositioned grammaticalized themes In spoken Chinese, the link verb and some mental verbs (“说”(shuō, ‘say’) included) have become fused with the preceding demonstrative or personal pronoun, in that they no longer take sentence stress and are fairly bleached in semantics. (33) 干吗呢这是?这么热闹。 (A-5) Gàn ma ne do what MP ‘What’s going on? So lively.’

zhè this

Zhème so

shì? be

rènào. lively

(34) “什么呀，这是?” “面膜，白给的，一个洋白菜的，一个柿子椒的。” (A-61) “Shénme ya, zhè shì?” what MP this be “Miànmó, báigěi de, face mask for free aux. yī gè yángbáicài de, yī gè shìzǐjiāo de.” one CL cabbage aux. one CL sweet pepper aux. “What are they?” “Face masks, for free. One is made from cabbage, one from sweet pepper.” (35) “到哪儿了这是?” “到哪儿了我也不知道。” (4–300) “Dào nǎ-er le reach where aux. “Dào nǎ-er le wǒ yě bù zhīdào.” ‘ “Where are we, now?” “Where, I’ve no idea either.” ’

zhè this

shì?” is

(36) 何必呢你说，到底有多少是不可调和的敌我矛盾呢. . . . . . (1–328) Hébì ne nǐ shuō, why bother MP you say dàodǐ yǒu duōshǎo shì bùkě tiáohé de díwǒ máodùn ne. . . . . . ‘Why bother, you say? How many on earth are irreconcilable contradictions?’

80

Information structure

(37) 我一定跟她说。会谈通的我想。 (A-138) Wǒ yīdìng gēn tā shuō. Huì tán tōng de will talk through aux. ‘I will talk to her. She’ll be persuaded, I think.’

wǒ I

xiǎng. think

(38) “陶莉莉，刚才我说的明白了吗?” “我就是这么表现的，我认为。” (A-150) “Táo Lìlì, gāngcái wǒ shuō de míngbái le ma?” “Wǒ jiùshì zhème biǎoxiàn de, wǒ I just so behave aux. I ‘ “Tao Lili, have you understood what I said just now?” “That is how I behave, I think.” ’

rènwéi.” think

(39) “其实是因为我小时候眼睛特别小，总是眯眯的。” “还可以呀我看，再大就该招灰了。” (2–49) “Qíshí shì yīnwèi wǒ xiǎoshíhou yǎnjīng tèbié xiǎo, zǒng shì mīmī de.” “Hái kěyǐ ya wǒ kàn, still ok MP I see zài dà jiù gāi zhāohuī le.” ‘ “In fact, it was because my eyes were very small when I was young, always looking squint.” “Look good to me. They may gather dirt if still bigger.” (40) “再说也不一定非上大学，可以干别的。” “干什么呢?” “当作家，比方说。” (A-89) “Zàishuō yě bùyīdìng fēi shàng dàxué, kěyǐ gàn biéde.” “Gàn shénme ne?” “Dàng zuòjiā, bǐfāng shuō.” be writer for example say ‘ “Also, you don’t have to go to college; you can do something else.” “What to do?” “To be a writer, for example.” ’ In some of the examples here, such as (34), (35), (37) and (38), “这” and “我”, if in strict accordance with syntactic segmentation, would be the immediate constituents of the first tier, while “是”, “想” and “认为” would combine with their respective rheme to function as the other immediate constituent of first-tier syntactic segmen­ tation. However, the speaker’s psychological segmentation is far from consistent with syntactic organization. This phenomenon shows that the phenomenon of translocation by essence is not the exchange of position of the syntactic components, but

Thematic structure in conversation 81 the proper ordering of information components according to communicative needs. This is a point we raise that differs from what our predecessors have proposed.3 Seeing this, we are in a position to say that “translocation” may not neces­ sarily be the right term for this phenomenon; “dislocation” would sound better because the essence of it is to postpone the secondary information. The manner can be AB → BA, ABC → ACB, ABCD → ACDB, ABC → CBA, and so on. Translocation is not the law; the underlying principle is to weaken secondary information.

3.3 Functional types of postpositioned components 3.3.1 Additional components Components of this category express degree, scope and so on, and may take the following forms: 3.3.1.1 Adverbials Adverbs are used to delimit the semantic aspects of the rheme, such as degree, manner, scope, tense-aspect, etc. When they occur before the verb, they help determine the tone of statement; when they appear in a sentence finally, they sup­ plement the sentence meaning. (41) 我常年在外，这次回来休假。这房子也是我们单位刚分的我，过去 没家都。 (3–115) Wǒ chángnián zàiwài, zhècì huílái xiūjià. Zhè fángzi yěshì wǒmen dānwèi gāng fēn de wǒ, guòqù méi jiā dōu. in the past not have home even ‘I’ve been working outside for long. I’m back this time to enjoy my holidays. This apartment is allotted to me by my unit. In the past I didn’t have home even.’ (42) 就是别那么吹，太吹了也。国强，按你们的说法，他得算侃爷了吧? (3–141) Jiùshì bié nàme chuī, tài chuī le yě. just not so brag too muchbrag aux. even Guóqiáng, àn nǐmen de shuōfǎ, tā děi suàn kǎnyé le ba? ‘Just don’t brag that much. He is bragging too much. Guoqiang, in your terms, he can be called a big talker, can’t he?’ (43) 老范，我认为你就应该评二级——至少! (A-239) Lǎo Fàn, wǒ rènwéi nǐ jiù yīnggāi píng èrjí — zhìshǎo ! old Fan I think you just should apply for 2nd rank at least ‘Mr. Fan, I think you should apply for the second rank, at least.’

82

Information structure

(44) 检察官很宽容了已经。 Jiǎncháguān hěn kuānróng prosecutor very tolerant ‘The prosecutor is very tolerant already.’

yǐjīng. already

le aux.

(45) 这是怎么回事?周华想。又想：不关自己的事反正。继续洗碗。 (A-464) Zhè shì zěnme huí shì? Zhōu Huá xiǎng. Yòu xiǎng: bù guān zìjǐ de shì fǎnzhèng. not about self GEN affair Anyway Jìxù xǐ wǎn. ‘How come? Zhao Hua thinks. She goes on: it’s none of my business any­ way. She continues to wash the dishes.’ (46) 往往多数婚姻都没爱情呢——还! (4–499) Wǎngwǎng duōshù hūnyīn dōu méi usually most marriage all not have ‘Usually most marriages don’t have love even.’

àiqíng love

ne — MP

hái! even

(47) 我这么小心注意着成天价，就因为实在不是个圣人。 (3–393) Wǒ zhème xiǎoxīn zhùyì zhe I so carefully pay attention DUR jiù yīnwèi shízài búshì gè shèngrén. ‘I am so careful all day long, just because I’m no saint.’

chéngtiānjia, all day long

The adverbs in these examples, when restored, do not occur at the beginning of the sentence. Nor are they the starting point of information. Therefore, their postposition is to highlight the foregoing information. 3.3.1.2 On “attributive translocation” According to Lu Jianming (1980), translocation does not occur between the attrib­ utive and its head. ‘我买了顶帽子，呢子的。’ (Wǒ mǎi le dǐng màozi, nízi de, ‘I bought a hat, of woolen cloth.’) is a complex sentence, rather than one where the attributive and the head are translocated. From the functional perspective, Lu’s argument prevails when the translocated component is stressed. When it is not stressed, however, it should be taken as a postpositioned additional component. (48) 这儿有你一封读者来信，昨儿收到的。 (4–122) Zhè-er yǒu nǐ yī fēng dúzhě láixìn, zuó-er here have you one CL reader letter yesterday de. aux. ‘Here’s a letter for you from a reader, coming in yesterday.’

shōudào receive

Thematic structure in conversation 83 (49) 这就是辩证法吧?比较朴素的。 (4–8) Zhè jiùshì biànzhèngfǎ ba? this be dialectics MP ‘Is this dialectics, the relatively simple?’

bǐjiào relatively

púsù simple

de. aux.

Although the postpositioned components convey new information, they should still be regarded as translocation, given the fact that the speaker ranks them as secondary information. 3.3.1.3 Idiomatic expressions (50) 别来劲呵，给你脸了是不是? (1–326) Bié láijìn a, gěi nǐ liǎn don’t be offensive MP give you face ‘Don’t be so offensive. I’ve been tolerant, yes?’

le aux.

shìbùshì? yes or no

(51) 若有所动鼻子一酸心头一热也没准儿。 (3–214) Ruòyǒusuǒdòng bízi yīsuān xīntóu yīrè yě méizhǔn-er. get moved nose sour heart warm also maybe ‘It is also possible to get moved, with a twitched nose and a warmed heart.’ (52) 没准儿将来艾滋病被你治了也说不定。 (4–209) Méizhǔn-er jiānglái àizībìng bèi nǐ zhì maybe future AIDS pass. you cure yě shuōbúdìng. aux. perhaps ‘Maybe you can cure AIDS in the future, who can tell.’

le aux.

(53) 兄弟搞了一生现代派还没入门—— 不瞒您说。 (4–128) Xiōngdì gǎo le yīshēng xiàndàipài hái méi rùmén I do aux. life modernism yet not learn the ABC —búmánnínshuō. to be honest with you ‘I’ve been working on modernism my whole life, but haven’t learned the ABC yet, to be honest with you.’ (54) 离你就下决心离，要么就不离，离了也别再娶，天下乌鸦一般黑我 还告诉你! (1–395) Lí nǐ jiù xiàjuéxīn lí, yàome jiù bù lí, lí le yě bié zài qǔ, tiānxià wūyā yībān hēi wǒ hái world crow same black I also

gàosù tell

nǐ! you

84

Information structure ‘If you want to divorce, just be determined to do so; or you just stay mar­ ried. If you divorce, don’t marry again. All crows in the world are black, I can assure you.’

These can be regarded either as temporarily postpositioned components or as fixed usages that occur at the end of the sentence on account of the following facts: on one hand, they can all be placed at the beginning of the sentence as the starting point, and bear no sentence stress either fronted or postpositioned; on the other hand, they are of high frequency of occurrence as postpositioned components and may take stress in that position. Therefore, we tend to regard such components as postpositioned supplementary information. 3.3.1.4 Postpositioned themes that cannot be restored (55) 周华，说说吧，我昨天的演出。 (A-467) Zhōu Huá, shuō-shuō ba, wǒ zuótiān de yǎnchū. Zhou Hua say-REDUP MP I yesterday ASS performance ‘Zhou Hua, please say something, (about) my performance yesterday.’ (56) 祝贺你啊，得奖。庆祝哪? (A-22) Zhùhè nǐ a, dé jiǎng. Qìngzhù congratulate you MP win award celebrate ‘Congratulations, on the award. (Are you) celebrating?’

na? MP

These two examples are very illustrative. First, the postpositioned com­ ponent in each case is light in tone; second, the part in question comes after the modal particle of the whole sentence, which render it sup­ plementary in status; third, it is the starting point of the sentential information. The three points are logical from the functional perspec­ tive and jointly attest to the thematic status of the postpositioned part. A sentence that involves translocation is believed to be restorable, and the restored version should be syntactically good. These two exam ­ ples, however, can barely satisfy such requirements. Obviously, neither “我昨天的演出说说” nor “得奖祝贺你” is acceptable as a structure, which also points to the limitations of the syntactic point of view in the interpreta­ tion of translocation. 3.3.2 Corrective components (57) 你们说什么了，他对你? (4–241) Nǐmen shuō shénme you say what ‘What did you say, him to you?’

le, CRS

tā he

duì to

nǐ? you

Thematic structure in conversation 85 (58) 看见林蓓了么?她也来了和那个宝康。 (4–63) Kànjiàn Lín Bèi le me? see Lin Bei CRS MP Tā yě lái le hé nàgè she too come CRS with that ‘Seen Lin Bei? She’s also come, with that Baokang.’

Bǎokāng. Baokang

“你们” in (57) and “她” in (58) are the original theme in their respective sentence. But the speaker changes his or her mind in the middle and substitutes “他对你” and “她和宝康” as the new themes. The examples also show that substitutable themes may not take the same syntactic composition (such as “他对你” vis-a-vis “你们”). For detailed discussion of additive and corrective translocation, see Tai and Hu (1991). 3.3.3 Composite components Sometimes the postpositioned may not be a single component, which gives rise to two questions concerning the variations of the composite form. 3.3.3.1 The first question is the sequencing of the components in composition, which can be subdivided into two types. The first is that the two components cannot swap position. (59) 我们才见了两面，还不太了解呢互相 都。 (TV Series A) →*还不太了解呢都 互相。 Wǒmen cái jiàn le liǎngmiàn, hái bú tài liǎojiě ne hùxiāng still not too know MP each other →*hái bù tài liǎojiě ne dōu hùxiāng. ‘We’ve just met twice, not even knowing each other well yet.’ (60) 九万吧那 就。 (4–96) →*九万吧就 那。 Jiǔwàn ba ninety thousand MP →*Jiǔ wàn ba jiù nà. ‘Make it ninety thousand then.’ (61) 大笑，两人 一块。 (A-39) →*大笑，一块 两人。 Dàxiào, liǎng rén yīkuài. laugh two people together →*Dàxiào, yīkuài liǎng rén. ‘Both of them laughed out loudly.’

nà then

dōu. even

jiù. just

86

Information structure

(62) 搁哪儿了我 给? (4–511) →*搁哪儿了给 我? Gē nǎ-er le put where aux. →*Gē nǎ-er le gěi wǒ? ‘Where did I put it?’

wǒ I

gěi? give

The second type is that the two components can exchange position, as in (63) to (65). (63) 什么呀，都是，他们那两个条件? (A-61) →什么呀，他们那两个条件 都是? Shénme ya, dōu shì tāmen nà liǎng what MP all be their those two →Shénme ya, tāmen nà liǎng gè tiáojiàn dōu shì? ‘What are they, the two conditions of theirs?’

gè CL

tiáojiàn? condition

(64) 我还用跟它来这个?我要能演，搁过去。 (A-156) →我还用跟它来这个?搁过去，我要能演。 Wǒ hái yòng gēn tā lái zhègè? I yet use with her do this Wǒ yào néng yǎn, gē guòqù. I if can play in past → Wǒ hái yòng gēn tā lái zhège? Gē guòqù, wǒ yào néng yǎn. ‘I wouldn’t have asked for favour in the past. Only if I could play (the role).’ (65) 夸我呢是吧，你们 刚才? (A-96) →夸我呢是吧，刚才 你们? Kuā wǒ ne shìba, praise me SMP yes or no →Kuā wǒ ne shì ba, gāngcái nǐmen? ‘Praising me you were just now, right?’

nǐmen you

gāngcái? just now

Examples (59) to (62) are constrained by syntax, which forbids swap of posi­ tion. The two versions of (65) are both acceptable, while the swapped version of (63) and (64) sounds more natural than the original. There should be a marked pause after “都是” in (63) and “我要能演” in (64); otherwise the sentences would be unacceptable. Examples (63) and (64) show that the translocation option of ABC→CAB is preferred to ABC→CBA. 3.3.3.2 When more than two components are restored to their original position, there are two options: complete restoration and partial restoration.

Thematic structure in conversation 87 (66) 造福人类吧你就! (4–209) Zàofú rénlèi Benefit mankind ‘Benefit mankind, you!’ ——你就造福人类吧! ——你造福人类吧就! ——就造福人类吧你! ——Nǐ jiù zàofú rénlèi ba! ——Nǐ zàofú rénlèi ba jiù! ——Jiù zàofú rénlèi ba nǐ!

ba MP

nǐ you

jiù! just

Nǐmen you

zhè this

shì? be

(67) 怎么啦?你们这是? (A-295) Zěnme la? what’s up MP ‘What’s up, you guys?’ ——你们这是怎么啦? ——你们怎么啦这是? ——这是怎么啦你们? ——Nǐmen zhè shì zěnme la? ——Nǐmen zěnme la zhè shì? ——Zhè shì zěnme la nǐmen? (68) 不去了真的大晚上的。 (A-117) Bú qù le zhēnde not go aux. really ‘I’m not going, really, too late.’ ——真的大晚上的不去了。 ——真的不去了大晚上的。 ——大晚上的不去了真的。 ——大晚上的真的不去了。 ——Zhēnde dà wǎnshàng de bú qùle. ——Zhēnde bú qùle dà wǎnshàng de. ——Dà wǎnshàng de bú qùle zhēnde. ——Dà wǎnshàng de zhēnde bú qùle.

dà big

wǎnshàng evening

de. aux.

(69) 非常有意思呵，你这些小哥儿们说话。 (4–40) Fēicháng yǒuyìsi a, very interesting MP nǐ zhèxiē xiǎo gē-ermen you these young brothers ‘It’s very interesting to hear your brothers talk.’ ——你这些小哥儿们说话非常有意思呵。 ——你这些小哥儿们非常有意思呵说话。 ——说话非常有意思呵你这些小哥儿们。

shuōhuà. talk

Information structure

88

——Nǐ zhèxiē xiǎo gē-ermen shuōhuà fēicháng yǒuyìsi a. ——Nǐ zhèxiē xiǎo gē-ermen fēicháng yǒuyìsi a shuōhuà. ——Shuōhuà fēicháng yǒuyìsi a nǐ zhèxiē xiǎo gē-ermen. This group of examples further illustrates what is postponed is what the speaker considers less important while those maintained in the front are emphasized. When the statement is complex in content, the starting point will be relatively simple; when the statement is concise, the starting point will see some complica­ tion, but not without constraints: ideationally the starting point that the speaker chooses should resemble a “point”, meaning that its internal structure cannot be too complicated; stylistically dialogues are supposed to be brief – if the whole sentence is subject to this constraint, the theme will be no exception.

3.4 Translocation and Q&A 3.4.1 We can regard translocation as a phenomenon between non-elliptical and ellipti­ cal sentences; that is, in simple Q&A (question and answer), there are at least three different ways of sentential information organization: a b c

theme + rheme; rheme + theme; omitted theme + rheme.

We take a simple sentence for example, paying attention to how the three patterns function as the question and answer: (70) 问：你干嘛去了? 答：a. 我买菜去了。 b. 买菜去了我。 c. 买菜去了。 Q: Nǐ gàn you do A: a. I buy b. Mǎi cài buy vegetables c. Mǎi cài buy vegetables ‘What did you do? I went to buy vegetables.’ (71) 问：a. 你干嘛去了? b. 干嘛去了你? c. 干嘛去了? 答： (我)买菜去了。

má what cài vegetables qù go qù go

qù go qù go le aux. le. aux.

le? aux. le. aux. wǒ. I

Thematic structure in conversation 89 Q: a. Nǐ you b. Gàn do c. Gàn do

gàn do má what má what

má what qù go qù go

qù go le aux. le? aux.

le? aux. nǐ? you

qù go

le. aux.

A: (Wǒ) mǎi (I) buy ‘What did you do? (I) went to buy vegetables.’

cài vegetables

Theoretically, there are altogether nine possibilities when questions a, b and c and answers a, b and c are combined: 1. 4. 7.

Qa + Aa Qb + Aa Qc + Aa

2. 5. 8.

Qa + Ab Qb + Ab Qc + Ab

3. 6. 9.

Qa + Ac Qb + Ac Qc + Ac

These nine Q&A configurations are very unbalanced in frequency of use in actual discourse, indicating that the three patterns are different in nature; that is, they cannot be randomly combined. What interests us is the constraint. The answer seems constrained by the question both in form and function. In form, a, b and c represent three different sentence patterns; in function they reflect different ways of information processing. If a, b and c are taken as three different sentence patterns, then according to Liao Qiuzhong (1991c), the answer, influ­ enced by the question, will take the same pattern as the question. Thus, of the nine possibilities, 1, 5 and 9 are justified, in that they can be seen as constrained by discourse factors. If a, b and c are regarded as three different manifestations of function, it can be argued that b and c are different treatments of the theme in a: b weakens the theme and c omits it. In other words the importance of the theme in a, b and c can be ranked as a > b > c. In his functional syntax theory, Kuno (1980) puts forward a principle governing the omission of information in the answer to a question: the answer may retain the entire message of the question or omit appropriately; the older the information, the more likely it is omitted; new information cannot be omitted. Shen Jiaxuan (1989) takes a different perspective. He believes that in dialogues the comment in the foregoing sentence can be seen as the topic of the forthcoming sentence. Therefore, it is very common for the forthcoming sentence to omit the topic and directly comment on the foregoing sentence. Based on these

90

Information structure

two views, we propose that the essential component of the answer be the new information. The information load of the answer can be equal to or less than that of the question, but the new information cannot be missing; and it is not necessary for the answer to convey more information than the question. In this way, of the nine Q&A configurations, 4, 7 and 8 would be less reasonable than others. But it should be acknowledged that this inference has yet to be confirmed by larger-scale investigations. It is not possible to examine all nine Q&A possibilities in this chapter, not to mention that actual language use can be more varied. The focus then is on the five that involve translocation. 3.4.2 Starting from the translocated pattern b, the five Q&A configurations can be divided into two kinds: b as the question and b as the answer. Our simple statistics show that b as the question is far more frequent than as the answer. The statistics are confined to those that are strictly in compliance with the five types of Q&A configurations, but it should be noted that more cases are observed where the question and the answer are not so strictly configured. If such cases (say Q + no A, no Q + A and Q + irrelevant A) are also included, the tendency for b to be the question is even more pronounced. The tendency as reflected in the data does not correspond exactly to the assumptions made earlier. According to the assumptions made, Qb + Ab should be a reasonable configuration; in the corpus, however, we find no instantiations of this configuration. It is also assumed above that Qb + Aa and Qc +Ab should be very much constrained, but the actual data do provide some instantiations. The following illustrates the four cases as observed in our data, followed by their respective analysis. 3.4.2.1 Form b as the answer The question takes form a and the answer form b, as in (72). (72) “你说我请大家，他们会来吗?” “会来的我想，只要没别的要紧事。” (A-371) “Nǐ shuō wǒ qǐng dàjiā, tāmen huì lái ma?” you say I invite everyone they will come SFP “Huì lái de wǒ xiǎng, will come aux. I think zhǐyào méi biéde yāojǐn shì.” so long as not other important affair ‘ “Do you think everyone will come if I invite them?” “They will, I think, so long as there’s no other important affair.” ’ The question is in form c and the answer in form b, as in (73).

Thematic structure in conversation 91 (73) “害怕了吧?” “怕什么我，君子坦荡荡!” (A-310) “Hàipà le ba?” scared aux. SFP “Pà shénme wǒ, jūnzǐ fear what I gentlement ‘ “You’re scared?” “What to scare? I’m a broad-minded gentleman!” ’

tǎndàngdàng!” broad-minded

Form b as the answer (as illustrated in (73)), which is supposed to be the typi­ cal case, is not frequently observed. The majority are like (72), where expressions such as “我想” (wǒ xiǎng, ‘I think’), “我看” (wǒ kàn, ‘I believe’), “我认为” (wǒ rènwéi, ‘I think’), “比方说” (bǐfāng shuō, ‘for example’), “看着” (kàn zhe, ‘see’), etc., are postpositioned. In such cases, the postpositioned components are so bleached in meaning that they may very well be omitted. This is consistent with the so-called Q&A psychology: both the speaker and the listener’s concern is whether the answer contains the expected new information, or simply the rheme. It does not matter much whether the theme occurs or not. It then can be said that form b as the answer is close (almost equivalent) to form c in function, which is consistent with the principle that the answer does not provide more information than is required by the question. 3.4.2.2 Form b as the question Form b occurs as the question and form a as the answer, as in (74) to (76). (74) “什么呀，都是，他们那两个条件?” “一个是希望周华为他们厂的产品做个电视广告. . . . . . 另一个 条件是，《伴我远行》的男主角必须是我演。” (A-61) “Shénme ya, dōu shì, tāmen nà liǎng gè tiáojiàn?” what MP all be their those two CL condition “Yīgè shì xīwàng Zhōu Huá wèi tāmen chǎng de chǎnpǐn zuò gè diànshì one be guǎnggào. . . . . . lìngyīgè tiáojiàn shì, the other condition be “Bàn wǒ yuǎn xíng” de nán zhǔjué bìxū shì wǒ yǎn.” ‘ “What are they, (I mean) the two conditions?” “One is that they hope Zhou Hua can make a TV ad for their factory’s products. . . . . . The other is that I must play the leading role in Travel with Me.” ’ (75) “瞧我别扭——这姑娘。” “她还没习惯你。” (4–19)

92

Information structure “Qiáo wǒ bièniu—— zhè see me uncomfortable this “Tā hái méi xíguàn she still not be used to ‘ “She doesn’t feel comfortable to see me – the girl.” “She is not used to your presence yet.” ’

gūniang.” girl nǐ.” you

(76) “ 你 可 能 一 辈 子 也 用 不 上 — — 有 的 药 。 ” “ 我 可 以 控 制 。 ” 她 说，“有用的留下，没用的排出，我可以有意识地监督体内各系统 的工作。” (4–272) “Nǐ kěnéng yībèizi yě yòng bú shàng—— yǒude yào.” you maybe whole life too use not up some medicine “Wǒ kěyǐ kòngzhì.” I can control Tā shuō,“Yǒuyòng de liúxià, méiyòng de páichū, wǒ kěyǐ yǒuyìshí de jiāndū tǐnèi gè xìtǒng de gōngzuò.” ‘ “You may not use them your whole life – (I mean) some medicines.” “I can take control,” she said, “ I’ll keep those that are useful and discharge the useless. I can consciously monitor how the different systems work in my body.” ’ The answer sentences in (74) and (76) contain multiple themes that bear some resemblance to contrastive topics. Therefore, it is normal for them to occur in a sentence initially. Only (75) is a typical case of Qb + Aa, a configuration that is small in number. The existence of this phenomenon is not difficult to understand: as long as the postpositioned thematic component poses as a stimulus to the lis­ tener, the response will be reflected in the answer. Since Ac cannot satisfy such needs, Qb + Aa and Qb + Ab are the two options available for choice; and given the impossibility of Qb + Ab, Qb + Aa becomes the only option. Qb + Ac represents a high-frequency pattern. (77) “谁呀她是?” “苏蓓的母亲。” (A-229) “Shuí who “Sū Bèi Su Bei ‘ “Who is she?” “Su Bei’s mother.” ’

tā she mǔqīn.” mother

ya MP de GEN

shì?” be

(78) “又哪玩去了你?” “台湾饭店。” (A-168) “Yòu again

nǎ where

wán play

qù go

le aux.

nǐ?” you

Thematic structure in conversation 93 “Táiwān Fàndiàn.” Taiwan Hotel ‘ “Where did you go play again?” “Taiwan Hotel.” ’ (79) “你什么时候走，拍电视剧?” “下周四。” (A-26) “Nǐ shénmeshíhou zǒu, you when go “Xià Zhōusì.” next Thursday ‘ “When are you leaving, to shoot the TV series?” “Next Thursday.” ’

pāi shoot

diànshìjù?” TV series

(80) “挺好的最近?” “嗯，挺好的。” (3–18) “Tǐng hǎo fairly good “En, tǐng yeah fairly ‘ “Fairly good lately?” “Yeah, fairly good.” ’

zuìjìn?” lately de.” aux.

de aux. hǎo good

(81) “到哪儿去了?一上午。” “买菜去了。” (1–238) “Dào nǎ-er qù le? to where go aux. “Mǎi cài qù le.” buy vegetables go aux. ‘ “Where have you gone, the whole morning?” “To buy vegetables.” ’

yī one

shàngwǔ.” morning

The configuration of Qb + Ac accounts for two-thirds of the total, because it is a configuration that is not only in line with people’s psychological habits but also a clear way to highlight new information and sentential focus. The question is: since the theme does not appear in the answer, does it mean that the respondent regards it as neglectable? We do not think so: it is not that the respondent fails to respond to the postpositioned theme, but that he uses it as the starting point of his comment, given the fact that the postpositioned theme is adjacent to the answer.4 On the basis of this, it can be inferred that it does not matter much if the theme is missing in Ab. When b is used as the question, however, the fronted rheme and the postpositioned theme will both stimulate the listener to respond. And the answer may take three forms: 1

the theme preceding the rheme, as in (75);

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Information structure

2

using the elliptical form Ac, with the sentence-final theme of the previous sentence working as the starting point, as in (77) to (81); responding to both the rheme and the theme of the question sentence, to be discussed below.

3

3.4.2.3 Examine the following examples: (82) “什么呀都是?跟个炸药包似的我担了好几天心了。” “衣服。都是我前儿个逛街买的，还有给你买的呢。” (3–64) “Shénme ya dōu shì? Gēn gè zhàyàobāo shìde wǒ dān le hǎojǐtiān xīn le.” what MP all be “Yīfú. Dōu shì wǒ qián-erge guàngjiē mǎi de, hái yǒu gěi nǐ mǎi de ne.” ‘ “What are all these? Look like a pack of dynamite. I’ve been worrying for days.” “Clothes. I bought them when I went shopping the day before. And some are for you.” (83) “到哪儿了这是?” “到哪儿了我也不知道。我就知道这是十块钱能到的地方。” (4–300) “Dào nǎ-er le zhè shì?” reach where PFV this be “Dào nǎ-er le wǒ yě bù zhīdào. reach where PFV I too not know Wǒ jiù zhīdào zhè shì shí kuài qián néng dào de dìfāng.” ‘ “Where is it now?” “Where it is I don’t know either. I only know it’s somewhere we can get for 10 yuan (of taxi fare).” ’ (84) “就这么直接说——对作者?” “好话可以直接说，说过头也没关系。坏话只能暗地里说，当面对 作者充其量只能作为其惋惜遗憾状。” (4–147) “Jiù zhème zhíjiē shuō—— duì zuòzhě?” just so directly say to author “Hǎohuà kěyǐ zhíjiē shuō, shuō guòtóu yě méiguānxì. good words may directly say Huàihuà zhǐnéng àndìlǐ shuō, dāngmiàn duì zuòzhě chōngqíliàng zhǐnéng zuò wèi qí wǎnxī yíhàn zhuàng.” ‘ “Directly say this – to the author?” “Good words can be said directly. Even if you overdo it, it won’t matter. Bad things can only be said secretly. When facing the author, you can only pretend to feel sorry for him.” ’

Thematic structure in conversation 95 (85) “都有干嘛的——你那些同学?” “干什么的都有，当官的，做生意的，有俩发了财的，还有一个当 到了副部级——也有一般工人。” (3–107) “Dōu yǒu gàn ma de—— nǐ nàxiē tóngxué?” all have do what NOM your those classmate “Gàn shénme de dōu yǒu, do what NON all have dāng guān de, zuò shēngyì de, yǒu liǎ fā le cái de, hái yǒu yīgè dāng dào le fùbùjí——yě yǒu yībān gōngrén.” ‘ “What are they doing – those of your classmates?” “All kinds. Officials, businessmen, and so on. Two have made a fortune, and one has been promoted to vice minister – there’re also ordinary workers.’ The existence of such Q&A configuration may be able to explain why there is no Qb + Ab. In Ab of the configuration Qb + Ab, the rheme occurs first, and the theme in the question is repeated. The repetition, however, is far from being meaningful except in one situation: first to answer the question in the rheme, then further develop the theme in the statement, which will result in a complex sen­ tence. This phenomenon further supports the view that the postpositioned part in the question is not insignificant. Through the analysis of the Q&A configurations in this section we can see that the weight of the postpositioned theme varies with the role of the sentence (as the question or as the answer). At the beginning of this section, it has been pointed out that form b is more frequently used as the question rather than as the answer, which is because the postpositioned component, when occurring in the answer, is not very meaningful. Therefore, people prefer to use the simpler form c to answer a question. When asking a question, the speaker gives weight to both theme and rheme, though theme is secondary to rheme in information status; the respondent may say nothing about the theme, but the questioner needs to make it explicit.

3.5 Translocation and omission If a sentence involving translocation is examined in a dynamic process, it can be regarded as a transition from the canonical sentence to the elliptical sentence. In comparison with the canonical sentence, it is easier to highlight the new infor­ mation, impart it in the first place to the other party of communication and at the same time weaken the secondary information. And in comparison with the elliptical sentence, it has an additional means to specify the theme, making the semantics of the sentence clear by ruling out misinterpretations. Thus it represents a strategy of expression: although the sentence as a whole may not be briefer than a canonical one, the listener is enabled to receive the new information at an earlier

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Information structure

time; that is, he or she can in most cases begin decoding the new information without having to wait for the speaker to finish the whole sentence. Having expounded the communicative value of sentences involving transloca­ tion, we now move on to examine them in larger contexts. The novel Publicating after Modification 《修改后发表》 ( , Novelists, Vol. 4, 1991) begins with: (86) “昨天晚上我看见你了，在西单‘百花市场’，和一个男的。”李 东宝对戈玲说。 “昨天晚上我就没出门。”戈玲回答。 (4–482) “Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒ yesterday evening I hé with

yīgè one

kànjiàn nǐ le, zài Xidān ‘Bǎihuā Shìchǎng’, see you aux. at Xidian Baihua Market

nán de.” Lidōngbǎo duì Gē Líng shuō. male NOM

“Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒ jiù méi chūmén.” Gē Líng huídá. ‘ “Last night I saw you, in Xidan Baihua Market, with a man.” Li Dongbao said to Ge Ling. “I didn’t go out at all last night.” Ge Ling replied.’ This conversation lasts 30 turns, or 17 pairs of speech, during which there is another irrelevant topic alternating with this. When the entity “那个男的” (‘the man’) is repeatedly mentioned, it mainly takes the form of zero anaphora; only once is it referred to as “那爷们儿” (nà yémen-er, ‘that man’). Following this conversation are two long paragraphs of about 1000 characters talking about other people and other things. Then the fourth paragraph comes back to the scene and people as described in the first paragraph, but the topic is a continuation of that in the third paragraph. After another 11 turns, or 7 exchanges, Li Dongbao appears again: (87) 他坐下后继续和戈玲胡扯：“他是干嘛的——你那位?” (4–487) Tā zuòxià hòu jìxù hé Gē Líng húchě: he sit down after continue with Ge Ling talk nonsense “Tā shì gàn ma de—— nǐ nàwèi?” he be do what aux. your partner ‘He sat down and continued to talk nonsense with Ge Ling, “What does he do – your boyfriend?” ’ “你那位” (‘your boyfriend’) is too far away from its antecedent. As the result, although there is the explicit theme “他” (‘he’) in the sentence, the listener may be still at a loss as to who is under discussion. Should this sentence appear in the first paragraph as the third sentence, it would be quite unnecessary to use “你那 位” to refer back. Example (87) illustrates the textual value of sentences with translocation.

Thematic structure in conversation 97 Sentences with translocation represent a functional type as well as a pragmatic phenomenon. They show different values on different occasions of use. In the dynamic process from canonical sentences to elliptical sentences, they take up the transition zone. Furthermore, sentences with translocation themselves should also be seen as dynamic based on the following considerations: some postposi­ tioned components convey very little information and can be omitted without any problem; others are like chicken ribs, meaning you can keep or leave them out; still others are important supplements that cannot be omitted. Generally speaking, what is referred to in this chapter as grammaticalized themes, such as “这是”, “我说”, etc., are elliptical postpositioned components; personal pronouns are also subject to omission; other nominal expressions are relatively flexible; verbal com­ ponents are not that easy to omit; prepositional structures are even harder to omit; and adverbs seem to defy omission. The ease with which the various types of postpositioned components are ellip­ tical can be roughly summarized as follows (from the most elliptical to the least elliptical): bleached themes > pronouns > common nominal components > verbal compo­ nents > prepositional structures > adverbs

Notes 1 Of all the examples quoted from Wang Shuo, the first figure “1”, “2”, “3”, or “4” inside the brackets indicates the volume number of Collected Works of Wang Shuo 《王朔文 ( 集》), letter “A” refers to the novel Loving You without Ifs and Buts 《爱你没商量》 ( ), and the second figure indicates the page number in each volume. In Wang Shuo’s works, sentences with translocation take three forms: first, the postpositioned is marked off from the preceding part with a comma (sometimes with a question mark); second, a dash precedes the postpositioned; and third, there is noth­ ing to mark it off. This is purely the author’s writing habits. No significantly different functions are observed of the three punctuation patterns, and they are reproduced here without any change. 2 The theme is not exactly the same as the topic, as described above. From the perspec­ tive of information structure, the theme mainly conveys old information, and the rheme fairly new or brand-new information. But this is not without exception, because when the speaker chooses the theme, his concern is sometimes solely on how to develop the rheme. In this case he may put some adverbial component at the beginning of the sentence. It can be difficult to judge the information status of such adverbials; they can only be taken as qualifying the sentence in one way or another. Therefore, the three dichotomies, theme-rheme, topic-comment and old information-new informa­ tion, are roughly corresponding to one another, but not completely the same. We are more inclined to think that the theme is to express secondary information. 3 Lu Jianming (1980) explores the possibility of translocation of several major syntactic patterns in Chinese. He has also noted the unique expression values of translocation at the beginning of his paper. But his focus is on syntax and his materials are intro­ spective. Our examples, in contrast, are from a corpus representative of contemporary Pekingese. We have conducted an exhaustive study of the corpus and used statistics to illustrate the dynamic process of translocation. 4 Tai and Hu (1991) argues that one of the functions of the postpositioned component is for the speaker to tell the other party that he is closing up his turn of speech with this

98

Information structure unstressed form. To us, the component conveys more semantic meaning than assumed by Tai & Hu: on one hand, the speaker imparts the rhematic information to the listener at an early time when he postpositions the theme; and on the other, translocation can facilitate the listener’s development of discourse by taking the translocated theme as the starting point.

Sources of example sentences Collected works of Wang Shuo 《王朔文集》 ( ) (Vols. 1–4), Huayi Publishing House, 1992. Loving you without ifs and buts 《爱你没商量》 ( ), by Wang Hailing & Wang Shuo, Huayi Publishing House, 1992.

Part II

Focus structure

4

Word order Object vs. directional complement

4.1 Nature of directional complement Many scholars have pointed out that the object can fill different slots when it cooccurs with the post-verbal composite directional complement. By referring to Lü Shuxiang (1980) we come up with the following patterns with regard to the different positions that the object takes: A

VC1C2O 拿出来一本书 ná chū lái take out come V C1 C2 ‘take out a book’

B

yī one O

lái C2

VOC1C2 拿本书出来 Ná běn shū chū V O C1 ‘take out a book’

D

shū book

VC1OC2 拿出一本书来 ná chū yī běn shū V C1 O ‘take out a book’

C

běn CL

lái C2

把OVC1C2 bǎ shū ná chū BA O V C1 ‘take out the book’

lái C2

The semantic content of the four patterns is basically the same, and so are the components. What differs is the order of the components. This chapter first discusses the syntactic conditions that license the four patterns, which is to be followed

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Focus structure

by the respective tendency of their use from the perspective of semantics, mood and pragmatics. A brief introduction to the nature of the basic components involved may function as a good starter. O is not necessarily the semantic patient; it may well be the agent. V may be transitive or intransitive, because the VC construction that contains an intransitive verb can be transitive. Agentive object can be illustrated by “跑出来一头狮子” (pǎo chū lái yī tóu shīzi, meaning ‘Outran a lion.’), and a case of intransitive verb in point is “哭出来一笔救济款” (kū chū lái yī bǐ jiùjìkuǎn, ‘(someone) got some relief as the outcome of crying’). When O is agentive, V must be intransitive; but when V is intransitive, O may or may not be agentive. C1 includes: 上 (shàng, ‘up, ascend’), 下 (xià, ‘down, descend’), 进 (jìn, ‘into, enter’), 出 (chū, ‘out, exit’), 回 (huí, ‘back, return’), 起 (qǐ, ‘up, rise’), 开 (kāi, ‘open’), 过 (guò, ‘over, cross’), 到 (dào, ‘to, reach’), and 入 (rù, ‘into, enter’). C2 includes: 来 (lái, ‘come’), 去 (qù, ‘go’). C1 can be divided into two subtypes, intransitive and transitive, based on its use – whether it is used to indicate the end point or the extension of the directional movement: a. b.

intransitive: 上1, 下1, 进1, 出1, 回1, 过1, 起, 开 transitivee: 上2, 下2, 进2, 出2, 回2, 过2, 到, 入

The O that follows an intransitive C1 tends to be an entity, wherein C1 indicates the moving direction of the object, as in (1) to (3): (1)

你想想看，是生出他来，还是让我剥出他来？ Nǐ xiǎngxiǎngkàn, shì shēng chū tā lái, You think about it be bear out him come háishì ràng wǒ bō chū tā lái? Or let me peel out him come ‘Think about it. You want to give birth to him, or let me take him out?’

