The Different Behaviors in Pattern 1

As shown in the previous section, in Pattern 1, except jīng 經, the markers are followed by a Route-NP, referring to the passing landmark. However, in some instances, guò 過 can occur alone without a clear Route NP following it but jīng 經 and yuè 越 cannot:

(19) a. 這陣子的生活就像眼前的列車呼嘯而過/*經/*越

zhè zhènzi de shēnghuó jiù xiàng yǎn qián de lièchē hūxiào ér this period DE life exactly similar eye in.front.of DE train bluster and

guò/*jīng/*yuè pass

‘This period of life is like the train in front of the eyes, blustering and passing.’

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b. 親愛的妳也匆匆而過//*經/*越了

qīnài de nǐ yě cōngcōng ér guò/*jīng/*yuè beloved DE you also quickly and pass

‘Beloved you also passed quickly.’

c. 凡經此過/*經/*越，必留下痕跡

fán jīng cǐ guò/*jīng/*yuè ， bì liúxià hénjī once pass here pass definitely leave trace

‘Once you pass through here, you will definitely leave some traces.’

d. 過/*經/*越來

guò/*jīng/*yuè lái pass come ‘Come over here.’

The finding that only 過 can occur alone without a clear Route-NP suggests its special status. In addition to the collocations with Route-NP, guò 過/ jīng 經/ yuè 越 also shows different behaviors when collocating with aspectual markers. First, guò 過 and yuè 越 can collocate with the perfective marker -le 了 but jīng 經 cannot. To be more specific, -le 了 can immediately follow guò 過 and yuè 越 or follow the complement of guò 過/yuè 越, that is, it can follow the construction of [過/越+NP] as shown below:

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(20) a.三個人膽戰心驚，終於都過了那十餘丈狹窄的通道

sān ge rén dǎnzhànxīnjīng，zhōngyú dōu guò le nà shí yú zhàng de three CL people afraid.and.scared finally all cross ASP that ten more CL DE

xiázhǎi tōngdào narrow passage

‘Three people were afraid and scared, crossing the narrow passage finally.’

b.誰越了界，馬上會被人拖到後面教訓一頓

shéi yuè le jiè， mǎshàng huì bèi rén tuō dào hòumiàn who cross ASP boundary immediately MOD BEI people drag arrive behind jiàoxùn yí dùn

teach.a.lesson one CL

‘Whoever crosses the boundary, he would be dragged behind to be beaten immediately.’

c. *經了通道

*jīng le tōngdào

(21) a.又過邊界了

yòu guò biānjiè le again cross boundary ASP

‘(Someone) crossed the boundary again.’

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b.人不就可以很輕鬆地翻牆越障礙了嗎

rén bú jiù kěyǐ hěn qīngsōngdi fān qiáng people NEG exactly can very freely.and.easily go.over wall

yuè zhàngài le ma cross obstacle ASP Q

‘Can’t people go over the wall and cross the obstacle freely and easily?’

c. *經邊界了 *jīng biānjiè

Besides the perfective marker -le 了, we found that only guò 過 can collocate with the durative marker –zhe 著.As shown below, only guò 過 can be immediately followed by –zhe 著.

(22) a. 孩子們小心翼翼地過著橋

háizimen xiǎoxīnyìyìdi guò zhe qiáo children carefully cross ASP bridge ‘Children are crossing the bridge carefully.’

b.*越著橋 *yuè zhe qiáo

c.*經著橋 *jīng zhe qiáo

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As shown above, in Patterns 1, guò 過 can collocate with both markers and yuè 越 can collocate with -le 了 while jīng 經 cannot collocate with any. Besides the different behaviors in the collocations with aspectual markers, we found that guò 過 and yuè 越 in this pattern can be followed by another event while jīng 經 cannot.To be more specific, jīng 經 requires an Endpoint verb/marker with an exact destination to collocate with another event.

(23) a. 還過國境抓俘虜

hái guò guójìng zhuā fúlǔ even cross boundary arrest captive

‘(Someone) even crossed the boundary to arrest the captive.’

b.波蘭參議員越邊界抓人

pōlán cānyìyuán yuè biānjiè zhuā rén Poland senator cross boundary arrest people

‘The Poland senator went over the boundary to arrest someone’

c. *經邊界抓人

jīng biānjiè zhuā rén

d. 村民都得繞道經橫店或南馬大橋到對岸幹活

cūnmín dōu de rào dào jīng héngdiàn huò nánmǎdàqiáo dào villager all have.to detour road pass Hengdian or Nanma.Bridge arrive duìàn gànhuó

opposite work

‘The villagers all have to make a detour to go past Hendian or Nanma Bridge to arrive the opposite bank to work.’

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In (23a) and (23b), the phrases zhuā fúlǔ 抓俘虜 ‘to arrest the captive’ and zhuārén 抓人 ‘to arrest someone’ are the other events in addition to the motion events introduced by guò 過 and yuè 越. The other events can immediately follow guò 過 and yuè 越 with their

complements. However, in (23c), jīng 經 with its complement cannot be followed by another event illustrated by the phrase zhuārén 抓人 ‘to arrest someone’. Only when being followed by an Endpoint verb/marker such as dào 到 ‘arrive’ can jīng 經 collocate with another event as (23d) shows. The findings on the different behaviors shown by each marker in Pattern 1 lead to some precise questions: 1) Why can guò 過 occur alone without a clear Route-NP while the other two markers cannot? 2) Why can guò 過 collocate with aspectual markers both –le 了 and –zhe 著 while yuè 越 only can collocate with –le 了 and jīng 經 cannot co-occur with any? 3) Why can guò 過 and yuè 越 collocate with another event while jīng 經 requires an Endpoint verb/marker? These patterns illustrate the grammatical properties and semantic distinguishments of each marker, which is further explained in the following chapter.