3. Theoretical Background
3.4 Causative Assignment in Resultative Compounding
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(42) Markedness Hierarchy of Argument Functions:
SUBJ (-r -o) ＞ OBJ (-r +o)/OBLθ (+r –o) ＞ OBJθ (+r +o)
The problem of one-to-one mapping requirement is solved. Moreover, since SUBJ is the most prominent function and will always be the first on the list of
argument-function mapping, the well-formedness condition in (36D) is no longer needed. The UMP actually incorporates the two well-formedness conditions and simplifies the mapping mechanisms of LMT.
3.4 Causative Assignment in Resultative Compounding
With the mechanisms so far, the argument realization of predicates in Chinese resultative compounds can now be properly processed. Mappings of the resultative compound, zhui-lei, are constructed as thus in Her (2009):
(43) Zhangsan zhui-lei-le Lisi John chase-tired-ASP Lee
i. ‘John chased Lee to the extent of making him (Lee) tired.’ (causative)
＜x y-z＞ (x=ag, y=pt/th) (non-causative) IC [-r]
DC
--- CF S/O… S/O UMP S O
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Note that the various interpretations of the resultative compound are reached by the different function mappings of the arguments, but the causative readings in the interpretations are still unaccounted for. Furthermore, one problem remains in that how the two arguments with the same feature in the final interpretation are assigned their grammatical functions is still a mystery.
8 [Caus] is short for the concept of Causer, and [af], Affectee.
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Her (2007) tries to solve this problem along with the causative readings by submitting to his proposed rule of Causativity Assignment in Resultative
Compounding:
(44) Causativity Assignment in Resultative Compounding:
An unsuppressed role from Vres receives [af] iff an unsuppressed role from Vcause exists to receive [caus].
This rule accounts for the causative readings in the resultative compound by
distributing Causer and Affectee to the corresponding arguments. Moreover, it leads to the final interpretation in (43) by adding a semantic feature of Causer to one of the two arguments that receive the same [-r] feature. By resorting to Dowty’s (1991) idea of proto-agent and proto-patient, Her (2007) shows that the argument that receives the feature [caus] is more prominent than the one that receives [af] and should therefore map to SUBJ, which is a more prominent grammatical function.
The complex issue of the mappings of resultative compounds with the relevant causativity seems to be well-answered. However, remember the causative alternation of unaccusative resultative compounds, where the subject is not an argument if under the analysis of LMT that the argument-function mappings all come from the
arguments of the predicate. Yet, the subject still receives the causative reading that has
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to be given by the Vres in the compound. To make things worse, the Vres of the
compound does not function as a real intransitive verb that assigns its theta role to the entities in the sentence, nor does it assign causativity. The Vres is more like an
expression of extent in the compound:
(45) yi zhuozi de cai pang-si wo le one table DE dish fat-die me ASP
‘A table full of dishes is making me fat.’
Yi zhuozi de cai (a table full of dishes) is not an argument of any of the predicates in
the resultative compound, pang-si, nor does si function as a real verb that denotes the action of dying. Her’s (2007) account seems insufficient to explain resultative
compounds like this. How, then, can the resultative compounds of this kind be analyzed and their relevant causativity accounted for? This thesis is dedicated to answering this question by examining causativity in Mandarin Chinese and solving the problem of causativity and lexical mappings of Chinese resultative compounds.
But before that, this special kind of resultative compounds needs to be examined to see if the compounds indeed carry a seemingly extra argument outside of their argument structures. A kind of construction would look like the causative resultative compounds in question here but turn out to be something different under close
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inspection, as pointed out by Wu (2010):
(46) na-chang jihuang e-si-le henduo ren that-CL famine hungry-dead-ASP many people
‘Many people starved to death in that famine.’
In (46), jihuang (famine) is the argument of neither e (hungry) nor si (dead). Yet, it appears in the subject position. Wu (2010) claims that the sentence should be
paraphrased as (47) and the subject argument is actually the thematic role of Locative:
(47) henduo ren e-si yu na-chang jihunag many people hungry-dead in that-CL famine
‘Many people starved to death in that famine.’
Yu, in Mandarin, can serve to specify time and place. Jihuang in (46) functions as
Locative and has undergone a syntactic process that has been noted in English as well as in Mandarin Chinese and termed the Locative Inversion (Her, 2009). In this case, what appears to be a causative resultative compound is indeed an example of Locative Inversion. However, the Locative Inversion account does not suffice to explain all possible instances of causative resultative compounds, where the subject argument cannot be seen as Locative or any argument required by the argument structures of the compound predicates:
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(48) a. zhe-jian yangzhuang mei-fan ta le.
this-CL dress beautiful-flip her ASP
‘This dress makes her look extremely beautiful.’
b. *ta mei-fan yu zhe-jian yangzhuang she beautiful-flip in this-CL dress
‘This dress makes her look extremely beautiful.’
Since the causative resultative compound in (48a) cannot be paraphrased as (48b) and semantically speaking, the subject argument, zhe-jian yangzhuang, cannot be
interpreted as a location where the incident depicted by the compound happens, there is no way causative resultative compounds like this are to be viewed as
Locative-Inversion sentences in disguise. Therefore, it is for sure that this special kind of Mandarin causative resultative compounds exists and proper measure of analysis should be taken to account for its presence.
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