(2)

祥 子 故 意 的 磨 烦 ，等 自 行 车 走 出 老 远 才 抄 起 车 把 来 ，骂 了 句 ： “讨厌!” Xiángzi gùyì de mòfan, děng zìxíngchē Xiangzi intentionally aux. delay wait bicycle zǒuchū lǎoyuǎn leave very far cái chāo qǐ chēbǎ lái, mà before lift up handlebar come curse le jù: “Tǎoyàn!” aux. sentence sick ‘Xiangzi deliberately delayed, and it was not until the bicycle was far off that he picked up the handlebars with the curse, “Sick!” ’

Word order 103 (3)

他轻轻的摇了摇那个扑满，想象着再加进三十多块去应当响得多么 沉重好听。 Tā qīngqīng de yáo le yáo nàgè pūmǎn, he gently aux. shake aux. shake that money box xiǎngxiàng zhe zài jiā jìn sānshí duō kuài qù imagine DUR again add into thirty over kuai go yīngdāng xiǎng de duōme chénzhòng hǎotīng. should ring aux. how heavy pleasant to hear ‘He gently shook the money box, imagining how heavy it would weigh and how pleasant it would sound when another thirty more kuai (unit of money) were added.’

The semantics in (1) is “give birth to him + he comes out”, that in (2) is “pick up the handlebars + the handlebars come up”, and that in (3) is “add 30 more kuai + 30 more kuai enters”. In other words, C1 only describes O, without governing it, which makes C1 intransitive. The O that follows the transitive C1 is a locative object, and its role is to introduce the end point of the movement, as in (4) to (6). (4)

瑞宣摇了摇头，走进老三屋里去。 Ruìxuān yáo le yáo tóu, zǒu jìn Lǎosān wūlǐ qù. Ruixuan shake aux. shake head walk into Laosan room go ‘Ruixuan shook his head and walked into Laosan’s room.’

(5)

小顺儿吓愣了，忙跑到祖母屋里去。 Xiǎoshùn-er xià lèng le, Xiaoshun scare dull CRS máng pǎo dào zǔmǔ wūlǐ hurriedly run to grandma room ‘Xiaoshun got shocked and hurriedly ran into his grandma’s room.’

(6)

qù. go

咱们得设法教他逃出城去。 Zánmen děi shèfǎ jiào tā táo we have to manage let him escape ‘We have to manage to let him escape the city.’

chū out

chéng city

qù. go

The distinction between subtypes a and b can be proved by the possibility of the independent use of C1+O. When C1 belongs to subtype a, C1+O cannot be used alone: *出他，*起车把，*进三十多块. When C1 falls under subtype b, C1+O can stand alone: 进老三屋里，到祖母屋里，出城. In relation with some foreign languages, it can be said that subtype a bears the nature of adverbs and subtype b bears that of prepositions. See Zhou Huanchang (1981) for relevant discussion.

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Focus structure

4.2 Syntactic constraints In actual language use, Patterns A, B, C and D are not always free variants. There are some mandatory or semi-mandatory syntactic conditions licensing one pattern instead of another in certain contexts. 4.2.1 When O is a clause, Pattern A is the general choice. (7)

他们俩都猜出来那必定是一两张字画。 Tāmen liǎ they both shì yī be one ‘They both guess painting.’

(8)

dōu cāi chū lái nà bìdìng all guess out come that must liǎng zhāng zìhuà. two CL calligraphy and painting that it must be one or two scrolls of calligraphy and

小顺儿看出来屋里的空气有点不大对，扯了扯妞子。 Xiǎoshùn-er kàn chū lái wūlǐ de kōngqì yǒudiǎn Xiaoshun find out come room GEN air a little bú dà duì, chě le chě Niūzi. not big right pull aux. pull Niuzi ‘Xiaoshun detected that the atmosphere in the room was not quite right, so he pulled at Niuzi.’

(9)

除了脸上和身上落了一层细黄土，简直看不出来他是刚刚负着几十 斤粮走了好几里路的。 Chúle except

liǎnshàng hé face and

céng layer

xì fine

huángtǔ, loess

jiǎnzhí simply

kàn look

bù not

gānggāng fù just carry

zhe aux.

jǐ several

jīn jin

shí ten

shēnshang body

luò fall

le PFV

yī one

chū out

lái come

tā he

shì be

liáng grain

zǒu walk

le PFV

hǎo quite

jǐ lǐ lù de. several li road aux. ‘Except for a layer of fine loess on his face and body, you simply cannot tell he has just walked quite a few miles while carrying tens of pounds of grain.’

Word order 105 (10) 他向巡警打听，巡警说不上来什么时候才能开城。 Tā xiàng xúnjǐng dǎtīng, xúnjǐng shuō bu shàng lái he to patrol ask patrol say not up come shénme shíhòu cáinéng kāi chéng. what time can open city ‘He asked the patrol, but the patrol could not tell when to open the city.’ (11) 一跨出刑部大牢，乌世保看街街宽，看天天远...... 这才衬出来自 己头发长，面色暗，衣裳破，步履艰。 Yī on

kuà step

chū out

xíngbù dàláo, Wū Shìbǎo kàn jiē Ministry of prison Wu Shibao look street Punishment jiē kuān, kàn tiān tiān yuǎn. . . . . . zhè cái street wide look sky sky far this only chèn chū lái zìjǐ tóufa cháng, miànsè àn, show out come self hair long complexion dark yīshang pò, bùlǚ jiān. clothes worn step hard ‘On stepping out of the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, Wu Shibao found the streets wide and the sky high. . . . . . all serving as a foil to his long hair, dark complexion, worn clothes and staggering steps.’ O may also take the form of a complex sentence, as in (12). (12) 我说不上来那时候我心里怎么股子味儿，仿佛是恶心要吐，又仿佛 是. . . . ——我说不上来! Wǒ shuō I say xīnlǐ heart fǎngfú like fǎngfú like ——

bu not zěnme how shì be shì. . . . be wǒ I

shàng up gǔzi CL ěxīn nausea

lái come wèi-er, taste yào want

nàshíhòu then

wǒ I

tù, throw up

yòu again

shuō say

bú not

shàng up

lái! come

‘I couldn’t tell how I felt then. I felt like throwing up, or. . . . . . . – I couldn’t tell!’ None of the above sentences can be replaced by Pattern B or any other pattern. Clausal object can be taken as a mandatory condition for Pattern A. The object clause can be affirmative, as in (7) and (9), or declarative, as in (8) and (11); it can also be subjectless, as in (10). The clause can be very long; sometimes a pause may occur before the object, as in (13) and (14).

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Focus structure

(13) 哼!他想起来，自己的头一辆车，自己攒下的那点钱，又招谁惹谁了？ Hēng! Tā xiǎng qǐ lái, zìjǐ de tóu yī liàng humph he think up come self GEN previous one CL chē, zìjǐ zǎnxià de nà diǎn qián, rickshaw self save NOM that bit money yòu zhāo shéi rě shéi le? again provoke whom provoke whom aux. ‘Humph! He remembered his previous rickshaw, and the bit of money he saved,. . . . . . but how come others kept messing with him?’ (14) 一直闹到月底，连祥子也看出来，这是真到了时候， 她已经不像人样了。 Yīzhí straight

nào continue

dào to

yuèdǐ, end of month

yě too

kàn find

chū out

lái, come

zhè shì

zhēn

dào

le

shíhòu,

this be

really

reach

PFV

time

tā she

yǐjīng already

bù not

xiàng look like

rén human

lián even

Xiángzi Xiangzi

yàng appearance

le. CRS ‘It last till the end of the month. Even Xiangzi could tell it was high time now. She no longer had the shape of a human.’ Chinese does not favour long insertions, which explains why Patterns B, C and D are not suitable to accommodate clausal objects. Pattern B may accommodate an occasional clausal object when it is brief, such as “我已经想不起他姓什么来了” (Wǒ yǐjīng xiǎng bù qǐ tā xìng shénme lái le, ‘I can’t remember his surname’, the underlined being the clausal object). In stark contrast with (13) and (14), Pattern B, when taking clausal objects, must be uttered with no break or pause. 4.2.2 Transitive C1 can only occur in Pattern B, which is a mandatory condition. See (4), (5) and (6) for illustration. Here is a brief analysis of the reason for this mandatoriness. As mentioned earlier, C1 is similar to preposition by requiring a locative O to follow it. In this case, B is the only possible pattern. Specifically, in Pattern A, i.e., VC1C2O, C2 is realized by 来 or 去,1 which renders it impossible to be followed by locative objects. In Pattern C, where the word order is VOC1C2, O is the object of V and has no transitive relation with C1. Therefore, no transitive C1 or locative object is licensed. When it comes to Pattern D, Ding Shusheng et al. (1961) and Ma Zhen (1985) have both made it a rule for transitive C1 and locative object not to co-occur in bǎ-­sentences,2 though neither of them explains why. As a matter of fact, this phenomenon is not difficult to explain: since ba requires O to follow, it is impossible for O to appear after C1.

Word order 107 Some research gives the following reason for the impossibility of Pattern C in such contexts: “This is because the verbs that take locative objects are intransitive ones which cannot be directly combined with the object, but the first part of a composite directional complement has the capacity of taking objects, as in ‘逃出城去’ (táo chū chéng qù, ‘escape from the city’). In this example, ‘逃城’ is no good, but ‘出城’ is acceptable. Only when the verb ‘逃’ takes the company of ‘出’ can it take the locative object” (Chen Xinchun, 1982, p.18). Chen here has noticed some of the properties of C1, but it is inappropriate to attribute the reason to the intransitivity of V. We can cite a few examples of transitive verbs. (15) 再多的新台币，将来带回大陆去，也没用啊。 Zàiduō de xīntáibì, jiānglái dài huí dàlù qù, more aux. NT future take back mainland go yě méi yòng a. too no use SFP ‘Even if you’ve more NT, it is useless when you take it back to the mainland.’ (16) 有时候无心中的被别个车夫给碰伤了一块，他决不急里蹦跳的和人 家吵闹，而极冷静的拉回厂子去。 Yǒushíhòu sometimes

wúxīn unintentionally

zhōng in

de aux.

bèi pass.

biégè other

chēfū rickshaw puller

gěi pass.

pèngshāng hurt

le PFV

yī one

kuài, CL

tā he

juébù by no means

jílǐ angrily

bèngtiào jump

de aux.

hé with

rénjiā other

chǎonào, argue

lěngjìng calmly

de aux.

ér but

jí extremely

lā huí chǎngzi qù. pull back factory go ‘Sometimes other rickshaw pullers might unintentionally hit his rickshaw. He never angrily argued with them; instead, he very calmly pulled his rickshaw back to the factory.’ (17) 你别骑过河来。 Nǐ bié qí you not ride ‘Don’t ride over the river.’

guò over

hé river

lái. come

108

Focus structure

It can be seen that it is not enough to pay attention to intransitive verbs only, because locative Os are introduced by transitive C1 and have no direct relation with V. When V is transitive, it often requires its patient to appear. Then ba will be used to introduce it and the pattern becomes a mixture of Patterns B and D. (18) 假若小三儿再和招娣姑娘来往，他会把他赶出门去的。 Jiǎruò Xiǎosān-er zài hé Zhāodì gūniang láiwǎng, if Xiaosan again with Zhaodi girl contact tā huì bǎ tā gǎn chū mén qù de. he will BA him drive out door go aux. ‘Should Xiaosan contact Zhaodi again, he would drive him out of home.’ (19) 小崔知道反抗四大妈是没有便宜的，气哼哼的把车拉进院子去。 Xiǎo Cuī Little Cui qìhēnghēng indignant

zhīdào know de aux.

fǎnkàng resist bǎ ba

Sìdàmā Sidama chē rickshaw

shì be lā pull

méiyǒu not have jìn into

piányí good yuànzi yard

de, aux. qù. go

‘Cui knew better than resist Sidama, so he pulled the rickshaw into the yard indignantly.’ (20) 他自己准备好完全尽义务，把杠领出城去。 Tā he bǎ BA

zìjǐ self gāng stout poles

zhǔnbèihǎo be ready lǐng lead

wánquán completely chū out

jìn perform chéng city

yìwù, duty qù. go

‘He himself was ready to perform the duty of leading the funeral procession out of the city.’ If C1 is made intransitive in these examples, we can respectively get “赶出他去，把 他赶出去”(gǎn chū tā qù, bǎ tā gǎn chū qù), “拉进车去，把车拉进去”(lā jìn chē qù，bǎ chē lā jìn qù), and “领出杠去，把杠领出去”(lǐng chū gàng qù，bǎ gàng lǐng chū qù). From this contrast, we can clearly see that intransitive C1 emphasizes the direction of action, while transitive C1 emphasizes the end point of the movement. 4.2.3 With regard to Pattern C we can name no mandatory conditions because Pattern C is rarely used in Pekingese and seldom observed in written materials. Of the 770,000 character data we have collected from different novels, Pattern C occurs no more than 10 times. In A Dictionary of Verb Usage 《动词用法词典》 ( ), a dictionary compiled by Beijing locals, some examples of Pattern C are given. But in comparison with Patterns A and B, the number of Pattern C remains rather small. More importantly, each Pattern C example in the dictionary has a corresponding Pattern A or B rendition, which is sufficient to show that there is no mandatory condition for the use of Pattern C. The functional value of Pattern C will be discussed in Section 4.3.

Word order 109 4.2.4 Pattern D has many a mandatory condition. The first one is that the mixed pattern of B and D should be used when C1 requires the co-presence of an entityindicating O, as is the case in (18) to (20). We can regard this phenomenon as Pattern B incorporating into the bǎ-sentence, or simply as Pattern D. The circumstantial evidence is that in 把OVC1OC2, if C1 is treated as a preposition, C1OC2 is a complement prepositional by nature, which makes the structure an authentic instance of Pattern D. The second mandatory condition of Pattern D concerns the parallel occurrence of a number of VC1C2s. In such circumstances, it is inappropriate for the object to recur or occur after the parallel structure. Thus the use of bǎ can help front the object, as in (21) to (24). (21) 瑞全扯着小顺儿，在院中跳了一个圈，而后把小妞子举起来，扔出 去，再接住。 Ruìquán Ruiquan yī one rēng throw

chě pull gè CL chū out

zhe DUR quān, circle qù, go

Xiǎoshùn-er, Xiaoshun érhòu then zài again

zài in bǎ ba jiēzhù. catch

yuàn yard xiǎo little

zhōng middle Niūzi Niuzi

tiào jump jǔ raise

le PFV qǐ lái, up come

‘Ruiquan pulled Xiaoshun and jumped a circle in the yard. Then he raised little Niuzi up, threw her out, and caught her.’ (22) 她不再哭，也不多说话，而只把眼中这点光一会儿放射出来，一会 儿又收起去；存储了一会儿再放射出来。 Tā she

bùzài no longer

kū, cry

yě too

bù not

duō more

shuōhuà, say

ér but

zhǐ only

bǎ BA

yǎnzhōng in the eye

zhè this

diǎn bit

guāng light

yīhuǐ-er a while

fàngshè emit

chū out

lái, come

yīhuǐ-er a while

yòu again

shōu collect

qǐ up

qù; go

cúnchǔ store

le PFV

yīhuǐ-er a while

zài again

fàngshè emit

chū out

lái. come ‘She cried no more; nor did she speak much. She only sent out the little bit of light in her eyes for a while before taking it back. She would store it for a moment and then send it out again.’

110

Focus structure

(23) 他把秘密原封的带了回来，而想等个好的机会再卖出去。 Tā bǎ mìmì yuánfēng de dài le huí lái, he BA secret intact aux. bring PFV back come ér xiǎng děng gè hǎo de jīhuì zài mài chū qù. but plan wait CL good ASS opportunity again sell out go ‘He brought the secret back intact and planned to wait for a good chance to sell it again.’ (24) 东阳不会这一套外场劲儿，只扯动着脸，把眼球吊上去，又放下 来，没说什么。 Dōngyáng bù Dongyang not

huì know

zhè this

yī one

tào CL

wàichǎngjìn-er, social intercourse

zhǐ only

chě pull

dòng move

zhe DUR

liǎn, face

bǎ BA

yǎnqiú eyeball

diào hang

shàng qù, up go

yòu fàng xià lái, méi shuō shénme. again put down come not say what ‘Dongyang is not good at social intercourse. He only changes his facial expressions, rolls his eyes upward, then down, saying nothing.’ The third mandatory condition of Pattern D is that there is the general scope adverb “都”(dōu, ‘all’) in the predicate. Because the adverb “都” has such a characteristic: when the element that is included in its scope is the object, the adverb needs to precede the verb but follow the object; that is, the object should be somehow fronted. Therefore, none of the following bǎ-sentences can be changed to other patterns. (25) 瑞丰把校旗和点名簿都找出来。 Ruìfēng bǎ xiàoqí hé diǎnmíngbù dōu zhǎo chū lái. Ruifeng BA school flag and roster both look for out come ‘Ruifeng found out the school flag and the roster.’ (26) 当初，在他买过这所房子来的时候，他须把东屋和南屋都租出去， 才能显得院内不太空虚。 Dāngchū, then suǒ CL tā he dōu both cáinéng only

zài at fángzi house xū have to zū rent xiǎnde look

tā he lái come bǎ BA chū out yuàn yard

mǎi buy de NOM dōngwū east room qù, go nèi inside

guò over shíhòu, time hé and

zhè this

nánwū south room

bù not

tài too

kōngxū. empty

Word order 111 ‘At the time a out the east and south rooms in order to make the house not so empty.’ Corresponding to the general scope adverb is the object of universal reference. When the object is a patient of definite universal reference and VC1C2 is transitive, bǎ-construction needs to be used. More often than not a general scope adverb will co-occur; should there be none, one such adverb may as well be added. (27) 他们把过去的一切都想起来，因为他们是要分离。 Tāmen bǎ guòqù de yīqiè dōu xiǎng qǐ lái, they BA past ASS everything all think rise come yīnwèi tāmen shì yào fēnlí. because they is want seperate ‘They think of everything in the past, because they are to be separated.’ (28) 他把自己所有的唱片上的戏词和腔调都能唱上来。 Tā bǎ zìjǐ suǒyǒu de chàngpiàn shàng de xìcí he BA self all ASS album on ASS lyrics hé qiāngdiào dōu néng chàng shàng lái. and melody all can sing up come ‘He can sing all the lyrics and melodies on his own album.’ (29) 她们的心中开了闸，把平日积聚下来的污垢一下子倾泻出来。 Tāmen de xīn they GEN heart jījù xià lái accumulate down come ‘The gates in their hearts denly pouring out.’

zhōng kāi le zhá, bǎ píngrì middle open PFV gate BA everyday de wūgòu yīxiàzi qīngxiè chū lái. NOM dirt suddenly pour out come opened, the dirt accumulated over the days sud-

When a definite patient object and a definite recipient object co-occur, baconstruction is a must because the default construction for the co-occurrence of these two types of objects is the double-object sentence, such as “给他一本书”(gěi tā yī běn shū, ‘give him a book’). Double-object sentences require indefinite patient,3 which explains why the example cannot be rewritten as “给他书” or “给 他这本书”(“这” meaning ‘this’, thus the whole construction meaning ‘give him this book’). When the patient object is definite in reference, bǎ-construction should be used so that the recipient object can be introduced by preposition “给”, as in (30) to (32). (30) 来!把饺子给她拿过去! Lái! Bǎ jiǎozi gěi come BA dumplings to ‘Come! Take her the dumplings!’

tā her

ná take

guò over

qù! go

112

Focus structure

(31) 这时候，四大妈已把白糖水给少奶奶灌下去，少奶奶哼哼起来。 Zhè shíhòu, this time gěi to

Sìdàmā yǐ Sidama already

bǎ BA

báitáng white sugar

shuǐ water

shàonǎinai young mistress

guàn xià qù, shàonǎinai hēng-hēng qǐ lái. pour down go young mistress moan-REDUP rise come ‘At this time, Sidama had let the young mistress drink the sugar water, and the young mistress began to moan.’ (32) 过了两天，胡大头来了，说是来东城票房说戏，顺便把衣裳给武老 头带回去。 Guò le liǎng tiān, pass PFV two day Hú Dàtóu Big Head Hu

lái come

le, PFV

shuōshì lái say come shuōxì, go through the script

Dōngchéng Dongcheng District

piàofáng box office

shùnbiàn incidentally

bǎ BA

yīshang clothes

gěi to

Wǔ Lǎotóu Old Man Wu

dài bring

huí back

qù. go

‘Two days later, Big Head Hu popped up, saying that he had come to the box office of Dongcheng District to go through the script and by the way get Old Man Wu’s clothes back to him.’

4.3 Modal constraints In addition to the syntactic constraints above, some scholars have shown that there are also many semantic conditions predetermining that the four patterns are not interchangeable in all cases. The semantic constraints mainly concern the following aspects: 1 2 3 4

When C1 and C2 express the state, only Pattern B can occur (Chen Xinchun, 1982; Xu Shu, 1985a; Chen Jianmin, 1986). When C1 and C2 indicate the result, Pattern C is excluded (Chen Xinchun, 1982). When O is a definite noun, Pattern A cannot occur (Zhu Dexi, 1982). When O is existential, Pattern C cannot be used (Fan Jiyan, 1963; Chen Xinchun, 1982).

Word order 113 These observations are in line with people’s general sense of language, but not without exceptions. We will focus on the perspectives of mood, semantics and pragmatics to compare the use of the four patterns. The four observations cited above will also be discussed. In A Dictionary of Verb Usage, we notice such a phenomenon: 90% of Pattern C examples have auxiliary le (了) follow V, as in “掺了一些奶粉进去” (chān le yīxiē nǎifěn jìn qù, meaning ‘mixed some milk powder into it’) and “ 撒了几只鸽子出来”(sā le jǐ zhī gēzi chū lái, ‘let some pigeons out’), leaving examples without le after V very small in number. Why? It is impossible for a dictionary to give the reason, but the author of this chapter, a Beijing local just like the dictionary compilers, can have a try based on a personal sense of language. When V in Pattern C is not followed by le, it seems that there is always a strong imperative flavour in it. Compare the following groups of examples (from A Dictionary of Verb Usage, the figures within the brackets indicating the page numbers): 拔下来一墩麦子 bá xià lái yī Pull down come one ‘pull down a cluster of wheat’

dūn CL

màizi wheat

拔下一墩麦子来 bá xià yī dūn màizi lái 拔一墩麦子下来 (10) bá yī dūn màizi xià lái 搬进来一张书桌 bān jìn lái yī zhāng move into come one CL ‘move a desk into (a room, etc.)’

shūzhuō desk

搬进一张书桌来 bān jìn yī zhāng shūzhuō lái 搬一张书桌进来 (17) bān yī zhāng shūzhuō jìn lái 绑进去几本书 bǎng jìn qù jǐ běn shū bind into go several CL book ‘bind some books into (a package, etc.)’ 绑进几本书去 bǎng jìn jǐ běn shū qù

114

Focus structure 绑几本书进去 (24) bǎng jǐ běn shū jìn qù 插上去一个标志 chā shàng qù yī gè plug up go one CL ‘plug a sign up onto (something)’

biāozhì sign

插上一个标志去 chā shàng yī gè biāozhì qù 插一个标志上去 (71) chā yī gè biāozhì shàng qù In each group, the imperative colour is gradually strengthened from the first to the third. Specifically, Pattern A in each group is generally understood as a narrative sentence,4 Pattern B as a narrative or imperative sentence, depending on the context, but Pattern C can only be interpreted as imperative. Thus it is not difficult to see why the compilers of A Dictionary of Verb Usage have added le when giving examples of Pattern C in all likelihood: with le, the example is given the narrative flavour, and therefore a better match with Patterns A and B: 拔回来一个树桩 bá huí lái yī pull back come one ‘pull back a tree stump’

gè CL

shùzhuāng tree stump

拔回一个树桩来 bá huí yī gè shùzhuāng lái 拔了一个树桩回来(10) bá le yī gè shùzhuāng huí lái 搬出来一对音箱 bān chū lái yī duì move out come one pair ‘move out a pair of voice boxes’ 搬出一对音箱来 bān chū yī duì yīnxiāng lái 搬了一对音箱出来(17) bān le yī duì yīnxiāng chūlái 绑上去两根绳子

yīnxiāng voice box

Word order 115 bǎng shàng qù liǎng tie up go two ‘tie (it) up with two ropes’

gēn CL

shéngzi rope

绑上两根绳子去 bǎng shàng liǎng gēn shéngzi qù 绑了两根绳子上去(24) bǎng le liǎng gēn shéngzi shàng qù 插进去一根棍儿 chā jìn qù yī insert into go one ‘insert a stick into (something)’

gēn CL

gùn-er stick

插进一根棍儿去 chā jìn yī gēn gùn-er qù 插了一根棍儿进去(71) chā le yī gēn gùn-er jìn qù In modern spoken Chinese, bare action verbs when used in the central predicate slot and followed immediately by an object often convey an imperative flavour. In delightful contrast with le-accompanied Pattern C, Patterns A, B and D are rarely seen to contain le. Below are examples where le can be inserted, but the authors of the novels have chosen otherwise. And no meaning difference can be detected be it with le or without. (33) 跑堂的端上来［了］一个炒菜。 (A) Pǎotángde duān shàng lái waiter carry up come ‘The waiter carried up a hot dish.’

[le] [aux.]

yī one

gè CL

chǎocài. hot dish

(34) 及至走出来［了］一些路，脚步是那么平匀，缓慢，他渐渐的仿佛 困倦起来。 (A) Jízhì when

zǒu walk

chū out

jiǎobù step

shì be

nàme so

píngyún, even

huǎnmàn, slow

tā he

qǐ up

lái. come

lái come

[le] [aux.]

yīxiē some

lù, road

jiànjiàn gradually

de aux.

fǎngfú as if

kùnjuàn sleepy

116

Focus structure ‘When he covered some distance in steps so even and so slow, he gradually felt kind of sleepy.’

(35) “咸菜呢？”老人提出［了］第二个重要事项来。 (B) “Xiáncài ne?” lǎo rén tí chū [le] dì’èrgè pickle SFP old man raise out [PFV] second zhòngyào shìxiàng lái. important matter come ‘ “What about pickles?” The old man raised the second important matter.’ (36) 大夫找到了药箱，打开，拿出［了］一小瓶白药来。 (B) Dàfū zhǎodào le yàoxiāng, dǎkāi, doctor find PFV medicine box open ná chū [le] yī xiǎo píng báiyào lái. take out [PFV] one small bottle white powder come ‘The doctor found the medicine box, opened it, and took out a small bottle of white powder.’ (37) 纵了一下鼻子，他伸手把桌下的酒瓶摸［了］上来。 (D) Zòng le yīxià bízi, tā shēn shǒu wrinkle PFV once nose he reach out hand bà zhuō xià de jiǔpíng mō [le] shàng lái. BA table beneath ASS wine bottle touch [PFV] up come ‘After wrinkling his nose once, he reached out his hand and got the wine bottle from beneath the table.’ (38) 小崔哼唧着小曲，把车拉［了］出去。 (D) Xiǎo Cuī hēngji zhe xiǎoqǔ, bǎ chē lā [le] chū qù. little Cui hum DUR ditty BA rickshaw pull [PFV] out go ‘Humming a ditty, Cui pulled the rickshaw out.’ Li Xingya (1989) has addressed the issue of the free occurrence of le by pointing out that in many cases le is optional, but without indicating the conditions that favour or disfavour its occurrence. In fact there are some constraints on the so-called free occurrence. The phenomena as discussed here show that in Patterns A, B and D le tends not to occur in the following slots: VC1C2 [] O, VC1 [] OC2, 把OV [] C1C2. According to our experience, insertion of le in such slots will add no new meaning to the pattern; conversely, examples without le seem to contain the meaning of le already. Then is it possible to say that C1 or C1+C2 attached to V has a grammatical meaning similar to that of le? Lü Shuxiang has made the point on different occasions: “Position indicating shang (上) and xia (下), direction-indicating chu (出), ru (入), lai (来) and qu (去), start and end point indicating qi (起) and zhu (住), effect and result indicating le (了), zhe (着), ding (定) and cheng (成), and many others all function to end the movement as indicated by the verb, and can

Word order 117 thus be generally called telic verbs” (1944, as seen in 1990c, p.13); “Phrases of V-resultive complement and V-directional complement configurations both contain the meaning of completion” (1985b, p.241). These two citations show that directional complement and auxiliary le are of similar function and meaning,5 which may also be the reason why Patterns A, B and D more often than not do not take le and Pattern C tends to have le for narrative use and not to have it for imperative use.

4.4 Semantic constraints In this section we discuss how the meaning of direction-indicating words impact word order. In early modern Chinese only Pattern C was available, as illustrated by (39) to (42): (39)

汝若把旗上来，我则钉牁相对。 (The Ancestral Hall(《祖堂集》 )3.013) (C) Rǔ ruò bǎ qí shàng lái, you if BA flag up come wǒ zé dìng kē xiāngduì I then drive a nail wooden post against ‘If you raise a flag, I will then drive a wooden post into the ground against you.’

(40) 僧对云：“这个僧将状出去。” (ibid., 4.098) (C) Sēng duì yún: “Zhè gè sēng jiāng zhuàng chū qù.” Monk reply say this CL monk take written complaint out go ‘The monk replied: “This monk should take the written complaint out.” ’ (41)

待斋时作饭自吃了, 送一份上来。(Five Lanterns《五灯会元》 ( )，p.141) (C) Dài zhāi shí zuòfàn zì chī le, wait vegetarian food time cook oneself eat PFV sòng yī fèn shàng lái. send one CL up come ‘When it is mealtime, cook and eat yourself and send one potion up.’

(42) 师曰：“与我拈床子上来。”(ibid., p.243) (C) Shī yuē: “Yǔ wǒ niān master say for me pick up ‘Master said: “Pick up the bed for me.” ’

chuángzi bed

shàng up

lái.” come

Later on, Pattern B gradually emerged and occupied a large proportion, as shown in (43) to (46): (43) 若不将出头来，交您全家儿赐死!(Newly Proofread 30 Poetic Dramas of Yuang Dynasty:Duke Wen of Jin burned Jie Zitui 《新校元刊杂剧三十 ( 种·晋文公火烧介子推》), p.513) (B)

118

Focus structure Ruò bù jiāng chū tóu lái, jiāo nín quánjiā-er cìsǐ! if not give out head come let you whole family kill ‘If you don’t give out (Chong’er’s) head, I’ll kill your whole family.’

(44) 我便似火坑中救出你儿来。(Newly Proofread 30 Poetic Dramas of Yuang Dynasty: Zhang Tu burned his son to save his mother (《小张屠焚 儿救母》),p.798) (B) Wǒ biàn sì huǒkēng zhōng jiù chū nǐ I just like pit of fire in save out you ‘It’s very much like me saving your son from a pit of fire.’ (45)

ér son

lái. come

快牵过马来。(Outlaws of the Marsh 《水浒传》 ( )，Ch.2, p.33) (B) Kuài qiān quickly lead ‘Lead the horse over quickly.’

guò over

mǎ horse

lái. come

(46) 众庄客一发上手，就地拿起林冲来，将一条索缚了。(Outlaws of the Marsh，Ch.10, p.140) (B) Zhòng zhuāngkè yīfà shàngshǒu, jiùdì ná qǐ many tenant together scuffle right there catch rise Lín Chōng lái, jiāng yī tiáo suǒ fù le. Lin Chong come use one CL rope tie PFV ‘All the tenants scuffled against Lin Chong and tied him up with a rope.’ This phenomenon can be explained from several different aspects. Phonologically, the monosyllabic verb requires a complement to follow so that a bi-syllable verbal unit can be constituted, which is a common phenomenon in the development of modern Chinese. Consequently, C1 is moved to precede O and combined with V. In terms of grammatical function, it is what Lü Shuxiang refers to as the telic property of direction-indicating words. An important trend in the development of modern Chinese is that the complement of the verb is more fixed in position and more specialized in function. In other words, the construction of a bare verb plus its object is gradually replaced with V+telic word+O, which in turn explains the transition from Pattern C to Pattern B. At the same time the semantic meaning of directional words has also undergone the process of grammaticalization. In (39) to (46) the directional words all express real directional meaning, the early examples in particular. Meaning bleaching is seen in examples (47) to (49). (47) 若贪嗔痴起来，切须防禁 . . . (Five Lanterns (《 五灯会元》), p.259)(C) Ruò tān chēn chī qǐ lái, qièxū fángjìn. . . if greedy angry obsessed up come must take precautions ‘If (he) gets greedy, angry and obsessed, be sure to take precautions.’

Word order 119 (48) 这里不曾有人乱说道理出去。(ibid., p.375) (C) Zhèlǐ bùcéng yǒu rén luàn shuō here never have person casually say ‘No one here has ever casually let the truth out.’

dàolǐ truth

chū out

qù. go

(49) 五戒，你莫待要赶这两个人上去。(A Letter from A Monk (《简帖和 尚》)) (C) Wǔjiè, nǐ mò dài yào gǎn zhè liǎng gè rén shàng qù. Wujie you not wait want drive these two CL person up go ‘Wujie, be sure not to drive these two people up.” Example (47) is what is generally referred to as indicating the state, while (48) and (49) indicate the so-called result.6 When it comes to modern Chinese, Pattern C is less commonly used to indicate the result. (50) is an occasional instantiation. (50) 要画，得画点特殊的出来，才能站住脚，成一家。(Deng Snuff­Bottles 《烟壶》 ( )) (C)

Youmei,

Yào huà, děi huà diǎn tèshū de chū lái, want draw have to draw bit special NOM out come cáinéng zhànzhùjiǎo, chéng yī jiā. Then gain a firm footing become one school ‘If you want to, you’ll have to draw something special, in order to gain a firm footing and establish your own style.’ The state meaning can only be seen in Pattern B without exception: (51)

大赤包本来觉得自己很伟大，可是一骂起人来，也不是怎的她找不到了伟 大的言语。(Lao She, The Yellow Storm 《 ( 四世同堂》 ))(B) Dàchìbāo Dachibao

běnlái at first

juéde think

yī once

mà curse

qǐ rise

rén person

lái, come

yě too

zìjǐ self

hěn very

wěidà, great

kěshì but

búshì not

zěndi how

tā she

zhǎobúdào cannot find

le wěidà de yányǔ. aux. great ASS words ‘Dachibao had thought herself great, but once she began to curse, she somehow couldn’t find great words.’ (52) 奇怪，今天他忽然怕起日本人来。(ibid.) (B) Qíguài, jīntiān tā hūrán pà qǐ rìběnrén lái. strange today he suddenly afraid of rise Japanese come ‘It was strange that all of a sudden he became afraid of the Japanese today.’

120

Focus structure

(53) 想不到，一个打鱼的，到北京当开教练来了。(movie Swimmers 《 ( 水上春秋》 )(B)

Two Generations of

Xiǎngbúdào, yī gè dǎyúde, dào Běijīng unexpectedly one CL fisher come to Beijing dāng kāi jiàoliàn lái le. work as open coach come CRS ‘Unexpectedly, he, a former fisher, has come to Beijing to work as a coach.’ It is a process of grammaticalization for the meaning to evolve from direction to result and then to state. Interestingly enough, the more bleached the meaning, the more fixed the word order. Specifically, Patterns A, B, C and D can all express direction, Pattern C licenses few result complements while state can only be expressed by Pattern B. Why did Pattern C not exclude these different semantic types in early modern Chinese whereas modern Chinese shows varying degrees of restriction? A pragmatic explanation can be proposed here. It is generally believed that the end of the sentence is the semantic focus. Then it is natural for Pattern C to indicate direction, given that the directional element occurs in a sentence finally in this pattern. Later on, semantically bleached directional words emerged, whose major function no longer focused on the expression of the directional meaning, thus initiating the tendency of fronting such words.7 Examine (54) to (56): (54) 也是天罡星合当聚会，自然生出机会来。(Outlaws of the Marsh, Ch.2, p.35) (B) Yěshì Tiāngāngxīng hédāng jùhuì, zìrán also the Plough happen to party naturally shēng chū jīhuì lái. produce out chance come ‘It all happened that the Plough gathered together, which naturally produced opportunities.’ (55) 做出事来，须连累了我和你。(ibid., Ch.10, p.133) (B) Zuò chū shì lái, xū liánlèi le wǒ do out thing come must implicate PFV me ‘Should (he) do something, you and I will be implicated.’ (56)

hé and

nǐ. you

子父们想起这苦楚来，无处告诉，因此啼哭。(ibid., Ch.3, p.44) (B) Zifùmen xiǎng qǐ zhè kǔchǔ lái, child and father think rise this misery come wúchù gàosù, yīncǐ tíkū. nowhere tell so cry ‘Father and daughter thought of the misery but had nobody to tell, so they cried.’

This can be taken as another reason for Patterns B and C to change in frequency of use during the development course of modern Chinese. Diachronic evolution of language has left different traces in different dialects. Barring imperative use

Word order 121 Table 4.1 Distribution of referential and non-referential objects Total

referential non-referential

750 136

Pattern A

Pattern­B

Pattern D

number

%

number

%

number

%

51 8

6.80 5.88

370 128

49.33 94.12

329 0

43.87 0.00

and embedded use in other sentences, Pattern C is rarely used independently in modern Pekingese. In some of the more ancient dialects, however, Pattern C is of frequent occurrence, with semantically bleached directional words also commonly seen. Part of the lyrics of Taiwan singer Luo Dayou’s “Love Song 1990” runs like this: “轻飘飘的旧时光就这么流走，转头回去看看时已匆匆数年” (Qīngpiāopiāo de jiù shíguāng jiù zhème liú zǒu, zhuǎn tóu huíqù kàn kàn shí yǐ cōngcōng shù nián, meaning ‘Old time has floated away just so lightly. When you turn back to see, years have passed.’). Beijing locals often sing “转头回去” (literally ‘turn the head back’) as “转回头去” (‘turn back the head’), which at least illustrates the difference between the Southern Min dialect and Pekingese. Pattern A emerged later than Pattern B. In early modern Chinese, “来 and 去 do not precede the object” (Lü Shuxiang, 1944, p.156), so Pattern A was very rarely seen. Zhong Zhaohua (1985) cites a case from Quotations of the Mad Monk 《济颠语录》 ( ): “济公忽思起来飞来峰的张公，走去望他。”(Jìgōng hū sī qǐ lái Fēiláifēng de Zhāng gōng, zǒu qù wàng tā, meaning “Suddenly thinking of Mr. Zhang of Feilaifeng, the Mad Monk walked to visit him.’). Zhan Renfeng’s (1995) study of A Dream of Red Mansions 《红楼梦》 ( ) shows that Pattern C is very much in constraint, Pattern A extremely rare and Pattern B in development. In modern Chinese, Pattern A is very promising in development (see Lü Shuxiang, 1985a), but those reasons mentioned earlier that have motivated the shift from Pattern C to Pattern B may not motivate the shift from Pattern B to Pattern A. For one reason, “来” and “去” do bear the properties of telic verbs, but the bi-syllabic tendency in modern Chinese may not allow the emergence of a large number of tri-syllabic V+C1C2 constructions. For another, regardless of the fronting tendency of state indicating directional words, the object is required more often than not to be short in form and definite in reference when the directional word is indeed used to indicate state, which is in conflict with the conditions that license Pattern A (see below for details). Therefore, Pattern B is still a high-frequency pattern in modern Chinese.

4.5 Pragmatic constraints Of the four points cited at the beginning of Section 4.3, the first two involve the semantics of directional words, which have been discussed above. The latter two concern the nature of the object, especially its reference. This section starts from here to investigate the respective function of each word order.

122 Focus structure The discussion below is based on the statistics of three modern novels, Camel Xiangzi 《骆驼祥子》 ( ), The­ Yellow­ Storm:­ Bewildered 《四世同堂·惶惑》 ( ) and Novels in China 1985 (《1985年小说在中国》), a total of nearly 770,000 characters. The following, however, are not included in the statistics: 1 2 3 4

cases of Pattern C (In the three novels, there are no more than 10 cases of Pattern C, which makes it difficult to observe the law and compare with Patterns A, B and D.); when O indicates location; when C1 + C2 indicates state; some idiomatic expressions, such as “学不出好来” (xué bú chū hǎo lái, ‘not to learn the good’), “吃出甜头来” (chī chū tián tóu lái, ‘taste honey about something’), and so on.

