Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Dislocation
2.1.4 Distinguishing RD and vocative phrases in Mandarin Chinese
In addition to AT, there is another set of sentences that is similar to RD and that needs to
be addressed, namely, vocative phrases. On the surface, vocative phrase may be situated in
the right-most position sharing the same property of RD, as in (17).
(17)
qiguai e ni!
strange SFP you
‘You are strange, you!’
However, to take a closer examination at the host clause, it is seen that the host clause is not a
complete sentence but rather an adjectival predicate, qiguai ‘strange’6. Some may argue that
(17) still can be counted as RD. I will show how the sentence in (17) involves a vocative
phrase based on Moro (2003). Moro provides some diagnostics for vocative phrases. First,
the position of the vocative phrase is usually at the very beginning or at the very end of the
sentence. Second, the function of the vocative phrase is, in general, to attract someone’s
attention. The vocative phrase can be a pronoun or an entity. Lastly, the vocative phrase is not
within the theta-grid of the main predicate. I will present data in Mandarin Chinese according
to the criteria respectively.
To begin with, consider the sentences in (18) which show the property of the position of
vocative phrases. Compared the examples in (18) with those in (19), it is seen that both
vocative phrases and dislocated phrases in RD can be situated in the sentence final position,
6 Note that one-syllable adjectives cannot fit in this construction, e.g., gao ‘tall’, ai ‘short’, unless the degree modifier hen ‘very’ is added before the adjectives. The reason why one-syllable adjectives cannot be independently used may be a phonological problem. It may also be affected by the syntactic property as well.
namely, ni ‘you’ and Zhangsan.7 From the examples in (18), the difference at this stage is not
yet clear and thus some may consider RD and vocative phrases to be the same. However, let
us reexamine the sentences in (18) and (19). It can be seen that the resumptive pronoun
behaves differently between vocative phrase and RD. One is that the resumptive pronoun
cannot appear. The overt resumptive pronoun causes ungrammaticality in vocative phrases. In
contrast, the resumptive pronoun in RD is optional. The overt resumptive pronoun does not
cause any ungrammaticality. Moreover, some consider (18b) to be less satisfactory than (18a).
Such difference is not observed in RD. From the facts discussed suggests that vocative phrase
and RD may not be the same underlyingly.
7 The vocative phrase can also appears at the very beginning, which makes it look similar to left dislocation or topicalization. The examples are illustrated in (i). It is important to note that without pause between the vocative phrases, ni ‘you’ and Zhangsan, and the adjectival predicate, the sentence is ungrammatical. With the pause, the dislocated phrases serve as vocative phrases and have the function of calling for attention.
(i) a. Ni, qiguai e.
b. ?(*Tai) qiguai e Zhangsani!
he strange SFP Zhangsan
‘Zhangsan is strage, Zhangsan!’
(19) Right dislocation
a. (Ni) hen qiguai e ni!
you very strange SFP you
‘You are very strange, you!’
b. (Tai) hen qiguai e Zhangsani!
he very strange SFP Zhangsan
‘Zhangsan is very strange, Zhangsan!’
Then, taking the second criterion, the function, into consideration, a contrast is also
shown between RD and vocative phrases. As shown that (18b) is not totally perfect, but for
those who consider (18b) to be acceptable, they interpret Zhangsan as ni ‘you’. To be precise,
when this sentence is uttered, the speaker is actually pointing at Zhangsan, so Zhangsan is
involved in the conversation and needs to be present. Thus, in this case, Zhangsan, in fact, is
a substitution for the second person pronoun, ni ‘you’. This piece of interpretation
corresponds to the function of vocative phrases, i.e. attracting someone’s attention. When the
proper noun is used in the vocative phrase, it carries a stronger deictic sense. It can be
evidenced from the examples in (20) and (21). In the sentences of vocative phrase in (20),
changing the third person resumptive pronoun to the second person resumptive pronoun for
the vocative phrase makes the sentence sound better. The second person resumptive pronoun
usually serves as specifying the hearer in the conversation. Thus, this distinction is in cope
with the function of the vocative phrase, calling for someone’s attention.
(20) Vocative phrase
a. *Tai qiguai e Zhangsani!
he strange SFP Zhangsan
‘Zhangsan is strange, Zhangsan!’
b. Nii qiguai e Zhangsani!
you strange SFP Zhangsan
‘You are strange, Zhangsan!’
Moreover, this split distinction is not found in RD, as illustrated in (21). In the case of RD,
two kinds of resumptive pronouns are both grammatical, which is different from vocative
phrases. It should be noted that in (21a), the second person pronoun, ni ‘you’, is co-indexed
with the proper noun, Zhangsan, since it is restricted to the context of a conversation. Thus,
in this case, this sentence is RD not AT based on my definition (i.e. coreferentiality).
