Preliminary: Degree adverbs in Mandarin Chinese

It has been argued, by Lu and Ma (1999), that degree adverbs in Mandarin Chinese can be classified into three types in terms of their compatibility with the following types of comparative constructions, where X and Y represent the comparison items, and F stands for the degree adverb.

(119) Type I Xiang-bi zhixia, X + F + AP with-compare under X + F + AP Type II Bijiao qil-ai, X + F + AP

compare arise-come X + F + AP Type III Gen Y xiang-bi, X + F + AP

with Y with-compare X + F + AP Type IV Bi-qi Y lai, X + F + AP

compare-arise Y come X + F + AP Type V Zai … zhong/shang, X + F + AP

at among/upside X + F + AP Type VI X + bi Y + F + AP

X + compare Y + F + AP

Each type of degree adverb can be further classified into a strong and a weak subgroup in light of its high- or low-level on the scale associated with the adjective involved. Degree adverbs which belong to the strong group of the first type include hen ‘very’, ting ‘very’, shifen ‘very’, wanfen ‘extremely’, feichang ‘extremely’, yichang ‘extraordinarily’, tai ‘too’, ji ‘extremely’, and jiduan ‘extremely’, whereas those belonging to the weak group include youdianer ‘a bit’ and youxie ‘a bit’. Lu and Ma (1999) further suggest that degree adverbs of this type are not compatible with any of the six types of comparative constructions listed in (119), as shown below.

(120) a. *Xiang-bi zhixia, zhe-jian jiaoshi hen/youdianer da.

with-compare under this-CL classroom very/a.bit big b. *Bijiao qil-ai, Lisi hen/youdianer gao.

compare arise-come Lisi very/a.bit tall

c. *Gen Lisi xiang-bi, Wangwu hen/youdianer gao.

with Lisi with-compare Wangwu very/a.bit tall d. *Bi-qi Lisi lai, Wangwu hen/youdianer gao.

compare-arise Lisi come Wangwu very/a.bit tall e. *Zai women dangzhong, Lisi hen/youdianer gao.

at 1pl among Lisi very/a.bit tall f. *Lisi bi Wangwu hen/youdianer gao.

Lisi compare Wangwu very/a.bit tall

The second type of degree adverb only occurs in Type I-V comparative constructions. Among adverbs of this type, those belonging to the strong group include zui ‘the most’, zuiwei ‘the most’, and ding ‘the most’, whereas the weak group has bijiao ‘comparatively’, jiao ‘comparatively’, jiaowei ‘comparatively’, and hai1

‘moderately’ as members.¹³

(121) a. Xiang-bi zhixia, zhe-shuang xie zui/jiao pianyi.

with-compare under this-CL shoe the.most/comparatively cheap

‘By comparison, this pair of shoes is the cheapest/cheaper.’

b. Bijiao qil-ai, Lisi zui/jiao gao.

compare arise-come Lisi the.most/comparatively tall

‘By comparison, Lisi is the tallest/taller.’

c. Gen qita ren xiang-bi, Lisi zui/jiao gao.

13 Hai as an adverb has two meanings. The first meaning, notated as hai₁, signifies the low-level on the scale associated with the adjective involved, and roughly corresponds to shang ‘still’ in Archaic Chinese. The second meaning, notated as hai₂, signifies the high-level on the scale associated with the adjective involved, and roughly corresponds to geng ‘even more’.

with other person with-compare Lisi the.most/comparatively tall

‘Compared to everyone else, Lisi is the tallest/taller.’

d. Bi-qi qita ren lai, Lisi zui/jiao gao.

compare-arise other person come Lisi the.most/comparatively tall

‘Compared to everyone else, Lisi is the tallest/taller.’

e. Zai women dangzhong, Lisi zui/jiao gao.

at 1pl among Lisi the.most/comparatively tall

‘Among us, Lisi is the tallest/taller.’

f. *Lisi bi Wangwu zui/jiao gao.

Lisi compare Wangwu the.most/comparatively tall

For the third type of degree adverb, the strong group includes geng ‘even more’, gengjia ‘even more’, gengwei ‘even more’, yuefa ‘even more’, yuejia ‘even more’, yujia ‘even more’, and hai2 ‘still’ while the weak group has adverbs like shaowei

‘slightly’, shao ‘slightly’, shaoshao ‘slightly’, duoshao ‘more or less’, luewei

‘slightly’, and luelue ‘slightly’ as members. Degree adverbs belonging to this type can only occur in Type I-IV and Type VI comparative constructions, as illustrated below.

It is noteworthy that members of the weak group must take a quantificational expression like yi-dianer ‘a little’ or yi-xie ‘a little’ as a post-adjectival pseudo-object.

(122) a. Xiang-bi zhixia, zhe-jian jiaoshi geng da/shaowei da yi-xie.

with-compare under this-CL classroom even.more big/slightly big a-little

‘By comparison, this classroom is even bigger/a little bit bigger.’

b. Bijiao qi-lai, Lisi geng gao/shaowei gao yi-xie.

compare arise-come Lisi even .more tall/slightly tall a-little

‘By comparison, Lisi is even taller/a little bit taller.’

c. Gen Lisi xiang-bi, Wangwu geng gao/shaowei gao yi-xie.

with Lisi with-compare Wangwu even.more tall/slightly tall a-little

‘Compared to Lisi, Wangwu is even taller/a little bit taller.’

d. Bi-qi Lisi lai, Wangwu geng gao/shaowei gao yi-xie.

compare-arise Lisi come Wangwu even.more tall/slightly tall a-little

‘Compared to Lisi, Wangwu is even taller/a little bit taller.’

e. *Zai women dangzhong, Lisi geng gao/shaowei gao yi-xie.

at 1pl among Lisi even.more tall/slightly tall a-little f. Lisi bi Wangwu geng gao/shaowei gao yi-xie.

Lisi compare Wangwu even.more tall/slightly tall a little

‘Lisi is even taller/a little bit taller than Wangwu.’

The distribution of degree adverbs in the six types of comparative constructions listed in (119) illustrates that degree adverbs of the second type and degree adverbs of the third type are compatible with comparison while degree adverbs of the first type are not. In addition, Lu and Ma (1999) suggest that degree adverbs of the first type correspond to what Wang (1985: 131-132) terms absolute degree adverbs while degree adverbs of the second type and degree adverbs of the third type correspond to what Wang (1985: 131-132) terms relative degree adverbs.

5.2.2 The apparent selectional restrictions between yi-dianer/yi-xie ‘a little’ and