CHAPTER 3 CORPUS RESULTS AND DISCUSSTION
3.2.1.1 Predicate Focus
Based on the corpus, as shown in Table 4, the predicate focus can be categorized into three sub-groups: property-denoting, object-topic comment, and proposition assertion, as suggested by Shyu (2008). In both types of shi...(de) structures of English it-clefts and non-it-clefts, the focus types of the shi...(de) structure are mostly Predicate Focus (PF) (with the number of 133 occurrences, 63.9% of the total), and a large proportion of these are the proposition assertion (in 90
shi...(de) structures, about two thirds, 43.2%, of all the shi...(de) structures in the
corpus). This predominance of proposition assertion supports the observations by Whitman and Paul (2001, 2004) and Shyu (2008). Whitman and Paul suggest that the proposition assertion pattern “conveys the speaker’s certainty that the proposition holds in a given situation.” A similar view is held by Shyu (2008) who points out that the proposition assertion relates to the speaker’s utterance or belief can be traced back to his personal experience or to a familiar context known to the hearer, as in (27).According to Shyu, (27) is a predication sentence, since the evidentiality marking of
de relates the asserted proposition ‘joking with you’ which can be understood from a
familiar context shared by the speaker and the hearer.(27) Ta shi gen ni kai wanxiao de 3SF SHI with 2SF open joke DE
‘It is the case that) he was joking with you.’
‘He was just joking with you that was what he was doing.’ (Chao’s translation 1968:296)
As indicated in Table 4, among the three subtypes of predicate focus, the commonest type is the proposition assertion type (43.2%), as in (28)-(30). The second most frequently occurring predicate focus is the object-topic comment type (16.3%),
as in (34)-(37). The third one is the property denoting type (4.32%), as in (40)-(43).
However, the three subtypes are rarely translated to English it-cleft. Only one English it-cleft counterpart of proposition assertion can be found, as in (31). It is generally suggested that the proposition assertion of predicate focus can be represented in the structure [shi + (Adjunct) + Verb + de]. In (28), the English noncleft ‘the beginnings
lie back in the Black Year’ is translated as Chinese predicate focus in shi...(de)
structure 故事是從黑暗年代開始的. The proposition assertion 從黑暗年代開始 denotes the speaker’s belief or certainty that is related to the previous inference or contexts shared by the speaker and the hearer. Similarly, (29) conveys that the truth of the proposition瞄準我們丟過來 ‘(these stones) are aimed at us’ is relevant to the situation known to the hearer. A similar example is presented in (30).(28) a. That is a very long story. The beginnings lie back in the Black Years, which only the lore-masters now remember. (p.67)
b.「啊！」甘道夫說：「說來話長，故事是從黑暗年代開始的，現在只
有學識最淵博的歷史學者記得這段歷史。．．」(p.84)
(29) a. Let those call it the wind who sill; there are fell voices on the air; and these stones are aimed at us. (p.379)
b.「我們今晚不能再前進了，」波羅莫說：「就讓那些怪物在狅風中喊
叫吧。我覺得那些聲音帶著敵意，而石頭也都是瞄準我們丟過來 的。」(p.426)
(30) a. Eat little at a time and only at nee. For these things are given to serve you when all else fails. (p.486)
b.「不客氣，但我們還是必須請你們盡量省著點吃，」他們說：「一次
口吃一點，只在肚子餓的時候吃，因為這些東西是協助你們度過糧 食斷絕的情形用的。」(p.539)
The only one English it-cleft counterpart of proposition assertion is exemplified in (31). The English it-cleft ‘It was the sound of water that Merry heard falling into his
quiet sleep’ is translated to Chinese shi...(de)
梅里的夢中則是出現了水聲 where the proposition is asserted. The speaker conveys that the proposition 出現了水聲is
true and known to the hearer in a given or relevant context.
