In Mandarin Chinese, double object sentences come in various patterns, as illustrated in (5), where gei is before the object Yuehan ‘John’ as in (5) a, Yuehan
‘John’ occurs immediately after the verb without gei as in (5) b, and gei is omitted, as in (5) c. Confusing as it may seem to differentiate these uses, an overall analysis of double object verbs suggests that there lie differences of semantic contents among these verbs.
(5) a. Mali dai le yi ge dangao gei Yuehan.
Mary bring ASP one CL cake GEI John ‘Mary brought a cake to John.’
b. Mali daying Yuehan yi jian shiqing.
Mary promise John one CL thing ‘Mary promised John to do something.’
c. Mali song (gei) Yuehan yi ben shu.
Mary give GEI John one CL book ‘Mary gave John a book.’
Verbs like dai as in (5) a usually take an Agent and a Patient as in (6), where Mali ‘Mary’ is the Agent and dangao ‘cake’ is the Patient. According to Yang (1991), these verbs imply the physical “transaction” of objects, but they do not denote the “full meaning of giving” (1991: 18-19) [－Giving]. This explains why gei must
be present if a Recipient, i.e. a Goal, is added. Therefore, they are called the gei-required verbs in the present study.
(6) Mali dai le yi ge dangao.
Mary bring ASP one CL cake
‘Mary brought a cake.’
Verbs such as daying in (5) b, however, do not imply the “physical transaction” of objects. Instead, they only denote “abstract transaction” (Yang 1991: 25). Chang (2005) claimed that in addition to Agent and Patient, verbs like (5) b subcategorize for Dative; thus, gei is not required in such construction. In the present study, we call this type the gei-forbidden verb2. Verbs like song as in (5) c are similar to verbs like dai as in (5) a in that they can co-occur with gei. However, they differ in that gei can be omitted in (5) c, but not in (5) a. Yang claimed that these verbs not only signify transaction of an object, but also denote the meaning of ‘giving,’ i.e. [＋Giving].
Therefore, they can occur without gei.3
In order to account for the obligatory occurrence of gei, the following rule is proposed based on different semantic features discussed above.
(7) Gei-insertion Rule
For double object verbs with the feature [－Giving], gei must be inserted to form the double object construction.
Verbs that are of the same type as dai in (5) a usually imply physical transfer of objects and they do not involve the full meaning of ‘giving,’ i.e. [ －Giving].
Therefore, when a Goal is added, the Gei-insertion Rule must apply to enhance the giving feature of the verb. Thus, this type is called the gei-required verbs, i.e. GRV.
2 Verbs like daying as in (5) b were called “goal object verbs” in Yang’s (1991) classification.
3 Yang (1991) called this type the gei-optional verb.
As for verbs like daying as in (5) b, although there is no physical transfer of objects, they still signify transfer of “information” from the subject to the IO (Tang 1979). That is to say, these verbs have already subsumed the meaning of transaction, i.e. [+Giving]. In this case, the Gei-insertion Rule need not apply. They are defined as the gei-forbidden verbs, i.e. GFV.
Verbs like song ‘give’ as in (5) c differ from the gei-required verbs in that gei can be omitted. To account for this difference, we adopt Chang’s (2005) claim that
4 Generally speaking, these verbs are involved in physical transfer of objects just like sentence (5) c.
Sometimes they are used to denote abstract transaction as (i). However, when they are involved in metaphorical uses, i.e., [+Giving], they usually occur in the same patterns as the gei-forbidden verbs.
The insertion of gei in such uses, as in (ii), is not common, although it is considered acceptable for some native speakers. Therefore, when involved in abstract transaction, the Gei-insertion rule is blocked.
(i) Wo song ta yi ge wen.
I give he one CL kiss ‘I gave him a kiss.’
speakers consider these verbs have the meaning of ‘giving,’ i.e. [+Giving], they will not insert gei before the IO. When they are used as three-argument predicates, they subcategorize for Agent, Patient and Goal. In this case, the Gei-insertion Rule need not apply. Since these verbs can be used either with or without the insertion of gei, they are classified as the gei-optional verbs, i.e. GOV.
In addition to the three types of verbs, there exists a fourth type as in (9):
(9) Mali shou le Yuehan yi ge liwu.
Mary receive ASP John one CL present
‘Mary received a present from John.’
