Chapter 2 English Locative Inversion
2.5 Overall Remarks
However, in an English locative inversion sentence, only the locative phrase can be relativized. Bresnan and Kanerva (1987) suggest that a presentationally focused NP in English is adjoined to the VP in the focus position, from which any extractions are banned. The restriction against extracting the postverbal theme is illustrated by the examples below.
(37) a. I expect that on these trails can be found many kinds of mushrooms.
b. …these trails, on which I expect ___ can be found many kinds of mushrooms.
c. ?*…many kinds of mushrooms, which I expect on these trails can be found ___.
2.5 Overall Remarks
In this chapter, we have reviewed previous important literature on English locative inversion. We have addressed several restrictions on English locative inversion. Only unaccusative verbs and passive verbs are possible in English locative inversion.
Moreover, the inverted locative PP must an argument, denoting the location of the referent expressed by the theme. We have also shown that English locative inversion is closely related to discourse function of presentational focus.
Given the mixed properties of the inverted locative PP, a number of approaches have been proposed to analyze the derivation of English locative inversion. Coopmans’
(1989) empty subject hypothesis should be rejected for English locative inversion.
One problem with Coopmans’ analysis is that it cannot account for the subject properties of the preverbal locative PP in English locative inversion, such as subject raising, that-trace effect and so forth. Moreover, as Salzmann (2001) points out,
26
positing an expletive subject exclusively for English locative inversion would be ad hoc since English is not a pro-drop language. Due to the fact that the inverted locative PP shows some subject properties, we think that the inverted locative PP occupies the subject position at least at some point in the derivation.
In previous research, there is a difference of opinion as to whether the inverted locative PP stays at the grammatical subject position or further moves to CP periphery position in English locative inversion. Collins (1997) proposes that the inverted locative PP stays at the [Spec, TP] position. However, his account cannot capture the non-subject properties which the inverted locative PP shows. On the other hand, although Bresnan (1994) and Wu (2008) analyze English locative inversion under different theoretical frameworks, their analyses are similar in nature. It is assumed that theme is higher than location in the thematic hierarchy. They both suggest that the inverted locative PP occupies the subject position at some point in the derivation, but is topicalized at surface syntactic structure. The analysis of the topicalized locative subject can capture the subject-like properties which an inverted locative PP displays, such as subject raising and subject extraction. On the other hand, this analysis can explain the asymmetries between the behavior of regular subjects and inverted locative PP subjects. For instance, as is discussed earlier, unlike a regular subject, an inverted locative PP cannot determine the number of verb. Another discrepancy between regular subjects and topicalized locative PPs is concerned with ECM construction. In English, an ECM verb selects a TP. Hence, an ECM verb like expect cannot take a locative inversion sentence taking a topicalized locative PP, which lands in the [Spec, CP] position.
(38) *I expect on his wall to be hung a portrait of our founder.
27
Bresnan (1994) and Wu (2008) seem to offer a satisfactory explanation for English locative inversion since they can account for the reason why inverted locative PPs and regular subjects are parallel in some respects but meanwhile are distinct in other respects.
28
Chapter 3
Properties of the Canonical Type of Mandarin Locative Inversion
Much literature asserts that in the Mandarin LIC, only locative nominals are allowed in this construction (Huang 1987, Pan 1996, Wu 2008) while some claim that the preverbal locative phrase can appear in the form of either a DP or PP (Li and Thompson 1981, Du 1999, Cheng and Tsao 2012).
(39) a. (Zai) wo-de mianqian chuxian-le yi-ge ren.
P. my front appear-PER one-CL person
‘In front of me appeared a man.’
b. (Zai) chuang-shang tang-zhe yi-ge ren
P. bed-top lie-DUR one-CL person
Lit. ‘On the bed is lying a person.’
(Cheng and Tsao 2012)
The instances in (39) are natural counterparts of English locative inversion because they pattern with English locative inversion in occurring with unaccusative verbs and showing the noncanonical word order [Locative DP/PP + V + theme DP]. Here, we call the examples like (39) the “canonical type”. In addition, as the sentences in (39) suggest, the preverbal locative phrase can appear in the form of either DP or PP. We argue that both locative DPs and PPs can occur in Mandarin LIC, but they have different syntactic structures.
29
In this chapter, we will mainly discuss the canonical type of Mandarin LIC, which corresponds to unaccusative and passive verbs of English locative inversion. In section 3.1, we will focus on those with the preverbal locative DP and examine the properties of preverbal locative DPs in Mandarin LIC. In section 3.2, we will discuss the instances of preverbal locative PPs and demonstrate how they differ from their corresponding DP forms in the syntactic structure. In section 3.3, we turn to discuss the occurrence of the aspect markers like -le and -zhe in Mandarin LIC.
