5 Argument Realizations of Chinese Resultative Compounds
5.2 Result as “Extent”
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c. ‘This chunk of jello choked Zhangsan to death.’
＜x yi ＜___i＞＞ (x=ag, y= pt-th-th) (causative) IC [-r]
DC
--- CF S/O… S/O
UMP S O
The mission set out in this thesis to explicate the complexitites of Chinese resultative compounds in terms of argument realization has been accomplished. Almost all the realization patterns of the compounds can be correctly predicted by the LFG account with the supporting rules given in (83). Moreover, some newly coined resultative compounds also fit into the realization processes generated in the account, which makes the account even stronger in dealing with the issues of Chinese resultative compounds.
5.2 Result as “Extent”
It has been discovered that some of Chinese resultative compounds have their
second verb components functioning not like an indicator of Result but like an expression of Extent. Some scholars have reached the conclusion that in some of the Chinese resultative compounds, the second intransitive verbs of the compounds are indeed extents (Chao, 1968; Chiu, 2001; Liu, 2003; Liu, 2006; Zhu, 1982). Liu (2006)
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claims that, in cases of causative resultative compounds like qi-si (mad-dead, meaning very angry), ji-si (worried-dead, meaning very worried) …etc, si does not indicate real death of the argument in question but a state of being miserable. The status of Vres
being an extent could be much revealed when compared to a sentence with a real extent:
(89) a. zhe shi qi le ta hen jiu.
this issue mad ASP he very longtime ‘This issue has made him mad for a very long time.’
b. zhe shi qi-si ta le.
this issue mad-dead he ASP ‘This issue has made him mad to death.’
Hen jiu in (89a) is an extent that describes the time range for which the effect of the
cause has lasted. As a parallel construction, si in (89b) also demonstrates the characteristic of extent that depicts the degree of madness. The putative Extent of causative resultative compounds in Chinese is comprehensive. Plenty of intransitive verbs can appear in this position such as si (die)/ pa (face down on the floor)/ tan (paralyze)/ dao (fall)/ bao (explode)/ feng (go crazy)/ fan (flip over)…etc.
As seemingly convincing as the claim may be, more thorough inspections are needed to verify the putative Extent identity of resultative compounds. Since it is
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claimed that the Results of the compounds are used for depicting the degree of the state caused by V1, the inspections are conducted by manipulating the adverb of degree, hen (very), with the compounds. Among all the categories of verbs, only some of those that are unaccusative in nature are able to co-ocurr with hen due to the fact that they mostly describe a stative event instead of an action:
(90) a. zhe-ben shu shi Zhangsan hen gandong. (unaccusative) this-CL book CAU Zhangsan very touched
‘Zhangsan was very touched after reading the book.’
b. Zhangsan hen gandong.
Zhangsan very touched ‘Zhangsan was very touched.’
The function of hen here is to indicate that there is a much stronger state of being touched. If hen is put in a sentence with another adverb that depicts a different level of degree, ungrammaticality ensues:
(91) a. *zhe-ben shu shi Zhangsan hen chao gandong. (unaccusative) this-CL book CAU Zhangsan very extremely touched
‘*Zhangsan was very extremely touched after reading the book.’
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b. *Zhangsan hen chao gandong.
Zhangsan very extremely touched
‘*Zhangsan was very extremely touched.’
In the research of most of the scholars who claim that the Result of resultative compounds is an expression of Extent, the Result mainly indicates extremity. Take qi-si (mad-dead) for example, it literally means that someone gets mad to the extreme
that he could almost die. The situation is rather similar to (91) if the resultative compounds are placed in a sentence with the degree adverb, hen:
(92) a. *zhe-ben shu hen gandong-si-le Zhangsan. (unaccusative) this-CL book very touched-dead-ASP Zhangsan
‘*Zhangsan was very extremely touched after reading the book.’
b. *Zhangsan hen gandong-si-le.
Zhangsan very touched-dead-ASP
‘*Zhangsan was very extremely touched.’
The unaccusative verb, gandong, is capable of becoming a resultative compound, gandong-si, and later being causativzed as an external causative resultative compound.
It seems sufficient that the Result in the compounds is Extent, as the scholars claim it to be, for the fact that it cannot co-exist with hen. However, the answer is not so
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certain if the interactions between hen and other resultative compounds with “real Result” are taken into consideration.
When the Result of resultative compounds that has a literal meaning occurs with hen, the same ungrammaticality shown above also happens:
(93) a. *zhe-jian shi hen qi-lei-le Zhangsan.
this-CL issue very mad-tired-ASP Zhangsan ‘This issue made Zhangsan so mad that he got tired.’
b. *Zhangsan hen qi-lei-le.
Zhangsan mad-tired-ASP
‘Zhangsan was so mad that he got tired.’
It is part of the scholars’ claim that the “Extent” in the resultative compounds shows only degree but not its literal sense. However, the Result, lei, of qi-lei in (93) means that Zhangsan indeed got tired because of the anger he had. Since it is not an
expression of Extent, it shoud have no problem to co-ocurr with the adverb of degree.
But that is not what example (93) tells us. In fact, it is capable of co-ocurring with hen if the resultative compound is decomposed to its component verbs:
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(94) a. Zhangsan hen qi.
Zhangsan very mad
‘Zhangsan was very angry.’
b. Zhangsan hen lei.
Zhangsan very tired ‘Zhangsan was very tired.’
How does one explain the inability of V2s to co-occur with adverbs of degree when they denote literal meanings in the sentence and are totally capable of being modified by the adverbs alone? The account of Result being Extent seems to hit a dead end here.
However, a solution will be given to explain the inablity of resultative compounds to coocurr with adverbs of extent and hypothesize the identity of the second verb in the resultative compounds.