This type of verbs is different from the above-mentioned three types in that Yuehan
‘John’ is not a Goal but a Source. Li (1990) and Yang (1991) called this type source object verbs in contrast to the double object verbs whose IOs are Goals. Although they are also considered double object verbs (Tang 1979, Li 1990), the present study only focuses on those verbs whose IOs are Goals5.
So far we have discussed three types of verbs: (1) Gei-required verbs, [－Giving], (2) Gei-forbidden verbs, [+Giving], and (3) Gei-optional verbs, [+/－Giving], which were summarized in Table 2-1 with semantic features they possess.
(ii) ? Wo song yi ge wen gei ta.
I give one CL kiss gei he
‘I gave him a kiss.’
5 Readers who are interested in source object verbs may refer to Tang (1979), Li (1990) and Yang (1991) for more details.
Table 2-1 Features of the Three Types of Verbs Type Giving Examples
GRV － dai ‘bring,’ ji ‘send,’ xie ‘write,’ mai ‘sell,’ diu ‘throw,’
liu ‘leave something for someone,’ ban ‘move,’ song
‘give,’ fu ‘pay,’ huan ‘return,’ shang ‘bestow’
GFV ＋ gausu ‘tell,’ huida ‘answer,’ daying ‘promise,’ wen
‘ask,’ qingjiao ‘ask,’ jiao ‘teach’
GOV ＋/－ song ‘give,’ fu ‘pay,’ huan ‘return,’ shang ‘bestow,’ jie
‘lend,’ pei ‘compensate,’ shu ‘lose’
In what follows, double object verbs in Mandarin Chinese will be discussed with their patterns.
2.2.1 Gei-required Verbs (GRV)
Generally speaking, after the Gei-insertion rule, the IO can either precede or follow the DO (Tang 1979), resulting in the two patterns [V-DO-gei-IO] and [V-gei-IO-DO] below.
Pattern 1: V-DO-gei-IO
The first pattern for GRV is [V-DO-gei-IO], where the DO precedes the IO, as in (10) a. The opposite order, [V-IO-gei-DO] as in (10) b, results in an ungrammatical sentence. In other words, gei is a Goal marker, so it has to take the Goal, IO, as its complement NP (Chang 2005, Her 2006). The pattern [V-DO-gei-IO] is similar to the English to-dative counterpart where the gei-NP is an Ajunct PP (cf. Chang 2005).
(10) a. Lisi ti yi ge qiu gei ta. (Her 2006: 1283) Lisi6 kick one CL ball GEI she
‘Lisi kicked a ball to her.’
b. *Lisi ti ta gei yi ge qiu. (*V-IO-gei-DO) Lisi kick she GEI one CL ball
‘Lisi kicked a ball to her.’
In (10) a, yi ge qiu ‘one ball’ is the DO, and ta ‘she’ is the IO and also the Goal. The verb ti ‘kick’ originally is a two-argument predicate, so it does not subcategorize for a Goal (Chang 2005), as in (11). If a Goal is added, gei must be obligatorily present.
(11) A: Ni gang-gang ti le sheme?
you just kick ASP what ‘What did you just kick? ’ B: Wo ti le yi ke qiu.
I kick ASP one CL ball ‘I kicked a ball.’
In (11), wo ‘I’ is the subject; yi ge qiu ‘one ball’ is the DO. Since there is no Goal, the Gei-insertion Rule need not apply.
Pattern 2: V-gei-IO-DO
The second pattern for GRV1 is [V-gei-IO-DO], where gei appears immediately after the verb to form a V-V compound (Li 1990, Chang 2005, Her 2006). The pattern [[V-gei]-IO-DO] is regarded as a double object construction in Mandarin Chinese (Chang 2005) where the IO precedes the DO as in (12) a. The opposite
6 In Her (2006), Lisi was translated as ‘Lee’ in English. However, for the sake of consistency in the study, we translate it as ‘Lisi.’
order of IO and DO, [[V-gei]-DO-IO] results in ungrammaticality, as in (12) b.
(12) a. Zhangsan pao gei Lisi yi shu hua. (Huang and Ahrens 1999: 6) Zhangsan toss GEI Lisi one CL flower
‘Zhangsan tossed a bouquet to Lisi.’
b. *Zhangsan pao gei yi shu hua Lisi.
Zhangsan toss GEI one CL flower Lisi
‘Zhangsan tossed a bouquet to Lisi.’
In (12) a, pao gei is a V-V compound, Lisi is the IO and yi shu hua ‘a bouquet’ is the DO. This construction is similar to [V-IO-DO] in English.