3.1 LIC with the Preverbal Locative DP
Like English locative inversion, we find many natural instances of Mandarin LIC, in which unaccusative verbs and passive verbs are possible, as shown below.
(40) a. Tai-shang zuo-zhe san-ge ren.
stage-top sit-DUR three-CL person
‘On the stage are sitting three people.’
b. Zhuo-shang bei fang-le yi-ben zidian.
table-top BEI put-PER one-CL dictionary
‘On the table was put a dictionary.’
Like English, those intransitive verbs that cannot occur in Mandarin LIC are unergative, as exemplified in (41).
(41) a. *Bangongshi-li gongzuo-zhe henduo ren.
office-inside work-DUR many person
30
Lit. ‘In the office are working many people.’
b. *Fangjian-li ku-zhe yi-ge ren.
room-inside cry-DUR one-CL person
Lit. ‘In the room is crying a person.’
3.1.1 Structural Properties
There are many systematic parallels between English and the Mandarin canonical LIC. First, like English locative inversion, the preverbal locative phrase must be an argument subcategorized by the verb in Mandarin locative inversion. Pan (1996) argues that the locative phrase in Mandarin LIC must denote the location of the theme, rather than the location where the event occurs, as exemplified below.
(42) a. John zai zhuozi-shang xie-le yi-feng xin.
John P. table-top write-PER one-CL letter.
i. ‘John wrote a letter at the table.’
ii. ‘John wrote a letter on the table.’
b. Zhuozi-shang xie-zhe yi-feng xin.
table-top write-DUR one-CL letter
‘On the table is written a letter.’ (and not ‘….at the table’)
(Pan 1996, example (50))
Pan (1996) indicates that example (42a) is ambiguous because the letter can be
31
interpreted as being written on a sheet of paper or on the table. In contrast, the example (42b) shows that locative inversion is possible only in the second sense, that is, the letter is written on the table. Thus, a locative adjunct is banned from this construction, as given in (43).
(43) a. John zai jia-li xie yi-feng xin.
John P. home-inside write one-CL letter
‘John is writing a letter at home.’
b. *Jia-li xie-zhe yi-feng xin.
home-inside write-DUR one-CL letter
Lit. ‘There is a letter written at home.’
(Pan 1996, example (51))
In Mandarin LIC, a locative DP patterns with an English locative PP in showing some subject-like properties. First, in a raising construction, the embedded subject can be moved to the matrix subject position. Teng (1978) and Li (1990) propose that the verb kaishi ‘begin’ is a raising verb, taking a clausal complement. The modal yinggai
‘should’, as argued by Lin and Tang (1995), is also a raising verb. The preverbal locative DP, like a regular subject, can undergo subject raising in Mandarin LIC.
(44) a. Tiankong kaishi piao-zhe yu.
sky begain float-DUR rain
Lit. ‘In the sky starts raining.’
32
b. Tai-shang yinggai zuo san-ge ren.
stage-top should sit three-CL person
Lit. ‘On the stage should be sitting three people.’
Second, as Ting (1998) and Huang (1999) argue, short passives involve A movement.
In Mandarin LIC, parallel with a regular subject, the preverbal locative DP can undergo short passivization.
(45) Hu-li bei renwei you-zhe yi-zhi da shuiguai.
lake-inside BEI think swim-DUR one-CL big water monster
Lit. ‘In the lake was thought to be swimming a big water monster.’
Third, in Mandarin, the verb yao ‘want’ is argued by Li (1990) to be an ECM verb, which selects a TP. The ECM verb yao ‘want’ can take a locative inversion sentence as its complement, as given below.
(46) Laoshi yao tai-shang zuo yixie ren.
teacher want stage-top sit some people
Lit. ‘The teacher want the stage to be seated some people.’
Given the properties discussed above, we find that the locative DP behaves like a typical grammatical subject in several respects. Thus, we conclude that a Mandarin preverbal locative DP, like an English inverted locative PP, must be a subject at some point in the derivation.
33
However, different from English inverted locative PPs, Mandarin preverbal locative DPs do not display any non-subject properties in this construction. For instance, English locative inversion only occurs in root clause while a Mandarin locative inversion sentence can serve as a clausal complement, as demonstrated below.
(47) Zhangsan renwei hu-li you-zhe yi-zhi da shuiguai.
Zhangsan think lake-inside swim-DUR one-CL big water monster
Lit. ‘Zhangsan thinks that in the lake is swimming a big water monster.”
Furthermore, a Mandarin locative inversion sentence can be an ECM complement while an English locative inversion cannot. Other properties such as agreement, that-trace effect, and subject-auxiliary inversion, are inapplicable in Mandarin. Table 2 summarizes the properties of English and Mandarin locative inversion.
