Subject--Topic-and-Topic-Chain-in-Chinese

UniquestructuresinChineseComparedwithEnglish,Chineseisverydifferentinsentencestructure:•DoubleNominals•小美眼晴很大•Topicchain•小美眼晴很大,鼻子很高,長長的頭髮,__很惹人愛.Pioneeringwork:LiandThompson•LiandThompson(1976):SubjectandTopic•LiandThompson(1981):“OneofthemoststrikingfeaturesofMandarinChineseofMandarinChinesestructure,andonethatsetsMandarinapartfrommanyotherlanguages,isthatinadditiontothegrammaticalrelationsof“subject”and“directobject”,thedescriptionofMandarinmustalsoincludetheelement“topic”.Becauseoftheimportanceof“topic”inthegrammarofMandarin,itcanbetermedatopic–prominentlanguage.”(p.15)Subject,TopicandTopicChaininChineseTsao,Feng-Fu1990Lecturer:ProfLiuMeichun1.Introductory•Tsao(1979)’stwocommentsonLiandThompson(1976):1)Theydonotdescribe:HowsubjectandtopicareidentifiedanddifferentiatedhowtheyinteractinthegrammarofChinese2)Topicisrealizedasadiscoursenotion,buttheirdiscussionisstillsentence-oriented.2.SubjectinChinese2.1CaseMarking•“BasicSubject”:whenanNPisthesurfacesubjectordirectobject,itisnotmarkedbyanypreposition.我送一樣禮物給他他莫名其妙被送了禮物2.2Position•SubjectinChineseoccurspreverbally,butitcanalsobeprecededbyanotherNPidentifiableastopic.這個人我不喜歡，我爸爸也不喜歡•Objectscansometimesoccurunmarkedbetweenasubjectandaverb.他信寫完了Question•NowifwehavetwounmarkedNPsoccurringpreverbally,howdoweknowwhichiswhich?Animateness•Onlyinanimateobjects(eg.信)canbefronted,whileanimateobjectresultscannot:李小姐打了王先生*王先生李小姐打了•Semanticdifferentiationiscalleduponwhensyntaxisblurred.我雞不吃•雞:1)‘chickenasdish’2)‘chickenasanimal’•Y.CLi(1972,1984):identifythesurfacesubjectinChineseasthefirstunmarkedanimateNPtotheleftoftheverb,otherwise,theunmarkedNPimmediatelybeforetheverbTwofactsareneglected:1)Anindefinitesubjectoccurspostverballyinapresentativesentence.前面來了一個人!2)Subjects,especiallywhentheyareidenticalwiththespeakerorthehearer,orthetopicNPcanoftenbedeleted.identicalwiththespeaker:__好想回家!identicalwiththehearer:__有沒有回家?Identicalwiththetopic:小王沒回家,也沒去哪.2.3ReferentialProperty•Basicsubjectismorereferentialthantheobject他喜歡看書non-referential書是我的referentiala.我要請客b.客來了•ReferentialAsymmetryofSubjectandObject2.4BehaviorandControlProperties2.4.1ReflexivizationandImperativization張三說李四在責備自己a.‘ZhangSanisaidLiSijisblaminghimi.’b.‘ZhangSanisaidLiSijisblaminghimselfj.’張三知道李四不喜歡他自己b.‘ZhangSanknowsthatLiSijdoesn’tlikehimselfj.’•Huang(1984)concludesthatonlyPro+自己isatruereflexivization.Reflexivization•Inthisprocess,thecontrollerisalwaysthesubject,butnottopicunlessitisalsothesubject,ofthesameclause.張三，爸爸只顧他自己a.‘Zhangsani(Topic),(his)fatherjonlylooksafterhimselfi.’b.‘Zhangsani(Topic),(his)fatherjonlylooksafterhimselfi.’Imperativization•Imperativization:Hashimoto(1971)去別去別不去•InChinese,theimperativesentencehasanunderlyingsubjectthatcanbeoptionallydeleted.2.4.2RelativizationandConjunctionReduction•KeenanandComrie(1977):Thegrammaticalnotions(i.eS,DO…)areuniversallyutilizedintheformationofrelativeclauses.•AccessibilityHierarchy(AH):SUDOIOOBLGENOCOMP•Unfortunately,thishierarchydoesn’tholdtruewhenChineserelativizationiscarefullyexaminedandtheconfoundingfactorseemstobetopic.Relativization•RelativizationinChineseseemstoexhibitacloserelationtotheprocessoftopicalization:1.ThedeletionorpronominalizationoftherelativizedNParenearlyidenticalwiththoseforthedeletionorpronominalizationoftopicalizedNP.那個小孩子(Subject)很喜歡妳那個小孩子(Topic)他很喜歡你_____很喜歡你的那個小孩子?他很喜歡你的那個小孩子Constraint•apronominalcopyofatopicgovernedbyBAoraprepositioncannotbedeleted:那個小孩，我經常跟他打架*那個小孩，我經常跟_____打架我經常跟他打架的那個小孩*我經常跟_____打架的那個小孩那本書，我把它放在你的桌子上*那本書，我把______放在你的桌子上Tsao(1987)•ThefunctionofBA:tomoveanNP,inmostcasesadirectobject,tothepreverbalpositiontomarkitasasecondarytopicofaspecialkind.•TheBANPisnotanobjectNP,eventhoughitmightoriginateasone.Relativization2.Thegeneralgoverningprinciple:ifthepossessiveNPcanbecometopicinaso-called“doublenominative”construction,thenitcanalsoberelativized.•OnlythepossessingNPcanberelativized.a.那位眼睛很漂亮的小姐b.*那位小姐很漂亮的眼睛Topicisrelativized•‘Doublenominativeconstruction’canalsoappearinrelativeclauses.a.那群人，你看我，我看你，一點主意也沒有b.你看我，我看你，一點主意也沒有的一群人•Thepragmaticfunctionsoftopicconstructionandtherelativeclauseseemstobedifferent.•“Relativeclause”inEnglishservesto‘ground’thereferent,butinChinese,itservestotopicalizeareferent:a.他[那個獨生子]戴眼鏡b.他那個戴眼鏡的獨生子non-restrictiveSubjectinpresentativeclause•“Telesopic-presentative”construction-aspecialtypeofserialverbconstruction:從前有一個小男孩，三歲的時候爸爸就死了(Therewasonceaboywhosefatherdiedwhenhewasthree.)他有一個妹妹，很喜歡看電影(Hehasasisterwhoisveryfondofmovies.)2.4.3CoreferentialNPDeletionEqui-NPdeletion:•Twocasesdemonstratedthatsubjectisinvolved:1)Desiderativeverb:想*老張想老李去老張想去2)Theembeddedsubjectof“pivotalconstruction”老張答應/同意/打算去Co-referential•Whenanintensivesubject(i.e.自己)appearsintheembeddedsentence,itisunderstoodtobecoreferentialwiththesubjectofthematrixverb•老張不想自己去•Whentheembeddedsentenceisapassiveone,thedeletedNPisunderstoodtobethederivedsubject.•老張不想__被人欺負•Whentheembeddedpassivesentenceisputintheactiveform,thesentencebecomesungrammatical.a.*老張不想人欺負他astopicb.*老張不想人欺負__Su