It has been a controversial issue about the status of ba. Following Huang et al.
(2004), we suggest that ba is part of the lexical domain and is located at vP. This claim is supported by the fact that manner adverbs can occur in the position before the ba-NP or after it.
(53) a.ኻКЦ (࣎࣎Ӧ) ע ݓγ (࣎࣎Ӧ) Ѻ Α Ⴅ ƿu bӿ wáng (hČnhČnde) bӽ hƝi wԃshì (hČnhČnde) dӽ le yƯ-dùn Obi-Wan violently BA DV violently beat LE one-CL ‘Obi-Wan beat Darth Vader violently.’
b.ಹ٥(εᖂӦ) ע୯ᄺ (εᖂӦ) ୠ ֹ Lìyà (dàshƝng dì) bӽ guógƝ (dàshƝng dì) chàng wán Leia loudly BA national song loudly sing finish ‘Leia sang the national song loudly.’
As shown in (53), manner adverbs can precede or ensue the ba-NP. This distributional evidence shows that ba-NP is part of VP. We have argued in the preceding sections that modals are above the VP domain as well as Aspect markers. It follows that the ba-NP should follow preverbal Aspect markers, but not vice versa. This prediction is borne out as shown in (54).
(54) a.Ӽયߎ (ؒԖ) ע ࢃሞߏ (*ؒԖ) ఠ ԝ ƖnnàjƯn (méiyԁu) bӽ xƯngjì yìzhӽng (*méiyԁu) shƗ sӿ Anakin -PERF BA interstellar president –PERF kill die
‘Anakin didn’t kill the interstellar president.’
b.ၡլ (ӧ) ע Ӏቆ (*ӧ)ᕭ ԋ Ѝ λ
Lùkè (zài) bӽ guƗng jiàn (*zài) suǀ chéng yƯ-zhƯ xiӽo gùn Luke ZAI BA lightsaber ZAI contract become one-CL small stick ‘Luke is contracting the lightsaber into a small stick.’
Furthermore, under this analysis, it is predicted that modals as well as the preverbal Aspect markers should precede the ba-NP.
(55) Epistemic modal
a. ၡլ(ᔈ၀) ע চΚ (*ᔈ၀) ግ ӳ Α
Lùkè (yƯnggƗi) bӽ yuán lì (*yƯnggƗi) liàn hӽo le Luke shoul BA Force should learn finish LE
‘Luke should have learnt the Force.’
Deontic modal
b. ࣤࡆ (ёа)ע (*ёа) խᙍ Huángdì (kČyӿ) bӽ yìyuán (*kČyӿ) miӽnzhí Emperor can BA councilor can relieve
‘The Emperor can relieve the councilor.’
Dynamic modal
c. Ӽયߎ(ૈ) ע Шࣚ (*ૈ) ׯᡂ
ƖnnàjƯn (nénggòu) bӽ shìjiè (*nénggòu) gӽibiàn Anakin can BA world can change
‘Anakin can change the world.’
In (55), we find that the interaction between modals and the ba-NP is consistent with our prediction that modals can only precede the ba-NP but not follow it.
We have proposed the clausal structure in (24) that the ba-NP locates at the vP projection. Since ba is part of the VP, it is natural that ba imposes certain semantic restrictions on its argument. Furthermore, modals are above this projection of ba.
The linear order, as illustrated in (54) and (55), supports the structural hierarchy given in (24). In other words, modals are in the functional domain, which directly dominate the ba-NP, (which in turn is a category that takes VP as its complement).
3.2.3.2 The passive bei
In this section, we propose that the short-passive bei also heads the projection of vP, and thus, it competes with ba for the same position in Chinese. Therefore, these two elements cannot co-occur and both of them head vP as the complement of dynamic modals.
Ting (1998) and Huang (1999) argue that sentential adverbials as well as VP adverbials can co-occur in “long-passives” (e.g. (56)), while only VP-adverbials may occur with “short-passives” (e.g. (57)).
