4.4 The Sequential Constraints of Deictics of Motion with NPs of Location
4.4.4 Ambiguous Interpretation: Source/Goal (Endpoint)
According to Lamarre (2009), it is proposed that Deictics of Motion lái 來
‘come’/ qù 去 ‘go’ usually take GOAL NPs6, as the examples below show:
(47) Lái 來 ‘come’/ qù 去 ‘go’ taking GOAL NPs a. 子彈飛去美國了
zǐdàn fēi-qù měiguó le bullet fly-go America PRF
‘The bullet flew to America.’
(Google 2012/12/22) b. 他們回去精舍
6 The notion GOAL Lamarre proposed is the same as the Enpoint or Loc-NP in the research.
47
tāmen huí-qù jīngshè 3PL return-go temple
‘They returned to the temple.’
(Chinese Gigaword) c. 外國資本家進來大陸
wàiguó zīběnjiā jìn-lái dàlù
foreign capitalist enter-come mainland
‘Foreign capitalists entered the mainland.’
(Sinica Corpus)
Similarly, we found that when lái 來 ‘come’/ qù 去 ‘go’ is combined with 出, it is often the case that chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去 ‘exit-go’ take GOAL NPs, such as the examples below from Sinica Corpus:
(48) a. 常常跟朋友出去外面走走
chángcháng gēn péngyǒu chū-qù wàimiàn zǒuzǒu often with friend exit-go outside walk
‘(Someone) often went out with friends.’
b. 室內的樣子平常，像是出去附近購物未回的光景。
shì.nèi de yàngzi píngcháng xiàngshì chū-qù fùjìn gòuwù wèi huí room.inside DE look normal like exit-go around shop NEG return de guāngjǐng
DE scene
‘It looked normal inside the house. It’s like someone went out shopping and hadn’t come back.’
c. 吸血鬼、小精靈和巫婆在萬聖節前夕會出來人間活動，
xīxiěguǐ xiǎojīnglíng hàn wūpó zài wànshèngjié qiánxì huì chū-lái vampire elf and witch at Holloween eve MOD exit-come
48
rénjiān huódòng human.world go.around
‘Vampires, elves, and witches would go around in the human’s world on the Holloween Eve.’
d. 瑞娜珊將自己變回人形，出來庭院透透氣，
ruìnàshān jiāng zìjǐ biànhuí rénxíng chū-lái tíngyuàn NM DISP self change.back human.shape out-come yard tòutòuqì
breathe.the.air
‘Rinassan transformed back into human and came out to the yard to get some air.’
e. 他出來外面就是，就不講話了。
tā chū-lái wàimiàn jiùshì jiù bù jiǎnghuà le 3SG exit-come outside just just NEG talk PRF
‘He came outside and didn’t say anything.’
With GOALs as the prominent type of NPs following chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’
and chū-qù 出去 ‘exit-go’, it is also found that they are capable of taking SOURCEs.
In other words, chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去 ‘exit-go’ provide two potential semantic roles for their NPs—either a GOAL or a SOURCE.
The example below, in which the NP cāntīng 餐廳 ‘restaurant’ can be a GOAL or a SOURCE, may further exemplify the two possible interpretations of the NP following chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去 ‘exit-go’.
(49) 出來餐廳，去了趟紫水晶專賣店
chū-lái cāntīng qù le tàng zǐshuǐjīng zhuānmàidiàn exit-come restaurant go ASP CL Amethyst shop
‘(Somebody) went out of the restaurant and went to the Amethyst shop /came
49
out to the restaurant and went to the Amethyst shop on the way.’
(Google 2012/04/22)
If it is a GOAL, the sentence means that one goes to the Amethyst shop on his or her way to the restaurant. On the other hand, if it is a SOURCE, the sentence means that one goes to the Amethyst shop after he or she finish eating in the restaurant and leaves the restaurant.
After we observe the corpus data, it is found that chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去 ‘exit-go’ may take a SOURCE NP or a GOAL NP as in examples (47) and (48), which inevitably leads to the crucial question of how to account for such an ambiguity.
(50) NPs as SOURCE following chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去‘exit-go’
a. 回飯店之後休息了一會~又出來飯店玩玩~
huí fàndiàn zhīhòu xiūxí le yìhuǐ yòu chū-lái fàndiàn return hotel after rest ASP a.while then out-come hotel wánwán
play
‘After resting for a while in the hotel, we came out of the hotel to play.’
(Google 2012/12/26)
b. 佑佑出去房間再進來就是這副蠢樣
yòuyòu chū-qù fángjiān zài jìn-lái jiùshì zhè fù chǔnyàng Yoyo out-go room then in-come exactly this kind silly.look
‘Yoyo went out of the room and came in with this silly look.’
(Google 2012/12/26)
50
(51) NPs as GOAL following chū-lái 出來‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去‘exit-go’
a. 小悅出來餐廳吃飯都表現的好乖
xiǎoyuè chū-lái cāntīng chīfàn dōu biǎoxiàn de hǎo guāi NM exit-come restaurant eat.meal all behave DE DEG good
‘Every time we come out to restaurants, Xioyue all behaves very well.’
(Google 2012/12/26)
b. 我們真的很少出去餐廳吃飯, 都在家裡自己煮!
wǒmén zhēnde hěnshǎo chū-qù cāntīng chīfàn dōu zài jiālǐ zìjǐ 1PL really seldom out-go restaurant eat usually at home self zhǔ
cook
‘We seldom went out to restaurants. We usually cooked on our own at home.’
(Google 2012/12/26)
In the serial combination of chū-lái 出來 ‘exit-come’ and chū-qù 出去
‘exit-go’, which is the head or main predicate? Is the determining factor syntactic or semantic?