4.5.1 Referential vs. non-referential The object in the following three examples takes exactly the same form, but is different in discoursal property. (57) 她去了有一点钟。跑回来，她已喘得说不上来话。 (A) Tā qù le yǒu yīdiǎnzhōng. Pǎo huílái, tā yǐ chuǎn de shuō bu shàng lái huà. she already gasp aux. say not up come words ‘She went for an hour. When she ran back, she was too out of breath to speak.’ (58) 校长立起来，眼看着对面的墙壁，足有三分钟没有说出话来。 (B) Xiàozhǎng lì qǐ lái, yǎn kàn zhe duìmiàn de qiángbì, zú yǒu sān fēnzhōng méiyǒu shuō chū huà lái. enough have three minute not say out words come ‘The principal stood up. Looking at the opposite wall, for three long minutes, he uttered not a single word.’ (59) 我还没作过校长，倒颇想试一试，祁科长你看如何？ 呕，东阳，我决 不抢你的事，先别害怕!我是把话说出来，给大家作个参考。 (D) Wǒ hái méi zuòguò xiàozhǎng, dào pǒ xiǎng shì yī shì, Qí kēzhǎng nǐ kàn rúhé? Ou, Dōngyáng, wǒ juébù qiǎng nǐ de shì, xiān bié hàipà! Wǒ shì bǎ huà shuō chū lái, gěi dàjiā zuò gè cānkǎo. I be BA words say out come give all do CL reference ‘I have never worked as principal, but do want to have a try. What do you think, Chief Qi? Well, Dongyang, I won’t grab at your business, so don’t be scared! I just speak my mind for your reference.’ “话” in (57) and (58) are non-referential, because they refer to nothing of particular content in the discourse context. In contrast, “话” in (59) has a definite reference – the sentence “我还没作过校长，倒颇想试一试”. Therefore, it is

Word order 123 Table 4.2 Lexical forms of referential objects in Patterns A, B and D Lexical form

Total

personal pronoun 63 proper noun 46 “这/那” (+ classifier) + noun 24 bare common noun 312 numeral (+classifier)+ noun 56 “一” (+ classifier) + noun 50 classifier + noun 51

Pattern A

Pattern­B

Pattern D

number %

number %

number %

18 0 5 5 14 8 3

1.59 15 0.00 13 20.83 8 1.60 144 25.00 42 16.00 40 5.88 48

23.81 47 28.26 33 33.33 11 46.15 163 75.00 0 80.00 29 94.12 0

74.60 71.74 45.83 52.24 0.00 4.00 0.00

referential. The essential distinction between a referential and a non-referential component is that the referential component refers to a particular entity in discourse which has a definite denotation, while the non-referential only emphasizes the connotation of the component. Table 4.1 is the distribution of these two kinds of components in Patterns A, B and D. It can be seen from the table that Pattern D is incompatible with non-referential components while Pattern B is better at accommodating non-referential components than Pattern A. 4.5.2  Identifiable vs. non-identifiable   Referential components can be subdivided into the identifiable and the nonidentifiable. An identifiable component will be used when the speaker expects the listener to be able to accurately identify the entity mentioned in discourse; otherwise, a non-identifiable component will be used. In Chinese, the identifiable and the non-identifiable will take particular forms. Chen Ping (1987b) starts from the lexical form of the nominal component and comes up with the following observation: identifiability declines from Group A to Group G while non-identifiability increases. Groups A, B and C are typical of identifiable representation, and Groups F and G typical of non-identifiable representation. Group A: personal pronoun Group B: proper noun Group C: “这(‘this’) /那(‘that’)” (+ classifier) + noun Group D: bare common noun Group E: numeral (+classifier)+ noun Group F: “一(‘one’)” (+ classifier) + noun Group G: classifier + noun Table 4.2 is the statistical results of the referential Os in Patterns A, B and D (excluding Os with possessive and restrictive attributives). The statistics show: Pattern A has a strong tendency to exclude identifiable components, whereas Pattern D rejects non-identifiable components; Pattern B

124

Focus structure

Table 4.3 Distribution of possessive attributives vis-a-vis restrictive attributives Attributives

possessive restrictive

Total

59 89

Pattern A

Pattern­B

Pattern D

number

%

number

%

number

%

5 10

8.47 11.24

20 40

33.89 44.94

34 39

57.63 43.82

has a greater ability to accommodate non-identifiable components, while not strongly rejecting identifiable components. To sum up, in comparison with Pattern D, Patterns A and B have a tendency to accommodate the non-identifiable; when Patterns A and B are compared, Pattern A rejects the identifiable more strongly than Pattern B. One example of each group is produced below for illustration. (60) 老人已经睡了觉，瑞宣现把他叫起来。 (D) Lǎorén yǐjīng shuì le jào, old man already sleep aux. sleep Ruìxuān xiàn bǎ tā jiào qǐ Ruixuan in time of need ba him call rise ‘The old man had been asleep, so Ruixuan had to call him up.’

lái. come

(61) 有时候他颇想把祥子撵出去；看看女儿，他不敢这么办。 (D) Yǒushíhòu tā pō xiǎng bǎ Xiángzi niǎn chū qù; sometimes he very want ba Xiangzi drive out go kàn-kàn nǚ’ér, tā bù gǎn zhème bàn. ‘Sometimes he really wanted to drive Xiangzi out, but looking at his daughter, he did not dare to do so.’ (62) 李鸣把那包书拎起来，一下放到马力身上，然后把所有马力的书都 堆在他身上。 (D) Lǐ Míng bǎ nà bāo shū līn qǐ lái, Li Ming ba that CL book pick rise come yīxià fàng dào Mǎ Lì shēnshang, ránhòu bǎ suǒyǒu Mǎ Lì de shū dōu duī zài tā shēnshang. ‘Li Ming picked up the pack of books, pushed it to Ma Li and then stacked all Ma Li’s books on him.’ (63)

她自己胡了牌，随着牌张的倒下，她报出胡数来，紧跟着就洗牌。 (B) Tā zìjǐ hú le pái, suízhe páizhāng de dàoxià, tā bào chū húshǔ lái, she report out winning number come jǐngēnzhe jiù xǐpái. ‘She herself completed a hand. With the cards being laid down, she reported the number of her winning card, which was immediately followed by card shuffling.’

Word order 125 (64) 她撇开嘴，露出两个虎牙来。 (B) Tā piē kāi zuǐ, lòu chū liǎng she spread open mouth expose out two ‘She spread her mouth, exposing two canines.’

gè hǔyá CL canine

lái. come

(65) 很容易的，他掰开钱先生的嘴，灌下去一片药。(A) Hěn róngyì de, tā bāi kāi Qián Xiānshēng de zuǐ, guàn xià qù yī piàn yào. pour down go one CL pill ‘It was very easy. He broke open Mr. Qian’s mouth and poured a pill down.’ (66) 第二天，夏太太出去找女仆。出去一会儿就带回来个试工的。 (A) Dì’èrtiān, Xià Tàitài chūqù zhǎo nǚpú. Chūqù yīhuǐ-er jiù dài huí lái gè shì gōng de. bring back come CL try work NOM ‘The next day Mrs. Xia went out to find a maid. A while later she brought back one to try the job.’ Clearly (60) and (61) should not be changed into other patterns; (65) and (66) can be changed to Pattern B, but not Pattern D. In addition to the lexical form proper, the properties of the attributive also concern the identifiability of the referent. Chen Ping (1987b) points out that the possessive attributive has strong identifiability while the identifiability of the restrictive attributive varies with the strength and specificity of restriction. Table 4.3 is the statistical results of 148 cases of these two types of attributives observed in our corpus. For Pattern D, the proportion of the possessive attributive is slightly higher than that of the restrictive attributive, and for Patterns A and B the proportion of the restrictive attributive is slightly higher than that of the possessive attributive, which also points to the tendency that O in Pattern D is identifiable and that in Patterns A and B non-identifiable. (67) to (69) are examples of possessive attributives. (67) 你看出来没有我姐姐的眼神？ (A) Nǐ kàn chū lái méiyǒu wǒ you see out come not I ‘Did you see the light in my sister’s eyes?’ (68)

jiějiě sister

de poss.

yǎnshén? light

虽然这么唠叨，他可是很快的辨清方位，两手抄起钱先生的腿来。 (B) Suīrán zhème láodao, tā kěshì hěn kuài de biàn qīng fāngwèi, liǎng shǒu chāo qǐ Qián Xiānshēng de tuǐ lái. two hand take rise Mr. Qian poss. leg come ‘Although nagging severely, he quickly discerned the position and took up Mr. Qian’s leg with both of his hands.’

126

Focus structure

(69)

他十分小心，恭敬的，把老人的脖子抄起来，教四大妈来灌糖水。 (D) Tā shífēn xiǎoxīn, gōngjìng de, bǎ lǎorén de bózi chāo qǐ lái, old man poss. neck take rise come jiào Sìdàmā lái guàn tángshuǐ. ‘Very carefully and respectfully, he raised up the old man’s neck, and asked Sidama to feed him sugar water.’

(67) is far less natural than the latter two examples, showing that Pattern A is not suitable for the object to take the possessive attributive. (68) and (69) are examples of similar content. In the original novel, (68) precedes (69), both describing the serial actions done upon Mr. Qian. The later occurring (69) uses Pattern D, showing a higher level of identifiability. Now examine some examples of restrictive attributives: (70) 瑞丰想起来关于东阳的笑话。 (A) Ruìfēng xiǎng qǐ lái guānyú Dōngyáng Ruifeng think rise come about Dongyang ‘Ruifeng thought of the joke about Dongyang.’

de GEN

xiàohuà. joke

(71) 人是不能太贪的，贪得太多就会冲出缺角的别针头子来。 (B) Rén shì bùnéng tài tān de, tān de tài duō jiùhuì chōng chū quē jiǎo de biézhēn tóuzi lái. rush out lack corner NOM pin head come ‘People cannot be too greedy. If you want too much, pins missing a corner will pop up.’ (72) 把这两三个月剩下的几块钱轻轻的拿出来，一块一块的翻弄。 (D) Bǎ BA

zhè this

shèngxià left qīngqīng gently

liǎng two

sān three

gè CL

de jǐ NOM several

kuài CL

qián money

de aux.

chū out

lái, come

ná take

yuè month

yīkuài yīkuài de fānnòng. ‘(He) gently took out the bit of money he saved over the past couple of months, fiddling one coin after another.’ Although (70) limits the scope of the “joke”, the reader still cannot know what exactly it is. The author explains the content of the joke in the immediate forthcoming text, which makes the joke about Dongyang obviously non-identifiable. Likewise, the referent of “缺角的别针头子” in (71) is not specific, and therefore

Word order 127 should also be understood as non-identifiable. The object in (72), if rewritten as “几块钱”, would be much less identifiable; but with the restrictive attributive “这 两三个月剩下的”, the referent is made very specific and thus should be taken as identifiable. 4.5.3 New information vs. given information The dichotomy of identifiable vs. non-identifiable reference reflects the fact that the speaker, when speaking of something, takes into account whether the message is known or unknown to the listener at the time of speaking. In general, the speaker tends to use non-identifiable reference when introducing new information and to use identifiable reference when indicating given information. Therefore, from the statistics in Section 4.5.2, it can be inferred that Patterns A and B tend to introduce new information, whereas Pattern D is more likely to represent given information. This point can be more fully demonstrated from the following two aspects: one is the situational context, and the other the number of syllables of the object. 4.5.3.1 Sometimes it is difficult to judge the information status simply from the form of the object itself, but when the context is taken into account, it will become much easier. If something is introduced for the first time in a stretch of discourse and evaluated as being unavailable in the listener’s consciousness, it is then new information; conversely, if an earlier mentioned entity is repeated and expected to be available in the listener’s consciousness, it is old information. Examine the following examples (the element underlined by the dotted line is co-referential with the object in the V-directional complement construction): (73) “你这是怎么了，老妹子!到了我这儿了，还没个车钱吗!老妹子， 坐上啦!”她到这时候，才摸出来一毛钱。祥子看得清清楚楚， 递过那一毛钱的时候，太太的手有点哆嗦。 (A) “Nǐ zhè shì zěnme le, Lǎo Mèizi! Dào le wǒ zhè-er le, hái méi gè chēqián ma! Lǎo Mèizi, zuò shàng la!” Tā dào zhè shíhòu, cái only

mō fumble

chū out

lái come

yī one

máo CL

qián. money

Xiángzi kàn de qīngqīngchǔchǔ, dì guò nà yī máo qián de shíhòu, hand over that one CL money NOM time tàitài de shǒu yǒudiǎn duōsuo. ‘ “Why, sister! You’re my guest, how can I not to hire a rickshaw for you! Sister, get on the rickshaw please!” It was not until this moment that she produced a dime. Xiangzi saw clearly that her hand shivered a little when she handed over the money.’

128

Focus structure

“一毛钱” in “摸出来一毛钱” is new information introduced for the first time, while the forthcoming “那一毛钱” is given information as a case of anaphora. This is a typical example of new information introduction via Pattern A. The following is a similar example where the introduction of new information is performed by Pattern B: (74) 太太叫张妈去拿点开水，等张妈出了屋门，她拿出一毛钱来：“拿 去，别拿眼紧扫搭着我!” 祥子的脸忽然紫了，挺了挺腰，好像头要顶住房梁，一把抓起那张 毛票，摔在太太的胖脸上：“给我四天的工钱!” (B) Tàitài jiào Zhāng Mā qù ná diǎn kāishuǐ, děng Zhāng Mā chū le wū mén, tā ná chū yī máo qián lái: she take out one CL money come “Náqù, bié ná yǎn jǐn sǎoda zhe wǒ!” Xiángzi de liǎn hūrán zǐ le, tǐng le tǐng yāo, hǎoxiàng tóu yào dǐngzhù fáng liáng, yībǎ zhuā qǐ nà zhāng máopiào, in one hand catch rise that CL dime-bill shuāi zài tàitài de pàng liǎn shàng: “Gěi wǒ sì tiān de gōngqián!” (B) ‘The mistress told Zhang Ma to get some water. When Zhang Ma was out of the room, she took out a dime, “Take it, and don’t glance at me like that!” Xiangzi’s face suddenly got purple. He straightened his back, as if reaching the beam with his head, grabbed the dime-bill, and threw it on the mistress’s fat face, “Give me four days’ wages!” ’ The object in Pattern B is often given information as well. (75) “哼，事又吹了!好吧，自己去挑一辆!”刘四爷倒了碗茶，“来， 先喝一碗。”祥子端起碗来，立在火炉前面，大口的喝着。 (B) “Heng, shì yòu chuī le! Hǎoba, zìjǐ qù tiāo yī liàng!” Liú Sìyé dào le wǎn chá, “Lái, xiān hè yī wǎn.” Xiángzi duān qǐ wǎn lái, Xiangzi carry rise bowl come lì zài huǒlú qiánmiàn, dàkǒu de hē zhe. ‘ “Well, things got screwed up again! Alright, go choose one rickshaw yourself!” Liu Siye poured a bowl of tea, “Come over and get a drink!” Standing in front of the stove, Xiangzi picked up the bowl and drank at pleasure.’ “碗” in “端起碗来” refers back to the previously mentioned bowl of tea, thus representing given information. Pattern D is generally used to give old information, as in (76).

Word order 129 (76) 第二剂药煎好，他不肯吃。......可是刚一坐起来，他的头像有块 大石头赘着，脖子一软，眼前冒了金花，他又倒下了。什么也无须 说了，他接过碗来，把药吞下去。 (D) Dì’èr second

jì CL

yào medicine

jiān boil

hǎo, ready

tā bùkěn chī. . . . . . . Kěshì gāng yī zuò qǐlái, tā de tóu xiàng yǒu kuài dà shítou zhuì zhe, bózi yī ruǎn, yǎnqián mào le jīnhuā, tā yòu dào xià le. Shénme yě wúxū shuō le, tā jiē guò wǎn lái, bǎ yào tūn xià qù. BA medicine swallow down go ‘The second dose of medicine was boiled ready, but he refused to take it. . . . . . . Once he sat up, he felt his head as heavy as if burdened by a huge stone. His neck giving way, sparks flying before his eyes; he fell down again. Having nothing to say, he took over the bowl and swallowed the medicine.’ When a thing is mentioned more than once in discourse in different patterns, the difference between the patterns can be manifested. See (77). (77) 刚 一 落 座 ，就 有 人 说 了 ： “ 哎 ，您 是 贵 客 呀 ，怎 和 我 们 坐 在 一 处？”祥子傻笑了一下，没有听出来话里的意味。......喝着喝 着，大家的眼睛红起来，嘴不再受管辖。就有人说：“祥子，骆 驼，你这差事美呀!足吃一天，伺候着老爷小姐!赶明儿你不必拉车 了，顶好跟包去!”祥子听出点意思来。(A): (B) Gāng yī luòzuò, jiù yǒurén shuō le:“Āi, nín shì guìkè ya, zěn hé wǒmen zuò zài yīchù?” Xiángzi shǎxiào le yīxià, méiyǒu tīng chū lái huà lǐ de yìwèi. . . . . . . not listen out come words inside ASS meaning Hē zhe hē zhe, dàjiā de yǎnjīng hóng qǐ lái, zuǐ bùzài shòu guǎnxiá. Jiù yǒurén shuō:“Xiángzi, luòtuo, nǐ zhè chāishì měi ya! Zú chī yītiān, cìhòu zhe lǎoyé xiǎojiě! Gǎnmíng-er nǐ bùbì lāchē le, dǐnghǎo gēnbāo qù!” Xiángzi tīng chū diǎn yìsi lái. Xiangzi listen out bit meaning out ‘Once Xiangzi got seated, someone said to him, “Hey, you are an honoured guest. How can you sit in the same place with us?” Xiangzi giggled a bit, unable to get the meaning of the words. . . . After more drinking, people’s eyes turned red, and they could no longer control their mouths. Some people said, “Xiangzi, the camel, you’ve got such a good job! You can eat to your full every day, waiting on the master and the miss! You don’t have to pull the rickshaw tomorrow; it would be best for you to work as a footman!” Xiangzi seemed to have got some of the point.’

130

Focus structure

The early-occurring “话里的意味” is its first mention. Its reference is identifiable neither to Xiangzi nor to the reader. Later discourse makes clear the special relationship between Xiangzi and the Lius, which renders “(一)点意思” no longer brand new. This is why Pattern A is used in the first case and Pattern B in the second case. (78) is an example where Pattern B precedes Pattern D. (78) 她将全身都摸索到了，凑出十几个铜子儿来，交给了弟弟。弟弟 平日绝不敢挨近爸爸的身，今天看爸爸是被揍在地上，胆子大了 些。“给你，走吧!”二强子棱棱着眼把钱接过去，一边往起立，一 边叨唠。 (B): (D) Tā jiāng quánshēn dōu mōsuǒ dào le, còu chū shíjǐ gè tóngzǐ-er lái, gather out ten and some CL copper coin come jiāo gěi le dìdi. Dìdi píngrì juébù gǎn āijìn bàba de shēn, jīntiān kàn bàba shì bèi zòu zài dìshàng, dǎnzi dà le xiē. “Gěi nǐ, zǒu ba!” Èrqiángzi léngléng zhe yǎn bǎ qián jiē guò qù, Erqiangzi slant DUR eye BA money receive over go yībiān wǎng qǐ lì, yībiān dāolao. ‘She groped her whole body, gathered together a dozen copper coins, and gave them to her son. Usually the boy would by no means go close to his father. Today he saw his father was beaten to the ground, so he became bold enough, “Here you are, go!” Taking over the money with slanting eyes, Erqiangzi stood up, chattering foolishly.’ New information “十几个铜子儿” is introduced with Pattern B; the later occurring “钱” is given information, presented in Pattern D. 4.5.3.2 The length of the object itself also has some bearing on information status. When the speaker introduces a new message for the first time, it is often necessary to add some descriptive element(s), making the object a noun preceded by its modifier(s). Therefore the entire object will contain a number of syllables. When something is mentioned as given information, not much description is necessary. In form there will not be many modifiers, which reduces the syllable number of the object. Table 4.4 is the statistical results of the lengths of the 750 referential objects. It can be seen from this table that Pattern A has a strong tendency to reject shorter objects while Pattern B tends to reject longer ones. The results confirm the observation that Pattern A is inclined to express new information. What demands explanation is why the frequency for Patterns B and D to take multi-syllable objects is not very low. Some specific examples can illustrate the point clearly.

Word order 131 Table 4.4 Length of referential objects in terms of syllable number Syllable number of object

Total

1 2 3~5 6~10 11~15 16~

231 158 244 91 22 4

Pattern A number 1 10 23 12 3 2

Pattern­B

Pattern D

%

number

%

number

%

0.43 6.33 9.43 13.19 13.64 50.00

122 52 139 48 8 1

52.81 32.91 56.97 52.75 36.36 25.00

108 96 82 31 11 1

46.75 60.76 33.61 34.06 50.00 25.00

(79) 由于这观念的联合，人们的心中就又立刻勾出一幅美丽的，和平 的，欢喜的，拜月图来。(B) 14 syllables Yóuyú zhè guānniàn de liánhé, rénmen de xīnzhōng jiù yòu lìkè gōu chū yī fú měilì de, hépíng de, huānxǐ de, sketch out one CL beautiful ASS peaceful ASS joyful ASS bàiyuètú lái. picture of moon worship come ‘Because of this concept, in people’s mind immediately appears a beautiful, peaceful and joyous picture of moon worship.’ (80) 她想起了那一张丑陋但还可爱的嘴脸来。(B) 12 syllables Tā xiǎng qǐ le nà yī zhāng chǒulòu dàn hái kě’ài she think rise PFV that one CL ugly but still lovely de zuǐliǎn lái. ASS face come ‘She remembered that ugly but still lovely face.’ (81) 她立刻停止了申斥丈夫，而把当时所能搬到脸上的笑意全搬上来。 (D) 12 syllables Tā lìkè tíngzhǐ le shēnchì zhàngfū, ér bǎ dāngshí suǒ néng bānyùn dào ba then all can move to liǎn shàng de xiàoyì quán bānyùn shàng lái. face on NOM smile all move up come ‘She immediately stopped scolding her husband; instead, she moved all expression of smile she could manage up on to her face.’ (82) 她的嘴翕动着，像鱼儿吞钩一样把与她的嘴相比显得很大的奶头吞 下去。 (D) 13 syllables Tā de zuǐ xīdòng zhe, xiàng yú’er tūn gōu yīyàng bǎ yǔ BA with

tā she

de GEN

zuǐ mouth

132

Focus structure xiāngbǐ xiǎnde hěn dà de nǎitóu tūn xià qù. compare look very big ASS nipple swallow down go ‘Her mouth closed and opened, and swallowed the nipple that looked a bit too big for her mouth, like a fish swallowing the hook.’

In (79) to (82), the objects, in spite of their length, are compact in structure, bearing a strong colour of Europeanized sentences. In contrast, the multi-sylllable object in Pattern A will read natural and soothing, mostly typical of spoken Pekingese, as in (83) and (84). (83) 敌 军 既 不 能 用 刺 刀 随 在 每 个 中 国 人 的 背 后 ，就 势 必 由 日 本 政 客 与中国汉奸合组起来个代替“政务委员会”的什么东西。(A) 13 syllables Díjūn jì bùnéng yòng cìdāo suí zài měigè Zhōngguórén de bèihòu, jiù shìbì yóu Rìběn zhèngkè yǔ Zhōngguó hànjiān hézǔ qǐ lái gè dàitì combine rise come one replace “Zhèngwù Wěiyuánhuì” de shénme dōngxī. Council of Government Affairs NOM what thing ‘The enemy could not follow each Chinese with a bayonet, so it was bound for the Japanese politicians and Chinese hymns to jointly establish a certain organization to replace the Council of Government Affairs.’ (84) 一会儿，跑堂的拿上来一个很精致的小拼盘，和一壶烫得恰到好处 的竹叶青。 (A) 22 syllables Yīhuǐ-er, a while

pǎotángde waiter

ná hold

shàng lái yīgè up come one

hěn very

jīngzhì fine

de ASS

xiǎo small

pīnpán, hé yī assorted cold dishes and one pot heat

de ASS

qiàdàohǎochù

hú aux.

tàng just right

de

Zhúyèqīng. Zhuyeqing liquor ‘After a while the waiter brought up a very fine assorted cold dish, and a pot of Zhuyeqing liquor heated just right.’ A more important difference is that the modifiers such as “与她的嘴相比显得 很大的” and “丑陋但还可爱的” are not necessary components to show that the referent of the object is new information; on the contrary, the two cases of Pattern A are typical forms for introducing new information.

Word order 133 In this way, we can say with certainty that Pattern A has a strong tendency to take multi-syllable objects while at the same time strongly rejecting shorter objects. In contrast, the ability of Patterns B and D to take long objects will gradually decline with the increase of the syllable number of the object. The above analysis shows that there are considerable differences in the actual use of Patterns A, B and D, though previously they were generally considered interchangeable without mandatory constraints. The differences can be summed up as follows: Pattern A tends to introduce new information, and the object is likely to occur in the indefinite form; Pattern D more often than not expresses given information, and the object tends to occur in the definite form; Pattern B is between the two, slightly closer to Pattern A, and the object tends to be non-referential. This is exactly a manifestation of the “given information to new information” principle (i.e., the closer to the end of the sentence, the newer the information) of functional syntax in modern Chinese. It tells us that the speaker, when organizing a sentence in which the object can occur in more than one slot, often chooses a pattern according to the information status of the object on the part of the listener: when it is given information, it is as close as possible to the beginning of the sentence; when it is new information, it is always as close as possible to the end of the sentence. This principle also helps us explain some commonly seen claims in grammar works, such as “identifiable objects cannot follow composite directional complements”,10 “objects in Pattern A tend to be preceded by numerals or other modifiers, leaving bare nouns very rare to occur”,11 “an object, if placed after a composite directional complement, is due to its own complexity”, “existential objects cannot appear before composite directional complements”,12 “non-identifiable objects cannot be preceded by bǎ”,13 etc. These claims are no more than the “grammaticalization” of pragmatic principles; that is, there is a logical link between these mandatory rules and the tendencies that have been delineated in this section.

Notes 1 It is not made clear in earlier discussions that “来” and “去” are intransitive, because earlier discussions focus only on C1. If all post-verbal directional words are classified, “来” and “去” should be taken as intransitive, because neither “拿来北京”(ná lái Běijīng, literally ‘bring-come-Beijing’) nor “带去屋里”(dài qù wūlǐ, literally ‘takego-inside the room’) is good. It should be pointed out that it is not the case that “来” and “去” are never transitive. In early modern Chinese, there used to be many instances where a locative word was placed after “来” or “去”. For example, in Chapter 5 of Outlaws of the Marsh there is the line: “智深接过来手里” Zhìshēn jiē Zhishen receive

guò over

‘Zhishen received it with his hands.’

lái come

shǒu hand

lǐ in

134

Focus structure

Until the 1940s, transitive “来” and “去” were still occasionally instantiated in Lao She’s works, such as:

逃出去北平

chū out

Táo escape

qù go

Běipíng Beijing

‘escape from Beijing’ 2 Ding Shusheng et al. (1961) claim, “There are constraints on the verbs of bǎ-sentences. Verbs such as ‘回’, ‘到’, ‘进’, ‘来’, ‘出’, ‘去’, etc., when followed by place or time object, cannot occur in bǎ-sentences. For example, ‘我回家’(literally ‘I return home’) cannot be changed into ‘我把家回’ (wǒ bǎ jiā huí, literally ‘I-bǎ-­home-return’), ‘说 出话来’ (shuō chū huà lái, ‘say-out-words-come’, meaning ‘speak up’) can be written as ‘把话说出来’(bǎ huà shuō chū lái, ‘bǎ-­words-say-out-come’); but ‘说出口 来’(shuō chū kǒu lái, ‘say-out-mouth-come’, meaning ‘say something out’) cannot be changed into ‘把口说出来’(bǎ kǒu shuō chū lái, ‘bǎ-­mouth-say-out-come’), because ‘口’ here indicates the place, not the thing to be uttered.” Ma Zhen’s article “Additional comments on bǎ-sentences” presents a detailed discussion of the cases where bǎ is followed by a place object and where the predicate is fulfilled by V+directional complement, making it clear that the two cannot co-occur. Ma also claims that this “is undoubtedly a rule governing the use of prepositions bǎ/jiāng”. 3 Lü Shuxiang (1965b) says, “The double object sentence pattern is: A-Verb-B-C, where B is usually identifiable and C non-identifiable.” 4 Lü Shuxiang (1977) points out that one thing is certain: the imperative sentence can not use Pattern A; we can only say “拿点勇气出来!”(ná diǎn yǒngqì chū lái, ‘Get out some courage!’) or “拿出点勇气来!”(ná chū diǎn yǒngqì lái), but not “拿出来一点 勇气!”(ná chū lái yī diǎn yǒngqì). Also, according to Zhan Renfeng’s (1995) study of A Dream of Red Mansions, Pattern C is very rarely seen in the novel, and of the few examples, most of them has the auxiliary le. 5 Liu Xunning (1988) has discussed the compatibility between le and directional complement. In addition, the juxtaposition of V+resultative complement, V+directional complement and V+le in the following example can well illustrate the shared function of the three constructions: “他放下书，摘掉眼镜，换了衣服，戴上帽子，准备出去。” (from Lü Shuxiang’s An Outline of Modern Chinese Grammar 《现代汉语语法纲要》, 1976) Tā he yīfú， clothes

fàng put dài put

xià down shàng on

shū， book màozǐ， hat

zhāi remove zhǔnbèi prepare

diào fall chū out

yǎnjìng， glasses qù go

huàn exchange

le PFV

‘He put down the book, removed the glasses, changed clothes, and put on the hat, ready to go outside.’ We are here to emphasize that: once the verb is followed by a telic word (be it le or the directional or resultative complement), it becomes narrative in meaning; otherwise it is imperative. However, this is not to say that no imperative meaning can be expressed with telic words, which in turn points to the fact that le, which can only occur in narrative sentences, is not exactly the same with directional complements, in that directional complements can be used for both narrative and imperative purposes. 6 For the three types of meaning of directional verbs, see Liu Yuehua (1988). Liu’s description of the resultative meaning is “to indicate the result achieved by the action”, and that of the state meaning is “to show the state change of people or things”. 7 The author owes this view to Mr. Shen Jiaxuan.

Word order 135 8 The example is: 把帽子戴得极低, 为的是教人认不出来他, 好可以缓着劲儿跑。(Camel Xiangzi, p.173) Bǎ màozi dài de jí dī, BA hat wear aux. very low wéideshì jiào rén rèn bú chū lái tā, so that let people recognize not out come him hǎo kěyǐ huǎn zhe jìn-er pǎo. so that can slow aux. strength run ‘He wore the hat very low, so that others would not recognize him and he could run kind of slowly.’ 9 The two cases are: ［瑞丰］一见冠先生这样的 ‘不耻下问’, 不由的心中颤动了好几下。赶快把一 些梨渣滓啐出去。（The Yellow Storm 《四世同堂》 ( ), p.326) ［Ruìfēng］yī jiàn Guàn Xiānshēng zhèyàng de ’bùchǐxiàwèn’, búyóude xīn zhōng chàndòng le hǎo jǐ xià. Gǎnkuài bǎ yīxiē lí zhāzi cuì chū qù. hurriedly BA some pear residue spit out go ‘When [Ruifeng] saw that Mr. Guan would bother to ask him, a lesser person, his heart fluttered. He hurriedly spit out the residues of the pear.’ ［女护士］拉开了一个抽屉。她的手紧张得颤抖。抽屉里花花绿绿，书并不 多，……她总算把一本书从抽屉里提出来。（Novels in China 1985 (《1985年小 说在中国》), p.421） ［Nǚ hùshì］lā kāi le yī gè chōutì. Tā de shǒu jǐnzhāng de chàndǒu. Chōutì lǐ huāhuālǜlǜ, shū bìng bù duō,…… Tā zǒngsuàn bǎ yī běn shū cóng she finally BA one CL book from chōutì lǐ tí chū lái. drawer inside draw out come

10 11 12 13

‘[The female nurse] opened a drawer, her hand trembling out of tension. It was quite colourful inside the drawer, but not many books were in there. . . . She finally drew a book out of the drawer.’ See Zhu Dexi (1987). See Fan Jiyan (1963). See Chen Xinchun (1982). Generally, existential objects express new information. See Lü Shuxiang (1965b).

Sources of example sentences The ancestral hall (祖堂集), photoprint of the Koryo edition. Camel Xiangzi (骆驼祥子), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1978. Collected works of Lao She (Vol. 4) (老舍文集(四)), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1983. Five lanterns (五灯会元), Zhonghua Book Company, 1984. Newly proofread 30 poetic dramas of Yuang Dynasty (新校元刊杂剧三十种), Zhonghua Book Company, 1980. Novels in China 1985 (1985年小说在中国), China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Corporation, 1986. Outlaws of the marsh (水浒传), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1975.

5

Word order Object vs. verbal classifier

5.1  Two word orders between object and verbal classifier There are two different word orders when a verb is followed by a verbal classifier and a noun, namely, V+verbal classifier+N and V+N+verbal classifier, as in “进 一趟城” (jìn yī tàng chéng, literally ‘go once downtown’) and “进城一趟” (jìn chéng yī tàng, literally ‘go downtown once’). In what follows, VMN and VNM will be used to represent the two word orders. Previous discussions of this issue mainly focus on the following aspects: 1) subclass of N (such as pronoun/noun, proper noun/common noun, person indicating noun/ object indicating noun, etc.); 2) type of M (e.g., specialized classifier/ borrowed classifier); 3) subclass of V (e.g., verbs indicating giving/taking, causation, etc.); and 4) V-N semantic relation (e.g., location, result, instrument, etc.). The main conclusions are: 1

2 3 4

Pronouns can only be placed before M, or VNM is the word order (Lü Shuxiang (ed.), 1980; Ding Shusheng et al., 1961; Liu Yuehua, 1983; Ma Qingzhu, 1983; Li Linding, 1986; etc.). Person-indicating nouns can precede or follow M; that is, both VNM and VMN are possible (ibid.).1 When the classifier M is a borrowed one, it can only follow N; that is, the word order is VNM. Classifiers 眼(yǎn) and 把(bǎ) are, however, not subject to this restriction (Liu Yuehua, 1983; Li Linding, 1986). When V indicates giving/taking or causation, M follows N; that is, VNM is the order (Ma Qingzhu, 1983). When N indicates location, the word order can be both; when N is the purpose, result, instrument or agent of V, N is postponed, resulting in VMN (ibid.).

Although there have already been many related discussions, this issue deserves further exploration. The reason is multifold. First, the above conclusions are drawn from different angles, which renders it difficult to determine which one is decisive when coincidence occurs. Second, some conclusions have not touched on the essential characteristics of the problem, as shown in the following examples.

Word order 137 (1) 他从来没有表现过一次个人→*他从来没有表现过个人一次 tā cónglái méiyǒu biǎoxiàn guò yīcì he ever not show EXP once ‘He never showed off himself.’ *Tā cónglái méiyǒu biǎoxiàn guò gèrén yīcì

gèrén ￫ individual

(2) 今年只发展过一次党员→*今年只发展过党员一次 jīnnián zhǐ fāzhǎn guò yīcì dǎngyuán ￫ this year only develop EXP once party member ‘(We) developed party members only once this year.’ *jīnnián zhǐ fāzhǎnguò dǎngyuán yīcì Both Ns in these two examples refer to human(s), but they can only be placed after M. Moreover some location-indicating Ns can precede or follow M while others cannot, as illustrated in (3) and (4). (3) 一年里住了三次娘家→一年里住娘家三次 yī nián lǐ zhù le sāncì niángjiā ￫ one year in live PFV three times parents’ home ‘(A married woman) lived in her parents’ home three times in one year.’ yī nián lǐ zhù niángjiā sāncì (4) *这么会儿工夫扛两趟屋里→这么会儿工夫扛屋里两趟 *zhème huì-er gōngfū káng liǎngtàng wū li ￫ zhème huì-er gōngfū káng wū li liǎngtàng so moment time carry room inside twice ‘(Someone) carried (something) twice into the room in so brief a moment.’ When N is the object of a causative verb, it may not always occur before M, as shown in (5) and (6). (5) 灭过两次蚊子→*灭过蚊子两次 miè guò liǎng cì wénzi ￫*miè guò wénzi liǎng cì kill EXP two time mosquito ‘(People) have killed mosquitoes twice.’ (6) 解决过三次纠纷→*解决过纠纷三次 jiějué guò sān cì jiūfēn ￫*jiějué guò jiūfēn sāncì solve EXP three time dispute ‘(People) settled disputes three times.’

138

Focus structure

Third, the semantic category of V is a factor that is not easy to grasp in determining word order, and the V-N semantic relation when occurring in alternative word orders has not been comprehensively investigated in previous studies. Table 5.1 shows some examples following the semantic classification of A Dictionary of Verb Usage. Table 5.1 Semantic type of object and its relative order with regard to verbal classifier Semantic type of nominal object

VMN

VNM

patient

看三趟姥姥 kàn sāntàng lǎolao ‘visit three times grandma’ 看两趟病人 kàn liǎngtàng bìngrén ‘visit twice the patient’ 包三次饺子 bāo sāncì jiǎozi ‘make three times dumplings’ 表扬一通老张 biǎoyáng yītòng Lǎo Zhāng ‘praise once old Zhang’ *批评一通两个孩子 *pīpíng yītòng liǎnggè háizi ‘reproach once two children’ (只)治过一次小孩 (zhǐ) zhì guò yīcì xiǎohái ‘(only) treated once children’ *逼好几回对方 *bī hǎojǐhuí duìfāng ‘push many times the other party’ 去四五回天津 qù sì-wǔhuí Tiānjīn ‘go four or five times to Tianjin’ 住两回娘家 zhù liǎnghuí niángjiā ‘live twice at parents’ home’ 住两次医院 zhù liǎngcì yīyuàn ‘live twice at hospital’ *扛两趟屋里 *káng liǎngtàng wūli ‘carry twice into the room’ 抽过几次烟斗 chōu guò jǐcì yāndǒu ‘smoked several times the pipe’ 存过两次定期 cún guò liǎngcì dìngqí ‘deposited twice time deposit’ 起了一次五更 qǐ le yīcì wǔgēng ‘got up once just before dawn’

看姥姥三趟

result recipient/theme

location

instrument manner time

*看病人两趟 *包饺子三次 表扬老张一通 批评两个孩子一通 *(只)治过小孩一次 逼对方好几回 去天津四五回 住娘家两回 *住医院两次 扛屋里两趟 *抽过烟斗几次 *存过定期两次 *起了五更一次

Word order 139 Table 5.1 Continued Semantic type of nominal object

VMN

VNM

purpose

跑过几趟材料 pǎo guò jǐtàng cáiliào ‘prepared several times the formalities’ 操心过几次孩子 cāoxīn guò jǐcì háizi ‘worried several times about children’ 气过一次主任 qì guò yīcì zhǔrèn ‘irritated once the director’ 捅过几次炉子 tǒng guò jǐcì lúzǐ ‘stirred several times the stove’ 来过三次客人 lái guò sāncì kèrén ‘visited three times by guests’ 讲了十几次话 jiǎng le shíjǐcì huà ‘delivered dozen times speech’ 踢过五次中锋 tī guò wǔcì zhōngfēng ‘played five times as a central striker’

*跑过材料几趟

reason/cause causation

agent cognate equivalent

*操心过孩子几次 气过主任一次 *捅过炉子几次 来过客人三次 *讲话了十几次 *踢过中锋五次

It can be seen that there is no clear correspondence between the different V-N semantic relations and the two word orders. More importantly, when N is the patient, location, theme, or object of causation, both word orders are possible, though not in every case. And the constraint has nothing to do with the referent of N, be it human or not. This chapter takes the referentiality of N as the start point, a different one from earlier practice, to study its constraints on word order and explore the functional differences between the two word orders and why. The phased development of the two word orders in modern Chinese will also be investigated.

5.2 Main factors that constrain word order 5.2.1 Referentiality of N Nominal components bear varying referentiality in discourse. There is a need to introduce two pairs of concepts that are related to referentiality: referential vs. non-referential, identifiable vs. non-identifiable. If a nominal component refers to a particular entity in the discourse, it is a referential component; conversely, it is non-referential if the speaker mentions a noun simply for its abstract meaning without referring to a specific person and thing in the situational context. When the speaker uses a nominal component and anticipates

140

Focus structure

that the listener can identify its reference with a particular entity in the context and tell it apart from other entities in the same context, the nominal component is designated as identifiable; if the speaker anticipates that the listener cannot differentiate the referent from entities of the same category in the context, the nominal component is then said to be non-identifiable (see Chen, 1987b). The results of our investigation suggest that the referentiality of the nominal component (referential vs. non-referential, identifiable vs. non-identifiable) is an important factor in determining the speaker’s choice of VMN or VNM. 5.2.1.1­ Referential­vs.­non-referential According to our observation VMN is the default word order when N is non-referential. (7)

就着这个喜棚再办一通儿事儿得了！ Jiùzhe zhège xǐpéng zài bàn yī tòng-er shì-er by this wedding shed again hold one CL thing déle! come on ‘Come on, let’s use this wedding shed to hold another wedding!’