(31) a. It was the sound of water that Merry heard falling into his quiet sleep:
water streaming down gently, and then spreading, spreading irresistibly...(p.168)
b. 別害怕！一覺到天亮吧！別擔心晚上有異聲喧鬧！」然後他就又睡 著了／梅里的夢中則是出現了水聲：那潺潺的流水悄悄地擴散，似乎 將整個房子吞没入一個深不見底的池子中，池水在牆邊翻滾著，緩 慢、持續地往上升。(p.195)
In addition to the proposition assertion, the second most common type of predicate focus is the object-topic comment in our corpus. According to Shyu (2008), the predicate in (27) above joking with you is “predicated with the pre-shi DP, understood as a topic element,” and “the post-shi verb phrase comments on and provides further information about the topic” (Shyu 2008:14). Moreover, Shyu further elaborates that the topic-predicate predicate-focus occurs when the topic is understood to the speaker and hear and the subject-verb is in the scope of Chinese shi...(de) structure. Shyu takes Lambrecht’s (2002:490) predicate focus for example, considering that the predicate focus in French with two accents on the subject and the verb, as in (32Bd) is similar to Chinese object-topic comment predicate focus sentence, as in (33Ba). For her, the answer Huma’s telling me in (33Ba) is predicated with the understood topic shared by the speaker and hearer.
(32) A: How do you know?
B: a HUMA TOLD me. (HUMA told me). English b. Das hat mir HUMA erzahlt. German it-ACC has me-DAT Huma told
c. Me lo ha contado HUMA Spanish to-me it has told Huma
d. C’est HUMA qui me l’a DIT French, two accents it is Huma who to-me has told (Lambrecht 2002:490)
(33) A: How do you know?
B: a. Shi Huma gao-su wo *(de)
SHI Huma tell me DE (Shyu 2008:16)
In our data, Chinese has 34 (16.3%) instances of “object-topic comment,”
which are not translated to English it-clefts at all. Examples (34), (35), (36), and (37) show four of the forty-two object-topic comment sentences with shi...(de) structures in English non-clefts. In (34), the object 許多玩具 is moved from the scope of
shi...(de) to the front of the sentence as an understood topic that is already known to
the speaker and the hear. The proposition他們從來沒有見過inthe scope of shi...(de) structure is predicated with the understood topic and functions as the comment of the sentence. Similarly, in (35), English non-it-cleft ‘Many evil things there are that yourstrong walls and bright swords do not stay’ can be translated into Chinese
object-topic-comment predicate focus 有許多魔物不是你們的高牆和利劍可以阻 擋的in which the proposition is predicated with the understood topic
有許多魔物 and serves as a comment to convey new information. Examples in (36) and (37) present the similar features.
(34) a. There were toys the like of which they had never seen before, all beautiful and some obviously magical. Many of them had indeed been ordered a year before, and had come all the way from the ...(p.35)
b.這次禮物卻好得超乎尋常，孩子們看到禮物，幾乎興奮得忘記吃飯。
有許多玩具是他們從來沒有見過的，每樣都很漂亮，有些甚至是魔 法玩具。這其中有許多玩具是一年前就訂好的，遠從孤山和谷地那邊 運過來，全都是貨真價實地出自矮人之手。(p.47)
(35) a. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds.(p.325)
b.「波羅莫，如果剛鐸算是自由世界的瞭望台，那我們扮演的就是不 為人知的守護軍。有許多魔物不是你們的高牆和利劍可以阻擋的，
你對於領土之外的疆域所知甚少。..」(p.368)
(36) a. but these hobbits hummed a walking-song (though not, of course, without any mention of supper and bed). Bilbo Baggins had made the words, to a tune that was as old as the hills,.. (p.102)
b. 大多數的哈比人此時會哼起晚餐歌或是就寢歌，但這三名哈比人哼 的則是散步歌(不過，這其中當然不會缺少晚餐和就寢的描述)，歌詞 是比爾博；巴金斯寫的，調子則是此地流傳已久的民謠；．．．。(p.120)
(37) a. There in the courts of the King grew a white tree, from the seed of that tree which Isildur brought over the deep waters, and the seed of that tree which Isildur brought over the deep waters, and the seed of that tree before came from Eressea, ..(p.320)
b.「在那裡，國王在宮殿中種植了一株聖白樹，這株植物的種子是當 初埃西鐸越過大海帶過來的，而原先的樹木又是來自於伊拉西亞，
在那之前則是在來自於上古時代的極西之地。」(p.362)
As Shyu (2008) notes, another type of predicate focus sentence is
“property-denoting” which is contrary to Lee’s (2005) headless relative analysis of predicate focus, as in (38). According to Shyu, zhong-tian de in (38) is equivalent to predicative nominals in which de is predicated with the property of zhongtian, rather than a headless relative clause in which no element is focused claimed by Lee (2005).
