Chapter 2 Previous Analyses and Their Problems
2.2.1 The meaning and the function of bi ‘than’
In the bi-comparative, one of the greatest differences between the bi-comparative and the other types of comparatives is the marker bi ‘than’. I’ll do a brief introduction to the discussion of the marker bi ‘than’ in the literature.
To begin with, Lin (2009) suggests that bi ‘than’ can provide the comparative semantics.
This function is equal to the function of the English comparative morpheme -er. The marker
bi ‘than’ in Lin (2009) is analyzed as a degree word. Nevertheless, C.-S. Liu (2011) mentions
that Lin’s analysis will cause some problems.
First of all, generally speaking, the adjunct degree modifier in Mandarin should be followed by the gradable constituent immediately. However, C.-S. Liu suggests that dui wo
‘to me’ in the following example can intervene between the degree phrase bi Lisi ‘than Lisi’
and keqi ‘courteous’.
(6) 張三 比 李四 對 我 客氣
Zhangsan bi Lisi
dui wo
keqiZhangsan than Lisi to I courteous
‘Zhangsan is more courteous to me than Lisi is.’ (C.-S. Liu 2011)
Besides, according to C.-S. Liu, a degree phrase can not be placed in the position higher than a locative phrase. Thus the degree adverb geng ‘even-more’ should be lower than the locative phrase zai meiguo ‘at America’ as (7) indicates.
(7) a. 張三 在 美國 更 吃得開
Zhangsan zai meiguo geng chidekai
Zhangsan at America even-more influential
‘Zhangsan is even more influential in America.’ (C.-S. Liu 2011)
b. *張三 更 在 美國 吃得開
*Zhangsan geng zai meiguo chidekai
Zhangsan even-more at America influential. (C.-S. Liu 2011)
Therefore, C.-S. Liu suggests that the bi-phrase should not precede the locative phrase if it is considered to be a degree phrase. Nonetheless, the bi-phrase can even precede the
locative phrase zai meiguo ‘at America’ in the following sentences. C.-S. Liu makes this claim by providing the following examples.
(8) 張三 比 李四 在 美國 吃得開
Zhangsan bi Lisi zai meiguo chideki
Zhangsan than Lisi at America influential
‘In America, Zhangsan is more influential than Lisi.’ (C.-S. Liu 2011)
Based on the above discussion, C.-S. Liu suggests that bi ‘than’ is not a degree word.
The function of bi ‘than’ is to introduce the comparison standard rather than expressing the comparative meaning that is provided by the English word than. The comparative semantics in the bi-comparative, instead, is provided by the comparative degree adverb such as geng
‘even-more’ in (9a) or its covert version ‘even-more’ in (9b).
(9) a. 張三 比 李四 更 高
Zhangsan bi Lisi
geng
gaoZhangsan than Lisi even-more tall
‘Zhangsan is even taller than Lisi.’ (C.-S. Liu 2010b)
b. 張三 比 李四 高
Zhangsan bi Lisi gao
Zhangsan than Lisi even-more tall
‘Zhangsan is taller than Lisi.’ (C.-S. Liu 2010b)
Furthermore, there is a close relationship between the marker bi ‘than’ and the overt comparative morpheme geng ‘even-more’ as well as its covert counterpart ‘even-more’. According to C.-S. Liu, a gradable adjective in MC can be a predicate only when it co-occurs with a degree term. Also, the marker bi ‘than’ is not a degree word.
Based on the above two conditions, C.-S. Liu (2012) suggests that in Mandarin Chinese
bi-comparatives that include an adjectival predicate, the overt comparative morpheme geng
‘even-more’ in (9a) or its covert version ‘even-more’must be present. Besides, when the
overt or the covert comparative morpheme appears in the bi-comparative with adjectival predicate, the bi-phrase such as bi-Lisi in (9) should be present in the sentence.
This implies that the occurrence of the bi-phrase in the Mandarin Chinese
bi-comparative with an adjective predicate guarantees the appearance of an overt or covert
comparative morpheme. On the other hand, when the overt or covert comparative morpheme is found in the Mandarin Chinese bi-comparative with adjectival predicate, the bi-phrase is also found in the sentence.
We follow C.-S. Liu’s analysis and suggest that seeing the bi-phrase in the TSM
bi-comparative with an adjective predicate also entails that an overt or covert comparative
morpheme should be present in the sentence. Also, the appearance of an overt or covert comparative morpheme in the TSM bi-comparative with an adjective predicate indicates that the bi-phrase can also be found. This phenomenon can be seen in the following TSM
paradigms.
(10) a. 阿榮 比 阿狗 較 懸
A-ing pi A-kao
khah
kuanA-ing than A-kao more tall
‘A-ing is taller than A-kao.’
b. 阿榮 比 阿狗 懸
A-ing pi A-kao kuan
A-ing than A-kao tall ‘A-ing is taller than A-kao.