(8)

大家请他加入打几圈牌，他不说精神来不及，而说打牌不痛快。 Dàjiā qǐng tā jiārù dǎ jǐ quān pái, all invite him join play several CL cards tā bù shuō he not say jīngshén láibují, ér shuō dǎpái bù tòngkuài. spirit not enought but say play cards not delightful ‘We invited him to join us to play a few rounds of cards. Instead of replying that he didn’t have enough energy, he said that playing cards was not delightful.’

(9)

亏得你还是进过两次劳改队、蹲过三次牛棚的硬汉子哩！ Kuīde nǐ háishì jìn guò liǎngcì láogǎiduì, but you still join EXP twice prisoner team dūn guò sāncì niúpéng de yìng hànzi li! stay EXP three times cowshed NOM tough guy SFP ‘But you’re a tough guy who has served twice in the labour reform team and laboured three times in the cowshed!’

(10) 皇甫一周要照一遍X光做一回心电图称一回体重。 Huángfǔ Huangfu

yī one

zhōu yào week need

zhào take

yī one

biàn CL

X-guāng X-ray

Word order 141 zuò yī huí xīndiàntúchēng yī huí tǐzhòng. do one CL ECG weigh one CL weight ‘Huangfu needs to take X-ray, have ECG and weigh his weight once every week.’ (11) 叔叔，我能再做一回记者吗？ Shūshu, wǒ néng zài zuò yī huí uncle I can again do one CL ‘Uncle, can I work as a reporter once again?’

jìzhě reporter

ma? SFP

(12) 我和她一起看过几次电影，熟了又一起照了相。 Wǒ hé tā yīqǐ kàn guò jǐ cì diànyǐng, I and him together see EXP several time movie shú le yòu yīqǐ zhào le xiāng. familiar aux. again together take aux. photo ‘I have seen several movies together with her. When we are familiar enough, we have taken photos together.’ (13) 打了四遍电话，不是说你不在，就是占线打不通。 Dǎ le sì biàn diànhuà, bùshì shuō nǐ bù zài, hit PFV four CL phone call not say you not in jiùshì zhànxiàn dǎ bù tōng. but busy hit not through ‘I called you four times. Either you were not in, or the line was busy.’ N in these examples cannot be moved to the front of M. But we find that when a non-referential N occurs in a V+N “phrasal verb”, there can be two word orders: 吵两次架→吵架两次 chǎo liǎng cì quarrel two CL ‘have two rows’

jià ￫ chǎojià liǎng cì row

谢三次幕→谢幕三次 xiè sān cì mù ￫ xièmù sān cì answer three CL curtain call ‘answer the curtain call three times’ 告四五回状→告状四五回 gào sì wǔ huí zhuàng ￫ gàozhuàng sì wǔ huí lodge four five CL charge ‘lodge four or five charges’

142

Focus structure

In fact the V+N combinations in the examples of VNM are generally not taken as VO phrases, but as typical verbs. Therefore the word order cannot be interpreted in terms of VNM. The following example is an analogy of this phenomenon: (14) 四个人一日三餐加上周末上餐馆一次，或上快餐店数次。 Sì gè rén yī rì sān cān jiāshàng four CL person one day three meals plus zhōumò shàng weekend go to cānguǎn yī cì, huò shàng kuàicān diàn shù restaurant one time or go to fast food restaurant several cì. time ‘Three meals a day for four people, plus going to the restaurant once, or several times to fast food restaurants at weekend.’ Five out of 307 cases of VNM in our collection of data are like this, accounting only for 1.63%. In contrast, non-referential N in VMN enjoys a fairly large proportion: in a total of 122 cases, N in 74 cases is non-referential, accounting for about 60.66%. Obviously, N being non-referential is a factor that favours the order of VMN while rejecting VNM. 5.2.1.2­ Identifiable­vs.­non-identifiable It seems that typical non-identifiable components can occur in neither of the two word orders. For example, we cannot say “看了一眼两本书”(kàn le yī yǎn liǎng běn shū, ‘have a look at two books’), “喊了三声一个人”(hǎn le sān shēng yī gè rén, ‘call three times a person’), “找个人五次”(zhǎo gè rén wǔ cì, ‘look for a person five times’), “拎水桶一趟”(līn shuǐtǒng yī tàng, ‘carry a bucket once’), and so on. As we know, M is the measure of V, and V as an action always dictates a thing (N). If N is nonidentifiable, then there can be no definite number of actions that dictate it. Thus, when a verbal classifier co-occurs with the object of the verb, the non-identifiability of the object is in conflict with the countability of the action indicated by the verb. N in both word orders can be identifiable, but the degree of identiability varies considerably with the two orders. Nominal components in Chinese can be divided into the following categories in terms of identifiability (from the most identifiable to the least): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

pronoun proper noun appellation this/that (+ classifier) + noun possessive attributive + noun bare common noun restrictive attributive + noun

Word order 143 Here are the examples of each case (with VNM preceding VMN): (15) 林老头病了，李先生看他好几趟。 →*看好几趟他 Lín lǎotóu bìng le, Lǐ xiānshēng kàn tā hǎo jǐ Li mister visit him quite a few ￫*kàn hǎo jǐ tàng tā ‘Old man Lin is sick. Mr. Li has visited him quite a few times.’

tàng. CL

(16) 她无泪可落，而是想骂谁一顿，出出闷气。 →*骂一顿谁 Tā wú lèi kě luò, érshì xiǎng mà shéi yī dùn, chū chū mènqì. but want curse who one CL ￫*mà yī dùn shéi ‘She had no tears to shed, but wanted to curse someone a while to vent her sulks.’ (17) 曹先生又嘱咐了祥子一遍。 →*嘱咐了一遍祥子 Cáo Xiānshēng yòu zhǔfù le Cao mister again instruct PFV ￫*zhǔfù le yībiàn Xiángzi ‘Mr. Cao instructed Xiangzi once again.’

Xiángzi Xiangzi

yībiàn. once

(18) 小王呢，十天半月回来一趟，一定揍媳妇一顿。 →*一定揍一顿媳妇 Xiǎo Wáng ne, shí tiān bànyuè huílái yī tàng, yīdìng zòu xífù yī dùn. surely beat wife one CL ￫*yīdìng zòu yī dùn xífù ‘Wang came back home every ten days or half a month. Each time he would give his wife a beating. ’ (19) 我去告诉太太一声。 →*告诉一声太太 Wǒ qù gàosù tàitài I go tell mistress ￫*gàosù yīshēng tàitài ‘Let me inform mistress.’

yīshēng. once

(20) 他故意的上下颠动，摇这个老猴子几下。 →*摇几下这个老猴子 Tā gùyì de shàngxià diāndòng, yáo zhège shake this ￫*yáo jǐ xià zhège lǎo hóuzi

lǎo hóuzi jǐxià. old monkey several times

144 Focus structure ‘He deliberately moved up and down, shaking the old monkey a few times.’ (21) 碰了李缅宁的杯子一下 →钱康碰了一下李缅宁的杯子，一饮而尽。 Pèng le Lǐ Miǎnníng de bēizi yīxià yīxià Lǐ Miǎnníng de bēizi, yīyǐn’érjǐn. ￫ Qián Kāng pèng le Qian Kang clink PFV once Li Mianning GEN glass toss off ‘Qian Kang clinked glasses with Li Mianning and tossed if off.’ (22) ？看了手表一眼 →这回两个妈同时看了一眼手表。 ? Kàn le shǒubiǎo yī yǎn gè mā tóngshí kàn le ￫ Zhèhuí liǎng this time two CL mother at the same time look PFV yī yǎn shǒubiǎo. one CL watch ‘This time both mothers took a look at their watch simultaneously.’ (23) 她看了她一眼，看了灯上的相思豆一眼。 →看了一眼灯上的相思豆 Tā kàn le tā yī yǎn, kàn le dēng shàng de xiāngsīdòu yī yǎn. look PFV lamp on ASS rosary pea one CL ￫kànle yīyǎn dēng shàng de xiāngsīdòu ‘She took a look at her, then at the rosary peas on the lamp.’ A comparison shows that VNM is better at indicating something to be identifiable than VMN. The statistics of the different categories of referential Ns presented in Table 5.2 can show this point clearly. 5.2.2 New information vs. given information 5.2.2.1 From the perspective of information structure, the information conveyed by an identifiable component may be given or new. An investigation of VNM and VMN from this angle shows that the referent of N in VNM is information already mentioned in previous context and that the use of N is to refer back to an already mentioned entity and conveys no new information. Here are some examples. (24) 伊姑娘来了。. . . . . .曹和茅同时看了她一眼。 Yī gūniáng lái le. . . . . . . Cáo hé Máo tóngshí kàn le Yi girl come PFV Cao and Mao at the same time look PFV tā yī yǎn.

Word order 145 Table 5.2 Statistics of referential NPs in VNM and VMN NP

VNM

pronoun proper noun appellation this/that (+ classifier) + noun possessive attributive + noun bare common noun restrictive attributive + noun

VMN

number

%

number

%

195 66 9 4 11 15 12

100.00 81.48 100.00 66.67 52.38 53.57 60.00

0 15 0 2 10 13 8

0.00 18.52 0.00 33.33 47.62 46.43 40.00

her one CL ‘Miss Yi arrived. . . . Cao and Mao gave her a look at the same time.’ (25) 那两位中国留学生正谈怎么请求大使馆抗议骂中国人的电影。马威听 出来，一个姓茅，一个姓曹，. . . . . . 两个人越说越拧葱，越说声音越 高。姓茅的恨不得马上打老曹一顿，. . . . . . Nà those

liǎng two

wèi Zhōngguó CL Chinese

liúxuéshēng zhèng tán zěnme qǐngqiú overseas students

dàshǐguǎn kàngyì mà Zhōngguórén de diànyǐng. Mǎ Wēi tīng chū lái, yīgè xìng Máo, yīgè xìng Cáo,. . . . . . one surname Mao one surname Cao liǎnggè rén yuè shuō yuè nǐng cōng, yuè shuō shēngyīn yuè gāo. Xìng Máo de hènbudé mǎshàng dǎ Lǎo Cáo yīdùn,. . . . . . ‘Those two Chinese overseas students were talking about how to ask the embassy to protest against those films that denounced Chinese people. Ma Wei learned from their talk that one was surnamed Mao and the other Cao. . . . The more they talked, the more divided their opinions and the higher their voices. The one surnamed Mao couldn’t wait to give Cao a beating. . . . ’ (26) “刘四爷，看看我的车！”祥子把新车拉到人和厂去。 刘老爷子看了 车一眼，点了点头，“不离！” “Liú Sìyé, kàn-kàn wǒ de chē!” look-REDUP I GEN rickshaw Xiángzi bǎ xīn chē lā dào Rénhé Chǎng qù. Liú lǎoyézi kàn le chē yī yǎn, diǎn le diǎn tóu, “Bùlí!” Liu old man look PFV rickshaw one CL ‘ “Uncle Liu, have a look at my rickshaw!” Xiangzi pulled the new rickshaw to Renhe Factory. Old man Liu took a look at it, nodding, “Not bad!” ’

146

Focus structure

(27) “妈！妈！你买新帽子啦？”玛力一 进 门 就 看 见 凯萨林 的 蓝草 帽儿 了。. . . . . . “赶明我也跟她学学！”玛力瞪了那个蓝帽子一眼。 “Mā! Mā! Nǐ mǎi xīn màozi la?” Mǎlì yī jìnmén jiù kànjiàn Kǎisàlín de lán cǎomào-er le. . . . . . . see Kaiserin GENblue straw hat aux. “Gǎnmíng wǒ yě gēn tā xuéxue!” Mǎlì dèng le nàgè lán màozi yī yǎn. Marley stare PFV that blue hat one CL ‘ “Mom! Mom! Have you bought a new hat?” Marley saw Kaiserin’s blue straw hat as soon as she came in. . . . . . . “I’ll follow her!” Marley took a hard look at the blue hat.’ (28) BB机在一边“嘀嘀”响，肖科平看都不看那边一眼。 BBjī zài yībiān “dī dī” xiǎng, beeper at one side beep beep ring Xiào Kēpíng kàn dōu bú kàn nà biān yī yǎn. Xiao Keping look even not look that side one CL ‘The Beeper kept beeping on one side, but Xiao Keping wouldn’t bother to take a look at that side.’ In the examples above, (24) and (28) are cases of anaphoric pronouns, (26) is anaphoric repetition, (27) partial anaphoric repetition, and (25) anaphora in a different form, all indicating that N is given information. As mentioned in Section 5.2.1.2, bare common noun and restrictive attributive + noun are not typical forms for identifiable components. After one-by-one examination of these two forms that occur in VNM, we find that they all have antecedents in previous discourse and none expresses new information. 5.2.2.2 Unlike N in VNM, which is always given information, N in VMN is often used to express new information. New information as used here does not mean that the referent of N is brand new to the listener; instead, it means that N is not activated in the listener’s mind before the speaker utters it. Therefore, from the perspective of discourse structure, all Ns in the following examples are new information, but for the speaker and listener’s interpretation of their referents, they are all identifiable. Look at the examples: (29) 昨天傍晚你到哪儿去了？ 我. . . . . .我去了一趟二虎家。 Zuótiān bàngwǎn nǐ dào nǎ-er qù le?

Word order 147 Wǒ. . . . . . wǒ qù le yī tàng Èrhǔ I go PFV one CL Erhu ‘-Where did you go yesterday evening? -I . . . I made a trip to Erhu’s home.’

jiā. home

(30) 你叫公务班来人打扫一下地板，不要有沙子。 Nǐ jiào gōngwù bān lái rén dǎsǎo yīxià you call public affairs squad come person clean once dìbǎn, búyào yǒu shāzi. floor not have sand ‘You go and ask the public affairs squad to send some people over to clean the floor. There should be no sand.’ This can be taken as a unique feature that distinguishes VMN from VNM. In addition, N in VMN can also be given information, as indicated in (31) and (32). (31) 宗二爷仍然余怒未消，但此时却意外的听到了关老爷子的一片惊叹 声. . . . . . 关老爷子瞅了一眼发懵的宗二爷，又说. . . . . . Zōng Èryé réngrán yúnù wèi xiāo, dàn cǐshí què yìwài de tīng dào le Guān lǎoyézi de yīpiàn jīngtàn shēng. . . . . . Guān lǎoyézi chǒu le yī yǎn fāmēng de Zōng Èryé, Guan old man look PFV one CL confused NOM Mr. Zong yòu shuō. . . . . . ‘Mr. Zong was still angry, but this time he accidentally heard Father Guan’s exclamations. . . Father Guan took a glimpse of the confused Mr. Zong, and went on to say. . . ’ (32) 温都太太请了多瑞姑姑来过节，可是始终没有回信。 直到圣诞节早 晨末一次邮递，才得着她的一封简短的信，和一包礼物。 . . . . . .她把女儿叫过来，母女批评了一回多瑞姑姑的礼物。 Wēndū tàitài qǐng le Duōruì gūgu lái guòjié, kěshì shǐzhōng méiyǒu huíxìn. Zhídào Shèngdànjié zǎochén mò yīcì yóudì, cái dézháo tā de yī fēng jiǎnduǎn de xìn, hé yī bāo lǐwù. . . . . . . Tā bǎ nǚ’ér jiào guòlái, mǔ nǚ pīpíng le yī huí Duōruì gūgu de lǐwù. mother daughter criticize PFV one CL Dory aunt GEN gift ‘Ms. Undu had invited aunt Dory to come over for the festivals, but got no reply whatsoever. It was not until the last mail delivery on Christmas morning that she got a brief letter from her, as well as a pack of gifts.

148

Focus structure . . . She called her daughter over, criticizing aunt Dory’s gifts for a while.’

Similar cases can in general be rewritten in the VNM order. 5.2.3 Length of nominal components Length here has a double meaning: the actual number of syllables and the complexity of syntactic structure. The longer N is, the harder it is for it to enter VNM. Table 5.3 is the statistics involving 397 cases. As can be seen from Table 5.3, VMN and VNM have almost the same capacity for taking N of one to three syllables; when N is longer than four syllables, VMN gains clear advantage over VNM. Here are some examples. (33) “回家！”被称为“白公子”的白思弘抬起腕子瞄了一眼亮晶晶的“西铁城”。 “Huíjiā!” Bèi chēngwèi “Bái Gōngzǐ” de Bái Sīhóng tái qǐ wànzi miáo le yī yǎn liàngjīngjīng de “Xītiěchéng”. look PFV one CL sparkling ASS Citizen ‘ “Go home!” Bai Sihong, known as Son of the Bais, raised his wrist and took a look at his sparkling Citizen watch.’ (34) 侍者看了一眼新来的这个男的，又瞟了眼这位坐了一天的先生，蓦地 把腿往后一拿，恭敬退下。 Shìzhě kàn le yī yǎn xīn waiter look PFV one CL newly zhège nán de, this male NOM yòu piǎo le yǎn zhèwèi zuò le again glance PFV CL this sit PFV xiānshēng, man mòde bǎ tuǐ wǎng hòu yī ná, gōngjìng tuì xià.

lái come

de NOM

yītiān one day

de NOM

Table 5.3 Length of N in VMN and VNM Number of syllables

1 2~3 4~6 7~8 9~11

VMN

VNM

number

%

number

%

25 68 5 5 3

21.55 58.62 12.93 4.31 2.59

162 109 9 1 0

57.65 38.79 3.20 0.36 0.00

Word order 149 ‘The waiter glanced at the newly arrived man, then at the man who had been sitting the whole day. Abruptly he moved his legs backward and retreated respectfully.’ (35) 我瞄了一眼桌上几盒装潢精美的点心。 Wǒ miáo I glance jīngměi de delicate NOM

le yī PFV one diǎnxīn. desserts

yǎn CL

zhuō shàng jǐ hé zhuānghuáng table on several box decoration

‘I took a glance at a few boxes of beautifully decorated desserts on the table.’ (36) 肖科平用匙搅和咖啡，回头瞟了一眼她那个正在弹琴的同事。 Xiāo Kēpíng yòng shí jiǎohuo kāfēi, huítóu piǎo le yī yǎn tā nàgè zhèngzài tánqín de tóngshì. glance aux. one CL she that DUR play NOM colleague ‘Stirring the coffee with the spoon, Xiao Keping turned around and threw a glance at the colleague who was playing (the piano).’ (37) 我保证不会退出，女人说，而且只要我不想退出谁想退也退不出，女 人看了那两个男人一眼。 Wǒ bǎozhèng bú huì tuìchū, nǚrén shuō, érqiě zhǐyào wǒ bùxiǎng tuìchū shéi xiǎng tuì yě tuì bù chū, nǚrén kàn le nà liǎng gè nánrén yī yǎn. woman look PFV those two CL men one CL ‘I promise I won’t quit, the woman said, and as long as I do not want to quit no one can quit. The woman took a look at the two men.’ (38) “讨厌。”林蓓白了已远远而去的马青一眼，回头笑着。 “Tǎoyàn.” Lín Bèi Lin Bei de Mǎ NOM Ma

bái glare Qīng Qing

le PFV yī one

yǐ yuǎn-yuǎn ér qù already far-REDUP aux. go yǎn, huítóu xiào zhe. CL

‘ “Nasty,” Lin Bei threw a dirty look at the already far-off Ma Qing and turned back with a smile.’ In the examples we have collected, N in VMN, if taking the form of attributive+head, can have as many as five layers of makeup, such as “桌上几盒装潢精美的点 心” in (35) and “她那个正在弹琴的同事” in (36). In VNM, N can have up to four layers, such as “已远远而去的马青” in (38), but this is very rare in speech. Therefore, in comparison with VNM, VMN is better at accommodating longer Ns, be it phonologically or syntactically. To sum up, the referentiality of N and the information it conveys constitute the major factors determining which format (VMN or VNM) to use. Our observation can be summarized as follows:

150

Focus structure Non-referential-VMN Non-identifiable-0

N Referential

New information-VMN

Identifiable Given information-VNM

Figure 5.1 Referentiality of N

The results not only explain why pronouns and some common nouns that have pronominal use (such as “对方” (duìfāng, ‘the other party’)) cannot be used in VMN, but also show why some collective nouns and person-indicating abstract nouns (such as the underlined parts in 发展过一次党员(‘party member’) and 踢 过几次中锋(‘center’)) can only be used in VMN, rather than in VNM.

5.3 Expressive functions of VMN and VNM 5.3.1 Realis vs. irrealis 5.3.1.1 To begin with, look at two sets of examples: A

这星期我去了三趟天津 zhèi this

xīngqí week

wǒ I

qù le sāntàng go PFV three times V M ‘I’ve been to Tianjin three times this week.’ 我劝过好几回老张，. . . . . .

Tiānjīn Tianjin N

wǒ I

quàn guò hǎojǐhuí Lǎo Zhāng,. . . . . . persuade EXP quite a few times old Zhang V M N ‘I’ve tried to persuade Zhang quite a few times.’ 他瞪了一眼老头子(，一扭脸走了) tā he

dèng le yī yǎn lǎotóuzi (, yī niǔ liǎn zǒu le) glare PFV once old man V M N ‘He threw an angry look at the old man, (turned and left.)’ B

这星期我去天津三趟 zhè xīngqí wǒ qù V

Tiānjīn N

sāntàng M

Word order 151 我劝老张好几回，. . . . . . wǒ quàn V

Lǎo Zhāng N

hǎojǐhuí,. . . . . . M

他瞪老头子一眼(，一扭脸走了) tā

dèng V

lǎotóuzi N

yīyǎn (, yī niǔ liǎn zǒule) M

Group A is VMN, and Group B is VNM. Irrespective of the difference in word order, both groups express realis events. Group A uses “了／过” (perfective and experiential aspect marker respectively), but Group B does not. If “了／过” is omitted, the sentences in Group A will no longer express realis, or would simply be unacceptable. In contrast, VNM can express realis without auxiliaries (or adverbs). Table 5.4 is the statistics of 281 cases of VNM. There are three questions worth exploring here: 1) Since VNM without “ 了／过” sometimes expresses realis events and other times irrealis events, the question then is: under what circumstances does VNM express realis or irrealis events? 2) When VNM expresses realis events, sometimes “了／过” will occur while other times it will not, so what is the law governing its occurrence or non-occurrence? 3) What have caused the differences as mentioned above? 5.3.1.2 Through investigation we find that when it expresses irrealis events, VNM is either preceded by some lexical clues or used in imperative or exhortative sentences. The lexical clues for irrealis events mainly include the following subtypes:

1. Auxiliary verbs (39) 你要是真要找她我倒是可以告她一声。 Nǐ you

yàoshi zhēn yào zhǎo tā wǒ dǎoshì if really want find her I actually yī shēng. one CL ‘If you really want to find her, I may as well let her know.’

kěyǐ may

gào tā tell her

(40) 看来真得揍那小子一顿。 Table 5.4 Realis vs. irrealis in VNM Realis with “了／过”

without “了／过”

162

74

Irrealis (without “了／过”) 45

152

Focus structure Kànlái zhēn děi zòu nà xiǎozi it seems really have to beat that man ‘It seems that we’ll have to beat that man up.’

yī one

dùn. CL

(41) 李先生非常的痛快，颇想夸奖他们父子一顿，可是只说了一句：“十 月初二娶。” Lǐ Li

Xiānshēng fēicháng de tòngkuài, pō xiǎng mister very aux. happy very want kuājiǎng praise tāmen fùzǐ yī dùn, kěshì zhǐ shuō they father and son one CL but only say le yī jù: PFV one line “Shíyuè chū’èr qǔ.” October 2nd day marry ‘Feeling very happy, Mr. Li really wanted to praise the father and son, but came up with only one line, “The wedding is fixed on Oct. 2nd.” ’ (42) 既然不肯打你媳妇一顿，那就只有依着她的主意办了。 Jìrán bù kěn dǎ nǐ xífù yī dùn, since not willing beat your wife one CL nà jiù zhǐyǒu yī zhe tā de zhúyi bàn le. then just only follow aux. she GEN idea do aux. ‘Since you’re not willing to beat your wife, you’ll have to follow her idea.’

2. Causative verbs (43) 我想叫儿子揍张二一顿。 Wǒ xiǎng jiào érzi zòu Zhāng Èr I want let son beat Zhang Er ‘I want to let my son beat Zhang Er up.’

yī one

dùn. CL

(44) 他告诉我在电话里他什么也不能说，让我明天一早去他家一趟。 Tā he

gàosù wǒ zài diànhuà lǐ tā shénme yě tell me in phone inside he what too bùnéng shuō, cannot say ràng wǒ míngtiān yīzǎo qù tā jiā yī tàng. let me tomorrow morning go he home one CL ‘He told me that he could say nothing over the phone, so he asked me to go to his home tomorrow morning.’

Word order 153

3. “来／去” (lái／qù, ‘come/go’) (45) 我去告诉太太一声。 Wǒ qù gàosù tàitài yī I go tell mistress one ‘Let me report it to mistress.’

shēng. CL

(46) 你来找经理一趟倒是没什么，就是别动不动就跟人家吵得脸红脖子粗 的。 Nǐ lái zhǎo jīnglǐ yī tàng dǎoshì méishénme, you come find manager one CL actually not matter jiùshì bié dòngbudòng jiù gēn rénjiā chǎo de liǎnhóng bózi cū de. ‘It doesn’t matter much for you to come and find the manage, but don’t quarrel and flush with fury so easily.’

4. Future-indicating expressions (47) 明天去学校一趟，把东西拿回来。 Míngtiān qù xuéxiào yī tàng, bǎ dōngxī ná huílái. tomorrow go school one CL ‘Go to school tomorrow and get the stuff back.’ (48) 下礼拜看人家一趟，好歹的给买点东西送去。 Xià lǐbài kàn rénjiā yì tàng, hǎodǎi de gěi mǎi diǎn dōngxī sòng qù. next week visit other one CL ‘Pay him a visit next week and in any case send something over.’

5. Adverbs such as “再／先” (zài／xiān, ‘again/first’) (49) 再问小王一声，看她拿定主意没有。 Zài wèn Xiǎo Wáng yī shēng, kàn tā nádìngzhúyi méiyǒu. again ask Wang one CL see she make up one’s mind not ‘Ask Wang again and see if she’s made up her mind.’

(50) 先教训这家伙一顿，不怕他以后不听咱们的。 Xiān jiàoxùn zhè jiāhuo yī dùn, búpà tā yǐhòu bù tīng zánmen de. first teach this guy one CL ‘Teach the guy a lesson now and he’ll listen to us in the future.’

6. Supposition-indicating clauses that host VNM (51) 丈夫设若揍她一顿给杨老婆听，那可不好消化。

154

Focus structure Zhàngfū shèruò zòu tā yī dùn gěi Yáng lǎopó tīng, husband if beat her one CL give Yang granny listen nà kě bù hǎo xiāohuà. ‘Should her husband beat her for granny Yang to hear, it would be hard to bear.’

(52) 我告诉你李缅宁，你要动我一下，我今天就跟你拼命或者从二楼跳下 去，就说是你推的。 Wǒ gàosù nǐ Lǐ Miǎnníng,

nǐ yào dòng wǒ yī xià, you if beat me one CL wǒ jīntiān jiù gēn nǐ pīnmìng huòzhě cóng èrlóu tiào xiàqù, jiù shuō shì nǐ tuī de. ‘Mind you, Li Mianning, should you dare to beat me a single strike, I’ll risk my life fighting you, or jump down from the second floor and say you push me.’ In sentences that express imperativeness or exhortation, VNM is used to indicate irrealis events, as in (53) and (54). (53) 你还是去交通队一趟，警察说什么你就听着，别自尊心那么强。 Nǐ háishì qù jiāotōngduì yī tàng, you had better go traffic police brigade one CL jǐngchá shuō shénme nǐ jiù tīng zhe, bié zìzūnxīn nàme qiáng. ‘You’d better go to the Traffic Police Brigade. Whatever the police say, you just listen. Don’t have too much self-respect.’ (54) 你送爸爸一趟吧。 Nǐ sòng bàba yī you see off father one ‘Please see father off.’

tàng CL

ba. SFP

5.3.1.3 Although there are some constraints for VNM to express irrealis events, it is quite flexible for VNM to express realis events. (55) 玛力姑娘劝她母亲好几回，不叫老马带狗出去。 Mǎlì gūniang quàn tā mǔqīn hǎo jǐ huí, Marley girl persuade her mother quite a few times bù jiào Lǎo Mǎ dài gǒu chūqù. ‘Marley had talked to her mother quite a few times, asking her not to let Ma take the dog out.’ (56) 少女斜马青一眼，嫣然一笑，走了。 Shàonǚ xié Mǎ Qīng yī yǎn, yānrán yīxiào, zǒu le. young girl glance Ma Qing one CL ‘The young girl threw a glance at Ma Qing, smiled a sweet smile and left.’

Word order 155 In these two examples, there is no “了／过” to follow the verb, but the events expressed are realis with no doubt. If followed by “了／过”, the meaning remains unchanged, as in (55’) and (56’). (55’) 玛力姑娘劝了／过她母亲好几回，不叫老马带狗出去。 (56’) 少女斜了马青一眼，嫣然一笑，走了。 5.3.2 Occurrence vs. non-occurrence of “了／过” 5.3.2.1 Occurrence of “了／过” in VNM in expressing realis events seems to be contingent. But according to our observation, it is sensitive to many factors. “了／过” tends to occur in the following cases: 1 When V has a relatively long modifier, whereas there is nothing to follow M, as in (57) to (59). (57) 不幸的女哲学家用她丈夫赶羊的鞭子抽了她丈夫几下。 Bùxìng de nǚ zhéxuéjiā yòng tā unfortunate ASS female philosopher use her zhàngfū gǎn yáng husband herd sheep de biānzi chōu le tā zhàngfū NOM whip slash PFV her husband jǐ xià. several CL ‘The unfortunate female philosopher slashed her husband several times with the whip that he used to herd the sheep.’ (58) 三个人打在一团，七手八脚的又踩了二强嫂几下。 Sān gèrén dǎ zài yī tuán, qīshǒubājiǎo de yòu cǎi le Èrqiáng sǎo jǐ xià. all confusion aux. again step PFV Erqiang wife several CL ‘The three fought together. In all confusion, they stepped Erqiqang’s wife several times.’ (59) 那位文人第二天在报纸上臭骂了中国使馆一顿。 Nàwèi that shàng on Zhōngguó Chinese

wénrén scholar chòu roundly Shǐguǎn Embassy

dì’èrtiān the second day mà curse yī one

zài bàozhǐ in newspaper le PFV dùn. CL

156

Focus structure Nàwèi wénrén dì’èrtiān zài bàozhǐ ‘The scholar roundly cursed the Chinese Embassy in the newspaper the second day.’

In the three cases above, it is a must for “了” to occur. However, when there is a follow-up clause, whether “了” shows up or not will depend on the length and complexity of the modifier of V in VNM. (60) 他从眼镜框上面瞅了她一眼，把“确”字说得特别清楚有力。 Tā cóng yǎnjìng kuāng shàngmiàn chǒu le tā yī yǎn, he from glasses frame above look PFV her one CL bǎ “què” zì shuō de tèbié qīngchǔ yǒulì. ‘He looked at her from above the frame of his glasses, uttering the word “really” particularly clear and powerful.’ (61) 马威. . . . . .在伊牧师后面瞪了她一眼，并没有行礼。 Mǎ Wēi. . . . . . zài Yī mùshī hòumiàn dèng le tā yī yǎn, Ma Wei at pastor back stare PFV him one CL bìng méiyǒu xínglǐ. ‘Ma Wei . . . threw an angry look at her from behind the Pastor, making no salute.’ (62) 老者又细细看了祥子一番，觉得他不是个匪类。 Lǎozhě yòu xìxì kàn le Xiángzi yī fān, old man again carefully look PFV Xiangzi one CL juédé tā bùshì gè fěilèi. ‘The old man looked at Xiangzi carefully, thinking that he was not a bandit.’ (63) 她恶狠狠的瞪了他一眼，顶着那头烂棉花走了。 Tā èhěnhěn de dèng le tā yī yǎn, she fiercely aux. stare PFV him one CL dǐng zhe nà tóu làn miánhuā zǒu le. ‘She gave him a fierce look and left, her hair looking like a cloud of rotten cotton.’ (64) 大胖子狠狠瞪他一眼，打起官腔对我们说. . . . . . Dà pàngzi hěnhěn dèng tā yī yǎn, big fat man fiercely stare him one CL dǎ qǐ guānqiāng duì wǒmen shuō. . . . . . ‘The big fat man stared at him fiercely and said to us bureaucratically. . . . . . ’ (65) 疯老汉不信任地瞪她一眼，顺着山道蹒跚而走。 Fēng crazy

lǎohàn bù old man not

xìnrèn trust

shùnzhe shāndào pánshān ér zǒu.

de aux.

dèng stare

tā her

yī one

yǎn, CL

Word order 157 ‘The crazy old man took a distrustful look at her, and staggered away along the mountain path.’ (66) 那女人又看我一眼，冷冰冰的。 Nà nǚrén yòu kàn wǒ yī yǎn, lěngbīngbīng de. that woman again look me one CL ‘The woman looked at me again, very coldly.’ It is very unlikely for “了” to be omitted in (60) to (62); it seems optional in (63); when it comes to (64) to (66), it is simply not used. 2. When VNM is the latter part of a serial verbal construction, as in (67) to (69). (67) 马威的脸红了，斜着眼瞪了李子荣一下。 Mǎ wēi de liǎn hóng le, xié slant

zhe aux.

yǎn eye

dèng stare

Lǐ Zǐróng Li Zirong

le PFV

yī one

xià. CL

‘Ma Wei blushed, and took a slant look at Li Zirong.’ (68) 伊牧师用小黄眼珠绕着弯儿看了老马一眼，. . . . . . Yī Yi kàn look

mùshī pastor le PFV

yòng use Lǎo Mǎ old Ma

xiǎo small yī one

huáng yellow yǎn,. . . . . . CL

yǎnzhū eyeball

rào zhe wān-er wind aux. bend

‘Pastor, using his small yellow eyes, looked a bent look at Old Ma, . . . . . . ’ (69) 我到家里找过她几次，不管我什么时候去，她都不在家。 wǒ dào jiālǐ zhǎo guò tā jǐ cì, I go to home look for EXP her several time bùguǎn wǒ shénme shíhòu qù, tā dōu bù zàijiā. ‘I’ve been to her home to look for her several times, but whenever I went, she was not in.’ 3. When the nominal object of V is rather long, as in (70) and (71). (70) 她瞥了那张票一眼，继续做题。 Tā piē le nà zhāng piào yī yǎn, jìxù zuò tí. she glance PFV that CL ticket one CL ‘She threw a glance at the ticket and continued to answer the questions.’ (71) 她看了他一眼，看了灯上的相思豆一眼。 Tā kàn le tā yī yǎn,

158

Focus structure kàn le dēng shàng de xiāngsīdòu yī yǎn. see PFV lamp on ASS rosary pea one CL ‘She took a look at him, and a look at the rosary peas on the lamp.’

In all the cases of VNM that we have collected, V is invariantly followed by “了／ 过” if N takes the configuration of modifier+head. 5.3.2.2 It seems very hard to pin down mandatory conditions for “了／过” not to occur when VNM expresses realis events. From the data collected, we can only see a general tendency. According to our observation, subject shift has some impact on the occurrence or non-occurrence of “了／过”. If the subject of the clause that follows the one that hosts VNM shifts to a different entity, “了” usually does not occur, for the purpose of mood coherence. (72) 司徒聪看我一眼，我全神贯注着窗外。 Sītú Cōng kàn wǒ yī yǎn, Situ Cong look me one CL wǒ quánshénguànzhù zhe chuāngwài. I concentrate DUR outside the window ‘Situ Cong took a look at me, and I concentrated on things outside the window.’ (73) 谭丽笑着瞟大胡子一眼，大胡子正跟冷柿子说笑，. . . . . . Tán Lì xiào zhe piǎo Dà Húzi yī yǎn, Tan Li smile DUR glance Big Beard one CL Dà Húzi zhèng gēn Lěng Shìzi shuōxiào, . . . . . . Big Beard DUR with Cold Persimmon chat and laugh ‘Tan Li took a smiling look at Big Beard, who was chatting and laughing with Cold Persimmon, . . . ’ When VNM is inserted in the middle of two stretches of reported speech, “了” is more often than not missing in order to maintain coherence in mood, as illustrated in (74) and (75). (74) “贱！”安佳白我一眼，“你这叫贱！” “Jiàn!”

Ān Jiā bái wǒ yī yǎn,“Nǐ zhè jiào jiàn!” An Jia glance me one CL ‘ “Cheap!” An Jia gave me a glance, “You’re being cheap!” ’

(75) “是么？”石静笑着仰头看我一眼，“回头我找他谈谈， 看是不是真有 这回事。”

Word order 159 “Shì me?” Shí Jìng xiào zhe yǎng tóu kàn wǒ yī yǎn, Shi Jing smile DUR look up head look me one CL “Huítóu wǒ zhǎo tā tántan, kàn shìbushì zhēn yǒu zhè huí shì.” ‘ “Is it?” Shi Jing looked up at me, smiling, “I’ll talk to him to see if it is really the case.” ’ We have found 82 cases of VNM that express realis without using “了／过”, and the proportion of those closing up a sentence is not large (see Table 5.5). Statistics show that VNM is already more and more inclined to use “了／过” in expressing realis events when occurring in the final part of the sentence. 5.3.3 As mentioned above, VNM is always marked with some lexical clues when expressing an irrealis event, and VMN tends to have “了／过” to express a realis event (see Section 5.3.2.1). Then the question is: are there any other means for VMN to express realis? According to our study, VMN can express a realis event if it takes the configuration of V+resultative complement, such as (76) to (78). (76) 我在医院遇见三次小王。 Wǒ zài yīyuàn yùjiàn sān cì I in hospital meet three time ‘I met Wang three times in the hospital.’

Xiǎo Wáng. Wang

(77) 今年这家伙做成两次买卖。 Jīnnián zhèi jiāhuo zuò chéng this year this guy do successful ‘This guy concluded two deals this year.’

liǎng two

cì time

mǎimài. deal

(78) 你是弄着几次球票，可也犯不上这么牛气啊。 Nǐ shì nòng zháo jǐ you indeed get aux. several kě yě fànbushàng zhème niúqi a.

cì time

qiú ball

piào, ticket

Table 5.5 Distribution of realis VNM without “了／过”

Lao She’s works contemporary works

with a forthcoming clause

as­the­sentence-­final­clause

frequency counts

%

frequency counts

%

11 46

47.83 77.97

12 13

52.17 22.03

160

Focus structure ‘Indeed you’ve managed to get tickets for a couple of times, but you don’t have to be so arrogant, ah.’

Since V+resultative complement expresses a sense of completion and constitutes a relatively closed class, it may as well be taken as a clue to realis events. To sum up, VMN differs dramatically from VNM in expressive function: VNM can express realis events without recourse to other grammatical means, while VMN tends to resort to “了／过” for the same purpose if V is not telic. In other words, VNM is the marked pattern and VMN is the unmarked for this purpose. The reason for the difference may be as follows: the construction of VNM provides the possibility of tense expression. VMN can be parsed as V/MN, where M is not a component attached to V but something preceding N2; VNM, by contrast, is VN/M, where M is a component attached to VN. As Lü Shuxiang (1956) points out, the verbal classifier involves on one hand the concept of “quantity” and on the other the concept of “time”. We therefore propose that M in VNM expresses both quantity and tense/aspect while M in VMN is a modifier of N, conveying no temporal/aspectual meaning.

5.4 Evolution of VNM and VMN over the past half century A comparison of VMN and VNM in Lao She’s works in the 1920s and 1930s and in the works of contemporary writers shows that there have been no small changes in the use of the two formats in the past half century. The changes are mainly reflected in the following aspects. 5.4.1 The frequency of use of VMN is on the increase, with N occurring in enriched forms We have compared the novels of contemporary Beijing writer Wang Shuo with those of Lao She written in the 1920s and 1930s, and find that the frequency of use of VMN has greatly increased. On the other hand, N in VMN is no longer limited to bare nouns; there is a dramatic increase in the percentage of Ns in VNM that take the form of pronouns. As can be seen from Table 5.7, proper nouns have evolved from entering VNM only to entering both formats; the frequency of use of modifier+head declines in VNM but increases in VMN, which means that syntactically more complex, multisyllabic components have become more active in VMN. Given the greater capacity for VMN to accommodate long nominals, modifier+head is more often used in VMN. In the examples we have collected, there is only one case of modifier+head entering VMN in Lao She’s works, where N has seven syllables structured in two layers; in contemporary works, N of modifier+head construction can have as many as 11 syllables structured in five layers (see Section 5.2.3).

