Distinction of preverbal vs. postverbal use of Direction markers

This section discusses the distinctions of preverbal and postverbal use of each Direction marker. The following diagram illustrates that Direction markers may be used either as in preverbal structure or postverbal structure. 面 is not included in the present discussion about the motion event since none of the motional verb can be used with 面. In this section, the analysis is separated into two parts. First, the syntactical distinctions of Direction markers are presented to illustrate the functions of Direction markers in different structures. Second, providing the semantic evidences to examine the postverbal use of Direction markers tend to be in the serial verb construction which is in consistence with the Proto-motion Event Schema proposed by Liu et al. (2012), while Direction markers in the other one may tend to be used as coverbs.

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Diagram ( 9 ): Preverbal vs. postverbal use of Direction markers

Syntactically, the Direction markers may be divided into two structures: 1) construction, then the marker occurring postverbally can be seen as part of the serial motion event and appears to be less grammaticalized than those that only occur preverbally.’ (Liu et al. 2012).

In addition, the [Manner + Direction] serial verb combinations such as 飛 往 or 飛向 do allow aspectual marker le 了 to follow Direction markers, while the Direction markers in preverbal use such as 向天空飛 is not permitted to say *向了 天空飛 as demonstrated in the following examples:

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(50) a. 一隻鷹飛向了天空

yì zhī yīng fēi xiàng le tiān kēng CL eagle fly face LE sky

‘An eagle flies toward the sky.’

b. *一隻鷹向了天空飛

yì zhī yīng xiàng le tiān kōng fēi CL eagle face LE sky fly

(51) a. 燕子飛往了遙遠的北方

yàn zi fēi wǎng le yáo yuǎn de běi fang Swallow fly go-toward LE far-away north

‘The swallow flies toward the far-away north.’

b. *燕子往了遙遠的北方飛

yàn zi wǎng le yáo yuǎn de běi fang fēi Swallow go-toward LE far-away north fly

Usually a Direction marker must be closely together with its directional NP such as zhè bān chē wǎng xīn zhú 這班車往新竹 rather than zhè bān chē wǎng le xīn zhú *這班車往了新竹. However, when a Direction marker follows a Manner of verb, the aspectual le 了 is permitted such as in (50a) and (51a). This again proves that the use of postverbal Direction markers is in consistence with the sequence in the Proto-motion Event Schema. The [Manner + Direction] sequence becomes serial

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verb construction allowing the existence of the aspectual le 了. While the preverbal use of Direction markers may be more like a coverb (Li and Thompson 1981).

Semantically, the two structures may encode differenty in their NPs.

Based on the Proto-motion Event Schema, there would normally be only one NP—Locative NP in a sentence such as 火車開往[新竹/Locative NP]. Thus, the NP in the postverbal structure should be a Locative NP by default. On the contrary, in the preverbal structure, there may be more than one NPs in a sentence. The first NP tends to be Directional NP while the second NP has the tendency to be Locative NP. The following table demonstrates the tendencies for NPs in the two structures:

In the above table, structure (a) is the postverbal use of Direction marker structure. In such structure, the NP has the tendency to be a Locative NP such as pín dōng 屏東/fēi lǜ bīn 菲律賓/tái wān 台灣 as demonstrated in the following examples:

Table ( 5 ): Tendencies of NPs in preverbal vs. postverbal structure

NP = Locative NP NP = Directional NP a. [V 往/向 NP] 85.7 % (24/28)

b. [往/向 NP V]

85.9 % (122/142)

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(52) 許多夏候鳥正展翅飛向[臺灣/Locative NP]，打算在此繁殖

xǔ duō xià hòu niǎo zhèng zhǎn chì fēi xiàng tái wān dǎ suàn zài cǐ fán zhí Many summer migratory-bird are fly face Taiwan, planning in here giving-birth

‘Many migratory birds are flying toward Taiwan, planning to breed here.’

(53) 蝙蝠飛往客廳

Biǎn fú fēi wǎng kè tīng Bat fly go-toward living-room

‘The bat flied toward the living room.’

In structure (b), the NP tends to be a Directional NP such as shàng 上/ xià 下/ zuǒ 左/ yòu 右/ dōng 東/ xī 西/ nán 南/ běi 北 such as in the following examples:

(54) 蝸牛沿著牆角向上爬

Guā niú yán zhe qiáng jiǎo xiàng shàng pá Snail along wall-corner face up climb

‘The snail climbed up along the wall.’

(55) 野狼往[前/Directional NP]跑 yě láng wǎng qián pǎo

Wolf go-toward front run

‘The wolf runs toward the front.’

Moreover, only structure (b) allows two NPs to co-exist in the same sentence. In this case, it does not matter if the first NP is directional noun (e.g., dōng

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東/ xī 西/ nán 南/ běi 北) or referential noun (e.g., chē zhàn 車站/xīn zhú 新竹/tái wān 台灣), the first NP denotes its direction while the second denotes its destination.

Examples are given below:

(56) …往[車站/Directional Noun]走，到上次很喜歡吃的[一蘭拉麵/Loc NP]回味一

下

wǎng chē zhàn zǒu dào shàng cì hěn xǐ huān chī de yì lán lā miàn huí wèi yí xià

…go-toward station walk, arrive last-time Deg like eat DE Yilan noodle recall-the –memory

‘...go toward the direction of the station to the Yilan noodle which I like a lot.’

(57) …往[山上/Directional Noun]走，到[紅葉溫泉/Loc NP]再泡一次湯 wǎng shān shàng zǒu dào hóng yè wēn quán zài pào yí cì tang

…go-toward mountain-top walk, arrive Hongyie hot-spring again dip hot-spring

‘…go toward the direction of the mountain to the Hongyei hot spring to enjoy again.’

(58) 再往[山上/Directional Noun]走，到此慕名已久的[錫安山/Loc NP]

zài wǎng shān shàng zǒu dào cǐ mù míng yǐ jiǔ de xí ān shān

Again go-toward mountain walk, arrive here famous De Xian mountain

‘go further toward the direction of the mountain, to the famous mountain Xian.’

(59) 他…直往[岸上/Directional Noun]跑；他一直奔到[家裡/Loc NP]

tā zhí wǎng àn shàng pǎo tā yì zhí bēn dào jiā lǐ 3sg…straight go-toward shore run, 3sg run arrive home

‘He…runs toward shore to home.’

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5.3 Lexical Status of Direction Markers

The distinctions among the Direction markers can be dealt with in the discussion of the motional degree and the lexical status in this section. First, let us begin by examining the motional degree. Examples are as follows.

(60) a. 這房間面海可看美麗的日出

zhè fáng jiān miàn hǎi kě kàn měi lì de rì chū this room face sea able watch beautiful sunrise

‘The room faces the sea and you can watch the beautiful sunrise in this room.’

b. *這房間往海可看美麗的日出

zhè fáng jiān wǎng hǎi kě kàn měi lì de rì chū

this room go-toward sea able watch beautiful sunrise

(61) a. 向日葵永遠朝太陽

xiàngrìkuí yǒngyuǎn cháo tài yáng Sunflower always face sun

‘The sunflowers always face the sun.’

b. *向日葵永遠往太陽

xiàngrìkuí yǒng yuǎn wǎng tài yáng Sunflower always go-toward sun