As can be seen in (10), the bi-phrase, pi-A-kao ‘than A-kao’ is found in the TSM
bi-comparative with the comparative predicate. This entails that the overt comparative
morpheme such as khah ‘more’ in (10a) or its covert ccounterpart in (10b) can be found.
Besides, the presence of the overt comparative morpheme khah ‘more’ in (10a) or its covert counterpart in (10b) requires the appearance of the bi-phrase, pi A-kao ‘than A-kao’ in (10), the TSM bi-comparative with the comparative predicate.
In addition, the overt comparative morpheme geng ‘even more’ is associated with
presupposition. C.-S. Liu (2010b) suggests that Chinese overt comparative morpheme geng
‘even-more’ presupposes that the compared objects’ properties are true in the absolute sense,
whereas the covert counterpart ‘even-more’ does not have this presupposition.
(11) a. 張三 (今天) (在 家 裡)
Zhangsan (jintian) (zai jia li)
Zhangsan today at home inside
比 李四 (昨天) (在 學校) 更 開心
bi Lisi (zuotian) (zai xuexiao)
geng
kaixinthan Lisi yesterday at school even-more happy
‘Zhangsan (today) is even happier (at home) than Lisi was (in school) (yesterday),
and both of them are happy.’
(C.-S. Liu 2010b)b. 張三 (今天) (在 家 裡)
Zhangsan (jintian) (zai jia li)
Zhangsan today at home inside
比 李四 (昨天) (在 學校) 開心
bi Lisi (zuotian) (zai xuexiao) kaixin
than Lisi yesterday at school even-more happy
‘Zhangsan (today) is even happier (at home) than Lisi was (in school) (yesterday).’
As can be seen in (11a), the overt comparative morpheme geng ‘even-more’ presupposes that both of the two compared objects, Zhangsan and Lisi, are happy. In contrast, the covert counterpart in (11b) has no such presupposition that both of them are happy to some degree.
Moreover, both the overt and covert comparative morphemes respectively take two arguments. Both of the compared objects must be greater than the other in some dimension.
Take (11a) and (11b) for example, Zhangsan and Lisi are two compared objects. Also,
Zhangsan must be happier than Lisi.
Therefore, the covert comparative morpheme , like the English comparative morpheme -er, can express the comparative meaning in the comparative constructions. In contrast, the overt comparative morpheme geng ‘even-more’ not only can express the
comparative semantics but can also bear presuppositional meanings.
After examining the TSM data with C.-S. Liu’s proposal as above, I suggest that the presupposition that the compared objects’ properties are true in the absolute sense can not be found in the TSM overt and covert comparative morpheme. For instance, the overt
comparative morpheme khah ‘more’ and its covert counterpart in (10a) and (10b) do not presuppose that both A-ing and A-kao are tall. Hence, while the overt comparative morpheme
geng ‘even-more’ in MC has the presupposition that the compared objects’ properties are true
in the absolute sense, the overt comparative morpheme khah ‘more’ expresses no such presupposition. This fact implies that geng ‘more’ and khah ‘more’ does not have the identical semantics.
Some further discussions about the syntactic features of bi-comparative in Mandarin Chinese are provided by C.-S. Liu (2010) as follows.
First of all, bi ‘than’ and the comparison standard such as Lisi in (12) together create a prepositional adjunct phrase bi Lisi ‘than Lisi’. This adjunct phrase is placed after subject and before the predicate.
(12) 張三 比 李四 或者
(比) 王五
都 還要 高Zhangsan
bi Lisi
huozhe (bi) Wangwu dou haiyao gaoZhangsan than Lisi or than Wangwu all even tall
‘Zhangsan is taller than either Lisi or Wangwu.’
In addition, as C.-S. Liu (1996) and Lin (2009) mentioned that the two bi-phrases, bi
Lisi ‘than Lisi’ and bi-Wangwu ‘than Wangu’ in the above example can be connected by the
coordinator huozhe ‘or’. In general, the coordinator takes two constituents in both its left and right. Hence, the above example shows that bi-phrase such as bi-Lisi and bi-Wangwu can form a constituent by itself.
Second, Liu claims that a bi-phrase is an adjunct so it can only be adjoined to the left of the gradable predicate. As can be seen in the following sentences, a bi-phrase is only attached to the left of the predicate.
(13) a. 張三 比 李四 高
Zhangsan
bi Lisi
gaoZhangsan than Lisi tall
‘Zhangsan runs faster than Lisi does.’ (C.-S. Liu 2011)
b. 張三 比 李四 跑得 快
Zhangsan
bi Lisi
pao-de kuaiZhangsan than Lisi run-DE fast
‘Zhangsan runs faster than Lisi does.’ (C.-S. Liu 2011)