Word order 161 Table 5.6 VMN and VNM in Lao She and Wang Shuo’s works Lao She’s works

VMN VNM

Wang Shuo’s works

number

%

number

%

18 138

11.54 88.46

54 91

37.24 62.76

Table 5.7 Lexical form of N in VMN and VNM in works of different times Lao She’s works

proper noun pronoun bare noun modifier+head

Contemporary works

VMN

VNM

VMN

VNM

number %

number %

number %

number %

14 0 54 20

23 12 18 7

0 0 17 1

0.00 37 0.00 73 94.44 18 5.56 11

26.62 52.52 12.95 7.91

15.91 0.00 61.36 22.73

13.69 71.43 10.71 4.17

5.4.2  Enhanced combining ability on the part of VMN In Lao She’s works of the 1920s and 1930s, VNM is much stronger than VMN in combining with other components. In addition to functioning independently as the predicate, it can also be used as the latter part in a serial verb construction, the object of verbs that take verbal objects (example 82), the subject of subject+predicate sentences (example 81), as well as the attributive when followed by “的” (example 82). (79) 马威回头看了李子荣一眼. . . . . . Mǎ Wēi huítóu kàn le Lǐ Zǐróng Ma Wei turn head look PFV Li Zirong ‘Ma Wei looked back at Li Zirong. . . . . . ’

yī one

yǎn. . . . . . CL

(80) 我打算在暑假放学之前至少见博士一面。 Wǒ I

dǎsuàn plan

zài at

shǔjià summer vacation

fàngxué zhīqián leave school before

zhìshǎo at least

jiàn bóshì yī miàn. see doctor one CL ‘I intend to see the doctor at least once before school is closed for the summer vacation.’

162

Focus structure

(81) 动手打我一顿倒没有什么。 Dòngshǒu dǎ wǒ yī dùn dào hit out hit me one CL aux. ‘It doesn’t matter if you beat me up.’

méiyǒu not have

shénme. what

(82) 老王很有揍我一顿的意思。 Lǎo Wáng hěn yǒu zòu wǒ yī old Wang very have hit me one ‘Wang wants very much to beat me up.’

dùn CL

yìsi. meaning

de NOM

In contrast, VMN is generally used as predicate only. The following can be taken as a rather complex example already. (83) 军官非常赞同我的话，告诉我他已上过二十多次医院。 Jūnguān fēicháng zàntóng wǒ de huà, gàosù wǒ tā yǐ shàng guò èrshí duō cì yīyuàn. tell me he already go EXP twenty over time hospital ‘The officer completely agreed with me, telling me that he had been to the hospital for more than twenty times.’ In comparison with Lao She’s works, VMN is much more active in contemporary works. It can not only function as the object of some verbs and the attributive when followed by “的”, it can even follow a preposition to function as its object. (84) 我准备犯一次决策性错误，总比守成好。 Wǒ zhǔnbèi fàn I plan make zǒng bǐ shǒuchéng always comp. safeguard the heritage ‘I’m ready to make a decisive mistake, guarding the heritage.’

yī cì juécèxìng cuòwù, one time decisive mistake hǎo. good which would be better than safe-

(85) 睡不着了，非用个什么事儿充实一下内心不可。 Shuìbùzháo le, fēi yòng gè shénme shì-er can’t sleep CRS must use CL what thing chōngshí yī xià nèixīn bùkě. enrich one CL heart cannot ‘I can no longer sleep. I must find something to enrich my heart.’ (86) 当兵九年，除进一次北京，没离开过部队。 Dāngbīng be a soldier

jiǔ nine

nián, year

chú except

jìn enter

yī one

cì time

Běijīng, Beijing

Word order 163 méi not

líkāi leave

guò EXP

bùduì. troop

‘I’ve been a soldier for nine years already. Except one trip to Beijing, I’ve never left the troops.’ (87) 人们在爬过一趟长城、游过一圈西湖、逛过一次桂林山水以后，很少 有返回头再来的。 Rénmen zài pá guò yī tàng Chángchéng, yóu guò yī people in climb EXP one CL Great Wall visit EXP one quān Xīhú, guàng guò yī cì Guìlín shānshuǐ yǐhòu, CL West Lake visit EXP one time Guilin landscape afterwards hěn shǎo yǒu fǎnhuítóu zài lái de. ‘After making a trip to the Great Wall, the West Lake and Guilin landscape, very few would come back for another trip.’ 5.4.3  More flexible location for borrowed classifiers In Lao She’s works of the 1920s and 1930s, we find no cases of numeral+borrowed classifier placed before N. In contemporary works, on the contrary, such cases are far from uncommon. (88) 她极为平静地望了一眼远方殷蓝的苍穹，转身离开阳台。 Tā she de ASS

jíwéi píngjìng de wàng le yī yǎn yuǎnfāng very calmly aux. look PFV one CL distance yīnlán very blue cāngqióng, zhuǎnshēn líkāi yángtái. sky

‘Taking a very calm look at the far-off blue sky, she turned round and left the balcony.’ (89) 我记得我摸过几手非常漂亮的无将牌。 Wǒ jìdé wǒ mō guò jǐ shǒu fēicháng piāoliàng I remember I touch EXP several CL very pretty de wújiàngpái. ASS cards without a trump suit ‘I remember I’ve played a few hands of very pretty cards without a trump suit.’ We have examined the different phases of development of VMN and VNM in modern Chinese from several aspects. Overall, the development of VMN represents the mainstream of changes. Compared with its use in the 1920s and 1930s, VMN has seen an increase in frequency of use, combining capacity and scope

164

Focus structure

of use, which is in line with the historical development trend of the two formats. Scholars of Chinese language history have shown that VNM first appeared in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, when VMN was yet to be seen.3 As a later emerged format, VMN has become increasingly active in recent decades, which attests to the fact that VMN is in a process of further development.4

Notes 1 Xu Shu (1985a) points out that person-referring nouns tend to be postpositioned. 2 See Zhu Dexi’s Questions and Answers in Grammar 《语法答问》 ( ) for related discussion. 3 See Liu Shiru (1959a). The earliest example of VMN that we have seen is “者个子好与 一顿棒且放过”(The Ancestral Hall 3.46, as quoted in Ooto Tatsuo’s A Historical Study of Chinese Language 《汉语史通考》 ( , p.119): Zhě gè zǐ hǎo yǔ yī dùn bàng qiě fangguò this CL person good give one CL stick for the moment let off ‘It would be better to beat the man up and let him off for the moment.’ We find another example from Five Lanterns (Zhonghua Book Company, 1984):

为子说一上佛法 Wèi zǐ shuō yī shàng fófǎ for you preach one CL Buddha Dharma ‘preach a sermon about Buddha Dharma for you’ According to Yuan Bin (1986), “一上” means “一场, 一番”(yī chǎng, yī fān; ‘round’). As a matter of fact, VNM is used throughout Five Lanterns for similar purposes. 4 According to Ooto Tatsuo’s A Historical Study of Chinese Language 《汉语史通考》 ( ), in The Legend of Heroes 《儿女英雄传》 ( ), it is “extremely rare for the numeral to be omitted when the verbal classifier precedes the object and functions as the complement of the verb” (Ooto Tatsuo, 1991, p.237), and in Xiao’e 《小额》 ( ), a novel of late Qing and early Republic of China, “the numeral can be omitted when the verbal classifier precedes the object as the complement” (Ooto Tatsuo, 1991, p.281).

Sources of example sentences Wang Shuo (王朔): a. Playing for thrills (玩的就是心跳), Writers Publishing House, 1989. b. Selected works of Wang Shuo’s humorous novels (王朔谐趣小说选), Writers Publishing House, 1991. c. No One Cheers (无人喝彩), Contemporary era 《当代》 ( ), 1991, Vol. 4.

Lao She (老舍): a. Camel Xiangzi (骆驼祥子), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1981. b. Mr. Ma and Son (二马), Collected works of Lao She (I) (老舍文集(一)), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1980.

Word order 165 c. Collected works of Lao She (VIII) (老舍文集(八)), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1985.

Zhang Xianliang (张贤亮): a. Half of men are women (男人的一半是女人), China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Company, 1985. b. Li Zhun (李准), Liu Suola (刘索拉), et al. : c. Selected Novella of 1985 (I, II) (1985中篇小说选(1、2)), People’s Literature Publishing House, 1986.

6

Means for contrastive focus representation

6.1 Contrastive focus vs. normal focus 6.1.1  Definitions The focus of a sentence is where the semantic focus lies. Because information organization in a sentence often follows the principle from the given to the new, the final component is usually referred to as the end focus, which we will call the normal focus. On the other hand, if a component is not used to introduce new information, but to give emphasis to something that is already available in the context or situation of discourse for contrastive purposes, the component is called the contrastive focus.1 The contrasted can be an already mentioned entity, an actual existence in the speech situation, or something identifiable by the speaker and the listener. In the dialogue below the underlined parts are the contrastive focuses: (1) “谁请客，你吗？” “我哪儿请得起，宝康请。” “他请？他为什么请？” “你不知道我们就更不知道了，我们是沾你的光。” “沾我的光？我跟他也没什么关系。” “Shuí who “Wǒ I “Tā he “Nǐ you wǒmen we

qǐngkè， treat guests nǎ-er where qǐng？ treat bú not shì be

nǐ you qǐngdeqǐ， able to treat Tā he zhīdào know zhān benefit

ma？” SFP Bǎokāng Baokang wèishénme why wǒmen we nǐ you

qǐng.” treat qǐng?” invite jiù aux.

gèng still de GEN

bú not

zhīdào le， know CRS guāng.” association

Means for contrastive focus representation 167 “Zhān wǒ de guāng? Wǒ gēn benefit I GEN association I with tā yě méi shénme guānxì.” he too not what relation ‘ “Who’s giving the treat? Is that you?” “How can I manage that? It’s on Baokang.” “Baokang? Why is it on him?” “If you don’t know, how should we know? We’re benefiting from association with you.” “With me? I’ve nothing to do with him.” ’ The fundamental difference between normal and contrastive focus lies in their respective presupposition. The so-called presupposition, in general terms, is the shared and recognized premise by both the speaker and the listener. If the sentential presupposition is “X exists”, then the whole sentence is to predicate on this X. And in this case the focus component is presentational and belongs to the category of normal focus. If the speaker presupposes the listener to take something as B while in fact it is A, then the speaker’s purpose of producing the sentence is to make it clear that “it is A rather than B”. On such occasions, the focus component is contrastive by nature and falls under the category of contrastive focus. In Chinese, there are usually two positions for the interrogative word in wh-questions: before or after the verb. We believe that the essential difference between them lies in the nature of their respective presupposition and focus. Compare (2) and (3): (2) 王朔是谁？ Wáng Shuò shì shuí？ Wang Shuo be who ‘What’s Wang Shuo?’ (3) 谁是王朔？ Shuí shì Wáng Shuò？ who be Wang Shuo? ‘Who is Wang Shuo?’ When hearing people talking about “Wang Shuo”, the listener will use (2) to ask for clarification of the identity of “Wang Shuo” if he has no knowledge of him. Thus in (2), the question focus is also the normal focus. If the speaker knows that “Wang Shuo” is a writer and that “Wang Shuo” is present, but he cannot tell which one is Wang Shuo, he will use (3) rather than (2), because “谁是王朔？” is equivalent to “哪个人是王朔？”(nǎgè rén shì Wáng Shuò, ‘Which one is Wang Shuo?’), and requires an identifying sentence to match it. In contrast, “王朔是谁？” means “what is Wang Shuo?”, requiring an answer giving the person’s attributes. Only the focus of an identifying sentence constitutes contrastive focus.

168

Focus structure

6.1.2 Two sets of wh-questions corresponding to normal and contrastive focuses From the above analysis, it can be seen that the sentence in answer to a whoquestion can be either a descriptive sentence or an identifying sentence: 王朔是谁？=王朔是什么人？ Wáng Shuò shì shuí？= Wáng Shuò shì shénme rén？(‘What’s Wang Shuo?’) 谁是王朔？=哪个人是王朔？ Shuí shì Wáng Shuò？= Nǎ gè rén shì Wáng Shuò？(‘Which person is Wang Shuo?’) Unlike who-questions, the answer to a “哪(个)+N” (‘which+N’) question can only be an identifying sentence. In other words the answer to the question domain of a which-question is definitely a contrastive focus. Whether the answer to the question domain of a who-question is contrastive or not, however, will depend on where the question word occurs in the question: if the question word “谁” precedes the verb, the focus is contrastive; if “谁” follows the verb, the focus is non-contrastive. The comparative analysis above reveals another phenomenon: in opposition to “哪(个)+N” questions are “什么+N” (‘what+N’) questions, which require descriptive sentences to be the answers. The answers to “什么+N” questions fall under the category of normal focus. There is a fact that cannot be left unmentioned here; that is, “什么人” cannot precede link verb “是”, whereas “哪个人” cannot follow “是”: *什么人是王朔？ *Shénme rén shì Wáng Shuò？

*王朔是哪个人？ *Wáng Shuò shì nǎ gè rén？

The different positions of “谁” in (2) and (3) seem to indicate that the position of the question word can be a factor in determining the nature of focus. We are thus prompted to conduct an investigation into a dialogic corpus of 200,000 characters (Selected­Cross-­talks­of­Hou­Baolin 《 ( 侯宝林相声选》)), and the statistics on the use of question word “什么”(‘what’) seem to be in support of this speculation. The investigation is conducted in two steps. First, “什么” questions and “什 么+N” questions are divided into two types: type A consists of those that have descriptive answers, and Type B those that have identifying answers. Statistical results show that only Type A is attested. Second, the positions of “什么” and “什 么+N” in interrogative sentences are investigated. It is found that the percentage for them to occur after the verb is 86%, that for them to occur before the verb as

Means for contrastive focus representation 169 the subject is 10% (about half of the cases are rhetorical questions), and the other 4% are cases where they occur as preverbal adverbials. (4) and (5) are examples for “什么” and “什么+N” to follow the verb. (4) 甲 得请位“全合人儿”给铺床。挺好的被褥. . . . . .可里边儿弄了好些个障 碍物! 乙 那里搁什么呀？ 甲 有圆圆、核桃、枣儿、栗子、花生。 A: Děi qǐng wèi “quánhérén-er”gěi pūchuáng. Tǐng hǎo de bèirù . . . . . . kě lǐbiān-er nòng le hǎoxiēgè zhàng’àiwù! B: Nàlǐ gē shénme ya？ there put what SFP A: Yǒu yuányuán, hétao, zǎo-er, lìzi, huāshēng. ‘A: A “full person” has to be found to make the bed. Very good bedding, . . . but a lot of obstacles are put in it! B: What do they put in there? A: Longan, walnuts, jujube, chestnuts, and peanuts.’ (5) 甲 我们打百分儿有新发明。 乙 有什么发明？ 甲 有水果百分儿；有眼镜百分儿；还有. . . . . . A: Wǒmen dǎ bǎifēn-er yǒu xīn fāmíng. B: Yǒu shénme fāmíng？ have what invention A: Yǒu shuǐguǒ bǎifēn-er; yǒu yǎnjìng bǎifēn-er; hái yǒu . . . . . . ‘A: We have new inventions for the game of 100 points. B: What inventions? A: Fruit 100 points, glasses 100 points, and. . . . . . ’ (6) and (7) are examples where “什么” or “什么+N” occurs before the verb as the subject. Notice that the verb is either “是” or “叫”. (6) 甲 吃子孙饽饽、长寿面。 乙 什么叫子孙饽饽、长寿面？ 甲 由打女方提来一个盒子——里边有两个新碗，两副新筷子；一个碗 里是饺子，一个碗里是面。 A: Chī zǐsūnbōbo, chángshòumiàn. B: Shénme jiào zǐsūn bōbo, chángshòumiàn？ what call dumplings for bride and groom longevity noodle A: Yóu dǎ nǚfāng tí lái yī gè hézi ——lǐbiān yǒu liǎnggè xīn wǎn, liǎng fù xīn kuàizi; yī gè wǎn lǐ shì jiǎozi, yī gè wǎn lǐ shì miàn. ‘A: (They’ll) eat dumplings for the bride and groom and longevity noodles. B: What are dumplings for the bride and groom and longevity noodles?

170

Focus structure A: A box the bride brings from her maiden home. Inside it are two new bowls and two new pair of chopsticks. In one bowl are dumplings and in the other noodles.’

(7) 乙 你的孩子，不找你找谁呀？ 甲 孩子念书，大人还得搭上？ 乙 什么叫搭上？老师是为了家长和学校配合着把孩子教育好了。 B: Nǐ de háizi，bú zhǎo nǐ zhǎo shuí ya？ A: Háizi niànshū，dàrén hái děi dāshàng？ B: Shénme jiào dāshàng？ what call mortgage Lǎoshī shì wèile jiāzhǎng hé xuéxiào pèihé zhe bǎ háizi jiāoyù hǎo le. ‘B: He’s your child. Who else can I look for? A: The child goes to school, and the parent has to be mortgaged? B: What do you mean by “mortgage”? The teacher just hopes that the parents can cooperate with the school to educate the children well.’ (6) and (7) are questions of different properties. The difference lies in the fact that the “什么” question in (6) demands an answer in the form of a declarative statement, whereas that in (7) is a rhetorical question that raises an objection and demands no answer from the other speaker. (8) is an example where “什么”/“什么+N” occurs before the verb as the adverial. (8) 您是从什么时候开始学相声的？ Nín shì cóng shénme shíhòu kāishǐ you be from what time begin xué xiàngshēng de? learn comic dialogue aux. ‘When did you begin to learn comic dialogue?’ On the basis of the analysis and statistics above, it seems safe to propose that normal focus and contrastive focus correspond to two sets of question words: the one that corresponds to “什么”/“什么+N” is normal focus and the one that corresponds to “哪(个)+N” is contrastive focus. The position of the question word in the sentence determines to a certain extent the focus nature of the corresponding answer: when the question word occurs at the beginning of the question, the corresponding answer tends to be contrastive focus; when it occurs towards the end of the question, the corresponding answer tends to be normal focus. The correspondence of normal focus and contrastive focus to two sets of questions as discussed here in turn shows that the two sets of questions have different presuppositions. However, it does not mean that all sentences containing a contrastive focus can be prompted simply by “哪(个)+N”, because in Chinese there are some other unique means to mark contrastive focus, as will be discussed in detail below.

Means for contrastive focus representation 171

6.2 Means to express contrastive focus In speech, contrastive focus is always accompanied by mandatory contrastive stress, which gives prominence to the contrasted item with regard to other components in speech flow. In addition to phonological means there are two syntactic means to express contrastive focus: 1) to use focus markers immediately in front of the contrasted component, or use “是. . . . . .的” construction to frame the contrasted item; 2) to change word order so that mismatch can be created between syntax and semantics and the emphasized component can occur in an unconventional position. 6.2.1  Confirmation by means of markers In speech, contrastive focus is always accompanied by mandatory contrastive stress, thus rendering lexical markers redundant. But in written sentences, the role of lexical markers cannot be underestimated. Confirmation by means of focus markers should follow the following principles: 1 2 3

The focus marker does not convey content meaning; therefore, it bears no contrastive stress. Since the focus marker is to indicate that the subsequent component is the focus, the component after the marker has to be phonetically prominent. The focus marker is not essential to the linear structure of the sentence, so the sentence can still stay good without it. Some articles on focus take “才／只／就／都” (cái／zhǐ／jiù／dōu, ‘just/only/just/all’), some adverbs of restrictive meaning, as clues for focus identification. According to the principles proposed above, however, none of them is a focus marker, in that they can all bear contrastive stress and it is not mandatory for the subsequent component to be stressed for contrastive purposes. We propose that there are only two focus markers in Chinese: “是” and “连”.

When the emphatic “是” was discussed in previous literature, two phonologically different “是” are presented, one stressed and the other unstressed, as in (9). (9) a. b. c. d.

都开学了，他怎么还在家住着？ 他是没考上。 可是我记得他考上了。 他’是没考上。

a. Dōu kāixué le，tā zěnme hái zài jiā zhù zhe？ b. Tā shì méi kǎoshàng. he SHI not admitted c. Kěshì wǒ jìdé tā kǎo shàng le. d. Tā ‘shì méi kǎoshàng. he ‘SHI not admitted

172

Focus structure ‘a. b. c. d.

School has begun. Why is he still living at home? He’s not admitted. But I remember he’s admitted. He’s NOT admitted.’

Previous research either states that the difference between “是” in (9b) and (9d) lies only in the fact that the latter “是” has the meaning of “really, indeed”, or lays down the condition for emphatic “是”: “是” is placed before the alternative when the correctness of a proposition in the context is to be judged. When “是” is unstressed, there can be many a choice after it; when stressed, “是” can have only two alternatives: yes or no. When it comes to focus marking, previous research seems to make no distinction between these two “是”. In accordance with the above principles of focus identification. we believe that only the unstressed “是” is the focus marker, while the stressed “是” is an adverb indicating confirmation. The reason is twofold: 1

2

The role of the focus marker is to mark the focus identity of the forthcoming component, which renders the component phonetically prominent without fail. When “是” is stressed, however, the component following it has to be produced with less stress. Therefore, stressed “是” is not a focus marker. The stressed “是” has a fairly concrete meaning “really, indeed”, and cannot be omitted in the sentence (800 Words in Modern Chinese《现代汉语八百词》 ( ))

6.2.2  Marking contrastive focus by means of lexical markers 6.2.2.1 Using “是” to mark contrastive focus “是” can mark agent, time, location, instrument, but generally not post-verbal patient. (10) 是我们明天在录音棚用新设备给那片子录主题歌。(agent) Shì wǒmen míngtiān zài lùyīnpéng yòng xīn shèbèi SHI we tomorrow in studio use new equipment gěi nà piànzi lù zhǔtígē. for that movie record theme song ‘It is we who are going to record the theme song of that movie with the new equipment in the studio tomorrow.’ 我们是明天在录音棚用新设备给那片子录主题歌。 (time) ‘It is tomorrow that we are going to record the theme song of that movie with the new equipment in the studio.’ 我们明天是在录音棚用新设备给那片子录主题歌。 (location) ‘It is in the studio that we are going to record the theme song of that movie with the new equipment tomorrow.’

Means for contrastive focus representation 173 我们明天在录音棚是用新设备给那片子录主题歌。 (instrument) ‘It is with the new equipment that we are going to record the theme song of that movie in the studio tomorrow.’ 我们明天在录音棚用新设备是给那片子录主题歌。 (theme) ‘It is for that movie that we are going to record the theme song with the new equipment in the studio tomorrow.’ *我们明天在录音棚用新设备给片子录是主题歌。(patient) ‘It is the theme song that we are going to record for that movie with the new equipment in the studio tomorrow.’ Patient that is marked by “是” can only occur in passive sentences, as in (11). (11) 是小王叫蛇咬了。 Shì Xiǎo Wáng jiào shé yǎo le. SHI Wang pass. snake bite CRS ‘It was Wang who got bitten by a snake.’ “是” can also be used to precede the verb, as in (12). (12) 我是爱你才这么说的。 Wǒ shì ài nǐ cái zhème shuō de. I SHI love you only so say aux. ‘It’s out of love that I said so to you.’ (not for other reasons) “是” can also be used before some quantity- or degree-indicating adverbials, as in (13). (13) 我是刚刚进屋，还没来得及换衣服呢。(adverbial) Wǒ shì gānggāng jìn wū，hái méi láidejí huàn yīfú ne. I SHI just enter room ‘I just entered the room and didn’t have the time to change yet.’ 他是足足睡了两天两夜。(quantity) Tā shì zúzú shuì le liǎng tiān he SHI fully sleep PFV two day ‘He slept a full two days and two nights.’

liǎng two

yè. night

6.2.2.2 Using “是. . . . . .的”(SHI . . . DE) to mark contrastive focus “是. . . . . .的” divides a sentence up into two sections, so as to place the focus after “是”. “是” thus used is generally limited to mark a preverbal nominal component as a functional equivalent of the English cleft sentence

174

Focus structure

“it is that. . . ”. This format is not used to mark post-verbal components, thus involving no component shift. (14) 是小王昨天在镇上用奖金给女朋友买的戒指。 (agent) Shì Xiǎo Wáng zuótiān zài zhènshàng yòng jiǎngjīn SHI Wang yesterday in town use premium gěi nǚpéngyǒu mǎi de jièzhǐ. for girlfriend buy DE ring ‘It was Wang that bought a ring for his girlfriend with the premium in the town yesterday.’ 小王是昨天在镇上用奖金给女朋友买的戒指。 (time) ‘It was yesterday that Wang bought a ring for his girlfriend with the premium in the town.’ 小王昨天是在镇上用奖金给女朋友买的戒指。 (location) ‘It was in the town that Wang bought a ring for his girlfriend with the premium yesterday.’ 小王昨天在镇上是用奖金给女朋友买的戒指。 (instrument) ‘It was with the premium that Wang bought a ring for his girlfriend in the town yesterday.’ 小王昨天在镇上用奖金是给女朋友买的戒指。 (theme/recipient) ‘It was for his girlfriend that Wang bought a ring with the premium in the town yesterday.’ *小王昨天在镇上用奖金给女朋友是买的戒指。 ‘It was a ring that Wang bought for his girlfriend with the premium in the town yesterday.’ In discussing “的”, Chao Yuen Ren (1968) notices that “的” in “是. . . . . .的” is to mark the meaning focus. To us, this view is not unreasonable, because this kind of “是. . . . . .的” sentence has a variant in speech where “的” is used independently of “是”. This use, however, is limited to cases where the preverbal component is relatively simple. See (15): (15) a. b. c. d. e.

小王买的戒指。 小王昨天买的戒指。 小王昨天在镇上买的戒指。 ？小王昨天在镇上用奖金买的戒指。 ？小王昨天在镇上用奖金给女朋友买的戒指。

a. Xiǎo Wáng mǎi de jièzhǐ. b. Xiǎo Wáng zuótiān mǎi de jièzhǐ c. Xiǎo Wáng zuótiān zài zhènshàng mǎi de jièzhǐ. d. ？Xiǎo Wáng zuótiān zài zhènshàng yòng jiǎngjīn mǎi de jièzhǐ.

Means for contrastive focus representation 175 e. ？Xiǎo Wáng zuótiān zài zhènshàng yòng jiǎngjīn gěi nǚpéngyǒu mǎi de jièzhǐ. From (15a) to (15e) the emphasized component gets increasingly blurred. In (a), only one nominal precedes the verb, and the emphasized component is fairly clear, being “which person”; in (b), there are two nominals before the verb, and the emphasized can be “which day” or “which person”, depending on where the contrastive stress lies; in (c), the emphasized can be “which day”, “which person” or “which place”, again depending on the position of the contrastive stress; (d) and (e) become less acceptable with the extended length of the preverbal component. A comparison of (14) and (15) reveals the locating function of “是”. When it comes to “是. . . . . .的” structure, its semantic load can be a bit too heavy when “是” is omitted. First, it can be a statement equivalent to a “是. . . . . .的” sentence, or a form of reference. Second, the component it emphasizes can be the semantic component(s) before the verb or the verb itself; that is, (15a), (15b) and (15C) can all be used to emphasize “买” (‘buy’) (say in contrast with ‘steal’). All this makes the functioning of “的” too complicated, which renders “是” indispensable in pinpointing the focus in a longer sentence. In the following example, “是” cannot be omitted. (16) 下了电车往院里走的那段胡同道儿是我搀扶的她。 Xià le diànchē wǎng yuànlǐ zǒu de get down PFV tram to yard walk NOM nà duàn hútòng dào-er shì wǒ chānfú de tā. that section alley path SHI I support DE her ‘It was me who supported her to walk through the alley to the yard after we got off the tram.’ ？下了电车往院里走的那段胡同道儿我搀扶的她。 ？Xià le diànchē wǎng yuànlǐ zǒu de nà duàn hútòng dào-er wǒ chānfú de tā. It can be seen that the governing domain of “的” is rather limited. For the reasons mentioned above, we tend to see “是” in “是. . . . . .的” sentences as the focus marker. 6.2.2.3 Using “连” to mark contrastive focus Many scholars have made very inspiring analysis of “连” (lián, ‘even’) (such as Tsao Fengfu, 1987a; Paris, 1981; Zhou Xiaobing, 1990; Cui Xiliang, 1993; etc.), and of their findings we accept the following: 1) “连” sentences convey contrastive meaning, the component following “连” being an extreme case of all the items compared; 2) the component following “连” shows nominal properties irrespective of its constitution; 3) be it nominal or non-nominal, the component following “连” corresponds to a formal topic. We are of the opinion that the component following “连” in “连. . . . . .也／都” sentences is a contrastive topic, used to indicate polarity contrast. The component

176

Focus structure

following “连” invariably takes the mandatory contrastive stress, but “连” itself does not; and in most cases, “连” can be omitted. In short we propose that “连” be a focus marker, used to mark topics of polarity contrast. (17) a. 连这点小事他都想不出办法。 Lián zhè diǎn xiǎo shì tā dōu xiǎng bù chū bànfǎ. LIAN this bit little thing he dou think not out means ‘He cannot even think of a way to cope with such a little thing.’ 连墙角旮旯我都找了。 Lián qiángjiǎo gālá wǒ dōu zhǎo le. LIAN wall corner nook I dou search CRS ‘I have searched even the corners and the nooks.’ 连饭他都没吃就上班去了。 Lián fàn tā dōu méi chī jiù LIAN meal he dou not eat just ‘He has gone to work even without meal.’

shàngbān go to work

qù go

le. CRS

连礼拜天我都不休息。 Lián lǐbàitiān wǒ dōu bù LIAN Sunday I dou not ‘I don’t even have Sundays off.’ b.

xiūxī. rest

连这点小事都想不出办法。 Lián zhè diǎn xiǎo shì dōu xiǎng bù chū bànfǎ. LIAN this bit little thing dou think not out means ‘(He) cannot even think of a way to cope with such a little thing.’ 连墙角旮旯都找了。 Lián qiángjiǎo gālá dōu zhǎo le. LIAN wall corner nook dou search CRS ‘(I) have searched even the corners and nooks.’ 连水果刀都能杀死人。 Lián shuǐguǒ dāo dōu néng LIAN fruit knife dou can ‘Even a fruit knife can kill people.’

shā kill

sǐ dead

连西红柿都能包饺子。 Lián xīhóngshì dōu néng bāo LIAN tomato dou can wrap ‘Even tomatoes can make dumplings.’

jiǎozi. dumpling

rén. people

Means for contrastive focus representation 177 连饭也没吃就上班去了。 Lián fàn yě méi chī jiù shàngbān LIAN meal ye not eat just go to work ‘(He) has gone to work even without meal.’ c.

le. CRS

连半大的孩子都讨厌他。 Lián bàn dà de háizǐ dōu LIAN half big ASS children dou ‘Even half-grown children hated him too.’ 连我爷爷都护着他。 Lián wǒ yéyé dōu hù LIAN my grandfather dou protect ‘Even my grandfather stood up for him.’

d.

qù go

tǎoyàn hate

zhe aux.

tā. him

tā. him

连写字都用左手。 Lián xiězì dōu yòng zuǒ shǒu. LIAN write dōu use left hand ‘(He) even writes with his left hand.’ 连在家里住几天都不乐意。 Lián zài jiālǐ zhù jǐ tiān dōu bú lèyì. LIAN at home live several day dou not happy ‘(He) is not even happy about staying home for a few days.’

Of the four groups of “连”-sentences in (17), group (a) is composed of topic sentences of “连” plus NP1+NP2+VP; groups (b) and (c) have only one NP in front the verb, with the one in group (b) being non-agentive and that in group (c) being agentive, which prompts us to take group (b) as NP2-dropping group (a) and group (c) as NP1-dropping group (a); the components following “连” in group (d) seem to be verb phrases, but they have actually lost many of their verbal properties (they can no longer be preceded by auxiliary verbs or negative markers; neither can they be tense- or aspect-marked), as has been noticed by many a scholar (say Tsao Fengfu, 1987a), which enables group (d) to be regarded also as an elliptical version of the topic sentence pattern NP1+NP2+VP. “连”-sentences are different from “是”-sentences, in that “是” does not mark topical components in most cases and the contrasted is not an extreme case. “连”sentences also differ from unconventional coordination of sentence components (to be discussed below), because the latter is only used to display a contrastive topic that expresses no meaning of extremity.

6.3 Word order in connection with contrastive focus In addition to lexical markers, word order is another important means to indicate contrastive focus. Word order changes in Chinese are manifested in shifted

178

Focus structure

coordination of semantic components, which places the emphasized component in an “unconventional” position and makes the sentence marked in configuration. However, the frequently discussed bǎ-sentences and pseudo-cleft sentences, according to our observation, do not directly result in contrastive focus. 6.3.1 Conventional vs. unconventional coordination of semantic components Chen Ping (1994) puts forward two semantic principles for the coordination of such roles as topic, subject, object and others in Chinese2: the goodness of agenthood or patienthood plays a decisive role in determining the relative position of subject and object with reference to other semantic components3; in determining the position of topic with regard to other semantic components, the decisive factor is how close the topic is to the verb in semantics. Specifically 1) the priority sequence for the subject role is: agent > experiencer > instrument > relation > location > target > patient; 2) the cline for topic is: relation > location > instrument > target > experiencer > patient > agent. Sentences that follow the coordinating principles are legal ones, and functionally the most natural and neutral, while those that violate the principles are either unacceptable or fulfil some additional function. What is instructive of Chen’s research is that he studies the asymmetry between two topic sentence patterns, namely agent+patient+VP and patient+agent+VP. After reviewing Fan Jiyan (1984) and Lü Shuxiang (1946), Chen makes the following summary from the perspective of functional grammar: agent+patient+VP is a special sentence pattern, whose function is to indicate that the patient is the focus of information. Along this line of thinking, we regard the sentences that follow the coordinating principles as conventional sentences and examine the cases that violate the principles. The results show that some of the “unconventionally coordinated sentences” are not good for neutral use, but acceptable after taking contrastive focus. (18) a. 这事老高有办法 ［relation+agent+VP］ Zhèi shì Lǎo Gāo yǒu bànfǎ this matter Gao have means ‘This matter Gao knows how to handle.’ b. *老高这事有办法 ［agent+relation+VP］ *Lǎo Gāo zhèi shì yǒu bànfǎ c. 老高’这事有办法 Lǎo Gāo ‘zhèi shì yǒu bànfǎ ‘Gao knows how to handle THIS.’ (not necessarily others) The coordinating principles can readily explain why (18b) is no good: the priority position for relation “这事” to occur is the topic position, or the very beginning of the sentence, rather than in the subject position; and the best choice for subjecthood is the agent, which explains why (18a) is acceptable. But this is

Means for contrastive focus representation 179 generally true for functionally neutral sentences only; when the relation component is stressed for contrast, the sentence will become acceptable, as is the case in (18c). According to Chen Ping, the more agentive a nominal is, the more likely it is used to function as the subject; whether a nominal is good to be the topic is mainly determined by its semantic relation with the verb: the less related, the more likely. Although the two semantic priority principles differ in starting point, we can still come up with the following rule through cross reference: for conventional coordination, in the topic sentence NP1+NP2+VP, the agenthood of NP2 should be better than that of NP1, or the patienthood of NP1 should be superior to that of NP2. Topic sentences that are in line with this coordinating rule are conventional ones, and those that violate the rule implicate a contrastive focus in the sentence, such as (19) to (23), where the contrastive focus is marked with “' ”. (19) a. 饭馆里咱们不好说话 ［location+agent+VP］ Fànguǎn lǐ zánmen bú hǎo shuōhuà restaurant inside we not good talk ‘It’s not convenient for us to talk in the restaurant.’ b. c.

*咱们饭馆里不好说话 ［agent+location+VP］ 咱们' 饭馆里不好说话 (implying that a quieter place is preferred)

(20) a. 零钱我买菜了 ［instrument+agent+VP］ Língqián wǒ mǎi cài le change I buy vegetables CRS ‘The change I’ve bought vegetables with.’ b. *我零钱买菜了 ［agent+instrument+VP］ c. 我' 零钱买菜了 (implying that the bills remain intact) (21) a. 短款衣服我妈不喜欢 ［target+experiencer+VP］ Duǎnkuǎn yīfú wǒ mā bù short clothes my mother not ‘Short clothes, my mother doesn’t like.’

xǐhuān like

b. *我妈短款衣服不喜欢 ［experiencer+target+VP］ c. 我妈' 短款衣服不喜欢 (implying that long clothes are acceptable) (22) a. 新米我熬粥了 ［target+agent+VP］ xīn mǐ wǒ áo zhōu le new rice I boil porridge CRS ‘The new rice I’ve used to cook porridge.’ b. *我新米熬粥了 ［agent+target+VP］ c. 我' 新米熬粥了 (implying that the old crop of rice will be used otherwise)

180

Focus structure

(23) a. 房改方案上级已经批准了 ［patient+ageng+VP］ Fánggǎi fāngàn shàngjí yǐjīng pīzhǔn le housing reform program higher authorities already approve CRS ‘The housing reform program the higher authorities have already approved.’ b. *上级房改方案已经批准了 ［agent+patient+VP］4 c. 上级' 房改方案已经批准了 (implying that other programs are yet to be approved) Functionally the (a) sentences in (19) to (23) are all neutral as statements, and each NP1 has to be stressed to convey contrastive meaning, as shown in the (c) sentence in each case. Semantically, NP1 bears more patient attributes than NP2 in the sequence of NP1+NP2+VP; that is, the patienthood of the sentenceinitial component is superior to the later occurring subject component. The (b) sentences, in contrast, do not conform to this rule of coordination. In actual use, sentences in the sequence of (b) will have to take contrastive stress and manifest themselves as the (c) sentences in (19) to (23). From the functional perspective, this kind of unconventional sequencing can be regarded as a means to mark contrastive topic. The conventional coordination rule – NP1 is more patient like than NP2 in topic sentence NP1+NP2+VP – directly impacts people’s semantic interpretation. A good proof is that when NP1 and NP2 are the same in patienthood, people are more likely to regard NP1 as the patient and NP2 as the agent. See (24): (24) 你我接管了 Nǐ you

wǒ I

jiēguǎn le take over aux.

