EMPIRICAL ANALYSES
5. The Co-occurrences of Chinese Inner Aspectual Markers and Verb Types
There are restrictions on the co-occurrences of wan, hao, diao, guang and verb types. The
verb types co-occurring with wan, hao, diao, guang is shown in (15-18), and demonstrated in
(19a-d), (20a-d), (21a-d), (22a-d) respectively.
(15) The Verb Types Co-occurring with Wan :
A verb can co-occur with wan iff it is [+stage]4
4 In some cases, the verb sha ‘kill’, which is usually classified as [-stage], can co-occur with wan, as in (iii) and (iv).
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(iii) Wo ba zhe-xingqi de ren dou sha-wan le I BA this-week DE people DOU kill-InAsp ASP
“I killed all the people arranged this week.”
(iv) Wo ba yu dou sha-wan le I BA fish DOU kill-InAsp ASP
“I finished handing the fish.”
(iii) can be uttered by a professional killer after s/he accomplished his or her job of killing a certain number of people for this week. In this special case, the action of sha is actually [+stage] since there is a process.
If five people are the targets for this professional killer, s/he needs to kill them one by one before reaching the resultative point of finishing killing all the targets.
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Grammatical Examples: a. chi-wan yi-pan cai
eat-InAsp one-CL dish
“finish eating one dish”
b. xie-wan yi-ben shu
write-InAsp one-CL book
“finish writing one book”
c. kan-wan yi-ge jiemu
watch-InAsp one-CL show
“finish watching one show”
d. du-wan yi-fen baozhi
read-InAsp one-CL newspaper
“finish reading one newspaper”
Ungrammatical Examples: e. *si-wan yi-ge ren
die-InAsp one-CL person
“A person finishes dying.”
(iv) can be uttered when one finishing handling all the fish. This example surely takes an obvious process because one needs to remove the scales and visceral of the fish before reaching the resultative point of finishing handling the fish.
The reasons why sha (iii) and (iv) can co-occur with wan is that sha can be [+stage] in some cases.
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f. *ying-wan yi-chang bisai
win-InAsp one-CL game
“finish winning one game”
(16) The Verb Types Co-occurring with Hao:
A verb can co-occur with hao iff it is [-consume].
Grammatical Examples: a. xie-hao yi-feng xin
write-InAsp one-CL letter
“finish writing one book”
b. hua-hao yi-fu hua
draw-InAsp one-CL picture
“finish drawing one picture”
c. jiancha-hao yi-ge bingren
examine-InAsp one-CL patient
“finish examining one patient”
d. zhunbei-hao yi-chang kaoshi
prepare-InAsp one-CL exam
“finish preparing for one exam”
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Ungrammatical Examples: e. *chi-hao yi-ge dangao
eat-InAsp one-CL cake
“finish eating one cake”
f. *he-hao yi-bei jiu
drink-InAsp one-CL vapor
“finish drinking one vapor”
g. *Tun-hao yi-ke yao5
swallow-InAsp one-CL pill
“finish swallowing one pill”
5 The example tun-hao yi-ke yao ‘finish swallowing one pill’ may be acceptable if the agent is going to swallow more than one pill, as shown in (v).
(v) Tun-hao yi-ke yao hou mashang zai tun di-er-ke
swallow-InAsp one-CL pill later immediately then swallow number-second-CL
“Swallow one pill and then swallow the second one immediately.”
This phenomenon is very context-sensitive and only appears in situations like that in (v), and the acceptability of (v) is possibly influenced by Taiwanese Southern Min.
62 (17) The Verb Types Co-occurring with Diao:
A verb can co-occur with diao iff it is [+consume].
Grammatical Examples: a. chi-diao yi-kuai niupai
eat-InAsp one-CL steak
“finish eating one steak”
b. he-diao yi-ping futejia
drink-InAsp one-CL vodka
“finish drinking one vodka”
c. hua-diao yi-bi qian
spend-InAsp one-CL money
“spend the money”
63 Ungrammatical Examples: d. *xie-diao6
write-InAsp one-CL letter yi-fen xin
“finish writing one letter”
e. *xue-diao yi-zhong ruanti
learn-InAsp one-CL software
“finish learning one software”
(18) The Verb Types Co-occurring with Guang:
A verb can co-occur with guang iff it is [+consume].
6 Xie ‘write’ is usually classified as [-consume] but in some special cases can be [+concume]. As shown below, xie-diao ‘write-InAsp’ is unacceptable in (v) but acceptable in (vi).
(vi) *Wo xie-diao yi-ben shu I write-InAsp one-CL book
“I wrote one book.”
(vii) Wo xie-diao yi-zhi bi I write-InAsp one-CL pen
“I used up one pen.”
In (vi), xie-diao means using up the ink of a pen through writing, so the action is in fact [+consume] and therefore can co-occur with diao.
