Clause Union Verbs

Examples: she4fa3 'try', tou2zi1 'invest', gao1xing4 'happy', nu3li4 'hard-working', sui2bian4 'casual', fei4xin1 'devoted', zhuan1xin1 'attentive', pin1ming4 'struggle', qi4tu2 'attempt'

4. a. Ta1 she4fa3 qiang3 le yin2hang2.

he tried rob LE bank He tried to rob a bank.

b. Ta1 she4fa3 qiang3 guo4 yin2hang2.

he tried rob GUO bank He has tried to rob a bank before.

c.*Ta1 she4fa2 neng2 qiang3 yin2hang2.

he try can rob bank

*He try to can rob a bank.

d.*Ta1 she4fa3 ni3 qiang3 yin2hang2.

he try you rob bank He tries for you to rob a bank.

The important difference between verbs of this group and verbs in 3.3.12.1 is that the embedded clause, XCOMP, of verbs here such as she4fa3 'try' may contain an aspect particle, e.g., 4a-b. These are the so-called "clause union verbs" observed by Li (1985), where she gives a GB analysis. Due to the fact

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that the embedded clause here still cannot have an overt subject or modal verbs, e.g., 4c-d, we believe the clause is still a non-finite one. However, in the case of aspect, the matrix verb and the embedded verb fuse together and the aspect marking occurs with the embedded verb, not the matrix verb.

FI-V-12-4:

[ (↑ SUBJ) = (↑ XCOMP SUBJ) (↑ XCOMP MODALITY) =c NONE (↑ ASPECT) =_c NONE

(↑ XCOMP ASPECT) = (↑ ASPECT) ]

she4fa3: `attempt

[ FS [ FORM 'she4fa3' ]

FI-V-12

FI-V-12-4

]

We will compare a verb from 3.3.12.1, ji4hua4 'plan', with a clause union verb form here, she4fa3 'try', in the following examples.

4. e. Ta1 she4fa3 qiang3 guo4 yin2hang2.

he tried rob GUO bank He has tried to rob a bank before.

f. Ta1 mei2 she4fa2 qiang3 guo4 yin2hang2.

he not try rob GUO bank He has never tried to rob a bank before.

e' Ta1 ji4hua4 guo4 qiang3 yin2hang2.

he plan GUO rob bank He has planned to rob a bank before.

f' Ta1 mei2 ji4hua4 guo4 qiang3 yin2hang2.

he not plan GUO rob bank He has never planned to rob a bank before.

In both 4e and 4e', although the "trying" and "planning" have taken place, whether the action of "robbing a bank" has ever happened is not indicated; yet, the aspect marker guo4 has to appear with the matrix verb ji4hua4 'plan' in 4e' but with the verb in XCOMP, qiang3 'rob', in 4e. In addition, that the negation of 4e and 4e' is the same, as shown in 4f and 4f', again indicates that in 4e the scope of the aspect marker is not limited to the verb in XCOMP and rather its scope covers the matrix verb sh4fa3 'try' as well.

There might be some doubt regarding whether the state verbs cited in this subcategory, such as nu3li4 'hard-working' and zhuan1xin1 'attentive', are the verbs or adverbs. We contend that they are main verbs because, first of all, unlike the majority of manner adverbs they cannot appear before the subject.

4. g. Ta1 zhuan1xin1 kan4wan2 le na4 ben3 shu1.

he attentive read-finish LE that CLS book He concentrated his attention and finished that book.

h.*Zhuna1xin1 ta1 kan4wan2 le na4 ben3 shu1.

attentive he read-finish LE that CLS book Attentively, he finished that book.

i. Ta1zhuan1xin1de kan4wan2 le na4 ben3 shu1.

he attentively read-finish LE that CLS book He attentively finished that book.

j. Zhuna1xin1de ta1 kan4wan2 le na4 ben3 shu1.

attentively he read-finish LE that CLS book Attentively, he finished that book.

Secondly, most of the state verbs do not have this complementation pattern;

for example, none of the following state verbs has this subcategorization:

jin3shen4 'careful', cu1xin1 'careless', da4fang1 'generous', kuai4le4 'happy', shang1xin1 'sad', etc. The fact that only a seemingly arbitrarily restricted class

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of state verbs may require this complementation pattern provides another support for our analysis: while the complementation patterns of lexical forms may often be idiosyncratic among verbs of similar meanings, the syntactic distribution in the c-structure of lexical items in the same syntactic category is usually consistent and less restrictive.

Finally, all three characteristics of verbs cited by Chao (1968) can be found with these verbs: (a) they can be negated, (b) they can form A-not-A questions, and (c) they can stand alone in a short answer.

4. k. Ta1 bu4 zhuan1xin1 kan4 shu1.

he not attentive read book He is not concentrated in reading.

l. Q: Ta1 zhuan1(xin1)-bu2-zhuan1xin1 kan4shu1?

he attentive not attentive read Is he concentrated in reading or not?

m. A: Zhuan1xin1.

attentive

Yes, he is concentrated.

3.3.13 <SUBJ , SCOMP>

3.3.13.1 Regular Type

Examples: shuo1 'say', fa1xian4 'discover', bao3zheng4 'guarantee', zhi1dao4 'know', xiang3 'think', jian1chi2 'insist', xiang1xin4 'believe', shi1wang4 'disappointed', que4ding4 'sure', pan4wang4 'hope', ren4wei2 'think', xi1wang4 'hope', huai2yi2 'doubt'

1. a. Ma3li4i que4ding4 ta1i/j bu2 hui4 lai2.

Mary sure s/he not will come Mary is sure that s/he won't come.

b. Ma3li4i xiang1xin4 ta1i/j lai2 guo4 Tai2bei3.

Mary believe s/he come GUO Taipei Mary believes that s/he has been to Taipei before.

The verbs in this class subcategorize a SUBJ and SCOMP. An SCOMP is an embedded finite clause with all of its subcategorized grammatical functions, thus including SUBJ, completely fulfilled. Also, as shown in the above two examples, an SCOMP, being finite, can take modal verbs or aspect particles.

In addition, the fact that the pronoun following the verb may be co-referential with the matrix SUBJ indicates that this pronoun has to be the SUBJ of the SCOMP and it cannot be the OBJ of the matrix verb.

FI-V-13:

[ CAT V

FS [ PRED <SUBJ , SCOMP> ] ]

que4ding4: `sure

[ FS [ FORM 'que4ding4' ]

FI-V-13

]

Note that verbs here do not require an indirect question as its complement;

verbs that subcategorize <SUBJ , SCOMP> and require the SCOMP to be in the form of an indirect question are separately grouped under 3.3.13.2 below due to this requirement.