‘You, I’ve taken over.’ In this example, NP1 and NP2 are both personal pronouns. But people generally think of NP1 “你” as the patient and NP2 “我” as the agent; it is very unlikely to understand it conversely. This phenomenon can be said to attest to the fact that people resort to the conventional pattern in interpreting a transitional case; once the transition zone is crossed, unconventional coordination will incur. 6.3.2 “连”-sentences Lexical marker “是” and structure “是. . . . . .的” are common means to mark contrastive focus in non-topic sentences. In topic sentences, unconventional coordination of semantic components with syntactic components can also perform the task of marking contrastive focus. The contrasted item in a topic sentence is generally the topic, and the contrastive focus as incurred by means of unconventional coordination is normally the contrastive topic. “连”-sentences that are composed

Means for contrastive focus representation 181 of a topic sentence and “连. . . . . .也／都” express polarity contrast, the component following “连” being the contrasted. When used in topic sentences, “连” is not restrained by the principles of coordination; that is to say, both conventionally and unconventionally coordinated topic sentences can be rewritten as “连”sentences to indicate polarity contrast. (25) a. 连这事老高都有办法 ［relation+agent+VP］ Lián zhè shì Lǎo Gāo dōu yǒu LIAN this matter Gao dou have ‘Even this matter Gao knows how to handle.’

bànfǎ means

b. 老高连这事都有办法 ［agent+relation+VP］ (26) a. 连饭馆里咱们都不好说话 ［location+agent+VP］ Lián fànguǎn lǐ zánmen dōu bú hǎo LIAN restaurant inside we dou not good ‘It’s not convenient for us to talk even in the restaurant.’

shuōhuà talk

b. 咱们连饭馆里都不好说话 ［agent+location+VP］ (27) a. 连零钱我都买菜了 ［instrument+agent+VP］ Lián língqián wǒ dōu mǎi cài LIAN change I dou buy vegetables ‘Even the change I’ve bought vegetables with.’

le CRS

b. 我连零钱都买菜了 ［agent+instrument+VP］ (28) a. 连短款衣服我妈都不喜欢 ［target+experiencer+VP］ Lián duǎnkuǎn yīfú wǒ mā dōu LIAN short clothes my mother dou not ‘Even short clothes my mother doesn’t like (either).’

bú like

b. 我妈连短款衣服都不喜欢 ［experiencer+target+VP］ (29) a. 连新米我都熬粥了 ［target+agent+VP］ Lián xīn mǐ wǒ dōu áo zhōu LIAN new rice I dou boil porridge ‘Even the new rice I’ve used to cook porridge.’

le CRS

b. 我连新米都熬粥了 ［agent+target+VP］ (30) a. 连房改方案上级都已经批准了［patient+agent+VP］ Lián LIAN yǐjīng already

fánggǎi housing reform pīzhǔn approve

fāngàn program le CRS

shàngjí higher authorities

dōu dou

xǐhuān

182

Focus structure ‘Even the housing reform program the higher authorities have already approved.’ b. 上级连房改方案都已经批准了［agent+patient+VP］

The (a) sentences in each pair are composed of conventional coordination and “连”, and the (b) sentences of unconventional coordination plus “连”. 6.3.3  Bǎ-sentences    and “SVP的是NP” (“SVP de shi NP”) sentences Bǎ-sentences and pseudo-cleft sentences are among the frequently discussed patterns concerning word order, but neither of the two patterns will directly lead to the formation of a contrastive focus. First, look at bǎ-sentences. The component following “把” does not always bear the contrastive stress; and when there is a contrastive stress in the bǎ-­sentence, it may not follow “把” immediately. (31) a. 我把我的自行车卖了 wǒ bǎ wǒ de zìxíngchē I BA I GEN bicycle ‘I’ve sold my bicycle.’

mài sell

le CRS

b.’ 我把我的自行车卖了 ‘It is me who have sold my bicycle.’ c. 我把’我的自行车卖了 ‘I’ve sold MY bicycle.’ d. 我把我的’自行车卖了 ‘I’ve sold my BICYCLE.’ It can be seen from (31) that “把” does not mark the contrasted item. We believe that the role of “把” is to put old information before the verb and reserve the sentence-final position for words that express new information. In fact, without contrastivestress, “(S) 把 OVC’ is generally used to answer questions such as “What has S done to O?” or “What has happened (to S)?”, which shows that the sentence is declarative. Only when a component is marked with contrastive stress does it perform the identifying function. “SVP的是NP” is referred to by some scholars as a “pseudo-cleft sentence”, because it shares many similarities with its counterpart in English.

Means for contrastive focus representation 183 (32) 王老师前天送给我们的是安徒生童话。 Wáng lǎoshī qiántiān sònggěi wǒmen Wang teacher the day before give us de shì Āntúshēng tónghuà. NOM shi Andersen’s fairy tales ‘What Miss Wang gave us the day before was Andersen’s Fairy Tales.’ This sentence pattern has three characteristics: 1) the sentence proper does not have a mandatory contrastive stress; 2) contrastive stress can be added to almost every component, implying that there is no fixed position for it; 3) the component preceding and following “是” can swap position. These three points make this sentence pattern different from the contrastive focus sentence pattern “是. . . . . .的” discussed above, in that this kind of pseudocleft sentence becomes contrastive only after it is marked by contrastive stress. The stress-marked pseudo-cleft sentence is mainly used to give emphasis to the post-verbal component, thus complementing “是. . . . . .的” sentences in distribution. (33) 他常逛景山公园→他常逛的是景山公园 Tā cháng guàng Jǐngshān Gōngyuán he often visit Jingshan Park ‘He often visits Jingshan Park.’ →Tā cháng guàng de shì Jǐngshān Gōngyuán He often visit DE SHI Jingshan Park ‘What he often visits is Jingshan Park.’ 老张喜欢看足球→老张喜欢看的是足球 Lǎo Zhāng xǐhuān kàn zúqiú Zhang like watch football ‘Zhang likes to watch football (games).’ →Lǎo Zhāng xǐhuān kàn de shì zúqiú Zhang like watch DE SHI football ‘What Zhang likes to watch is football (games).’ 李大爷抽旱烟袋→李大爷抽的是旱烟袋

Figure 6.1 Syntactic means for contrastive focus expression

184

Focus structure Lǐ dàye chōu hànyāndài Li uncle smoke long-stemmed Chinese pipe ‘Uncle Li smokes in the long-stemmed Chinese pipe.’ →Lǐ dàye chōu de shì hànyāndài Li uncle smoke DE SHI long-stemmed Chinese pipe ‘What Uncle Li smokes is the long-stemmed Chinese pipe.’

6.4 Scope of application and semantic intensity The above has discussed the various syntactic means to express contrastive focus. Their distribution can be summarized as follows: In Figure 6.1 we can see that the choice of focus marking means is directly related to the function of the focus component in the sentence. Non-topical components tend to take markers that give prominence to the marked components; unconventional component coordination is a means to handle non-polar contrast. There are two ways to indicate contrastive topics: one is to give contrastive stress to NP1 in conventionally coordinated sentences, and the other is to produce unconventional topic sentences by the unconventional coordination of different semantic components. Both ways can show polar contrast when marked with “连. . . . . .也／都”. If the emphasized is the post-verbal component of a non-topic sentence, there are two options: one is to use the pseudo-cleft sentence and mark the component with contrastive stress, as shown in (32) and (33); the other is to make the component topical by fronting it to the sentence-initial position and mark it with contrastive stress, as in (34). (34) 胖子负责照顾刘蓓，你我接管了。 Pàngzi fùzé zhàogù Liú Bèi， Fatty see to take care of Liu Bei nǐ wǒ jiēguǎn le. you I take over CRS ‘Fatty is responsible for taking care of Liu Bei. You, I take over.’ In the second clause of (34), patient “你”, if in the pattern of the first clause, should follow the verb “接管”. The fronting of “你” enables the second clause to give prominence to the handling of this component, and consequently the sentence is no longer a simple statement. The emphasis achieved by means of dislocation, however, shows only weak contrast, for this kind of sentence cannot be used to modify an already existent proposition. Take (35) for example: (35) A：我知道你讨厌王大妈。 Wǒ I

zhīdào know

nǐ you

tǎoyàn hate

Wáng Wang

dàmā. aunt

Means for contrastive focus representation 185 B： *谁说的，’李大妈我顶讨厌。 *Shuí who

shuō say

de， aux.

‘Lǐ Li

dàmā aunt

wǒ I

dǐng most

tǎoyàn. hate

‘A: I know you hate Aunt Wang. B:* Who said that? Aunt Li, I hate most.’ Normally a non-topic sentence is used to modify a proposition: (36) A：我知道你讨厌王大妈。 Wǒ I

zhīdào know

nǐ you

tǎoyàn hate

Wáng Wang

dàmā. aunt

B：谁说的，顶讨厌的是李大妈。 Shuí who

shuō say

de， aux.

dǐng most

tǎoyàn hateful

de DE

shì SHI

Lǐ Li

dàmā. aunt

‘A: I know you hate Aunt Wang. B: Who said that? The most hateful is Aunt Li.’ A comparison of (35) with (36) shows that topic sentences with contrastive focus (including conventionally as well as unconventionally coordinated) are weak contrastive sentences; only non-topic sentences with contrastive focus are strong contrastive sentences.

6.5 Concluding remarks A language often has a variety of means to express contrastive focus. In some Western languages, contrastive focus can be directly displayed by word order. Take English for example. The intensity of semantic contrast can be divided into three levels: neutral sentences, Y-movement sentences and cleft or stress-focus sentences. Of the three, the latter two both involve word order change (see (37) for Y-movement and (38) for stress-focus): (37) She has two brothers, Tom and Jerry. She likes Tom a lot. But Jerry she can’t stand. (38) She can’t stand Tom. No, it’s Jerry that she can’t stand. (37) involves Y-movement, where “Jerry” is fronted from the object position to the beginning of the sentence to function as the topic while at the same time indicating contrast. (38) is a cleft sentence, in which “Jerry” is moved again from the object position to precede the subject “she”. Although the English cleft sentence is somehow similar in form to the Chinese 是-sentence, the English cleft sentence has movement as its precondition, which makes it different from the Chinese 是-sentence.

186

Focus structure

This also explains why English grammar analysis regards cleft sentence as a means of word order change. For instance, “Joe will kill the goat” is a neutral sentence. If the contrasted is the subject, the cleft form will be “It’s Joe who will kill the goat”; and if the contrasted is the object, then the cleft form will be “It’s the goat that Joe will kill.” All in all, fronting is a means to mark focus in English. Chinese is a topic-prominent language, which means that a sentence beginning with a non-agent component may be neutral in meaning, or bearing no contrast whatsoever. Chen Ping’s (1994) analysis of Chinese topic sentences also attests to this argument. We believe that the status of topic sentences in the Chinese system is different from that of their counterparts in the English system; so is their significance. Therefore, they should not be treated in the same manner. Topic sentences are highly marked in English, but in Chinese their markedness is much less conspicuous. For instance, “这本书” in “这本书我没看完” is very different from “this book” in “This book I haven’t finished”, in that “this book” has to take contrastive stress if it is to be placed at the beginning of the sentence, whereas “这本书”, even if unstressed, may very well take the sentence-initial position. In other words, whether the sentence-initial NP is a contrastive focus is largely constrained by the coordination of the syntactic and semantic components; syntactic displacement does not directly lead to the formation of contrastive focus sentences in Chinese. In recent years, comparative study of different languages has reached some consensus on the syntactic parameters of contrastive focus. Scholars believe that there are three factors that could lead to the creation of contrastive focus, namely, word order, structure and intonation. Of the three, word order and intonation catch more attention, given the fact that they reflect the principle of iconicity, a principle that is intrinsic to the process of grammatical encoding. The factor of word order as mentioned here means that the focus component tends to be fronted, a tendency particularly prominent in cleft and Y-movement sentences. The so-called intonation factor refers to the fact that the focus component tends to be stressed: in a variety of languages, contrastive focus is always accompanied by contrastive stress. The structure factor refers to giving the focus component a structural raise by means of focus-marking morphemes, usually the link verb. These three factors often co-work, intonation being the common and necessary one. When it comes to Chinese, postponed syntactic components (such as NP in pseudo-cleft sentence “SVP的是NP”) may not bear contrastive stress; fronted syntactic components (such as topics in topic sentences) take contrastive stress only when coordinated unconventionally. Therefore we can claim that Y-movement is not a major means to generate contrastive focus in Chinese; Chinese contrastive focus is mainly generated by means of intonation or intonation plus structure. On the surface, it seems that the means of contrastive focus expression in Chinese are not quite in line with the universal law governing function vis-a-vis structure; more consistency, however, can be found on a deeper level. First, although fronting does not necessarily result in the formation of contrastive focus, the focus of polar contrast never fails to occur sentence initially (such as in 连-sentences); so are components of universal reference (谁也不认识 (shuí yě bú rènshi, ‘know no one’)／个个都喜欢 (gè gè dōu xǐhuān, ‘like everyone’)／ 哪个都不要 (nǎgè dōu bú yào, ‘want none’)). In addition, a real interrogative form tends not to occur in

Means for contrastive focus representation 187 the NP1 position of a topic sentence (*哪儿你去？／*谁你认识？／*什么时候 我来？ (*nǎ-er nǐ qù?／*shuí nǐ rènshi?／*shénme shíhòu wǒ lái?), the intended meaning being ‘where are you going?/ who do you know?/ when should I come?’). Second, the more distinct the coding, the more prominent its effect. Structural raise as induced by “是”, if examined from the perspective of encoding, is a means to indicate differentiation; the contrastive focus induced by unconventional coordination in topic sentences is also a manifestation of this cognitive law.

Notes 1 The distinction between contrastive focus and normal focus (focus at the end of the sentence) here is for the convenience of understanding, because such concepts as normal stress and contrasting stress as proposed by Chao Yuen Ren (1968) have become very familiar concepts when discussing stress issues that are related to Chinese semantics. In view of the fact that end focus bears only normal stress and contrastive focus always bears contrasting stress, we accordingly refer to the corresponding focus components as normal focus and contrastive focus respectively. 2 See Chen Ping (1994) for the characterization of the different semantic components. 3 See Chen Ping (1994) for the goodness of agenthood and patienthood. 4 Although some cases of this configuration can be seen as having an implicit “连” before the patient, such as “你怎么外套也不穿就跑出去了”(nǐ zěnme wàitào yě bù chuān jiù pǎo chū qù le, ‘How come you ran out even without an overcoat?’), this is not the case with all “agent+patient+VP” sentences, such as “你外套不能不穿”(nǐ wàitào bù néng bù chuān, ‘Overcoat you cannot afford not to wear.’). So we cannot regard “agent+patient+VP” as a pattern with a hidden “连”.

Tā he Tā he

shì méi kǎoshàng. SHI not admitted ‘shì méi kǎoshàng. ‘SHI not admitted

Part III

Backgrounding constructions

7

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese

7.1 Foreground information and transitivity 7.1.1 Foreground information vs. background information In any discourse stretch the narrator follows the representation strategy of estab­ lishing a primary thread of narration for foreground information and a second­ ary thread of narration for background information, as illustrated in the example below: 我从吴胖子家出来，乘上地铁。地铁车厢很暖和，我手拉吊环几乎站 着睡着了，列车到站也没察觉，过了好几站才猛然警醒，连忙下了 车。我跑上地面，站在街上拦出租车，来往的出租车很多，但没一辆 停下来。我走过两个街口，看到路边停着几辆出租车就上前问，几个 司机是拉包月的，唯一拉散座的说他要收外汇券。我说“知道知道” 坐了上去从兜里拿出一沓外汇券给他看。 Wǒ cóng Wú Pàngzi jiā chūlái, chéng shàng dìtiě. Dìtiě chēxiāng hěn nuǎnhuo, wǒ shǒu lā diàohuán jīhū zhànzhe shuìzháo le, lièchē dào zhàn yě méi chájué, guò le hǎo jǐ zhàn cái měngrán jǐngxǐng, liánmáng xià le chē. Wǒ pǎo shàng dìmiàn, zhàn zài jiē shàng lán chūzūchē, láiwǎng de chūzūchē hěnduō, dàn méi yī liàng tíng xiàlái. Wǒ zǒuguò liǎng gè jiēkǒu, kàndào lùbiān tíng zhe jǐ liàng chūzūchē jiù shàng qián wèn, jǐ gè sījī shì lā bāoyuè de, wéiyī lā sǎn zuò de shuō tā yào shōu wàihuìquàn. Wǒ shuō “zhīdào zhīdào” zuò le shàngqù cóng dōu lǐ ná chū yī dá wàihuìquàn gěi tā kàn. ‘I came out from Fatty Wu’s, and got onto the subway. The subway car was very warm. Holding the rings with the hand, I almost fell asleep, so that I didn’t detect that the train had passed my station. It was not until quite a few stops later that I suddenly awakened and quickly got out of the sub­ way car. I ran to the ground, standing in the street to call a cab. Many a cab passed, but none stopped. I walked two blocks and saw a few cabs parked on the roadside. I went up, but was told by several drivers that they worked on monthly contracts. The only one who took individual passengers told me that he wanted foreign exchange certificates. I got in with the words “I know, I know”, and took out a stack of foreign exchange certificates from my pocket to show him.’

192

Backgrounding constructions

The underlined parts are the foreground information and the rest the background information. Cross-linguistic studies show that differentiation of foreground infor­ mation from background information is manifested in all languages to varying degrees. For example, verbs expressing foreground information are prefixed with ka- in Swahili, while verbs expressing background information are prefixed with ki-. In English, background information is mainly represented by the non-finite forms of the verb, such as the infinitive, the participle and the like. Hopper (1979) has a detailed discussion of this issue, where he makes it clear that the root cause of the emergence of tense-aspect markers is to give prominence to foreground information. What we want to point out here is that the distinction between foreground infor­ mation and background information manifests itself not only in the opposition between the main clause vs. the subclause but also within a construction itself. What to be taken as primary and secondary in the Chinese serial verb construction has bothered people for long. We would argue that the essence of the question is which component of the construction conveys the foreground information. 7.1.2 Transitivity hypothesis It is often said that lack of morphological markers in Chinese makes its grammati­ cal analysis very difficult. In fact, an extensive investigation of other languages will show that no language has perfect formalization of all expressive functions when the emergence of morphological markers is taken as motivated by discourse repre­ sentation; the differences among languages only lie in the varying extents to which they formalize the universal functions of human language. Then we can examine Chinese against the background of cross-linguistic variation and look for the vari­ ous morphological and quasi-morphological forms from the functional perspective. Hopper and Thompson (1980) propose a series of universal structural features of transitivity based on the cognitive strategy of giving prominence to foreground information in discourse. Their transitivity is different from the narrow reading of “verb plus object” in the traditional sense, but a systematic summary of the basic function of central event representation. Table 7.1 lists the basic elements of “transitivity” as delineated by Hopper and Thompson. Table 7.1 High vs. low transitivity

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J.

participants kinesis aspect punctuality volitionality affirmation mood agency affectedness of object individuation of object

Features of high transitivity

Features of low transitivity

two (agent, patient) or more action telic (bounded) punctual volitional affirmative realis highly agentive totally affected object highly individuated

one non-action atelic (unbounded) non-punctual non-volitional negative irrealis non-agentive unaffected object non-individuated

Source: adapted from Hopper & Thompson, 1980

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese 193 This hypothesis holds that transitivity forms a continuum and that it is a com­ prehensive feature of verbal clauses. The judgment of transitivity depends on a cluster of parameters. In a sentence pair, if one sentence shows the above features (A-J), then this sentence is higher in transitivity than the other, and other syntactic and semantic features of the sentence will also be higher in transitivity than those of the other sentence. In what follows we aim to show that the opposition of the features of high vs. low transitivity can also indicate the foregroundedness and backgroundedness of two adjacent verb elements. While this hypothesis provides the rationale for grammatical analysis, a fur­ ther request is to identify the more grammaticalized forms in order to prove the feasibility of this kind of analysis, which invites us to the issue of the categorial­ ity of verbs.

7.2 Categoriality of verbs Nouns and verbs as two lexical categories can be said to have originated semanti­ cally from people’s conceptualization of things and events. What grammar study concerns, however, is nouns and verbs as grammatical categories, i.e., their gram­ matical features in the language system. Modern linguistic study shows that the grammatical features of nouns and verbs have their own roots in the language system; that is, they are determined by the representation of event participants and the requirement to report events (Hop­ per & Thompson, 1984). It is thus known that the most typical feature of nouns is that they can indicate the quantitative properties, such as taking classifiers, the plural marker, etc. Nouns with such characteristics are of higher categoriality; otherwise, they are of lower categoriality. We are here more concerned about the categoriality of verbs. The most typical feature of verbs is that they indicate time; that is, they can take tense-aspect marking, accept the modification of time adverbs, etc. Verbs with such characteristics are said to be of higher categoriality and those without of lower categoriality. From the discussion of transitivity above, we can see that the core of the transitive construction is the verb, in that features A-J all center around the verb. Both language facts in Chinese and cross-linguistic comparison point to the rationality of this generalization and the plausibility of its logic. Although Chinese lacks the lexical changes which are prevalent in morphological lan­ guages, there are still explicit indicators of categoriality. By summing up the relevant conclusions of previous studies on the “action” and “time” character­ istics of verbs, we propose the hierarchical description of the categoriality of Chinese verbs as follows:

High categoriality indicators: a b c

tense-aspect marking by “了”(le, perfective), “过”(guò, experiential), etc.; taking directional complements, such as “起来”(qǐlái ‘up’), “下去”(xiàqù, ‘down’), “上来”(shànglái, ‘up’), etc.; verb reduplication;

194

Backgrounding constructions

Medium categoriality indicators: c d f

taking momentum components, such as “一下”(yīxià, ‘once’), “一回”(yīhuí, ‘once’), “两眼”(liǎngyǎn, ‘twice’), etc.; taking result complements; taking referential nominal objects;

Low categoriality indicators: g h i

taking nonreferential nominal objects; unboundedness in aspect; nominalization, i.e., accepting the modification of “N的”(N de).

Characteristics of high categoriality indicators: they are fully grammaticalized forms with definite grammatical meanings and can be recognized as tense-aspect markers. Characteristics of medium categoriality indicators: they have certain gram­ matical meanings, but have not been fully grammaticalized yet, because they still retain to a large extent their lexical meaning. Characteristic of low categoriality indicators: basically they do not bear the typical verbal property – to indicate time; they have only lexical meaning, lacking in grammatical meaning.

7.3 Serial verb constructions The categorical characteristics of verbs mentioned above are no more than some tangible forms, which may not necessarily manifest in the serial verb construc­ tion. That is to say, it is not always possible to determine the relative ranking of the two VPs in the construction according to features A-J listed above, given that the tangible markers of Chinese verbs are not always present in all situations. Moreover, a verb does not necessarily establish its main verb status in the serial verb construction by means of these tangible features. Therefore, to explore the semantic center of the serial verb construction, we should proceed from the fea­ ture cluster to observe the relative transitivity of the adjacent VPs. 7.3.1  Two syntactic verifications of low transitivity 7.3.1.1 Gerund The gerund takes different forms in spoken and written Chinese. The typical form in writ­ ing is “Ｎ的VP”(N de VP) and the corresponding form in speech is “Ｎ这VP”, where “这” is pronounced in the neutral tone zhe. Compare the following pair of sentences: 你的调走使大家不知所措。 Nǐ de diàozǒu shǐ dàjiā you de move make everyone ‘Your move left everyone at a loss.’

búzhīsuǒcuò. at a loss

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese 195 你这调走可让大伙儿慌了神儿啦。 Nǐ zhe diàozǒu kě ràng dàhuǒ-er huāng le shén-er la. You zhe move so let everyone panic aux. spirit SFP ‘You made everyone freaked out by this move.’ “调走”(diàozǒu) in both sentences is a gerund, bearing few verbal properties. The whole structure has been nominalized as a referential syntactic element, the most typical manifestation of low transitivity. Accordingly, we regard gerund as a syntactic verification of low transitivity. 7.3.1.2 Purpose marker “去”(qu) and “来”(lai) Most grammatical works tend to analyze both “去＋VP” and “VP＋去” as serial verb constructions. We would argue that “去” in “去＋VP” be regarded as a marker reserved for the expression of purpose; its role is equivalent to that of “be going to” in English. In this case, “去＋VP” is not a serial verb construction. In “VP＋去”, there are actually three different uses of “去”: a content verb, a gram­ maticalized directional verb, and an equivalent to “去” in “去＋VP”. Of the three, only the first makes the construction a serial verb construction while the other two are grammaticalized syntactic elements: the second is a case of the b type of indicator for high transitivity, and the third is what we mean by purpose marker. “来” is generally considered to occur in “来＋VP” and “VP＋来”, which are the counterparts of “去＋VP” and “VP＋去”. We think differently: only “来 ＋VP” is the counterpart of “去＋VP” in expressing purpose; “VP＋来” has no use for purpose, because “来” in it is either a content verb or a gramaticalized directional word. 7.3.2  A transitivity analysis of Chinese serial verb constructions 7.3.2.1 activity < event Activity refers to an action without an intrinsic termination point; that is, it is unbounded in aspect. An event, in contrast, refers to an action with an intrinsic termination point; that is, it is bounded. In the following examples, the first verbal element indicates an activity and the second an event: 他跳舞不好看 tā tiàowǔ bù hǎokàn he dance not good-looking ‘He’s not good at dancing.’ 咱们说话 低着点儿声 zánmen shuōhuà dī zhe we speak lower DUR ‘Let’s lower our voice a bit.’

diǎn-er a bit

shēng voice

196

Backgrounding constructions 喝酒 喝醉了 hējiǔ hē drink wine drink ‘(He) is drunk.’

zuì drunk

le CRS

吃饭 吃撑了 chīfàn chī chēng le eat eat too full CRS ‘(I’ve) eaten too much.’ 想儿子想疯了 xiǎng érzi xiǎng fēng le miss son miss mad CRS ‘(You) miss your son so badly that you’re crazy.’ We can easily change the first verb in these sentences into a gerund while main­ taining its meaning and function: 他的/这跳舞不好看　tā de /zhe tiàowǔ bú hǎo kàn 咱们的/这说话低着点儿声 zánmen de /zhe shuōhuà dī zhe diǎn-er shēng 他的/这喝酒喝醉了　tā de /zhe hējiǔ hē zuì le 我的/这吃饭吃撑了　wǒ de /zhe chīfàn chī chēng le 你的/这想儿子想疯了 nǐ de /zhe xiǎng érzi xiǎng fēng le 7.3.2.2 action > state Since there is no mobility involved in state verbs, they are unable to report events; conversely, action verbs are the main reporter of events. Typical action verbs bear more tense- aspect features than typical state verbs, which predetermines that action verbs are the main verbs while state verbs con ­ stitute accompanying elements when they co-occur. Examine the following examples: 躺着看书 tǎng zhe kànshū lie aux. read ‘read while lying down’　 开着窗户睡觉 kāi zhe chuānghù shuìjiào open aux. window sleep ‘sleep with the window open’

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese 197 提着箱子上飞机 tí zhe xiāngzi shàng fēijī carry aux. luggage board plane ‘board the plane with luggage in hand’　 红着脸说 hóng zhe liǎn red aux. face ‘say with a red face’

shuō say

硬着头皮跟着郑小登上他家去 yìng zhe tóupí gēn zhe Zhèng Xiǎodēng shàng tā jiā qù toughen aux. scalp follow aux. Zheng Xiaodeng up his house go ‘(He) summoned up his courage to go with Zheng Xiaodeng to his house.’ 7.3.2.3 realis > irrealis As the name implies, realis and irrealis are used to indicate whether the action is a realis one or not. A realis action is usually of higher transitivity and a relatively complete temporal meaning; the patients involved also tend to be referential. An irrealis action generally does not have a complete temporal meaning. In the fol­ lowing examples, V2 represents the purpose of V1: 有饭吃　 yǒu fàn chī have food eat ‘have food to eat’ 没事干 méi shì gàn without thing do ‘have nothing to do’ 偷油吃　 tōu yóu chī steal oil eat ‘steal oil to eat’ 买包烟抽 mǎi bāo yān chōu buy CL cigarette smoke ‘buy a packet of cigarettes to smoke’

198

Backgrounding constructions 借份报看 jiè fèn bào kàn borrow CL newspaper read ‘borrow a newspaper to read’ 盖几间房住 gài jǐ jiān fáng zhù build several CL house live ‘build several houses to live in’ 借点儿钱用 jiè diǎn-er qián yòng borrow a little money use ‘borrow a little money to use’ 打水洗澡 dǎ shuǐ xǐzǎo get water bathe ‘get water to have a bath’

The common property shared by these examples is that V2 is irrealis and semantically unbounded. Syntactically, none is marked by aspect markers such as “了”. Another syntactic test of irrealis is attaching purpose-indicating markers “来／去” or worth indicating marker “可”, as in: 偷油来吃 tōu yóu lái chī 借份报来看 jiè fèn bào lái kàn 借点儿钱去用 jiè diǎn-ér qián qù yòng 有饭可吃 yǒu fàn kě chī

买包烟来抽 mǎ i bāo yān lái chōu 盖几间房去住 gài jǐ jiān fáng qù zhù 打水去洗澡 dǎ shuǐ qù xǐ zǎo 没事可干

méi shì kě gàn

We can thus use such markers to judge the categoriality of V1 and V2, and the conclusion is: V1 > V2. Compare the following two sets of examples where V1 is followed by “着”(zhe): 留着喂狗　　　　　　

留着去喂狗

liú zhe wèi gǒu save zhe feed dog ‘save it for the dog’

liú zhe qù wèi gǒu

闹着要回家

*闹着要了回家

nào zhe yào huíjiā *nào zhe yào le huíjiā make a fuss zhe want go home ‘make a fuss about going home’ (where V2 is irrealis, thus V1 > V2)

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese 199 蹲着喂狗

*蹲着去喂狗

dūn zhe wèi gǒu *dūn zhe qù wèi gǒu crouch zhe feed dog ‘feed the dog in a crouched posture’ 闹着跑回家　

闹着跑了回家

nào zhe pǎo huí jiā make a fuss zhe run go back home ‘ran back home while making a fuss’ (where V2 is realis, thus V1 negative The opposition between affirmative and negative is related to the opposition between realis and irrealis. The essence of negative is to assume that something is contrary to a real event. The following examples illustrate this point: 丢下活儿不干 diū xià huó-er bú leave down work not ‘leave the work undone’

gàn do

板起脸儿不笑 bǎn qǐ liǎn-er bú xiào straighten up face not smile ‘straighten up one’s face not to smile’

200

Backgrounding constructions 搁在身上没交 gē zài shēnshàng méi jiāo put at body not hand in ‘keep it with someone and not hand it in’

Since the action within the scope of negation is irrealis, it allows “来／去” trans­ formation in most cases: 丢下活儿不去干　diū xià huó-er bú qù gàn 板起脸儿不去笑　bǎn qǐ liǎn-er bú qù xiào 搁在身上没去交 gē zài shēnshàng méi qù jiāo 7.3.2.5 volitional > non-volitional The distinction of volitional vs. non-volitional shows the agent’s volition in a sub­ jective behaviour. Cross-linguistic study shows that volitional verbs tend to occur in the primary narrative line while non-volitional verbs, given their significantly lower categoriality, are mainly used to indicate the background or purpose. This tendency is helpful to explain the following facts: 有理由不去 yǒu lǐyóu bú qù have reason not go ‘have reason not to go’ 有资格当医生　 yǒu zīgé dāng yīshēng have qualifications work as doctor ‘have the qualifications to work as a doctor’ 有办法解决 yǒu bànfǎ jiějué have way solve ‘have a way to solve (a problem)’ 有勇气承认 yǒu yǒngqì chéngrèn have courage admit ‘have the courage to admit’ 有条件上大学　 yǒu tiáojiàn shàng dàxué have condition go to university ‘have the condition to go to college’

A transitivity interpretation of serial verb constructions in Chinese 201 有力量帮助别人 yǒu lìliàng bāngzhù biérén have power help others ‘have the power to help others’ In general syntactic analysis, “有+N” is taken as as an adverbial of VP2, which leads to the conclusion VP1 non-individuated object The individuation of object is a more complicated issue. The categorical hierarchy of Chinese nouns is as follows: indefinite noun > anaphoric noun > anaphoric pronoun > zero anaphora > nonreferential noun One important rule of individuation that concerns the serial verb construction is referential > non-referential, and within the referential, indefinite > definite. Examine the following examples: 叫了一辆车送他　 jiào le yī liàng call PFV one CL ‘call a taxi to send him’

chē car

tā him

sòng send

弄点子假货糊弄我　 nòng diǎnzi jiǎhuò húnòng get lot fake product fool ‘get lots of fake products to fool me’ （indefinite > definite）

wǒ me

202

Backgrounding constructions 买把排笔刷新房　 mǎi bǎ páibǐ shuā xīn fáng buy CL broad brush whitewash new house ‘buy a broad brush to whitewash the new house’ 采点儿草药治伤腿 cǎi diǎn-er cǎoyào zhì shāng gather little herb treat wounded ‘gather some herbs to treat the wounded leg’ （indefinite > semi-definite）

tuǐ leg

打盆水洗脸　 dǎ pén shuǐ xǐ liǎn get CL water wash face ‘get a basin of water to wash the face’ 找个清静地儿喊嗓子 zhǎo find

gè qīngjìng CL quiet

dì-er place

hǎn shout

sǎngzi voice

‘find a quiet place to train one’s voice’ （indefinite ＞ non-referential） 修修你的船出海　 xiū-xiū nǐ de chuán repair-REDUP you GEN boat ‘repair your boat to go to the sea’

chūhǎi go to the sea

护送他回家 hùsòng tā huíjiā escort he go home ‘escort him home’ (definite ＞ non-referential） The above are examples of V 1 > V 2; V 1 < V 2 is not to be discussed here. Above we have examined the focus of the serial verb construction from the perspective of event type, kinesis, mood, affirmation, volition and individuation of object. According to the transitivity hypothesis, we can identify the role played by the core verb in the serial verb construction. Although this kind of analysis is local and static, we can still see that it is the high-transitivity verbs that make up the primary narrative thread if the unit of observation is extended to discourse. Conversely, verbs of low transitivity are accompanying elements in function and of less important syntactical-semantic status.

8

Imperfective clause “V着”

8.0 Introduction In narrative discourse, some sentences directly report the progress of events and the actions of the characters, while others help lay out or comment on the events. The former group is called the foreground part and the latter the background part. Foreground information tends to be expressed by the perfective aspect and back­ ground information by the imperfective aspect (see Hopper, 1979). “着”(zhe) is an imperfective aspect marker, indicating the action is in progres­ sion. The combination “V着” can be used in many syntactic positions, but there is one thing shared by all instantiations of “V着” irrespective of the syntactic position – syntactic dependence. This syntactic behaviour is motivated by a com­ mon textual function they perform – representing background information. This chapter focuses on three issues: 1 2 3

situation type1 of “V着”; syntactic dependence of “V着”; the imperfective feature of “V着” and its background information status.

We examine the syntactic behaviour of “V着” against the linguistic universal of foreground-background distinction, and argue that the textual function of provid­ ing background information is the real motivation for “V着” to be syntactically dependent.

8.1 Properties of “着” There are two different opinions about “着”. One opinion tends to identify differ­ ent grammatical meanings for “着”. For instance, Yoshiki (1983) makes distinc­ tion of two “着”: “着1” indicates the progression of a dynamic event and “着2” the continuation of a static event. Guo Rui’s (1993) distinction is even finer: “着1” indicates the progression of a dynamic action, “着2” the fixed static state as indi­ cated by the verb proper, and “着3” the fixed state after the completion of an action. The other opinion argues that there is only one same “着” irrespective of the verb type, and that the different uses of “V着” should not be attributed to “着” (e.g., Yuan Yulin, 1992; Shi Yuzhi, 1992).

204

Backgrounding constructions

We are in support of the second opinion and behold that “着” is a progressive aspect marker in modern Chinese. Although different propositions, once marked by “着”, can be different in surface meaning, we believe that all “V着”clauses have essentially the same semantic property. 8.1.1 Verbs before “着” We find that the verbs that can be followed by “着” fall broadly into the following three categories: 1 2 3

Vstatic Vdynamic+progressive Vdynamic+transient

Vstatic describes a stable state without internal stages or changes; that is, it is homogeneous along the time line. Vdynamic+progressive and Vdynamic+transient cannot describe a static state; the action described by such a verb has a heterogeneous time struc­ ture in which the process described by Vdynamic+progressive will last for a period of time while the event described by Vdynamic+transient occurs so instantaneously that it seems to take no time. 1

Vstatic +着. Among the verbs of the category Vstatic, those with a strong static property, such as “是(shì, ‘be’), 属于(shǔyú, ‘belong’), 作为(zuòwéi, ‘act as’), 符合(fúhé, ‘accord with’)”, cannot be suffixed by “着”; those with a weaker static property can be marked by the progressive aspect marker “着” to indicate the continuation of a static state. For example: 有着(yǒu zhe, ‘have’) 存在着(cúnzài zhe, ‘exist’) 标志着(biāozhì zhe, ‘show’)（existential verb＋着） 爱着(ài zhe, ‘loving’) 恨着(hèn zhe, ‘hating’) 琢磨着(zhuómó zhe, ‘think­ ing’)（perceptual verb＋着）

2

Vdynamic+progressive+ 着. Verbs of the category of Vdynamic+progressive, when marked by “着”, indicate the continuation of a dynamic event, as in: 坐着(zuò zhe, ‘sitting’)　站着(zhàn zhe, ‘standing’)　躺着(tǎng zhe, ‘lying’)　跪着(guì zhe, ‘kneeling’)　趴着(pā zhe, ‘lying on one’s stomach’) （self-concerning locative verb＋着） 挂着(guà zhe, ‘hanging’)　贴着(tiē zhe, ‘sticking’)　盖着(gài zhe, ‘cov­ ering’)　堆着(duī zhe, ‘piling’)　插着(chā zhe, ‘sticking’)（locative verb concerning others＋着） 跑着(pǎo zhe, ‘running’)　笑着(xiào zhe, ‘laughing’)　蹦着(bèng zhe, ‘jumping’)　跳着(tiào zhe, ‘jumping’)　咳着(ké zhe, ‘coughing’)　闹着 (nào zhe, ‘making noise’) （action verb＋着） 听着(tīng zhe, ‘listening’) 看着(kàn zhe, ‘looking’)　写着(xiě zhe, ‘writ­ ing’)　唱着(chàng zhe, ‘singing’)　问着(wèn zhe, ‘asking’)　骑着(qí zhe, ‘riding’) （ibid.）

Imperfective clause “V着”

205

考虑着(kǎolǜ zhe, ‘considering’)　琢磨着(zhuómó zhe, ‘pondering’)　回 忆着(huíyì zhe, ‘recalling’)　关心着(guānxīn zhe, ‘caring’)　注意着 (zhùyì zhe, ‘noticing’)　体会着(tǐhuì zhe, ‘experiencing’) （perceptual verb＋着） 3

Vdynamic+transient +着. “V着” indicates the continuation of the state as created by the action, as in: 扔着(rēng zhe ‘cast’)　倒着(dǎo zhe, ‘fallen’)　停着(tíng zhe, ‘parked’)　 死着(sǐ zhe, ‘(be) dead’)（transient verb）

The static property (i.e., internal temporal stability) of the verbs mentioned above can be summed up from strong to weak as follows: Vstatic > (existence/perception)

Vdynamic+progressive > (location/action)

Vdynamic+transient (instantaneity)

The leftmost category is homogenous in its internal time structure; the situation it represents, if unfolded along the time axis, is the same at every point. The right­ most category has the strongest heterogeneity in the time structure. It happens and ends in a flash. The following section examines what happens when these three categories of verbs are marked by “着”. 8.1.2 Shared property of “V着” The three categories of verbs discussed above are different in their inherent prop­ erties, and once marked by “着” their grammatical meanings also differ, which can be divided into static continuation, dynamic continuation, and state continuity upon the end of the action indicated by the verb. But there is one thing in common of all “V着” irrespective of the different sources: they all imply a homogeneous time structure. In other words, verbs of different categories, once marked by “着”, all acquire the static property. 1 existence/perception verb This category of verb has a static property by itself, and the addition of “着” does not change its original situation type. For example: (1) 标志着一支队伍的成熟 biāozhì zhe yī zhī duìwǔ mark zhe one CL team ‘marking the maturity of a team’

de ASS

chéngshú mature

(2) 爱着一个不回家的人 ài zhe yī gè bú huíjiā de love zhe one CL not go home NOM ‘loving someone who doesn’t go back home’

rén person

206

Backgrounding constructions

2 location/action verb We find that from the lexical point of view, some action verbs can express both dynamic and static situations, but when they are marked by “着”, they no longer show internal heterogeneity but internal homogeneity. Compare the following groups of examples: A

往墙上挂地图 wǎng qiáng shàng guà to wall on hang ‘hang the map onto the wall’

B

dìtú map

*往墙上挂着地图 wǎng qiángshàng guà zhe dìtú

C

墙上挂着地图　(挂着 can be replaced with 挂有 (guà yǒu), where “有” is used here to indicate existence) qiáng shàng guà zhe wall on hang zhe ‘On the wall hangs a map.’

A

dìtú map

往脚上抹獾油 wǎng jiǎo shàng mǒ to foot on cover ‘cover the foot with badger fat’

B

huānyóu badger fat

*往脚上抹着獾油 *wǎng jiǎo shàng mò zhe huānyóu

C

脚上抹着獾油　(盖有, gài yǒu, ‘covered with’) jiǎo shàng mò zhe huānyóu foot on cover zhe badger fat ‘The foot is covered with badger fat.’

A

把新米放家里　 　　 　　 bǎ xīn mǐ fàng jiālǐ ba new rice put home ‘put the new crop of rice at home’

B

*把新米放着家里 *bǎ xīn mǐ fàng zhe jiālǐ

Imperfective clause “V着” C

207

家里放着新米　(存有, cún yǒu, ‘have . . . in store’) jiālǐ fàng zhe xīn mǐ home put zhe new rice ‘The new crop of rice is put at home.’

A

把衣服晾绳子上 　　 bǎ yīfú liàng shéngzi ba clothes hang rope ‘hang clothes on the rope’

B

shàng on

*把衣服晾着绳子上 *bǎ yīfú liàng zhe shéngzi shàng

C

绳子上晾着衣服 shéngzi shàng liàng zhe rope on hang zhe ‘On the rope hang the clothes.’

