Analysis of the Canonical and Transitive Type

Under this framework, Mandarin transitive verbs can choose either to have both the lexical root and the light verbs in the lexicon, or to have the lexical root only.

However, even without light verbs, the semantic relations between the event and its participants still have to follow a given thematic hierarchy. Here, we shall discuss how a locative DP lands in the grammatical subject position in Mandarin LIC. In the canonical type, as given in (124), the type of the event encoded in the lexical root zuo

‘sit’ describes the state of some entity at a location, involving two participants. Both participants can be manifested via the theta roles of V, location and theme, which are mapped to the grammatical subject and object position.

(124) The Canonical Type

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Tai-shang zuo-zhe san-ge ren.

stage-top sit-DUR three-CL person

‘On the stage are sitting three people.’

Given the thematic hierarchy in (115), this proposed analysis can solve the problem with the movement approach. Under the movement analysis, the fact that not all postverbal locative phrases can raise from the predicate-internal position to the subject position remains unsolved. Consider the following examples.

(125) a. Wo-de shouji shuai zai di-shang.

my cell phone fall P. ground-top

‘My cell phone fell on the ground.’

b. *Di-shang shuai-le yi-ge shouji.

ground-top fall-PER one-CL cell phone

‘On the ground fell a cell phone.’

Given the thematic hierarchy, the ungrammaticality of (125b) is expected since goal should be structurally lower than theme in the thematic hierarchy. Thus, a participant bearing goal cannot be mapped to the subject position when the other participant bearing theme is present.

On the other hand, in the transitive type of Mandarin LIC, as shown in (126), is derived in the following way. In Mandarin LIC, the transitive verb qie ‘cut’ chooses to take the Lv-less option. Without light verbs, no agent is implicated. With location

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ranked above theme, the locative DP panzi-li ‘plate’ is mapped to the subject position in that it bears some compatible participant-relation with the event of cutting conceptualized in the lexical verb qie ‘cut’. The sentence (126b) is unacceptable since the theme DP cannot be mapped to the subject when the higher thematic role, location, is present.

(126) The Transitive Type

a. Panzi-li qie-le yixie shuiguo.

plate-inside cut-PER some fruit

Lit. ‘In the plate were cut some fruits.’

b. *Shuiguo qie-le panzi-li.

fruit cut plate-inside

Lit. ‘Fruits are cut in the plate.’

We analyze Lin’s (2008) agentive locative subjects as the transitive type of Mandarin LIC.

(127) a. Zhangsan na-zhe yi-ba shouqiang.

Zhangsan hold-DUR one-CL pistol

‘Zhangsan is holding a pistol in his hand.’

(Agentive subject)

b. Zhangsan de shou-li na-zhe yi-ba shouqiang.

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Zhangsan DE hand-inside hold-DUR one-CL pistol

Lit. ‘In Zhangsan’s hand is holding a pistol.’

(Locative subject)

In (127a), the transitive verb na ‘hold’ contains both the lexical root and light verbs in the lexicon. Agent and theme are the results of Lv1 and Lv2 combined with the lexical root na ‘hold’. In (127b), the transitive verb na ‘hold’ chooses not to have any light verb in it; thus, no agent is manifested. The lexical root na ‘hold’ describes the holding state of an entity at a location, requiring two participants. The locative DP shou-li ‘hand’ and the theme DP yibaqiang ‘a gun’ are mapped to the subject and

object position respectively in that they are involved in the type of event conceptualized in the lexical root na ‘hold’.

Here, we would like to discuss another special canonical sentence of Mandarin LIC discussed in Lin (2009), which is labeled as the sentence with an “occurrence locative subject”.

(128) Women cunzi-li chen-le yi-sao chuan.

we village-inside sink-PER one-CL boat

Lit. ‘In our village sank a boat.’

As can be seen in (128), the locative DP womencunzi-li ‘our village’ does not denote the location where a boat sank. Lin (2008) suggests that the locative DP ‘our village’

is the location where the event of one-boat-sinking exerts a direct impact. If we use some tests to examine its syntactic status, we can find that the locative DP ‘our village’

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displays some subject properties, as shown in (129).

(129) a. Women cunzi-li bei renwei chen-le yi-sao chuan.

we village-inside BEI think sink-PER one-CL boat

Lit. ‘Our village was thought to have the experience of sinking a boat.’

b. Women cunzi-li chen-le henduo ziji mai-de chuan.

we village-inside sink-PER many self buy-PER boat

Lit. ‘Our village has the experience of sinking many boats of our own.’

The preverbal locative DP ‘our village’ can undergo short passivization in (129a) and display A binding in (129b). Under our analysis, this locative DP ‘our village’ is an experiencer, a participant involved in the event of sinking, so it can be mapped to the grammatical subject position.

In sum, due to the unselective property of subjects in Mandarin, no single semantic role is consistently mapped to the grammatical subject position. In order to account for this phenomenon, we assume with HLL (2009) that the transitive verbs in Mandarin allow the possibility of not specifying light verbs in the lexical verb.

However, contra HLL (2009), we claim that the mapping of participants to the syntax is subject to the proposed thematic hierarchy. Given the thematic hierarchy schematized in (115), the derivation of Mandarin LIC can be given a satisfactory account.

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