2.2.2 Gei-forbidden Verbs (GFV)
Verbs with a [+Giving] feature are Gei-forbidden verbs, and typical examples of this type are gausu ‘tell,’ and huida ‘answer,’ as in (13).
(13) a. Xiaoming gaosu Xiaohua yi ge mimi.
Xiaoming tell Xiaohua one CL secret
‘Xiaoming told Xiaohua a secret.’
b. *Xiaoming gaosu gei Xiaohua yi ge mimi.
Xiaoming tell GEI Xiaohua one CL secret
‘Xiaoming told Xiaohua a secret.’
Pattern 3: V-IO-DO
For GFV, the DO always follows the IO, as can be seen in (14) a, which shows a grammatical pattern [V-IO-DO], not [V-DO-IO] as in (14) b:
(14) a. Mali gaosu Yuehan yi ge hao xiaoxi.
Mary tell John one CL good news
‘Mary told John a piece of good news.’
b. *Mali gaosu yi ge hao xiaoxi Yuehan.
Mary tell one CL good news John ‘Mary told John a piece of good news.’
According to Givón’s topicality hierarchy discussed in Chapter One, the “primary topic” occupies the subject position while the “secondary topic” usually occurs in the DO position.7 As for the IO (“prepositional object” in Givón 1984) and the DO (“accusative object”) in double object constructions, Givón argues that the IO is usually the more “topical” one and thus is promoted via Dative Shifting to DO position in English. Therefore, according to Givón’s theory, we may assume that in double object constructions, the IO has to occur before the DO. This is called the IO Precedence Rule, as in (15). To be more specific, for the gei-forbidden verbs to which the Gei-insertion Rule cannot be applied, the IO Precedence Rule must apply, resulting in the pattern [V-IO-DO]. In other words, since gei does not occur with GFV in Mandarin Chinese, they must obey the IO Precedence Rule.
(15) IO Precedence Rule
When gei does not co-occur with Chinese double object verbs, the IO always precedes the DO.
2.2.3 Gei-optional Verbs (GOV)
The only difference between GRV and GOV is that for the latter, gei can be omitted. Verbs such as song ‘give,’ fu ‘pay,’ and huan ‘return,’ are of this type. As for the order of the two objects, the IO can either precede the DO or follow it, just like GRV discussed in Section 2.2.1. Therefore, these verbs can occur in the patterns, [V-gei-IO-DO], and [V-DO-gei-IO]. On the other hand, if gei is omitted, there is
7 According to Givón, Dative Shifting in English, i.e., the promotion of prepositional object to DO, is a
“discourse-pragmatic device” (1984:153).
only one order allowed; the IO must precede the DO, i.e. [V-IO-DO]. Therefore, gei is obligatory in the dative constructions, but is optional in the double object counterparts. Examples (16) a and (16) b show such optionality.
(16) a. Lisi song gei Xiaoling yi zhi shoubiao.
Lisi give GEI Xiaoling one CL watch ‘Lisi gave Xiaoling a watch.’
b. Lisi song Xiaoling yi zhi shoubiao.
Lisi give Xiaoling one CL watch ‘Lisi gave Xiaoling a watch.’
Table 2-2 summarizes the rules we previously proposed with the corresponding patterns. For GRV, i.e. [ －Giving], the Gei-insertion Rule must apply. The application of the IO Precedence Rule to these verbs is optional. On the contrary, if the Gei-insertion Rule does not apply, then the IO Precedence Rule must apply, like GFV, [+Giving].
Table 2-2 The Application of the Two Rules with Verb Types
Rules
+Gei-insertion Rule －Gei-insertion Rule
+IO Precedence －IO Precedence +IO Precedence －IO Precedence Patterns [V-gei-IO-DO] [V-DO-gei-IO] [V-IO-DO] NA
Types [－Giving] [－Giving] [+Giving] NA
Note: For the fourth type where none of the two rules is applied, there is no such verb or pattern in
Mandarin Chinese, hence not applicable.
If children have acquired the two rules, they will have no difficulty in acquiring the three patterns of double object verbs. When gei is missing, based on the IO
Precedence Rule, they will know that the only pattern allowed is [V-IO-DO] instead of [V-DO-IO]. If they produce sentences with the IOs following the DOs, then the Gei-insertion Rule must apply and the pattern will be [V-DO-gei-IO]. As for the [V-gei-IO-DO] pattern, it should cause no difficulty since for Chinese double object verbs, as long as gei is present, the phrase [gei-IO] can occur either before or after the DO.