A

yīfú (晾有, liàngyǒu, ‘hang’) clothes

在山上种果树 　　 　　　 zài shān shàng zhòng guǒshù at hill on plant fruit tree ‘plant fruit trees on the hill’ 　　

B

*在山上种着果树 *zài shān shàng zhòng zhe guǒshù 　　　

C

山上种着果树　 shān shàng zhòng zhe hill on plant zhe ‘On the hill are fruit trees.’

guǒshù (种有, zhòng yǒu, ‘planted’) fruit tree

Of the examples above, Group A indicates a dynamic situation, action or an obvi­ ous end point (such as foot, wall or hill) or a clear target (new crop of rice, clothes) as introduced by a preposition. Group B is not acceptable in that “着”, which requires the state to be homogeneous, is incompatible with the occurrence of the preposition that demands the verb to have a definite end point or object.2 In Group C, the conflict between the semantic requirements of “着” and the preposition no longer exists, in that the end point and object of the action have become the sentence-initial locative topic. At the same time, the verb phrase has come to indicate the state rather than the process. The comparison of the three clauses in each group of verbs suggests that “V 着” does not bear the properties of prototypical verbs.3

208

Backgrounding constructions

3 instantaneous verbs Instantaneous verbs manifest the greatest internal heterogeneity of the time structure, but once “着” is attached, the time structure becomes homogeneous. Therefore, it can be said that the function of “着” is to reduce the dynamic prop­ erty of the verb to the minimum, be the dynamic process of the verb long or short. (3) a. 床底下扔着一年四季都想不起来穿的破衣服。 Chuángdǐxià under the bed zhe zhe bù not de NOM

rēng throw yī one qǐlái up pò ragged

nián year chuān wear yīfú. clothes

sì four

jì season

dōu all

xiǎng think

‘Under the bed were ragged clothes that I wouldn’t remember to wear all year round.’ b. 大门口还倒着一棵掉光了叶子的老树。 Dàménkǒu at the gate de NOM

hái dǎo still fall lǎo old

zhe zhe shù. tree

yī one

kē diào guāng le CL fall bare PFV

yèzi leaf

‘There was also an old leafless tree fallen at the gate.’ c. 外头停着辆崭新的“奔驰”。 Wàitou tíng zhe liàng zhǎnxīn de “Bēnchí”. outside park zhe CL brand new ASS Mercedes Benz ‘A brand-new Mercedes Benz was parked outside.’ d. 地上密密麻麻死着一大片叫不出名字来的虫子。 Dìshàng on the ground

mìmìmámá thickly

sǐ die

zhe zhe

yī one

dà big

piàn CL

jiào bú chū míngzì lái de chóngzi. call not out name come NOM bug ‘The ground was thick with dead bugs that could not be called by name.’ In these examples, none of “扔”, “倒”, “停” or “死”, once marked by “着”, indi­ cates that the action itself has a process or can be repeated; they only represent static situations. It is also out of the homogeneity of “V着” that it is possible to attach “着” to attributive adjectives to express a homogenous state, as in (4):

Imperfective clause “V着”

209

(4) a. 红着脸把话说完。 Hóng red

zhe zhe

liǎn face

bǎ ba

huà words

shuō say

wán. complete

‘(He) finished with a red face.’ b. 忙着招呼客人。 Máng busy

zhe zhe

zhāohū treat

kèrén. guest

‘(He’s) busy treating the guests.’ c. 大着胆子说了个“不”。 Dà zhe dǎnzi shuō le gè “bū ”. big zhe guts say PFV CL no ‘(He was) bold enough to produce a “no”.’ d. 亮着嗓子喊起来。 Liàng zhe sǎngzi hǎn qǐlái. loud and clear zhe voice shout up ‘(He) began shouting in a loud and clear voice.’ e. 紧着往嘴里塞。 Jǐn zhe wǎng zuǐ lǐ hurriedly zhe to mouth inside ‘(He) hurriedly stuffed (it) into his mouth.’

sāi. Stuff

The above facts show that “着” is a continuation-indicating aspect marker which functions to turn an internally heterogeneous situation into one of internal homogeneity and change a telic process into an atelic state.

8.2 The dependence property of “V着(NP)” In the previous section, we have analyzed the nature and grammatical function of “着”, as well as the semantics of “V着”. This section will start with the syntactic distribution of “V着(NP)” to explore its syntactic property. The focus is on the narratives, rather than conversations. “V着” mainly appears under the following syntactic conditions: 1

2

Serial verb construction: When the serial verb construction takes the form V1V2, “V着” appears in the position of V1; and when the construction takes the form V1V2V3, “V着” precedes V3. Single-verb construction: (1) coverb (verb-preposition concurrence) clause, (2) static verb clause, and (3) dynamic verb clause.4

210

Backgrounding constructions

8.2.1  Serial verb construction “V着” occurs in the V1 slot of the serial verb construction and is lighter in seman­ tics than V2. The semantic connection between “V着” and the subsequent predi­ cate element is generally of the following types: 1

“V着(NP)” denotes the manner or the means of the latter action, as in (5): (5) A. 毛博士指着脸子教训老梅。 Máo bóshì zhǐ zhe liǎnzi jiāoxùn Mao doctor point zhe face lecture ‘Dr. Mao lectured Old Mei, pointing at his face.’

Lǎo Old

Méi. Mei

他一向开着窗户睡觉。 Tā yīxiàng kāi zhe chuānghù shuìjiào. he always open zhe window sleep ‘He always sleeps with the window open.’ B.

他这种衣帽平时是放在柜箱里，留着过年串亲戚穿的。

Tā he

zhèzhǒng this kind

yī clothes

mào hat

píngshí usually

shì be

fàng keep

zài in

guìxiāng cabinet

lǐ， inside

chuànqīnqī visit relatives

chuān wear

liú zhe guònián save zhe celebrate the Chinese New Year

de. aux.

‘Usually such clothes and hats are kept in the cabinet for visiting the relatives during the Chinese New Year.’ 这一批新来的都闹着要回家。 Zhè yī pī xīn lái de dōu nào zhe yào huíjiā. this one CL new come NOM all clamour zhe want go home ‘These new comers are all clamouring to go home.’ In A cases, V1 is used to indicate the manner of V2. Since it has a parallel syntactic behaviour with adverbials, some scholars simply regard “V着” as adverbial.5 In B cases, V1 is used to specify the means to realize V2 (that is, “过年串亲戚穿” is realized by means of “留”, and “回家” by means of “闹”). The two types are therefore interrelated in semantics. 2

“V着” denotes an accompanying action of V2. For example: (6) 她说着和金生媳妇相跟到窑中给大胜贴膏药。 Tā shuō she say

zhe hé zhe with

Jīnshēng xífù xiànggēn dào yáo zhōng Jinsheng wife follow to kiln inside

Imperfective clause “V着”

211

gěi Dàshèng tiē gāoyào. give Dasheng stick plaster ‘As she spoke, she went to the kiln with Jinsheng’s wife to put plaster on Dasheng.’ Such cases can be rewritten as “一边. . . . . .一边”(yī biān . . . . . . yī biān, ‘while’) (Lü Jiping, 1985). According to our observation, the semantic focus of the two actions described by “一边. . . . . .一边” tends to be on the latter component, and the two verbs cannot swap position. In contrast, “V着” can simply be omitted. (7) a.她一边说着一边和金生媳妇相跟到窑中给大胜贴膏药。 Tā yībiān shuō zhe yībiān hé Jīnshēng xífù xiànggēn dào yáo zhōng gěi Dàshèng tiē gāoyào. ‘As she spoke, she went to the kiln with Jinsheng’s wife to put plaster on Dasheng.’ b. *她一边和金生媳妇相跟到窑中给大胜贴膏药一边说着。(verbs swapped) *Tā yībiān hé Jīnshēng xífù xiànggēn dào yáo zhōng gěi Dàshèng tiē gāoyào yībiān shuō zhe. c. 她和金生媳妇相跟到窑中给大胜贴膏药。(“V着” omitted) Tā hé Jīnshēng xífù xiànggēn dào yáo zhōng gěi Dàshèng tiē gāoyào ‘She went to the kiln with Jinsheng’s wife to put plaster on Dasheng.’ If the concomitant action lasts so long that it has a consequence, “V着” can be reduplicated to describe the state in which the latter action occurs. For example: (8) a. 她这样安静，这样苍白，仿佛坐在窗口看月亮，看着看着睡着了 Tā zhèyàng ānjìng, zhèyàng cāngbái, fǎngfó zuò zài chuāngkǒu she so quiet so pale as if sit at window kàn yuèliàng, kàn zhe kàn zhe shuìzháo le. look moon look zhe look zhe fall asleep CRS ‘She was so quiet, so pale, as if she were sitting by the window, looking at the moon, and had fallen asleep while doing so.’ b. 说着说着就说不下去了 shuō zhe shuō zhe jiù say zhe say zhe just

shuō say

bú not

xiàqù down

le CRS

‘(He) went on saying, and then (he) found (he) could not go on.’ 3 “V着” expresses manner, but is fairly bleached in meaning in comparison with those of type 1. The semantic focus of the serial verb construction is on the comment part following “V着”. For example: (9) a. 车子颠簸得太厉害了，坐着很不舒服。 Chēzi diānbǒ de tài lìhài le， zuò zhe hěn

bù

shūfú.

212

Backgrounding constructions car

bumpy aux. too serious aux. sit

zhe very

not comfortable

‘The car was so bumpy that it was very uncomfortable to sit.’ b. 这种工作干着有意思儿。 Zhèzhǒng gōngzuò gàn zhe yǒuyìsi-er. this kind work do zhe Interesting ‘It’s interesting to do this kind of job.’ c. 她看着也就二十出头。 Tā kàn zhe yějiù èrshí she look zhe just twenty ‘She looks just a little over 20.’

chūtóu. a little over

Most of this type of “V着” can be replaced by “V起来” (V qǐlái, where qǐlái is a directional element) or simply omitted, in which case there would be no obvi­ ous difference in semantics. In general, “V着” in the serial verb construction is to indicate the manner, means or state of the subsequent predicate. The imbalanced distribution of semantic weight in the serial verb construction (light weight on V1 and heavy weight on V2) is shown not only in the modifier-modified relationship, but also in their relative syntactic complexity: there is a clear tendency for V2 to be more complex than V1, which is also in line with the general rule of information distribution. 8.2.2  Single-verb construction6 1 coverb clauses The so-called coverb is the concurrence of verb and preposition. It is a relatively closed subclass, including verbs such as “沿(yán, ‘(walk) along’), 随(suí, ‘fol­ low’), 跟(gēn, ‘follow’), 靠(kào, ‘lean against’), 顺(shùn, ‘(walk) along’)”, and some abstract verbs, such as “面对(miànduì, ‘face’), 伴随(bànsuí, ‘accompany’), 围绕(wéirào, ‘surround’), 抱(bào, ‘behold (some opinion) ’)”, etc. “V着” in such clauses is used to introduce the condition. For example: (10) a. . . . . . .，沿着社会主义的道路，为实现四个现代化的宏伟目标团结 奋进！ . . . . . . ., zhe shèhuìzhǔyì de dàolù， wéi along zhe socialism ASS road for shíxiàn yán realize

sì four

gè CL

xiàndàihuà

de

hóngwěi

mùbiāo

tuánjié

fènjìn！

modernization

NOM

grand

goal

unite

strive

‘Along the road of socialism we must forge ahead in unity and strive for the grand goal of the four modernizations.’

Imperfective clause “V着” 213 b. 随着工业的发展，企业的科技人员数量应当越来越多，. . . . . . Suí follow

zhe zhe

gōngyè industry

fāzhǎn， development

qǐyè enterprise

de GEN

kējì science and technology

rényuán staff

yuèláiyuè more and more

duō, . . . many

de ASS

shùliàng number

yīngdāng should

‘With the development of industry the number of scientific and technological personnel in enterprises should be on the increase.’ c. 我们有些干部，面对着崭新的历史任务，思想还不够解放，. . . . . . Wǒmen yǒuxiē we some

gànbù, cadre

miànduì face

zhe zhe

de ASS

lìshǐ history

rènwù, task

sīxiǎng mind

hái still

bú not

gòu enough

zhǎnxīn brand new

jiěfàng, . . . . . . emancipate

‘Some of our cadres, faced with brand-new historical missions, are not doing enough to emancipate their mind.’ d. 围绕着实现四个现代化的共同目标，文艺的路子要越走越宽，. . . . . . Wéirào surround

zhe zhe

xiàndàihuà de modernization NOM

shíxiàn realize

sì gè four CL

gòngtóng common

mùbiāo, goal

wényì de literature and art aux.

yuè the more

kuān，. . . . . . wide

lùzi yào yuè zǒu road should the more walk

‘Around the common goal of realizing the four modernizations, the road of literature and art should be made wider and wider.’ 3 Clauses of static verbs Such verbs are homogeneous and static by themselves. The addition of “着” gives an obvious written colour to such clauses.

214

Backgrounding constructions

A. Clauses of existential verbs 这支部队有着光荣的革命传统 Zhè zhī bùduì yǒu zhe guāngróng de gémìng chuántǒng. this CL army have zhe glorious ASS revolution tradition ‘This army has a glorious revolutionary tradition.’ 企业内部存在着不少矛盾 Qǐyè nèibù cúnzài zhe bùshǎo máodùn. Enterprise inside exist zhe not few contradition ‘There are many contradictions internal to the enterprise.’ B. Clauses of perception verbs 他深深爱着这份工作 Tā shēnshēn ài zhe he deep-REDUP love zhe ‘He is deeply in love with this job.’

zhè this

fèn CL

4 Clauses of dynamic verbs A. Existential clauses 山上架着炮 Shān shàng jià zhe hill up stand zhe ‘On the hill stand artillery.’

pào artillery

门口爬着条狗 Ménkǒu pá zhe tiáo gǒu at the gate crawl zhe CL dog ‘There was a dog crawling in front of the gate.’ B. Static clauses 门开着 Mén kāi zhe door open zhe ‘The door is open.’ 她梳着两条大辫子 Tā shū zhe liǎng tiáo dà she wear zhe two CL big ‘She’s wearing two big braids.’

biànzi braid

gōngzuò. job

Imperfective clause “V着”

215

C. State clauses 大家说着，笑着， . . . Dàjiā shuō zhe， xiào zhe， . . . We speak zhe laugh zhe ‘We were talking and laughing, . . . ’ 妈妈读着信，（脸上渐渐露出了微笑） Māmā dú zhe xìn,（liǎn shàng jiànjiàn lùchū le wēixiào） mother read zhe letter ‘Mother was reading the letter, (a smile gradually emerging on her face.)’ Researchers have noticed the restrictions on the use of “V着” clauses. Li Linding (1986) maintains that in the existential sentence, the semantics of the post-verb noun does not play a key role, because the agent-patient relation is not important in the existential sentence; the sentence pattern is used only to indicate the existence of something or somebody and the state of being. As Liu Ningsheng (1985) points out, “V着” clauses of this kind are often used to describe the setting, appearance, etc. According to Chu (1987), “single verb +着” is syntactically incomplete, but there are the pragmatic princi­ ples, according to which context can make up for grammatical inadequacy.7 These analyses reveal the characteristics of “V着” clauses from different perspectives. In what follows, our investigation will go beyond “V着” proper to its status in discourse. Table 8.1 is the statistical results of the distribution of “single verb + 着” construction. In order to accurately reflect the true performance of the pro­ gressive aspect, we have excluded instances where the verb is preceded by “在/正 在” (zài /zhèngzài, ‘in process of’) or followed by the sentence-final modal par­ ticle “呢”(ne). The results show that the coverb clause, the static verb clause and the dynamic verb clause differ in their capacity for functioning as the concluding clause of discourse. The investigation of these three types of “V着” clauses shows that “V着” clauses of single action usually demand follow-up clauses, and that the few that conclude discourse are basically limited to static verbs, which are to be discussed in detail in next section. In general, “V着(NP)” is not the core component of the sentence. “V着” is syn­ tactically dependent, which is manifested in the fact that it is equal in status to the Table 8.1 Discourse distribution of “single verb +着” construction

Concluding clause

Coverb clause

Static verb clause

Dynamic verb clause

0%

19%

2%

216

Backgrounding constructions

adverbial clause, not making up the semantic core of narration. Syntactic depend­ ence is a shared attribute of “V着(NP)” playing different roles: it is seen not only in “V着” in serial verb constructions but also in “V着” in single-verb constructions.

8.3 Foreground information, background information and the aspect category We have analyzed the nature of “着” and the syntactic features of “V着(NP)”, and pointed out that “着” is an aspect marker indicating “continuation”. Attaching “着” to verbs is to reduce the dynamic attribute of the verb to the minimum, turn a heterogeneous internal time structure into a homogeneous one, and make a telic process atelic; and once the verb is suffixed by “着”, it acquires syntactic depend­ ence. In this section, we mainly discuss the functional mechanism of “V着”. 8.3.1 Perfective vs. imperfective As mentioned above, “aspect” represents the way in which the situation is observed, and different aspects indicate different states of affairs. The speaker can treat the described situation as a whole without analyzing its internal time structure, and this representation of the situation is called the perfective aspect. For example: (11) a. 我想杀死那家伙。 Wǒ xiǎng shāsǐ nà I want kill that ‘I want to kill that guy.’ b. 抓住她！

jiāhuo. guy

Zhuāzhù tā！ catch her ‘Catch her!’ A speaker may not treat the situation as a whole; rather, he or she may focus on the segments, including those with neither a starting point nor an end point. This kind of state/situation representation is referred to as “imperfective”, as in (12): (12) a. 他咚咚地敲着大门 Tā he

dōng-dōng dong-dong

de aux.

qiāo knock

zhe zhe

dàmén. gate

‘He thumped at the gate.’ b. 她脸红起来 Tā she

liǎn face

hóng red

qǐlái. up

‘She blushed.’ “V着” here indicates a continuing situation which is imperfective in aspect.

Imperfective clause “V着”

217

Perfective and imperfective constitute the most important dichotomy in the study of aspect. Cross-linguistic research shows that the perfective is used to report consecutive events while the imperfective is to provide information about ongoing or concurrent background events (see Hopper, 1979). 8.3.2 Foreground vs. background In their study of transitivity, Hopper (1979) and Hopper and Thompson (1980) have discussed the relevance between aspect and background information and hold that the imperfective is an important means to express background information. Hopper (1979) summarizes the imperfective features of background informa­ tion as below: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

events A and B exist simultaneously or successively; as the setting or an incidental event, whose completion is not a necessary condition for the subsequent event(s); marked focus, such as subject focus, instrument focus, clausal adverb focus, etc.; the topics are diverse, natural phenomena included; static/descriptive type of situation; background, state or situation necessary for understanding motivation, atti­ tude, etc.; irrealis.

Now, if we put all the syntactic behaviours of “V着” against the backdrop of linguistic universals, we will find that its textual function to provide background information is the root motivation for “V着” to be syntactically dependent. In the serial verb construction, “V1着” indicates an event of simultaneous occurrence or sequential existence. There is no doubt that V1 indicates back­ ground information. Here we mainly focus on the textual status of “V着” in the single-verb construction. 1) “V着” with (a) subsequent clause(s) Most instances of “V着” in narrative works are accompanied by subsequent clauses. Its typical use in narration is to provide “background” images for the main line of events. The images are mostly static descriptions, and the clause subject is mostly not the agent. (13) is a case where the background image is the description of an entire scene. (13) 平坦的柏油马路上铺着一层薄雪，被街灯照得有点闪眼，偶尔过来 辆汽车，灯光远 射，小 雪粒在 灯光里带着点黄亮，像撒着 万颗金 沙。（Camel Xiangzi 《 ( 骆驼祥子》)）

218

Backgrounding constructions Píngtǎn de bǎiyóu mǎlù shàng pù zhe yī céng báoxuě， flat ASS tarmac road on cover zhe one layer thin snow bèi jiēdēng zhào de yǒudiǎn shǎnyǎn，ǒu’ěr guòlái liàng qìchē， dēngguāng yuǎn shè， xiǎo xuělì zài dēngguāng lǐ dài zhe diǎn huáng small snow at light in carry zhe bit yellow liàng, grains xiàng sǎ zhe wàn kē jīn shā. ‘The flat tarmac road was covered with a thin layer of snow, sparkling under the streetlights. The distant lights of occasional passing cars would stain the snow grains with kind of yellow brightness, turning them into thousands of gold sands.’

This kind of background image can also be an in-depth description of a certain point along the main narrative line, such as (14): (14) 老头子已经不再拉车，身上的衣裳比以前更破，扛着根柳木棍子， 前头挂着个大瓦壶，后面悬着个破元宝筐子，筐子里头有些烧饼油 鬼和一大块砖头。（Camel Xiangzi 《 ( 骆驼祥子》)） Lǎotóuzi yǐjīng búzài lā chē，shēn shàng de yīshang bǐ yǐqián gèng pò， Káng shoulder

zhe zhe

qiántóu front hòumiàn

guà hang xuán

gēn CL zhe zhe zhe

liǔmù willow gè CL gè

gùnzi， stick dà big pò

wǎ tile yuánbǎo

hú， pot kuāngzi，

back hang zhe CL broken treasure basket kuāngzi lǐtóu yǒu xiē shāobǐng yóuguǐ hé yī dà kuài zhuāntóu. ‘The old man was no longer pulling the rickshaw, and his clothes were more ragged than before. He carried a willow stick on his shoulder, a big tile pot in front of him, and behind him hanging a broken treasure basket, in which were some sesame seed cakes, fried bread sticks and a large brick.’ The background may also provide a condition or a reference in the environment, as in (15): (15) 有个战士坐车，一位妇女抱着娃娃，他不让座，娃娃哭了他也不理。 （Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 2 《 ( 邓小平文选》第二卷)） Yǒu gè zhànshì zuòchē，

yī one

wèi CL

tā bú ràngzuò，wáwa kū le tā yě bùlǐ.

fùnǚ woman

bào hold

zhe zhe

wáwa， baby

Imperfective clause “V着”

219

‘There was a soldier taking the bus. A woman was holding a baby in her arms, but he wouldn’t give his seat to the woman. He even ignored when the baby cried.’ 2) “V着” in concluding clauses It is mainly in argumentative writings that we see a few cases of “V着” occurring in the concluding clause, as the statistics in Section 8.2.2 show. The verbs in these clauses usually exhibit static characteristics. For example: (16) 实现四个现代化，我们清醒地看到这是一件艰巨的事情，但是是能 够做到的。首先是我们有全党的团结，全国人民的团结。我们的人 民是勤劳勇敢的人民，有着艰苦奋斗的传统。. . . . . .（Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 2, 《邓小平文选》第二卷), ( p.111） Shíxiàn sì gè xiàndàihuà，wǒmen qīngxǐng de kàndào zhè shì yī jiàn jiānjù de shìqíng，dànshì shì nénggòu zuòdào de. Shǒuxiān shì wǒmen yǒu quán dǎng de tuánjié，quánguó rénmín de tuánjié. Wǒmen de rénmín shì qínláo yǒnggǎn de rénmín, yǒu have

zhe zhe

jiānkǔfèndòu hardworking

de ASS

chuántǒng. . . . tradition

‘We are soberly aware that it is a difficult mission to realize the four mod­ ernizations, but it can be achieved. First of all, we have the unity of the whole Party, and the unity of people of the whole country. Our people are hardworking and brave. They have a tradition of hard struggle. . . . ’ In the example, “有着艰苦奋斗的传统” is the concluding clause, but it is used as a complementary or additional element, which may very well be put before the main statement, as in (17): (17) 我们的人民有着艰苦奋斗的传统，是勤劳勇敢的人民。 Wǒmen de rénmín yǒu zhe jiānkǔfèndòu de chuántǒng, shì qínláo yǒnggǎn de rénmín. ‘Our people have a tradition of hard struggle, and are hardworking and brave.’ If the preceding main statement is removed, “V着” can barely be used in the concluding clause: (18’) *实现四个现代化，我们清醒地看到这是一件艰巨的事情，但是是能 够做到的。首先是我们有全党的团结，全国人民的团结。我们的人 民有着艰苦奋斗的传统。. . . . . . *Shíxiàn sì gè xiàndàihuà，wǒmen qīngxǐng de kàndào zhè shì yī jiàn jiānjù de shìqíng，dànshì shì nénggòu zuòdào de. Shǒuxiān shì wǒmen

220

Backgrounding constructions yǒu quán dǎng de tuánjié，quánguó rénmín de tuánjié. Wǒmen de rénmín yǒu zhe jiānkǔfèndòu de chuántǒng. . . .

Thus, this kind of “V着” clause is not the core of the statement; it still presents background information, which renders it not essentially different from “V着” in non-concluding clauses. “V着” concluding clauses in narrative works are no exception to this rule. From the discussion above we can see that it is most common for “V着” to be used as the “prelude” or additive information to the main statement. “V着” of a different use is only seen in works of argumentation, which can be taken as unique to argumentative writing. In our data this use of “V着” accounts for less than 5%. Its main function is to present a point of view or the topic of a stretch of argumentation. (18) 四个现代化，有个国防现代化。军队目前存在着相当多的问题。很 多同志担心，军队能不能顺利地实现现代化?还有同志担心. . . . . .? 这些担心不是没有根据的。（Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 2 《 ( 邓小平文选》第二卷), p.59) Sì gè xiàndàihuà，yǒu gè guófáng xiàndàihuà. Jūnduì mùqián cúnzài zhe xiàngdāng duō de wèntí. troops currently exist zhe rather many ASS problem Hěnduō tóngzhì dānxīn，jūnduì néngbunéng shùnlì de shíxiàn xiàndàihuà?Háiyǒu tóngzhì dānxīn . . . . . .? Zhèxiē dānxīn búshì méiyǒu gēnjù de. ‘Among the four modernizations, there is the modernization of national defense. At present, there exist quite a number of problems in the army. Many comrades are worried that the army will not be able to achieve modernization smoothly. Others worry. . . . . . These worries are not groundless.’ (19) 参加这次大会的，有老一辈艺术家；有......；有......; ......这次大会标 志着全国文艺工作者的空前团结。（Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 2 《 ( 邓小平文选》第二卷), p.207) Cānjiā zhècì dàhuì de, yǒu . . . . . . lǎo yī bèi yìshùjiā; yǒu . . . . . .; yǒu . . . . . .; . . . . . . zhècì wényì

dàhuì conference

biāozhì zhe quánguó mark zhe whole country

this gōngzuòzhě literature and art worker de ASS

kōngqián tuánjié. unprecedented unity

Imperfective clause “V着”

221

‘The conference was attended by the older generation of artists; there were. . . ; there were. . . ; there were. . . The conference marked the unprec­ edented unity of the national literary and artistic workers.’ We think that it is exactly because it is unconventional for “V着” to occur in the concluding clause that it can function as the topic sentence. It is known that the focus is always highlighted by extraordinary syntactic arrangements. “V着” concluding clauses happen to be a kind of extraordinary syntactic arrangement, representing a special means to highlight the topic sentence. To sum up, “着” is an imperfective marker and “V着”, where “着” is a compo­ nent, can be found in many syntactic positions. There is one thing in common of “V 着” in different positions – syntactic dependence, which is motivated by a shared textual function – to provide background information. Syntactic dependence is the condensation of functional features; the textual function of providing background information is a more profound motivation behind the syntactic phenomenon.

Notes 1 The situation type of the sentence depends not only on the lexical meaning of the verb, but also on the other sentence elements related to the verb (Smith, 1991; Chen Ping, 1988). Such elements as object, complement, subject and so on all have a role to play. The lexical meaning of the verb determines the situation types that the sentence can express; the other sentence elements associated with the verb determine which particu­ lar type of situation the sentence is to realize. Here we only give examples of single verbs in order to make it more convenient to explain the role of “着”. 2 As general practice, we have excluded clauses with “正, 正在”(zài /zhèngzài) and “呢”(ne) from the examples we cite, because such elements also have impact on time structure perception. This differentiation can help avoid the confusion of their mean­ ings and functions with those of “着”. 3 The revelation of this property of “V着” may enable a unified understanding of the different patterns of the Chinese existential sentence. One way of expressing existence in Chinese is to use “有”(yǒu) and the other is to use “是”(shì), both of which have obvious static meaning and are atypical as verbs. Now we can see that V in “V着” has the same semantic characteristics with “有” and “是” – homogeneity in time structure. 4 This chapter does not discuss the imperative use of “V着” (e.g., 听着！(Tīng zhe! ‘Listen!’), because from the perspective of speech act, imperative sentences are performatives, in which the agent makes a request or issues a command. Imperatives are fundamentally different in communicative function from narration. 5 See Chu (1987). 6 That “V着” in the serial verb construction has the attribute of subordination has been demonstrated by scholars from different angles (e.g., Ma, 1985; Chu, 1987). However, there are still different views on “着” in the single-verb construction. Ma (1985) holds that “着” in complex “着” constructions marks subordination by functioning as man­ ner or modal adverbials of the main verb together with the verb it is suffixed to, and in single-verb constructions it indicates progressiveness. In contrast, Chu (1987) argues that “着” is semantically a progressive aspect marker and syntactically a subordina­ tion marker, whether it occurs in a single-verb construction (including imperative sen­ tence) or in a serial verb construction. Pragmatically the speaker tends to use “V着” to

222

Backgrounding constructions

indicate that the verb (or predicate) that it is attached to is less important than any other verb in the same sentence. 7 Chu (1987) divides single-verb “V着” constructions into three types: A. 等着!(děng zhe! ‘Wait!’), 坐着!(zuò zhe! ‘Sit!’), 拿着!(ná zhe! ‘Hold it!’); B. 他打着电话呢。(tā dǎ zhe diànhuà ne. ‘He’s on the phone.’); C. 汤热着呢。(tāng rè zhe ne, ‘The soup is still hot.’). He thinks that type A has the following implication: if you do so, something will (not) happen. In types B and C, the sentence-final particle ne is needed to indicate the topichood of the sentence, suggesting that the sentence only makes sense in relation to the context.

9

Zero cataphora of clause subject

9.1 Syntactic hierarchy and background information In the narrative text, the information that constitutes the main line of the event by directly describing its progression belongs to the category of foreground informa­ tion; the information that elaborates or modifies the primary narrative line without carrying it forward (e.g., the scene, the relevant factors of the event, etc.) is back­ ground information1 (see Hopper, 1979; Tomlin, 1985). Foreground information and background information not only represent the difference in textual func­ tion, but also correspond to a series of syntactico-semantic features. Hopper and Thompson’s (1980) study of transitivity correlates the information property of the clause with its syntactic features, maintaining that clauses expressing foreground information tend to exhibit a number of high-transitivity properties and those expressing background information show a series of low-transitivity properties.2 On the clause level, independent clauses are used to express foreground or core information, and dependent clauses are used to express background information. With regard to the relation between syntactic properties and background infor­ mation, Reinhart (1984) finds that subordination is an important syntactic prop­ erty of background information. The main clause is in the foreground, expressing the event process; the subclause is to the background, representing the factors other than the event process, such as time, condition, concomitant situation, etc. Tomlin’s (1985) statistical analysis further illustrates that about 80% of the cases are in accordance with the above law. Here we see two pairs of concepts: one is independent clause vs. dependent clause, and the other is main clause vs. subclause. In defining the relation between “dependent clause” and “subclause”, “dependency” and “embedding” are two basic parameters. By means of these two parameters, three syntactic levels can be distinguished: namely, coordination, cosubordination and subordiantion (see Foley & Van Valin, 1984).3 Coordinate clauses are neither dependent nor embedded, and they are relatively independent from each other. Cosubordinate clauses exhibit semantic imbalance, but neither is an embedded element of the other. Subordinate clauses act as sen­ tence components in an embedded manner, entirely dependent on the main clause.

224

Backgrounding constructions

Table 9.1 Syntactic level in terms of dependency and embedding coordination

cosubordination

subordination

-dependency -embedding

+dependency -embedding

+dependency +embedding

These three types of clauses form a continuum in terms of degree of structural compactness, or a cline of clause combining as illustrated below: coordination > cosubordination > subordination In morphological languages, independent clauses have complete syntactic inflections, which are characterized by tense and aspect markers of their own, the reference of the subject independent of other clauses, and the ability to enter discourse without recourse to other clauses. Conversely, dependent clauses are not syntactically self-sufficient, which is manifested in limited tense and mood representation, the reference of the subject relying on other clauses, and the inability to enter discourse independently4 (see Payne, 1997). Although the morphological behaviour of dependent clauses varies with the language, they all embody the above syntactic properties. That is to say, dependent clauses are always lower in syntactic status than independent clauses but higher than embedded clauses.

9.2 Zero cataphora of clause subject 9.2.1 In writing There has been literature relating the omission of clause subject to syntactic prop­ erties. For example, research on the existence or nonexistence of infinitives in Chinese is mainly focused on embedded clauses (e.g., object clauses).5 Chen Ping (1987e) is among the early studies on omission of clause subject with regard to syntactic properties from the point of view of non-embedded clauses. Chen men­ tions in his discussion of zero anaphora that in written Chinese there is a kind of zero cataphora whereby the referent of the zero pronoun is to be found in subse­ quent discourse. For example: 0 i能在天亮的时候赶到, 0 i把骆驼出了手,他i可以一进城就买上一辆 车。（cited from Chen Ping, 1987e） 0 i néng zài tiānliàng de shíhòu gǎndào, 0 i bǎ luòtuó chū le shǒu, tā i kěyǐ yī jìnchéng jiù mǎi shàng yī liàng chē. ‘If he could arrive at daybreak and get the camel out of hand, he could buy a rickshaw as soon as he went downtown.’

Zero cataphora of clause subject 225 Chen states in a note, “Clauses of zero cataphora must be subordinate to a clause with the coreferential component in discourse structure. . . . If the clause where cataphora occurs is in coordinate or cosubordinate relation with the co-referencing clause, then cataphora cannot take zero form. . . . The topic of the main clause can­ not be zero cataphora.” Compare (cited from Chen Ping, 1987e): 他i不想打架，虽然0 i不怕打架。（main clause preceding subclause） Tā i bù xiǎng dǎjià，suīrán 0 i bú pà dǎjià. ‘He didn’t want to fight, though he wasn’t afraid of fighting.’ 虽然0 i不怕打架，他i不想打架，（subclause preceding main clause） Suīrán 0 i bú pà dǎjià，tā i bù xiǎng dǎjià. ‘Although he wasn’t afraid of fighting, he didn’t want to fight.’ *0 i不想打架，虽然他i不怕打架。（main clause preceding subclause） *0 i bù xiǎng dǎjià，suīrán tā i bú pà dǎjià. Chen’s “coordinate relation” includes continuation, listing, contrast and alterna­ tion, and “subordinate relation” includes background, causality, concession and explanation. Chen notices the unequal relationship between cataphoric zero-subject clauses and clauses with explicit subjects, but he makes no further elaboration. It is obvious that zero-subject clauses and clauses containing explicit subjects cannot be arbitrarily interlaced in discourse, as illustrated by the group of examples below: (1) a. 0 i坐在床沿上，0 i呆呆的看着这个瓦器，他打算什么也不去想。 0 i zuò zài chuángyán shàng，0 i dāidāi de kàn zhe zhègè wǎqì，tā dǎsuàn shénme yě bú qù xiǎng. ‘Sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at the earthenware, he planned to think about nothing.’ b.

他坐在床沿上，0 i呆呆的看着这个瓦器，0 i打算什么也不去想。

Tā zuò zài chuángyán shàng，0 i dāidāi de kàn zhe zhègè wǎqì，0 i dǎsuàn shénme yě bú qù xiǎng. c.

?0 i坐在床沿上，他呆呆的看着这个瓦器，他打算什么也不去想。

0 i Zuò zài chuángyán shàng，tā dāidāi de kàn zhe zhègè wǎqì，tā dǎsuàn shénme yě bú qù xiǎng. d.

*他坐在床沿上，他呆呆的看着这个瓦器，0 i打算什么也不去想。

Tā zuò zài chuángyán shàng，tā dāidāi de kàn zhe zhègè wǎqì，0 i dǎsuàn shénme yě bú qù xiǎng. e.

#他坐在床沿上，他呆呆的看着这个瓦器，他打算什么也不去想。

Tā zuò zài chuángyán shàng，tā dāidāi de kàn zhe zhègè wǎqì，tā dǎsuàn shénme yě bú qù xiǎng.

226

Backgrounding constructions

What concerns us is the relation between the occurrence of clause subjects and syntactic properties, especially the syntactic and textual properties of zero-subject clauses that precede other clauses in comparison with the situation where zero subjects occur in subsequent clauses (compare (1a - d) with (1e)). 9.2.1 Syntactic status The function of cataphoric zero-subject clauses is similar to that of non-finite clauses in morphological languages. This kind of clause is syntactically more con­ strained than clauses where the subject is made explicit. The essence of cataphoric zero subject clauses is syntactic demotion. From the syntactic point of view, cataphoric zero subject clauses make up a sub­ type of non-embedded dependent clauses and lie between coordinate and subor­ dinate clauses in syntactic dependence. Their syntactic dependence is manifested in: first, the subject of a cataphoric zero-subject clause must be co-referential with the subject of the subsequent clause which has an explicit subject; second, the cataphoric zero subject clause has no tense or mood elements, and the predicate is quite limited in structure, the following being the major configurations: Table 9.2 Configurations of predicates in cataphoric zero-subject clauses Configuration V+le+N Example

V+zhe+N

V+directional V+locative (+N)

丢了车 diū le chē

红着脸 抗起铺盖 坐在胡同口 hóng zhe liǎn káng qǐ pūgài zuò zài hútòng kǒu lose-le-cart red-zhe-face carry-up­ sit-at-alley­ bedding end ‘lost the ‘face flushing’ ‘carry up the ‘sitting at the rickshaw’ bedding’ end of the alley’

V+wan (+N) 吃完 (饭) chī wán (fàn) eat-finish (meal) ‘finish eating (meal)’

Since the subject is already missing in this type of clause, there can be at most one argument to the verb; and when the argument happens to be the patient, it normally takes the form of a bare noun. The dynamic component after the verb tends to be the perfective “了1” and the progressive “着” in most cases. No past time-indicating components are observed; neither are sentence-final modal particles seen, such as “ 了2”: (2) a. 0 i红着脸，他i不由的多看了她几眼。 0 i hóng zhe liǎn，tā i bùyóude duō kàn le tā jǐ yǎn. ‘With a red face, he looked at her more than he could help.’ b.

*红脸了，他i不由的多看了她几眼。

*Hóng liǎn le，tā i bùyóude duō kàn le tā jǐ yǎn.

Zero cataphora of clause subject 227 (3) a. 0 i愣了半天，他i问了句：“曹先生没说我什么?” 0 i lèng le bàntiān，tā i wèn le jù：“Cáo xiānshēng méi shuō wǒ shénme?” ‘Distracted for a long time, he asked, “Didn’t Mr. Cao say something about me?” ’ b.

*愣了半天了，他i问了句：“曹先生没说我什么?”

*Lèng le bàntiān le，tā i wèn le jù：“Cáo xiānshēng méi shuō wǒ shénme?” (4) a. 0 i到了曹宅门外，他i的手哆嗦着去按门。 0 i dào le Cáo zhái ménwài，tā i de shǒu duōsuō zhe qù àn mén. ‘When he got to the gate of Cao’s house, his hand trembled to press the door.’ b.

*到曹宅门外了，他i的手哆嗦着去按门。

*Dào Cáozhái ménwài le，tā i de shǒu duōsuō zhe qù àn mén. It is not difficult to see that these forms all lack the so-called sentence completion elements,6 and none of them can be used as an independent clause. Chen Ping (1987e) notes that the cataphoric zero-subject clause is often a modi­ fier clause. More importantly to us is that zero cataphora is compulsory under certain conditions. This compulsion is manifested in: First, if the subject of each clause occurs, the series of clauses will show an equal relationship between one another, resulting in parallelism of some rhetorical effect. In other words, this is a marked use, as illustrated by (1e) above. Second, when a typical subordinate clause occurs before the main clause, zero cataphora is a must for its subject. The stronger the contrast between the main and the subordinate clause, the stronger the requirement for cataphoric zero subject. In example (5) below, there is a total of five clauses. CL1 and CL2 adopt the same sentence pattern; the availability of “又” in CL2 formally indicates the coor­ dinate relation between the two clauses. At the same time, both CL1 and CL2 are cataphoric zero subject clauses, contrasting in form with CL3, where the subject is made explicit. CL1 and CL2 make up the reason for CL3. (5) a.0 i无缘无故的丢了车（CL1），0 i无缘无故的又来了这层缠绕 （CL2），他i觉得他i这一辈子大概就这么完了（CL3），无论自己怎 么要强（CL4），全算白饶（CL5）。 0 i wúyuánwúgù de diū le chē (CL1), 0 i wúyuánwúgù de yòu lái le zhè céng chánrào (CL2), tā i juéde tā i zhè yībèizi dàgài jiù zhème wán le (CL3), wúlùn zìjǐ zěnme yàoqiáng (CL4), quán suàn báiráo (CL5). ‘He lost the rickshaw for no reason, and again for no reason he got entangled in all this. He thought that this life of his was probably over this way. No mat­ ter how eager he was to excel, it had come to no avail.’ The subject of CL3’s subclause can be omitted, as in (5b), but CL3 cannot have zero subject, as is the case with the reason indicating CL1 and CL2 (see (5c)).