34
Table 2. The properties of English and Mandarin LIC
As Table 2 suggests, we find that the locative DP in Mandarin only displays subject properties. A locative DP composed of NP and a localizer is argued to be of a nominal category, which is referred to as a localizer phrase (LP) by HLL (2009). They provide some evidence for the resemblance between localizers and nouns. First, just as N is the head of a noun phrase, the localizer, being the last word of a LP, is the head of the LP. Second, a locative phrase, like a regular DP, can serve as the subject or object in a sentence, as shown in (48).
(48) a. Cheng-wai hen meili.
English Mandarin
<theme, location> √ √
Subject properties
subject-raising √ √
That-trace effect √ N/A
Can be embedded in sentences with wh-complementizers
√ N/A
No Subject-auxiliary inversion in wh-question √ N/A
Short passive N/A √
Non-subject properties
No agreement between the locative PP and the verb √ N/A
Only occur in root clause √ X
Cannot be ECM complement √ X
No Subject-auxiliary inversion in yes-no question √ N/A
35
city-outside very beautiful
‘The outside of the city is beautiful.’
b. Wo qu-guo cheng-wai.
I go-EXP city-outside
‘I have been to the outside of the city.’
Third, as HLL (2009) point out, LPs, like nominal expressions, need a preposition when they do not serve as the subject or the object, as illustrated by the examples in (49).
(49) a. Ta *(zai) nage chengshi juban-guo yi-ge zhanlanhui.
he P. that city hold-EXP one-CL exhibition
‘He held an exhibition *(in) that city.’
b. Ta *(zai) cheng-li juban-guo yi-ge zhanlanhui.
he P. city-inside hold-EXP one-CL exhibition
‘He held an exhibition inside the city.’
Being of a nominal category and showing subject properties, the preverbal locative DP in the Mandarin LIC, as in (40), we claim, occupies the grammatical subject position.
Turning to the syntactic position of the postverbal theme in Mandarin LIC, we claim that the theme DP is generated and stays at the object position. In English
36
locative inversion, the postverbal theme is argued to be generated at the object position and subsequently moved to the VP-adjoined focus position (see the discussion in section 2.4). Bresnan and Kanerva (1987) observe that a theme DP cannot be relativized in English locative inversion because any extraction is banned from the focus position. In the case of Mandarin LIC, the following examples in (50) demonstrate that the relativization of a post-verbal theme DP is allowed, which signals that the theme DP stays at the VP-internal position, rather than at the VP-adjoined focus position.
(50) a. Tai-shang zuo-zhe de na-ge ren shi wo baba.
stage-top sit-DUR DE that-CL person be my father
Lit. ‘That person who is sitting on the stage is my father.’
b. Zhuozi-shang fang de na-ben shu shi Zhangshan mai de.
table-top put DE that-CL book be Zhangshan buy DE
Lit. ‘The book which is put on the table is what Zhangshan bought.’
From the discussion above, we can conclude that the locative DP lands in the grammatical subject position and the theme DP in the grammatical object position in Mandarin LIC.
Finally, we would like to discuss one type of Lin’s (2008, 2009) occurrence locative subjects, which we claim falls into the canonical type of Mandarin LIC under discussion. Under Lin’s (2008) analysis, the occurrence locative subject, which is licensed by the light verb OCCUR, typically denotes the location where an event
37
occurs. Consider the following examples.
(51) a. Hai-shang chen-le henduo-sao chuan. (Lin 2009, example (47))
sea-top sink-PER many-CL boat
Lit. ‘On the sea sank many boats.’
b. Wu-li po-le yi-shan chuangzi. (Lin 2009, example (50))
house-inside break-PER one-CL window
Lit. ‘In the room was broken a window.’
As the sentences in (51) demonstrate, the main verbs are unaccusative verbs. Contra Lin (2008), we claim that the preverbal locative DPs in (51) denote the location of the theme, rather the location where the event occurs. The locative DPs behave like a regular subject since they can undergo short passivization and subject raising, as shown in (52).
(52) a. Hai-shang bei renwei chen-le henduo-shao chuan.
sea-top BEI think sink-PER many-CL boat
Lit. ‘On the sea was thought to sink many boats.’
b. Wu-li yinggai po-le henduo-shan chuangzi.
house-inside should break-PER many-CL window
Lit. ‘In the house should break many windows.’
38
Therefore, Lin’s (2009) examples like (51) are of the canonical type under our analysis because those verbs taking Lin’s (2009) occurrence locative subjects are unaccusative. Furthermore, the occurrence locative subjects under Lin’s (2009) analysis are parallel with preverbal locative DPs of the canonical type under our analysis in showing subject-like properties and in denoting the location of the postverbal theme.
