Chapter 3 Properties of the Canonical Type of Mandarin Locative Inversion…28
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
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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.’
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.’
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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?’
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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.
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Table 3. The effects of presentational focus in locative inversion