228

Backgrounding constructions

Also, CL1 and CL2, which express parallel reasons, cannot have a subject in one clause but none in the other, as in (5d) and (5e). (5) b. 0 i无缘无故的丢了车，0 i无缘无故的又来了这层缠绕，他i觉得0 i这 一辈子大概就这么完了，无论自己怎么要强，全算白饶。 0 i wúyuánwúgù de diū le chē (CL1), 0 i wúyuánwúgù de yòu lái le zhè céng chánrào (CL2), tā i juédé 0 i zhè yībèizi dàgài jiù zhème wán le (CL3), wúlùn zìjǐ zěnme yàoqiáng (CL4), quán suàn báiráo (CL5). (5) c. *无缘无故的丢了车，无缘无故的又来了这层缠绕，0 i觉得他i这一 辈子大概就这么完了，无论自己怎么要强，全算白饶。 * 0 i wúyuánwúgù de diū le chē (CL1)，0 i wúyuánwúgù de yòu lái le zhè céng chánrào (CL2)，0 i juédé tā i zhè yībèizi dàgài jiù zhème wán le (CL3)，wúlùn zìjǐ zěnme yàoqiáng (CL4)，quán suàn báiráo (CL5). (5) d. *他i无缘无故的丢了车，无缘无故的又来了这层缠绕，觉得他这一 辈子大概就这么完了，无论自己怎么要强，全算白饶。 *tā i wúyuánwúgù de diū le chē (CL1)，0 i wúyuánwúgù de yòu lái le zhè céng chánrào (CL2)，juédé tā i zhè yībèizi dàgài jiù zhème wán le (CL3)，wúlùn zìjǐ zěnme yàoqiáng (CL4)，quán suàn báiráo (CL5). (5) e.*无缘无故的丢了车，他i无缘无故的又来了这层缠绕，他觉得他这一 辈子大概就这么完了，无论自己怎么要强，全算白饶。 * 0 i wúyuánwúgù de diū le chē (CL1), tā i wúyuánwúgù de yòu lái le zhè céng chánrào (CL2), tā i juédé tā i zhè yībèizi dàgài jiù zhème wán le (CL3), wúlùn zìjǐ zěnme yàoqiáng (CL4), quán suàn báiráo (CL5). When the clause with an explicit subject is the main clause and the clause with a zero subject is the subclause, the cataphoric zero subject cannot be recov­ ered when the host clause indicates a definite condition of the main clause, as in (6b). (6) a. 0 i病了，他i舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 0 i bìng le，tā i shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zìjǐ yìng tǐng zhe. ‘(If) ill, (he) would not give up money to buy medicine. He stood up to it.’ b. ?他病了，他舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 ? Tā bìng le，tā shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zìjǐ yìng tǐng zhe. The first clause of (6a) indicates the condition. If a conditional connective is added, we will get (6c), where a general condition changes into a concession condition while the syntactic status of the clause remains unchanged. If the added is a temporal adverb, the conditional relation will be reserved, as shown in (6d).

Zero cataphora of clause subject 229 (6) c. 即使病了，他也舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 Jíshǐ bìng le，tā yě shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zìjǐ yìng tǐng zhe. ‘Even if (he) was ill, he would not give up money to buy medicine. He stood up to it.’ d. 病了，他从来舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 Bìng le，tā cónglái shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zìjǐ yìng tǐng zhe. ‘(When) ill, he never gave up money to buy medicine. He stood up to it.’ However, when the explicit subject occurs in the first clause, such as (6e), the first clause is no longer the condition for forthcoming clauses; rather, the clauses express consecutive events or different aspects of the same event. “又”(‘again’) can be added to the zero-subject clause. (6) e.他病了，（又）舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 Tā bìng le, (yòu) shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zìjǐ yìng tǐng zhe. ‘He was ill, but he would not give up money to buy medicine. He stood up to it.’ Further comparison shows that the first clause can take expressions indicating an earlier time when its subject is recovered, as illustrated by (6f). On the contrary, no such time expressions can be added if the zero-subject clause precedes other clauses, as in (6g). (6) f. 他昨天病了，舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 Tā zuótiān bìng le，shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zì jǐ yìng tǐng zhe. ‘He fell sick yesterday, but (he) would not give up money to buy medicine. He stood up to it.’ g. ?昨天病了，他舍不得钱去买药，自己硬挺着。 ?Zuótiān bìng le，Tā shěbudé qián qù mǎi yào，zì jǐ yìng tǐng zhe. To sum up, the clauses of compulsory cataphoric zero subject fall under the following categories: A. clauses of reason, such as the first two clauses in (5a); B. clauses of concession/condition; C. topic clauses, such as the first clause of (6a). On the whole, cataphoric zero subject clauses are syntactically dependent and constrained in mood and modality type. Syntactic dependency, no distinction of time and mood, and lack of a strict sense subject are exactly the syntactic features of non-finite clauses.

230

Backgrounding constructions

9.2.2 Event hierarchy From the perspective of syntactic (in)dependence, strong eventfulness corre­ sponds to independent clauses, and weak eventfulness corresponds to dependent clauses. As described above, it is mandatory for clauses of reason, concession/ condition and topic to take cataphoric zero subject. The difference in the event hierarchy can be demonstrated by the set of sentences in (6). It can also be attested by the (un)availability of conjunctions (see Reinhart, 1984). Constraints on the explicit or implicit use of conjunctions can test the eventfulness and syntactic (in) dependence of the clause. The “occurrence” of conjunctions means higher partici­ pation in the event process; conversely, if the clause repels conjunctions, it does not represent the event process. We find that when conjunctions occur in clauses, they can indicate the interclausal relations. Thus clauses can have either explicit subjects, such as the first clause in (7), or cataphoric zero subjects, such as the first clause in (8). In these two cases, the syntactic status of the clause shows no difference. However, if the subject of a clause takes the form of zero cataphora and no conjunction is used, the clause will become a topic, as in (9), which can be replaced with “对于/关于 . . . ” (duìyú /guānyú, ‘as for/concerning. . . ’). (The underlined is the conjunction.) (7)

他i就是坐着死去，0 i也很乐意。 Tā i jiùshì zuò zhe sǐqù，0 i yě hěn lèyì. ‘He’d be happy to sit and die.’

(8)

0 i就是坐着死去，他i也很乐意。 0 i jiùshì zuò zhe sǐqù，tā i yě hěn lèyì. ‘He’d be happy to sit and die.’

(9)

0 i坐着死去，他i也很乐意。 0 i zuò zhe sǐqù，tā i yě hěn lèyì. ‘Sit and die, he’d be happy (about it).’

Typical coordinate clauses represent consecutive actions, and adverb “又” (yòu, ‘also’) can be added to the subsequent clause to indicates continuity, as in (10). (10) a. 他i扛起铺盖 (CL1), 0 i灭了灯 (CL2), 0 i进了后院 (CL3)。 Tā i káng qǐ pùgài (CL1), 0 i miè le dēng (CL2), 0 i jìn le hòuyuàn (CL3). ‘He carried up the bedding, put out the light and entered the backyard.’ b. 他i扛起铺盖 (CL1), 0 i又灭了灯 (CL2), 0 i进了后院 (CL3)。 Tā i káng qǐ pùgài (CL1), 0 i yòu miè le dēng (CL2), 0 i jìn le hòu yuàn (CL3). c. 他i扛起铺盖 (CL1), 0 i灭了灯 (CL2), 0 i又进了后院 (CL3)。 Tā i káng qǐ pùgài (CL1), 0 i miè le dēng (CL2), 0 i yòu jìn le hòu yuàn (CL3).

Zero cataphora of clause subject 231 Some cataphoric zero-subject clauses have temporal continuity with the subse­ quent clause(s). When such a clause precedes others, it tends to be understood as the cause, as indicated by CL1 in (11a), and it is also possible to add some infer­ ential expression to the cause, such as (11b). However, there would be no causal interpretation if the initial clause has an explicit subject, as in (11b). (11) a. 0 i（或许）觉得把话说到了一个段落（CL1），虎妞i开始往北走 （CL2），低着点头，既象欣赏着自己的那片话，又仿佛给祥子个机 会思索思索。 0 i（huòxǔ）juéde bǎ huà shuō dào le yī gè duànluò (CL1)，Hǔniū i kāishǐ wǎng běi zǒu (CL2)，dī zhe diǎn tóu，jì xiàng xīnshǎng zhe zìjǐ de nà piàn huà，yòu fǎngfó gěi Xiángzi gè jīhuì sīsuǒ sīsuǒ. ‘(Perhaps) thinking that a paragraph had been spoken, Tigress began to move northward, lowering her head a bit, as though appreciating her own words, and giving Xiangzi a chance to think about them.’ b. ?虎妞i（或许）觉得把话说到了一个段落，开始往北走，. . . . . . Hǔniū i （huòxǔ）juéde bǎ huà shuō dào le yī gè duànluò，kāishǐ wǎng běi zǒu， . . . It can be seen that the cataphoric zero-subject clause is not the syntactic form to indicate the coordinate relation. Sometimes the cataphoric zero-subject clause can indicate a concurrent action with the subsequent clause(s), in which case the zero-subject clause is used to express the accompanying state. In (12), CL1 is the accompanying state of CL2+CL3. (12) a.0 i坐在一个小胡同口上（CL1），清晨的小风吹着他的头（CL2）， 他i知道这点头疼不久就会过去（CL3）。 0 i zuò zài yī gè xiǎo hútòngkǒu shàng (CL1)，qīngchén de xiǎo fēng chuī zhe tā de tóu (CL2)，tā i zhīdào zhè diǎn tóuténg bùjiǔ jiùhuì guòqù (CL3). ‘(He was) sitting at the end of a small alley. The morning breeze blew at his head, and he knew that the headache would soon be over.’ Conversely, if an explicit subject occurs in the first clause, the sentence would be difficult to accept: (12) b. ?他i坐在一个小胡同口上(CL1)，清晨的小风吹着他的头(CL2)，知 道这点头疼不久就会过去(CL3)。 ? Tā i zuò zài yī gè xiǎo hútòngkǒu shàng，qīngchén de xiǎo fēng chuī zhe tā de tóu，zhīdào zhè diǎn tóuténg bújiǔ jiùhuì guòqù. The unacceptability of (12b) lies in the fact that the subject is moved to the loca­ tive clause, leaving the third clause that carries the narrative forward subjectless.

232

Backgrounding constructions

If the subject appears in both CL1 and CL3, the acceptability of the sentence will increase significantly. (12) c.他i坐在一个小胡同口上(CL1)，清晨的小风吹着他的头(CL2)，他 i知道这点头疼不久就会过去(CL3)。 Tā i zuò zài yī gè xiǎo hútòngkǒu shàng，qīngchén de xiǎo fēng chuī zhe tā de tóu，tā i zhīdào zhè diǎn tóuténg bújiǔ jiùhuì guòqù. But unlike (12a), CL1 in (12c) is an action that happens in a consecutive manner with those of CL2 and CL3, which can license the addition of “了”(le). In contrast, the zero-subject clause does not allow this addition. Compare (12d) and (12e): (12) d. 他i坐在了一个小胡同口上(CL1)，清晨的小风吹着他的头(CL2)， 他i知道这点头疼不久就会过去(CL3)。 Tā i zuò zài le yī gè xiǎo hútòngkǒu shàng，qīngchén de xiǎo fēng chuī zhe tā de tóu，tā i zhīdào zhè diǎn tóuténg bùjiǔ jiùhuì guòqù. ‘He sat down at the end of a small alley. The morning breeze blew at his head, and he knew that the headache would soon be over.’ e. *坐在了一个小胡同口上(CL1)，清晨的小风吹着他的头(CL2)，他知 道这点头疼不久就会过去(CL3)。 * Zuò zài le yī gè xiǎo hútòngkǒu shàng，qīngchén de xiǎo fēng chuī zhe tā de tóu，tā i zhīdào zhè diǎn tóuténg bùjiǔ jiùhuì guòqù. It can be seen that the presence/absence of subject is the key to decide the property of the clause. On the other hand, the default principle for syntactic coordination is for the clause that has an explicit subject to occur first, with zero-subject clauses taking subsequent positions. If a clause violates this principle by using a cataphoric zero subject, its syntactic status will be demoted accordingly. The presence/absence of the clausal subject and the position that a zero-subject clause takes in a sequence of clauses may crisscross with each other, resulting in the primary vs. secondary relations among the clauses that make up discourse. See (13) and (14) (the underlined are the clauses with an explicit subject). (13) [beginning a paragraph]0 i刚能挣扎着立起来，他i想出去看看。0 i没 想到自己的腿能会这样的不吃力，0 i走到小店门口他i一软就坐在了 地上，0 i昏昏沉沉的坐了好大半天，头上见了凉汗。0 i又忍了一会 儿，他i睁开了眼，肚中响了一阵，0 i觉出饿来。0 i极慢的立起来，0 i找到了个馄饨挑儿。 0 i要了碗馄饨，他i仍然坐在地上。 0 i gāng néng zhēngzhá zhe lì qǐlái，tā i xiǎng chūqù kàn-kan. 0 i méixiǎngdào zìjǐ de tuǐ néng huì zhèyàng de bù chīlì，0 i zǒu dào xiǎo diàn ménkǒu tā i yīruǎn jiù zuò zài le dìshàng，0 i hūnhūnchénchén de zuò le hǎodàbàntiān，tóushàng jiàn le liánghàn. 0 i Yòu rěn le yīhuì-er，tā

Zero cataphora of clause subject 233 i zhēngkāi le yǎn，dù zhōng xiǎng le yīzhèn，0 i juéchū è lái. 0 i Jí màn de lì qǐlái，0 i zhǎodào le gè húntun tiāo-er. 0 i Yào le wǎn húntun，tā i réngrán zuò zài dìshàng. ‘Having managed to stand up, he wanted to go out and have a look. But he didn’t expect that his legs were so weak that they gave way in front of a shop. He sat there, feeling dizzy for a long time, his forehead covered with cold sweat. Another moment later, he opened his eyes. He felt hungry as his stomach had been ringing for a while. Very slowly he stood up. When he found a wonton stall, he ordered a bowl, still sitting on the ground.’ (14) 0 i站起来，他i觉出他又象个人了。太阳还在西边的最低处，河水被 晚霞照得有些微红，他i痛快得要喊叫出来。0 i摸了摸脸上那块平滑 的疤，0 i摸了摸袋中的钱，0 i又看了一眼角楼上的阳光，他i硬把病 忘了，0 i把一切都忘了，好似有点什么心愿，他i决定走进城去。 0 i Zhàn qǐlái，tā i júechū tā yòu xiàng gè rén le. Tàiyáng hái zài xībiān de zuì dī chù，héshuǐ bèi wǎnxiá zhào de yǒuxiē wēihóng，tā i tòngkuài de yào hǎnjiào chūlái. 0 i Mō le mō liǎnshàng nà kuài pínghuá de bā，0 i mō le mō dài zhōng de qián，0 i yòu kàn le yī yǎn jiǎolóu shàng de yángguāng，tā i yìng bǎ bìng wàng le，0 i bǎ yíqiè dōu wàng le，hǎosì yǒu diǎn shénme xīnyuàn，tā i juédìng zǒu jìn chéng qù. ‘Getting up, he felt like a man again. The sun was still at the lowest point in the west, and the river was a little red in the sunset. He was so happy that he barely cried out. Touching the smooth scar on his face, fumbling the money in his pocket and casting a look at the sun in the turret, he forgot about his disease and whatnot. Seeming to have some wishes, he decided to enter the city.’ Interestingly, translators also tend to treat cataphoric zero subject clauses as subordinate, which can be regarded as Chinese native speakers’ interpretation of such clauses. Examples (15) to (17) are from the English version of Lao She’s Camal Xiangzi translated by Shi Xiaojing (Foreign Language Press, 2001): (15) 有时候他颇想把祥子撵出去；看看女儿，他不敢这么办。（Chapter 5） Yǒushíhòu tā pō xiǎng bǎ Xiángzi niǎn chūqù; kànkàn nǚér, tā bù gǎn zhème bàn. ‘At times he thought of throwing Xiangzi out, but when he looked at his daughter he didn’t dare.’ (16) 想了想,祥子不好意思不都告诉给老程了。结结巴巴的，他把昨夜晚 的事说了一遍. . . . . . (Chapter 13) Xiǎng le xiǎng, Xiángzi bùhǎoyìsī bù dōu gàosù gěi Lǎo Chéng le. Jiéjiébābā de，tā bǎ zuó yèwǎn de shì shuō le yī biàn. . . ‘On second thoughts, he felt ashamed to keep anything back from Old Cheng. So, haltingly, he stammered out the whole story of the previous night.’

234

Backgrounding constructions

(17) 想起乍由山上逃回来的时候，大家对他是怎样的敬重，现在会这样 的被人看轻，他更觉得难过了。（Chapter 5） Xiǎngqǐ zhà yóu shānshàng táo huílái de shíhòu, dàjiā duì tā shì zěnyàng de jìngzhòng, xiànzài huì zhèyàng de bèi rén kànqīng, tā gèng juéde nánguò le. ‘It made him feel even worse when he compared their present scorn with the respect they had shown him just after his escape from the mountains.’ To sum up, zero subject, syntactic dependence, non-embedding and occurring later in a clause serial with sentence completion components are the general fea­ tures of Chinese cataphoric zero subject clauses. In other words, there is a means of syntactic demotion characterized by the mandatory use of cataphoric zero sub­ ject, which can be understood as a kind of compensation for the lack of mor­ phological markers. Use of cataphoric zero subjects can change the coordinate relation between clauses into subordination. The cataphoric zero subject makes comprehensive use of word order and coherence to package background informa­ tion in order to achieve harmony between function and syntax. Some examples discussed above may be analyzed as “run-on sentences” by some, but in our opinion, run-on sentences do not constitute a syntactic category. This also explains why some scholars take them as a subclass of complex sen­ tences (Hu Mingyang, 1989). The reason for such sentences to be regarded as run-on sentences is that their internal relations cannot be analyzed in terms of con­ nectives. The purpose of discussion here is nothing but to establish the syntactic status of the clauses and their internal relations, and in turn reveal the intrinsic relation between form and function by referring to their syntactic behaviour.7

9.3 From rhetoric to syntax 9.3.1 Function vs. form Syntactically speaking, an embedded form is lower in syntactic independence than a non-embedded form. Most cataphoric zero subject clauses lie in between coordinate clauses and subordinate clauses in terms of syntactic independ­ ence. Cataphoric zero subject clauses are characterized by [+dependence] and [-embedding], and they are in cosubordinate relation with the clauses that they are dependent on. If a clause has a mandatory cataphoric zero subject, it shows a higher level of dependence, as is the case of such a clause functioning as topic. The mandatory rank of cataphoric zero subjects: low coordination

high cosubordination concomitant state, condition/concession/reason, topic

subordination

Zero cataphora of clause subject 235 Descriptive relative clauses and cataphoric zero subjects, as two means of backgrounding, can be used simultaneously to meet the syntactic requirement of “one sentence, one explicit subject”. A proposition is often expressed in different sentence patterns in actual texts; the choice of the pattern is often closely related to the textual factors. Of the two means of backgrounding, which one to use depends on how close the proposition of the clause is to the event in the foreground: cataphoric zero subject clauses, though not the main body, still make up part of the event, such as the time, condition, place, etc.; descriptive relative clauses, by contrast, have nothing to do with foreground events. There are two reasons for this. First, the proposition of the cataphoric zero subject clause is related to the event represented by the main clause. For example, CL1 and CL2 in (18) take place successively in time: (18) 0 i觉得把话说到了一个段落(CL1)，虎妞i开始往北走(CL2)，. . . . . . 0 i Jué dé bǎ huà shuō dào le yī gè duànluò (CL1)，Hǔniū i kāishǐ wǎng běi zǒu (CL2), . . . ‘Thinking that a paragraph had been spoken, Tigress began to walk northward, . . . ’ Conversely, the content of the relative clause is not directly related to the event described in the main clause. If the content is concomitant with the foreground event, embedding is the best choice to display its status as background informa­ tion. For example: (19) 说 到 此处，一手拿放大镜，一手捏着小小的笔尖的老张十分 的 兴 奋，脸上露出幸福的微笑。 Shuō dào cǐ chù，yī shǒu ná fàngdàjìng, yī shǒu niē zhe xiǎo-xiǎo de bǐjiān de Lǎo Zhāng shífēn de xìngfèn, liǎnshàng lòuchū xìngfú de wēixiào. ‘Speaking of this, Old Zhang, holding a magnifying glass in one hand and a small nib in the other, was very excited, with a happy smile on his face.’ Second, the proposition of the cataphoric zero-subject clause can be the starting point of the main clause, indicating the beginning of a narrative discourse. The content of the relative clause, however, does not have this property. Compare the expressive function of “刚刚谈妥一宗出口贸易” in the following three situations: (20) a. 刚刚谈妥一宗出口贸易的李大开回到在美国的寓所接受了记者的越 洋采访。(relative clause indicating an irrelevant event) Gānggāng tán tuǒ yī zōng chūkǒu màoyì de Lǐ Dàkāi huídào zài Měiguó de yùsuǒ jiēshòu le jìzhě de yuèyáng cǎifǎng. ‘Li Dakai, who had just negotiated an export deal, returned to his apartment in the United States to take a cross-ocean interview with reporters.’

236

Backgrounding constructions b. 李大开刚刚谈妥一宗出口贸易, 回到在美国的寓所接受了记者的越 洋采访。(indicating a consecutive event) Lǐ Dàkāi gānggāng tán tuǒ yī zōng chūkǒu màoyì, huídào zài Měiguó de yùsuǒ jiēshòu le jìzhě de yuèyáng cǎifǎng. ‘Li Dakai had just negotiated an export deal. (He) returned to his apartment in the United States to take a cross-ocean interview with reporters.’ c. 刚刚谈妥一宗出口贸易, 李大开回到在美国的寓所接受了记者的越 洋采访。(time-indicating cataphoric zero-subject clause) Gānggāng tán tuǒ yī zōng chūkǒu màoyì, Lǐ Dàkāi huídào zài Měiguó de yùsuǒ jiēshòu le jìzhě de yuèyáng cǎifǎng. ‘Having just negotiated an export deal, Li Dakai returned to his apartment in the United States to take a cross-ocean interview with reporters.’

In form, the embedded clause corresponds to non-eventfulness, not very com­ patible with process-indicating components and rather constrained in tense. The cataphoric zero subject clause is non-embedded in form, functioning as an adver­ bial clause to specify the reason, condition, time, place, and so on. Although lack­ ing in tense marking, it is unrestricted in taking aspect markers. In comparison with the embedded form, the non-embedded clause is more closely related to the event stated in the main clause and more in the foreground. See (21): (21) 工作没几年，只有二十六岁的老李很快从一个小小科员被提拔为财经 科付科长,专门负责审计金融单位。(工作没几年 is non-embedded, and 只有二十六岁 is a relative clause modifying 老李.) Gōngzuò méi jǐ nián, zhīyǒu èrshíliù suì de Lǎo Lǐ hěn kuài cóng yī gè xiǎo-xiǎo kēyuán bèi tíbá wéi Cáijīngkē fù kēzhǎng, zhuānmén fùzé shěnjì jīnróng dānwèi. ‘Within a few years of working, Old Li, who was only 26 years old then, was quickly promoted from a small clerk to deputy head of the Finance and Economics Branch, specializing in auditing financial units.’ Since the information provided by a clause is of different importance or rele­ vance to the main line of events, there is also a continuum from background infor­ mation to foreground information (see Bybee, 2002). If a clause is more important or relevant to the event-line, it is more to the foreground; otherwise, it is more in the background. Reflecting the information status is a requirement of the textual function. In order to meet this requirement, background information is packaged in forms of low syntactic categoriality. This is the motivation for the emergence of the cataphoric zero-subject clause and the descriptive relative clause. Information can be downgraded in morphologically rich languages by inflec­ tions on the predicate. Since Chinese is lacking in inflection, syntactic demo­ tion is bound to be compensated in other ways so as to achieve the unity of

Zero cataphora of clause subject 237 “meaning-function-form”. Cataphoric zero subjects and descriptive relative clauses reflect the characteristics of Chinese information packaging, that is, to embody the categoriality hierarchy through syntactic means. Higher gram­ matical categories represent foreground information, and lower grammatical categories express background information. In principle, this is in line with the general law of language. 9.3.2 Rhetoric vs. syntax The linguistic phenomena discussed above seem to be typical of written language. But are they rhetorical or syntactic issues? The answer to this question involves two aspects. First, grammar is always sensitive to style. Even in an inflectional language, a given syntactic category will also vary greatly with the style. For example, sub­ clauses and non-finite verbs behave very differently in spoken and written Eng­ lish. In spoken English, relative pronouns as subordinate sentence markers have much greater freedom in their use. When to use them and which one to use is far less neat than in written English (see Biber et al., 1999; Thompson, 2001). Second, the formation of grammatical forms involves different levels. At the individual level, a new form of expression may not be generally accepted at its birth; it may even be ungrammatical. Or it may be just a pragmatic pattern, a representation used to meet certain pragmatic needs, rather than a mandatory syntactic means. From the historical point of view, a rigorous “grammar” often begins with not so rigorous “usages”, which then gradu­ ally get entrenched and consolidated. It is a gradual process from rhetoric to syntax, which evolves from pragmatic patterns to syntactic patterns, from the ungrammatical to the grammatical. Syntax is also in constant change, gradu­ ally taking shape in use.

Notes 1 Background is generally composed of three interrelated pragmatic elements: 1) eventline, 2) scene-setting, and 3) weight-reduction (see Chu, 1998). 2 Below is a summary of the syntactico-semantic features of typical background infor­ mation on the basis of their characterization of low transitivity: participants

one

kinesis aspect punctuality volitionality affirmation mood agency affectedness of object individuation of object

non-action atelic (unbounded) non-punctual non-volitional negative irrealis non-agentive unaffected object non-individuated

238

Backgrounding constructions

3 Foley and Van Valin (1984) are among the early ones to distinguish different clausal relations according to the two parameters “dependent” and “embedded”. They make the following distinctions: a. Coordination: non-embedded b. Subordination: embedded c. Cosubordination: non-embedded

non-dependent dependent dependent

4 Take the English sentence for example: (a) He came in, (b) locking the door behind him. The reference of the subject of clause (b) and the specification of its tense must depend on clause (a). Moreover, clause (b) cannot enter discourse independently. 5 For sentence completion elements, see He Yang (1994), Huang Nansong (1994) and Kong Lingda (1994). 6 A detailed review can be seen in Xu Liejiong (1999). See Hu Jianhua, Pan Haihua and Xu Liejiong (2001) for updates. 7 When it comes to the inter-clausal relationship in run-on sentences, there are actually two basic types: coordination and subordination. A run-on sentence may be the consec­ utive occurrence of coordinate clauses, alternating occurrence of main and subordinate clauses, or a combination of coordination and subordination, as in: 我一想CL1，这溜儿更过不来啦CL2，怕掉到沟里去CL3，就在刘家小茶馆里蹲 了半夜CL4。 Wǒ yī xiǎng (CL1)，zhèliù-er gèng guò bú lái la (CL2)，pà diào dào gōu lǐ qù (CL3)， jiù zài Liú jiā xiǎo cháguǎn lǐ dūn le bànyè (CL4). ‘Then it occurred to me that it would be even more difficult to come over here. (I was) afraid to fall into the ditch, so (I) passed the night in Liu’s small teahouse.’ Interestingly, as we understand more about world languages, we find that similar phenom­ ena are also available in some other languages, morphological languages included. In these languages, two or more clauses can occur one after another, but the conclud­ ing clause is distinctive from the non-concluding ones in syntax. The non-concluding clause tends to take the non-definite form, weakened tense and implicit subject (which has to be coreferential with the subject of the concluding clause) (see Payne, 1991, 1997). When Chinese is concerned, it has long been known that some clauses in a clause serial can function as the concluding one while others cannot and that conclud­ ing clauses are also interrelated with sentence completion elements. In one word, runon sentences are not unique to Chinese (see Fang Mei, 2008 for more details).

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Index

Note: numbers in bold indicate a table. Numbers in italics indicate a figure. 800 Words in Modern Chinese (Lü) 12, 172 了/过 151, 151, 155, 158 –160, 159 着 215, 215, 221; properties of 208 –210; shared properties of 211 –209; verbs before 210 –211; V着(NP), dependence property of 209 –216 a (啊) 43, 50, 54 –58, 59, 65 adverb, adverbial 6, 7, 14, 25, 45, 46, 78; “再/先”‘again/first’ 153; clause 215, 217; general scope 110, 111; and modal particles 48, 69; omission 97; preverbal 168; ‘really, indeed’ 171 –173; temporal 228; use of 81 –82 agent 3, 9, 74, 102, 136, 139; non-agent 3, 177, 185; and patient 215; “shi” (是), marked by 172, 173 –174; and subject role 178 –182; transitivity 192; volitional 212 Analects, The 42 Ancestral Hall, The 117 argumentation 2, 2264 attributive 72, 149, 161 –162; adjectives 209; possessive and restrictive 124, 125 –127, 124, 142, 145, 146; “translocation” 82 –83 ba (吧) 43, 50, 54 –58, 65 ba (把) 10, 136 ba-construction 8, 111 ba-sentences 3, 182 –184 Beijing 13, 14, 15, 34; locals of 108, 113 bei-passives 2; -sentences 3 bleaching (of meaning) 65, 79, 91, 97, 118 –119 Book of Songs, The 41, 42

Camal Xiangzi (Lao) 233 cataphoric zero-subject clauses 223 –237, 224, 226 categoriality 193; high, indicators of 193; low, indicators of 194; medium, indicators of 194 Chao Yuan Ren 12, 45, 65, 66, 68, 174 Chen Ping 22, 123, 125, 177 –179, 185, 224 –225, 227 Chen Xinchun 107 Chinese language: ancient 41 –42, 121; grammar 11 –12; spoken 22, 65, 115 –117 Chinese language, modern 1, 42, 65, 115; early 117, 121, 118 –124; functional syntax in 133; progressive aspect marker in 210; standard 11; word orders in 139; VMN and VNM 163, 164 Chu, Chauncey 42 classification: functional vs. semantic 8 –11; prosodic basis of 51 –54; semantic 138; verb-object 9 classifier 124, 193; borrowed 163 –164; verbal 136 –140, 138, 160 components, identifiable vs non-identifiable 142 –144 constraints, modal see modal constraints constraints, semantic see semantic constraints constraints, variety see variety constraints contrastive focus 166 –174, 178, 182 –187, 183; lexical markers of 172 –177; means to express 171 –177; and word order 177 –182 contrastive stress 59 –60, 63, 171 –171, 175, 182, 183, 186 contrastive topics 91 conversation 1, 31, 61; thematic structure in 68 –97

Index Deng Youmei 119 dialect 2, 11, 12, 13, 121; grammars 12 dialogues 2, 15, 41; modal particles (ne) in 61 –63; themes in 30 –31; “translocation” in 49, 70 Dictionary of Verb Uses, A 108, 113, 114, 138 directional complement 101 –103, 117, 193; composite 107, 133 –131; V- 117, 127, 226 directional words 118 –124; verb 195 discoursal units 3 –5, 4, 24 “dislocation” 33, 42, 81, 184 Dream of Red Mansions, A (Zhan) 121 Essentials of Chinese Grammar (Lü) 43 exposition 2

255

inferable 60; new 83, 91, 93, 95, 127 –133, 144 –148, 182; old 50, 72, 76, 78, 182; omission of 89; organization 88, 166; primary 30 –31, 47 –50, 70; secondary 30 –31, 47 –50, 69 –70, 80; supplementary 84; transmission 60 information storage 6 information structure 41 –42; analysis of 66; sentential 50; and stylistic features 68 –70; thematic structure and 20 –22; word order and 19 information units: and syntactic units 22 –23 Japanese: language 50 Jin dynasty 164 Kuno, S. 89

Fan Jiyan 178 Five Lanterns 117, 118 focus marker 171 –172, 175; see also “shi” functional, functionalism 1, 8, 12; analysis 14, 35; classes 51 –64; constraints 19; expressions 50; factors 2, 11; grammar 22; perspective 33, 68, 70, 82, 84, 180, 192; principle 7; syntax 133, 221; theory 89; types 81 –88, 97; value 71, 108 gerund 194 –195, 196 grammar 1, 3, 12 –13, 50; analysis 192; functional 22; historical 31; oral 14; rules 15; and style 237 Grammar of Spoken Chinese, A (Chao) 12 grammatical components 12, 20 grammaticalization 118, 124, 133, 193, 194, 195 grammaticalized themes 79 –81, 97, 124 grammatical study 2 –3, 8, 11; traditional 29 Guo Rui 209 Halliday, M. A. K. 20, 22, 50 Hopper, P. J. 192, 193, 217 Hu Mingyang 2, 58 Hu, W. Z. 85 Hu Yushu 45 identifiable see referential component idiomatic expressions 83 –84, 122 imperfective clause 209 –221; see also 着; V着 inflection 236 information: background 197 –192, 209, 216 –221, 236; focus 33, 178; foreground 197 –192, 209, 216 –221, 236; given 127 –133, 144 –148;

la (啦) 53, 63, 65 Lao She 13 –14, 119, 160 –164, 161, 233 Lectures on Grammar (Zhu) 12, 43 Legend of Heroes, The (Wen) 14 Letter from a Monk 119 Li, C. N. 19 Liao Qiuzhong 2, 89 Lin Jinlan 13 Lin Tao 7, 15 Li Xingya 116 “Lover, The” (film) 3 “Love Song 1990” (song) 121 Lu Jianming 45 Lü Shuxiang 12, 43, 68, 101, 116, 118, 160, 178 ma (嘛) 58 –61, 65 Mandarin 12 –13; spoken 65 Mandarin Primer (Chao) 12 Mathesius, Vilém 20, 68 May 4 New Culture Movement 14 me (嚜/么) 43, 58 modal constraints 112 –117 modal particle 5 –6, 25, 29, 49, 69, 84; final 215, 226; sentence-middle 5 –6, 22 –23, 27, 30, 43 –66 Modern Chinese Grammar (Wang) 12 monologues 2, 49 Mourning the Loss of Brother Dexi (Lin) 7 –8 N: referentiality of 144, 150; non-referential 140 –142 na (哪) 22 narration 2, 11, 41, 197, 216, 217; thematic structure in 43 –66

256

Index

narrative, narratives 209, 217, 218, 223, 231; discourse 209, 235; rheme in 30, 69; sentence 114; style 41, 50; thematic structure in 22 –30 ne (呢) 43, 58, 61 –63, 65 Newly Proofread 30 Poetic Dramas of Yuang Dynasty 117, 118 nominal, nominals 6 –7, 36, 69, 174; agentive 179; expressions 97; object 9, 138, 139, 158, 194; properties 175 nominal component 38, 50, 123, 142, 148; length of 148 –150, 148; referentiality of 140 Novels in China 1985 122 NPs 177 –187; referentiality of 145; see also V着(NP)

pronoun 97, 136, 142, 145, 150, 161; anaphoric 146, 213; first-person 14; personal 37, 73, 79, 97, 123, 124, 180; relative 237; zero 224 prosody 12, 20, 22 Publicating after Modification (修改后发 表) 96 purpose marker 171, 195, 198, 213 Qing Dynasty 14 Quotations of the Mad Monk (Zhong) 121

objects 8; non-referential 9, 11, 122 –123, 123, 133, 194; referential 122, 123, 124, 131, 194; see also nominal, nominals “old information-new information” 50 Oota Tatsuo 14 Outlaws of the Marsh 118, 124121 Outline of Modern Chinese Grammar, An (Lü) 131

realis vs. irrealis 150 –151, 151, 153 –155, 158 –159; and transitivity 192, 197 –199 referential component 139; identifiable 122 –127, 144; nonidentifiable 122 –127, 142 referential objects see objects restrictive attributives see attributive rheme 20, 30, 74, 78, 80 –81; and adverbs 81; in semantics 76; and theme 23, 33, 50, 68 –70; and translocation 88 rhetoric: to syntax 234 –237; vs. syntax 237 rhetorical question 168, 174

passive sentences 3, 173 pause markers 43 Pekingese 2, 13, 65; modal particles, use in 43, 50, 53, 58, 65, 69; multi-syllable object, use in 132; spoken 11 –15, 69; thematic structure 19 –42, 57 Peking University 7, 13, 15 perfective 151, 193, 209, 226; vs. imperfective 216 possessive attributive 125, 124, 145 postpositioned components 33; functional types 81 –88; non-direct participant 75 –76; semantic types 70 –75 postpositioned themes 30, 31, 69 –70; in exclamatory sentences 32; function type of 33 –41; grammaticalized 79 –81; interpersonal 37 –39; multiple 40 –41; textual 39 –40 postverbal component 173, 182, 184 post-verbal composite directional complement 101 pragmatic constraints 121 –122 predicate 3, 5, 25, 36, 43, 212; in cataphoric zero subject clauses 226; central 115; and modal particle 48, 65; serial 78; VNM used as 162 preverbal component 173, 174, 175; see also verbal component

semantic constraints 2 –3, 117 –124 semantic intensity 184 –185 semantic types 70 –81 sentences 13; bǎ 182 –184; marked 33; non-canonical 50; pseudo-cleft 182 –184; segmenting 20; topic 54, 177, 180; with translocation 97 Shen Jiaxuan 89 “shi” (是) 210; as focus marker 171 –172; sentences 182 –184, 187 Shi Xiaojing 233 Snuff Bottles (Deng) 119 Southern Min dialect 121 speech 15, 171, 171, 174, 194; acts 1, 29; actual 47, 65; environment 41; flows 53; production 5; sounds 13; styles 2 Studies of the Chinese Language 2 subject-predicate (S-P) 3, 6, 19, 50; see also predicate “SVP的是NP” (“SVP de shi NP”) 182 –184, 186 syntactic analysis 2 syntactic segmentation 6, 21 –22, 29, 46, 49 syntactic rules 19, 41 syntactic status 226 –230 syntactic structure 33, 42, 47, 148 syntactic unit 3 –4, 4, 37

Index syntax 1 –12, 21 –12, 86; function and 234; functional 133; rhetoric to 234 –237; rhetoric vs. 237; and semantics 171; theory 89 Tai, J. 85 theme markers 30, 38, 51 –54, 59, 60; non65; quasi- 58, 63 –65 theme marking 29 –30, 51; and modal meaning 51 theme 20, 51, 78; in dialogue 30 –41; interpersonal 24 –25, 37 –39, 57; multiple 27 –28, 41, 91; textual 23 –24, 39 –41; topical 25 –26, 33 –36, 57; translocated 70; see also postpositioned themes “theme-rheme” 19, 21 –23, 29 –31, 68; see also rheme Thompson, Sandra A. 19, 45, 192, 193, 217, 223 “topic-comment” 19, 50, 68 topic markers 22, 41 –42, 54 –63 transitivity 197 –192; high vs. low 192; hypothesis 192 –193 translocation 49 –50, 68, 70 –71, 81, 84; additive and corrective 85; “attributive” 82 –83 Tsao Feng-fu 43 “Two Generations of Swimmers” (film) 124 V着 209, 210 –212, 215 –221; shared properties of 211 –209; see also imperfective clause

257

V着(NP), dependence property of 209 –216 verb 75; action 115; auxiliary 151; causative 152; intransitive 102, 108; link 37, 79, 186; monosyllabic 118; nominals preceding 174; telic 116, 121 verbal classifier see classifier, verbal verbal component 69, 76, 97 verbal structure 78 verb construction, serial 195 –196 VMN word order 141 –151, 150, 159; and VNM 136, 140, 142, 145, 148, 160 –164, 161 VNM 151, 159 V-N semantic relation 138 Wang Shuo 13 –14, 160, 161 Wei dynasty 164 Wen Kang 14 which-questions 168 wh-questions 168 –174 who-questions 168 Xu Jiujiu 2 ya (呀) 65 yǎn 眼 136 Yellow Storm, The (Lao) 119, 122 Yoshiki Kimura 209 Zhan Renfeng 121, 134 Zhong Zhaohua 121 Zhu Dexi 2, 11, 12, 13, 45, 68