<i>Wǒ pǎo de kuÀi</i> and Chinese phrase structure

Abstract

This paper juxtaposes two well-known competing hypotheses about the structure of resultative and descriptive sentences in Chinese. According to the P[rimary] P[redication] hypothesis, the second verb in a ...V1...V2... sequence is treated as the main verb of the sentence; according to the S[econdary] P[redication] hypothesis, the second verb is treated as a complement to the first. Three major arguments for PP are reviewed and shown not to be cogent, and an alternative analysis is proposed for each of the issues raised: the distribution of A-not-A questions, negation, aspect marking, and the properties of certain complex causative constructions. The otherwise peculiar distribution of the negative and A-not-A morphemes turns out to follow from a principle requiring them to be lexically realized in INFL, and a D-Structure analysis of complex causative sentences consistent with the SP hypothesis explains the related facts in a desirable way. Additional arguments for SP are presented which turn on certain facts of anaphora, verb reduplication, scope of negation, and tone sandhi.