Shyu points out that de refers to “a type of person (rather than a certain person) that has the property denoted by the modifier predicate, contrary to the headless relative clause view of equating zhong-tian de with a/the person who cultivates land” (Shyu 2008: 10). Therefore, according to Shyu, (39) has two meanings: the person sells books, and the characteristic of selling book is ascribed to him, giving rise to the generic reading.
(38) Zhangsan shi zhong tian de.
Zhangsan SHI cultivate land DE
‘Zhangsan is a famer.’ (Shyu 2008)
(39) Ta shi mai shu de.
He SHI sell book DE (Shyu 2008)
As the table 4 shows, there is no direct English it-cleft counterpart of property denoting. (40)-(43) show four sentences of the property denoting in shi...(de) structure of English non-it-cleft. In (40), the English non-it-cleft sentence ‘the blankets were of
white wool’ is translated into Chinese shi...(de) structure
毯子則是白色的羊毛織的. What we emphasize here is the property 白色的羊毛織‘white wool’ which is given
to毯子‘the blankets.’ In (41), the English non-it-cleft sentence ‘my ears are made of wood’ is translated into Chinese ‘shi...(de)’
除 非 我 的 耳 朵 是 木 頭 做 的 with denoting property. The topic 我的耳朵’my ears’ has the property denoted by the
predicate focus 木頭做‘made of wood.’
(40) a. Their mattresses and pillows were soft as down, and the blankets were of white wool. They had hardly laid themselves on the deep beds and drawn the light covers over them before they were asleep. (p.167)
b. 他們的踏墊和枕頭都是軟又舒服，毯子則是白色的羊毛織的。這一 群疲憊不堪的哈比人，頭剛碰到枕頭，連毯子都只拉到一半就睡著 了。(p.194)
(41) a. ‘Not a sound but the wind,’ he said. There are no goblins near, or my ears are made of wood. It is to be hoped that the Orcs will be content with driving us from Moria. (p.442)
b.「除了風聲之外什麼都沒有，」他說：「除非我的耳朵是木頭做的，
我想附近應該根本沒有任何敵人。希望半獸人把我們趕出摩瑞亞就滿 足了。」p.491)
Interestingly, denoting property, as shown in (42) and (43), could also occur with object-topic comment at the same time. What we focus on here is not only the denoting-property but also the action, namely, how the thing (topic) is made of (comment). Example (42) describes how the ladder is made of. The ladder has the property given by the predicate focus 由一種銀灰色，在黑暗中閃閃發光的材料所
做
‘it was made of rope, silver-grey and glimmering in the dark.’ Likewise, in (43),
the English non-cleft sentence ‘so magnificent was the invitation card, written ingolden ink,’ is translated into the Chinese shi...(de) structure
華麗的邀請函是用金 色墨水撰寫的. The characteristic of the invited card is denoted by the predicate focus 用金色墨水撰寫 ‘written in golden ink.’(42) a. Out of the shadows a ladder was let down: it was made of rope, silver-grey and glimmering in the dark, and though it looked slender it proved strong enough to bear many men. (p.449)
b. 從陰影中降下一條繩梯，那是由一種銀灰色，在黑暗中閃閃發光的 材料所做的。雖然它看起來很纖細，但卻可以承受好幾個人的體重。
(p.501)
(43) a. They disliked Bilbo and detested Frodo, but so magnificent was the invitation card, written in golden ink, that they had felt it was impossible to refuse. (p.37)
b. 他們不喜歡比爾博，對佛羅多更是恨入之骨，但是華麗的邀請函是 用金色墨水撰寫的，這種殊榮讓他們覺得難以抗拒；(p.49)
To sum up, as shown in table 4, Chinese shi...(de) structure that is not translated as English it-clefts is largely used to express predicate focus with 132 tokens (66.3%), whereas those that are translated as English it-clefts are only with one token (7.14%).
The number of observed discrepancies explains that Chinese shi...(de) structure is not equivalent to English it-cleft, since the English canonical sentence tends to be translated into Chinese shi...(de) structure, as shown in the above examples. The results also accounts for Hedbger’s (1999) question why Chinese shi...(de) structure with sentential and verb focus is not translated into English it-cleft, since it is considered as a predicational sentence as noted by Shyu (2008).