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Grammatical Examples: a. chi-guang yi-guo mala-guo
eat-InAsp one-CL super.spicy-hotpot
“finish eating one super spicy hotpot”
b. he-guang yi-ping kele
7 Si ‘die’ is [-consume] since the body does not disappear when a creature dies. However, si-guang is acceptable because the action is to consume a certain number of people or creatures, as demonstrated in (vii).
(viii) Bìng-ren dou si-guang le Sick-people DOU die-InAsp ASP
“All the patients died.”
(vii) can be uttered if and only if each patient in a certain area, such as a hospital, died. When the patients died one by one, the number of patients was consumed gradually. Consequently, this action is [+consume].
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Ungrammatical Examples: *xie-guang yi-feng xin
write-InAsp one-CL letter
“finish writing one letter”
*hua-guang yi-fu hua
draw-InAsp one-CL picture
“finish drawing one picture”
The examples in (15-18) are illustrated in full sentences as followed.
(19) a. Wo xie-wan na-feng xin le
I write-InAsp that-CL letter ASP
“I finished writing one letter.” [+stage]
b. Wo chi-wan na-tiao yu le
I eat-InAsp that-CL fish ASP
“I ate that fish.” [+stage]
c. Wo zhunbei-wan mingtian de kaoshi le
I prepare-InAsp tomorrow DE test ASP
“I am prepared for the test tomorrow.” [+stage]
66 d. *Wo kan-wan na-zhi mao le
I see-InAsp that-CL cat ASP
“I saw that cat.” [-stage]
(20) a. Wo xie-hao na-feng xin le
I write-InAsp that-CL letter ASP
“I finished writing one letter.” [-consume]
b. *Wo chi-hao na-tiao yu le
I eat-InAsp that-CL fish ASP
“I ate that fish.” [+consume]
c. Wo zhunbei-hao mingtian de kaoshi le
I prepare-InAsp tomorrow DE test ASP
“I am prepared for the test tomorrow.” [-consume]
d. *Wo kan-hao na-zhi mao le
I see-InAsp that-CL cat ASP
“I saw that cat.” [-consume]
67 (21) a. *Wo xie-diao na-feng xin le
I write-InAsp that-CL letter ASP
“I finished writing one letter.” [-consume]
b. Wo chi-diao na-tiao yu le
I eat-InAsp that-CL fish ASP
“I ate that fish.” [+consume]
c. *Wo zhunbei-diao mingtian de kaoshi le
I prepare-InAsp tomorrow DE test ASP
“I am prepared for the test tomorrow.” [-consume]
d. *Wo kan-diao na-zhi mao le
I see-InAsp that-CL cat ASP
“I saw that cat.” [-consume]
(22) a. *Wo xie-guang na-feng xin le
I write-InAsp that-CL letter ASP
“I finished writing one letter.” [-consume]
b. Wo chi-guang na-tiao yu le
I eat-InAsp that-CL fish ASP
“I ate that fish.” [+consume]
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c. *Wo zhunbei-guang mingtian de kaoshi le
I prepare-InAsp tomorrow DE test ASP
“I am prepared for the test tomorrow.” [-consume]
d. *Wo kan-guang na-zhi mao le
I see-InAsp that-CL cat ASP
“I saw that cat.” [-consume]
In sum, each Chinese InAsp has its own restriction on its co-occurrence with different verb
types, and the restrictions stated in (15-18) are actually related to the semantic nature of
Chinese InAsp, as shown in (23-26).
(23) A verb can co-occur with wan iff it is [+stage].
Therefore:
Wan implies that the action has reached its resultative point through a semantic stage.
(24) A verb can co-occur with hao iff it is [-consume].
Therefore:
Hao implies that the action does not make anything disappear from a given possible
world.
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(25) A verb can co-occur with diao iff it is [+consume].
Therefore:
Diao implies that the action of the verb makes something disappear from a given
possible world.
(26) A verb can co-occur with guang iff it is [+consume].
Therefore:
Guang implies that the action of the verb makes something disappear from a given
possible world.
6. Summary
In this chapter, I show the evidence which indicate that [+past] does not necessarily select
[±telic] in Chinese, different from Lin’s (2003) suggestion; instead, overt Chinese InAsp,
such as hao, dao, wan, diao, and guang, have strong effect on the selection of [±telic], and
also some semantic features, such as [±achieve], [±def], and [±consume], have influence on
Chinese [±telic].
My brief conclusion of the selection of Chinese [±telic] is restated from (14a-e) in
(27a-e).
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(27) The Generalization of the Selection of Chinese Telicity (Final Version)
When the tense is [+past]:
a. [+achieve] selects [+telic].
When the main verb is [-achieve]:
b. Overt Chinese InAsp determinates [+telic].
When there is no overt InAsp:
c. [-consume] blocks the selection of [±telic].
When the main verb is [+consume]:
d. [+consume] [-def] selects [+telic].
e. [+consume] [+def] blocks the selection of [±telic].
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