3.1.2 Discourse Function
As Bresnan (1994) and Levin and Rappaport (1995) indicate, the motivation for locative inversion is usually associated with the discourse function. Bresnan (1994) suggests that the syntactic functions of a locative and postverbal theme alternate to meet the requirement for the discourse function of presentational focus. Bresnan and Kanerva (1987) observe that English and Chichewa display several effects of presentational focus, such as the restrictions on contrastive focus and sentential negation. In contrast, Mandarin does not show any effect of presentational focus. To begin with, the word order of Mandarin LIC seems to be unmarked. The question
“what happened?” can be used to check the unmarked word order (Contreras 1978).
As discussed earlier, an English locative inversion sentence would be an odd response to the question since its information structure is altered. However, as (53) suggests, a Mandarin locative inversion sentence seems to be a natural response to the question.
(53) A: Fasheng-le sheme shi?
happen-PERF what thing
‘What happened?’
39
B: Jie-shang fasheng-le chehuo.
street-top happen-PER car accident
‘On the street happened a car accident.’
Second, unlike English inverted locative PPs, Mandarin preverbal locative DPs can be contrastive focus, as exemplified in the following sentences.
(54) Shi zhuo-shang fang lian-ben shu, er bushi guezi-shang
be table-top put two-CL book, but not cupboard-top
Lit. ‘On the table were put two books, not on the cupboard.’
Third, Mandarin LIC allows sentential negation, as shown in (55).
(55) Na-ge shujia-shang meiyou fang-guo shu
that-CL bookshelf-top never put-EXP book
Lit. ‘On that bookshelf are never put books.’
Table 3 below demonstrates that Mandarin LIC differs from English locative inversion in not exhibiting any effect of presentational focus. Mandarin LIC, like a canonical sentence, is shown to convey neutral information structure of the sentence, suggesting no association with the discourse function.
40
Table 3. The effects of presentational focus in locative inversion
3.1.3 Summary
In section 3.1, we have demonstrated that there are several similarities between English and Mandarin LIC. Only a locative argument can be allowed in this construction. What is more, the locative phrase must denote the place of the theme, rather than the place where the event occurs. We have also given the evidence for the subject status of Manadrin preverbal locative DP, such as subject raising, short passive, and ECM construction. Subsequently, we assume that with the locative DP landing in the grammatical subject position, the sentences of the canonical type can be regarded as the near-counterparts of English locative inversion. However, Mandarin LIC differs from English LIC in not showing any association with the discourse function of presentational focus. With the locative DP generated at the grammatical subject position and the theme at the grammatical object position, Mandarin LIC patterns like an unmarked construction in not showing discourse function.
3.2 LIC with the Preverbal Locative PP
Admittedly, in Mandarin LIC, the sentences with a preverbal locative nominal are English Mandarin 1. Odd response to the question ‘what happened’. √ X
2. Locatives cannot convey contrastive focus. √ X
3. Sentential negation is disallowed. √ X
41
more natural, but we can find natural examples starting with a locative PP, which are obtained from Google search. Consider the following examples.
(56) a. Zai bilishi de xiaocunzi-li zhu-zhe yi-wei jiao
P. Belgium DE small village-inside live-DUR one-CL call
LongLong de shaonian.5
LongLong DE youth
‘In a Belgium’s small village lives a youth called LongLong.’
b. Zai yi-ge fuwong de zhuo-shang bai-zhe yi-kuai.
P. one-CL rich man DE table-top put-DUR one-CL
zhuanshi, guangcaiduomude shanshuo-zhe.6
diamond, shining glitter-DUR
‘On a rich man’s table was put a diamond, glittering brightly.’
3.2.1 Properties
The locative PP in this construction shares many common properties with the locative DP, but it differs from the locative DP in not sitting in the grammatical subject position. One similarity is that the locative PP, like a locative nominal, can occur with unaccusative verbs in Mandarin LIC. As the example (56a) above
5 The sentence comes from Google Search.
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BE%8D%E9%BE%8D%E8%88%87%E5%BF%A0%E7%8B%
97
6 The sentence comes from Google Search.
http://blog.cnyes.com/My/praetor/Article261751
42
demonstrates, the verb following the locative PP is unaccusative. Another similarity is that the locative PP patterns with locative DP in denoting the location of the theme. As shown in the example (56b), the preverbal locative PP subcategorized by the verb bai
‘put’ must denote the location of the diamond, rather the place where the event occurs.
Therefore, it can be anticipated that when a locative adjunct is substituted for the
Therefore, it can be anticipated that when a locative adjunct is substituted for the