(56) Long Passive
a. Ο ѤವӜځ֮Ӧ ᜱو Α
ZhƗngsƗn bèi Lӿsì mòmíng qímiào dì piàn zԁu le ZS BEI LS confused -ly abduct LE ‘Zhangsan was abducted in a state of confusion by Lisi.’
b.Ο Ѥ ӧ Ꮲਠ ᜱو Α
ZhƗngsƗn bèi Lӿsì zài xuéxiào piàn zԁu le ZS BEI LS LC school abduct LE ‘Zhangsan was abducted at school by Lisi.’
(57) Short Passive
a. Ο ವӜځ֮Ӧ ᜱو Α
ZhƗngsƗn bèi mòmíng qímiào dì piàn zԁu le ZS BEI confused -ly abduct LE ‘Zhangsan was abducted in a state of confusion.’
b.*Ο ӧ Ꮲਠ ᜱو Α
ZhƗngsƗn bèi zài xuéxiào piàn zԁu le ZS BEI LC school abduct LE ‘Zhangsan was abducted at school.’
This suggests that while a long-passive contains an IP following bei, a short-passive contains a VP as its complement.
It is argued by Ting (1998) and Huang (1999) that the “long-passive” involves a null operator (NOP) movement as an A’-movement, while the “short-passive” should be analyzed as involving an A-movement of PRO, which is then controlled by the subject.
The structures are shown in (58).
(58) a. long passive
Οi [IP Opi [IP ѤѺΑ ti ]]
ZhƗngsƗn bèi Lӿsì dӽ le ‘Zhangsan was hit by Lisi.’
b. short passive
Οi [VP PROi ѺΑ ti] ZhƗngsƗn bèi dӽ le ‘Zhangsan was hit.’
Assuming that the bei in short-passives s-selects an Experiencer as its subject and a predicate (a property) as its complement and c-selects a VP as the structural realization of the predicate complement, we propose that bei in short-passives is located at the position of v as the head of the vP. The structure is shown in (59).
(59) Οi [vP [VP PROi[ѺΑ] ti]]
ZhƗngsƗn bèi dӽ le ‘Zhangsan was hit.’
Given the analyses above, it is predicted that the bei of short-passives cannot occur with ba, since ba as argued in section 3.2.3 occupies the position of v and takes VP as its complement.
(60) a.Ο Ѥ ע ًη ᜱو Α
ZhƗngsƗn bèi Lӿsì bӽ chƝzi piàn zԁu le ZS BEI LS BA car deceive LE
‘Zhangsan was deceived to lose his car by Lisi.’
b.*Ο ע ًη ᜱو Α ZhƗngsƗn bèi bӽ chƝzi piàn zԁu le ZS BEI BA car deceive LE ‘Zhangsan was deceived to lose his car.’
c.᛬Γ ޣ ע ஆ٣ рѐ Α
yìrén bèi jìzhČ bӽ hnjnshì chuan chnjqù le actor BEI journalist BA marriage spread out LE ‘The actor was known to get married because the news was spread by the journalists.’
d.*᛬Γ עஆ٣ рѐ Α yìrén bèi bӽ hnjnshì chuan chnjqù le actor BEI BA marriage spread out LE ‘The artist was known to get married.’
As shown in (60), the contrast between (60a) (60c) and (60b) (60d) is as we predict.
Based on (58) that the long-passive bei takes an IP as its complement and the short-passive bei takes a VP as its complement, the ba-NP is expected to occur in long passives as shown in (60a) and (60c). Likewise, the ba NP cannot occur in short passives, since ba and the short-passive bei compete for the same position (e.g. (60b) and (60d)).
In sum, the observation shown in (60) supports our clausal structure given in (24) that the projection dominates VP, i.e. vP, is occupied by ba or the bei in short-passives.
Such projection is suggested to be the complement of dynamic modals.
In the following section, we examine modals with embedded passivization and argue that dynamic modals show the property of being semi-functional categories that makes them differ from other modals.