2. Literature Review
2.2 Extent as an argument
2.2.1 Extent and Patient
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
In the above sentences, the action is expressed by the noun phrases ‘a bath’ and ‘a mistake’, and the verbs only specify that there is a process involved. Therefore, the Extent elements ‘a bath’ and ‘a mistake’ are obligatory.
In this thesis, we investigate Extent as a thematic role. Therefore, in the remaining part of this thesis, Extent only refers to arguments.
2.2.1 Extent and Patient
Teng (1975) compared the two thematic roles, Extent and Patient. He proposed that one of the differences between them is that when they are complements of process verbs, Extent is “effected” but Patient is “affected.” Two sentences are presented to illustrate.
(17) 門 破了 一個 洞 men2 po4le5 yi2ge5 dong4 Door break-ASP one-AN hole ‘The door got a hole in it.’
(18) 椅子 壞了 一隻 腳 yi3zi5 huai4le5 yi4zhi1 jiao3 Chair bad-ASP one-AN leg ‘The chair has a broken leg.’
The two sentences both contain process verbs, but their complements are assigned
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
different thematic roles. In Sentence (17), the thematic role of the NP 一個洞 yi2ge5 dong4 ‘a hole’ is Extent because it is the result of the verbal process and it is
something “created.” Nevertheless, the NP in (18), 一隻腳 yi4zhi1jiao3 ‘one leg’ is Patient. The verbal process happened to the pre-existent object and it was “affected.”
The difference is also reflected in syntactic structure. Teng presented the following sentences as illustration.
(19) a. *一個 洞 破了 yi2ge5 dong4 po4le5 One-CL hole break-ASP ‘*A hole broke.’
b. 一隻 腳 壞了 yi4zhi1 jiao3 huai4le5 One-CL leg bad-ASP ‘A leg is broken.’
The two sentences above show that Extent cannot undergo a change-of-state because it is already the result of the process verb. Patient, on the contrary, can go through a change of state. When it comes to action verbs, it is necessary for Patient to undergo a change of state, such as being created or disposed of. Take the following sentence for example.
(20) 他 蓋了 ㄧ棟 房子 ta1 gai4le5 yi2dong4 fang2zi5
‧
through a process of creation from nonexistence to existence. It is therefore Patient rather than Extent.The sentences in (21) show that Extent cannot be genitivized, but Patient can. Since the Extent 洞 dong4 ‘hole’ is not a pre-existing object, it cannot be possessed by 門 men2 ‘door’.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
he BA leg hit-bad-ASP ‘He broke the leg.’
The above sentences show that Extent cannot occur in a ba-construction, which means that it cannot be executed. Teng further noted that Extent can be definite but that it cannot appear in a ba-construction.
(23) a. 他 唱了 法國歌 ta1 chang4le5 fa4guo2ge1
he sing-ASP France-song
‘He sang a French song.’
b. *他 把 法國歌 唱了 ta1 ba3 fa4guo2ge1 chang4le5
he BA France-song sing-ASP
‘*He sang the French song.’
In addition, Extent cannot appear in a pseudo-cleft construction when it is an indefinite noun phrase (24). The focus has to be new information or contrastive.
However, Extent is predictable because of its being a “cognate object.”
(24) *他 說 的 是 話 ta1 shuo1 de5 shi4 hua4 he speak m.p. be speech ‘*What he uttered was speech.’
Since Extent is regarded as a cognate object, there is a semantic shift from the specific
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
to the general. The following sentences are ambiguous due to the potential differences on the interpretation of their complement NPs.
(25) 他 在 吃 飯 ta1 zai4 chi1 fan4 he p.v. eat rice ‘He is eating.’
(26) 他 不 念 書 了 ta1 bu2 nian4 shu1 le5 he Neg read book ASP ‘He stopped schooling.’
If 飯 fan4 has a general reference, which means ‘food’ or ‘meal’, the meaning of (25) is simply ‘He is eating’. If 飯 fan4 has the specific interpretation ‘rice’, the sentence means ‘He is eating rice’. Similarly, Sentence (26) can both mean ‘He stopped schooling’ or ‘He stopped reading books’, depending on the general or specific interpretation of the complement NP. Teng postulated that in general reading, the complement NP is Extent and in specific reading, the NP is Patient. In some cases fan4 can only have the general meaning ‘food’, while in some it can only have the
specific meaning ‘rice’.
(27) 我 跟 他 吃過 飯 wo3 gen1 ta1 chi1guo4 fan4 I with he eat-EXP rice
‧
In the above sentence, 飯 fan4 can only be Extent and have a general meaning.
However, in the following sentences, the complement can only be Patient.
(28) 飯 他 都 吃 了
Since the NP 飯 fan4 can only have a Patient interpretation as ‘rice’ in the above sentences, it means that when 飯 fan4 ‘food’ is Extent, it cannot be “topicalized” (28).
Sentence (29) again shows that Extent cannot be used in a ba-construction, which
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
means it cannot be “accusativized.” It is also shown that fan4 ‘food’ as Extent cannot be “passivized” (30), nor “clefted” (31).
To sum up, although Extent and Patient can both be complements of verbs, they have different semantic features. According to Teng (1975), the Patient is the object to which an event happens and it is “affected” by the verbal process. Extent, however, is
“effected” of the verbal process, which means it is the result of the process. In addition, when it comes to indefinite noun phrases, Patient has a specific meaning and Extent has a general interpretation, owning to its property of being a cognate object.