Ⅱ. L I TERATURE REVI EW
2.1 Semantic meanings of V-shang
2.1.3 The meaning of state
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(6) a. closed state with verbs like guan 關, gua4 掛, la 拉, he2 合, and jie 接 b. covered state with verbs like ya 壓, gai4 蓋, zhao4 罩, and tian2 填 c. attached state with verbs like pu 鋪, tie 貼, chuan 穿, and dai4 戴 d. mixed state with verbs like jia 加, bu3 補, pei4 配, and suan4 算
e. arriving at a goal with verbs zhui 追, gan3 趕, gen 跟 f. achieving a goal with verbs kao3 考, dang 當, chi 吃, and kan4 看 g. encountering something with verbs yu4 遇, gan3 趕, peng4 碰
Also, Yu (2010), in the category of resultative V-shang, has mentioned that stative verbs which are adjoined to shang express meanings of degree, such as hao3 ‘good’
好, gui4 ‘expensive’貴, shen ‘deep’深, gao ‘tall’高, and da4 ‘big’大.
From the points of view of these researchers, it can be observed that the resultative meaning conveyed by V-shang is the same as the main feature of resultative verb complements (RVCs). No matter what the names of their category from previous studies are, their second and third category can be generalized into ‘a result,’ and, the directional movement category can be tested by Thompson (1973)’s analysis, so the semantic meaning of V-shang should be uniform in one sense. The behavior of this kind of V-shang is also similar to the resultative meaning in RVCs
2.1.3 The meaning of state
The third category is the most complicated, because different studies categorize it under different names. The present study takes account of the analysis of Liu (1998)
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to select ‘a state’ to present the third category. The meanings of a state can refer to the beginning to a new state and to the start of an action. The particular definitions are ‘a state of getting to a number’ and ‘a state of getting to a purpose.’
Category of ‘state’ is more abstract than category of ‘result,’ because it shows the extended aspectual function. It means that the action caused the object to get into a new state, and it also includes an ‘ongoing’ aspect. The verbs include stative verbs like ai4 ‘love’愛. Mostly, stative verbs can be attached to a directional complement in the category of ‘state’. Stative verbs are used, such as hao3 ‘good’ 好 and re4 ‘hot’
熱. Qilai ‘up’ 起來 can be replaced by shang. Other stative verbs include twenty-two words, such as zhang2 ‘long’長, man4 ‘slow’慢, mang2 ‘busy’忙, mei3 ‘pretty’美, pang4 ‘fat’胖, and tiao2pi2 ‘naughty’ 調皮 (Yu, 2010).
Pan (2005) proposed that, in the type of ‘state,’ V-shang indicates that the subject will arrive at a new state; that is, the subject starts doing something or makes a new start. (7) presents three examples which are seldom used in Mandarin Chinese.
(7) New state-dynamic particle
a. 領上 孩子 出去 逃個活命吧! (Pan 2005:32) ling-shang hai-zi chu-qu tao-ge-huo-ming-ba
bring shang kids out escape survive ‘Bring your kids out and escape to survive’
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b. 幹上 兩年， 他 就 又 可以 買 兩輛車。(Pan 2005:33) Gan-shang liang-nian ta jiu you keyi mai liang-liang-che
Do shang two years he again can buy two cars After doing the job for two years, he can buy two cars again.
c. 這麼快 就 和 姓王的那小子 好上了! (Pan 2005:33) Zhe-me-kuai jiu he xing-Wang-de-na-xiao-zi hao-shang-le
So fast with name Wang de that guy good shang ‘How quickly she and that guy Wang got together.’
And, semantically, the category of ‘state’ is similar to the category of result in that it also indicates a change of state. In the example of ‘arrive at a new state,’ the types of NP objects also overlap with examples from the resultative V-shang; for example, (7a) shows that the patient is affected by the action of the subject, so it still can indicate result of the action. (7b) presents the action as continuing for a period of time, but Pan argues that it indicates a new state. The last type in (7c) is the most ambiguous and unclear.
Yu (2010) suggested that V-shang with a time reference, as in the sentences in (8a), should be classified as an action of result, which differs from Pan’s classification. And, Yu further regarded time reference as part of the group of quantifiers.
(8) a. 他 在河水裡 泡上 三天三夜 Ta zai-heshui-li pao-shang santiansanye He in the river bath three days and nights ‘he took a bath for three days and three nights in the river.’
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b. 他 一下 就 愛上 辛棄疾的詞 了。
ta yi-xia jiu ai-shang xinqiji-de-ci le
he immediately love shang xinqiji’s poetry
‘he immediately fell in love with the poetry of Xinqiji.’
c. 比 過去的 光景 好上 幾倍。
bi guo-qu-de guang-jing hao-shang ji-bei more (compared) past situation good shang a few times ‘the sitituation is better than that of the past.’
The other feature of ‘the beginning of a new state’ mentioned by Pan (2005) and Yu (2010) includes the use of adjectives or stative verbs as V1 in V-shang, such as hao-shang ‘get together’好上 or ai-shang ‘love’愛上. Hao3 ‘good’好 and ai4 ‘love’
愛 exhibit the states of the actions in (8b-c). The state is the result of the change. After
reading the poetry, the person loved the poetry, so ‘love’ becomes the result state of reading. Therefore, a state could be the result of an old state or be regarded as the beginning of a new state.
In terms of meanings, researchers classify V-shang into three categories. Each researcher observes a small part of V-shang and regards it as a new category. As a whole, previous studies try to exaplain various meanings of V-shang, but they show inconsistent points of view. Hence, V-shang needs a consistent framework to organize its complex extended meanings.