(21) Right dislocation
a. Nii hen qiguai e Zhangsani!
you very strange SFP Zhangsan
‘Zhangsan is very strange, Zhangsan!’
b. Tai hen qiguai e Zhangsani!
he very strange SFP Zhangsan
‘Zhangsan is very strange, Zhangsan!’
Lastly, the crucial criterion based on Moro (2003) is the theta-role; that is, the vocative
phrase does not get a thematic role from the predicate in the main clause. As in the data
presented above, the crucial element that sets RD and vocative phrase apart has not yet been
discussed, that is, the degree modifier hen ‘very’8. From (18) to (21), it is shown that the
sentence with hen modifying the adjectives can have a co-indexed resumptive pronoun. On
the contrary, the sentence without the degree modifier hen could hardly have a co-indexed
resumptive pronoun. Recall the definition of RD, it says that a co-indexed resumptive
pronoun is obligatory in RD and RD can undergo reconstruction, suggesting that the
8 In the present study, I do not discuss the morpheme, hen ‘very’ and the syntactic reason why this kind of sentences is acceptable once hen is added. Liu (2010) suggests that hen is a morpheme indicating comparison.
right-dislocated phrase has a strong connection with the host clause. Thus, it can be inferred
that the right-dislocated phrase in RD does receive a theta-role from the main predicate. From
the above-mentioned examples, the co-indexed reumsptive pronouns are supported. I provide
more data regarding reconstruction in the following part.
Based on this definition, I compare the following two sets of sentences, as in (22) and
(23). The data in (22) show that the sentences with the degree modifier hen can undergo
reconstruction, which are actually RD. On the other hand, the data in (23) are sentences
without hen and they cannot undergo reconstruction, suggesting that hen plays a defining role
in differentiating RD and vocative phrases and that the vocative phrases do not receive
theta-roles from the main predicate. It is noteworthy that for some speakers, they consider the
set of sentences in (23) grammatical because they think that there is a covert ‘hen’ preceding
the adjectives. This interpretation supports the idea that the degree modifier ‘hen’ usually
appears with the adjectival predicates.
(22) Right dislocation
a. Ni hen qiguai e!
you very strange SFP
‘You are very strange!’
b. Zhangsan hen qiguai e!
Zhangsan very strange SFP
‘Zhangsan is very strange!’
(23) Vocative phrase
a. *Ni qiguai e.
you strange SFP
‘Intended : You are strange.’
b. *Zhangsan qiguai e.
Zhangsan strange SFP
‘Intended: Zhangsan is strange.’
In addition, there is another pivotal set of sentences regarding this criterion. Consider the
examples in (24). It is said that the dislocated phrase in RD receives the theta-role from the
main predicated while the vocative phrase does not receive any theta-role from the main
predicate. From (24), the examples show that the dislocated phrase can be omitted in vocative
phrases but not in RD. In other words, the adjectival predicate in (24b) can be independent
without any covert or overt NP. Nevertheless, the adjectival predicate in (24a) shows that an
overt NP is needed. If the NP is covert in (24a), it must be clearly mentioned in the context.
This can be evidence that without the degree modifier ‘hen’ the dislocated NP cannot receive
the theta-role from the main predicate and that with hen the dependency relation of the
dislocated phrase and the host clause is closer.
(24) a. Right dislocation
hen qiguai e *(ni)!
very strange SFP you
‘You are very strange, you!’
b. Vocative phrases
qiguai e (ni)!
strange SFP you
‘You are strange, you!’
To have a short summary, based on these three criteria, RD can be distinguished from
vocative phrases. The vocative phrases are not within the theta-grid of the predicate in the
main clause and do not have any dependency relations with the main clause. Also their
function is attracting attention and their position is at the edge of the sentences. On the
contrary, right-dislocated phrases in RD do receive a theta-role from the main predicate and
the connectivity with the main clause is observed. As for the function of RD, it is not
restricted to attracting someone’s attention but rather identifying the discourse topic. The
position of RD, as discussed in the previous section, is always in the sentence final position.
Thus, again, the seemingly similar surface structure does not have the same syntactic
structure.
In this section 2.1.3 and 2.1.4, I gave a brief introduction on the data of RD in Mandarin
Chinese. So far, the criteria used to distinguish RD and AT in other languages are also attested
in Mandarin Chinese. Besides, the criteria distinguishing RD and vocative phrases are
evidenced by the data in Mandarin Chinese. Later in section 3, more discussion will be
provided on the data and facts of RD in Mandarin Chinese. To sum up, in section 2.1, I
discussed the different constructions in dislocations from LD to RD and showed that they are
indeed different. From RD, I further distinguished it from AT with five criteria and from
vocative phrases with three criteria. In the next section, the syntactic analyses of RD in the
literature will be introduced.