Chapter 2 Previous Analyses and Their Problems
2.5 The discussion about TSM khah ‘more’
2.5.2 W. Su (2011)
In W. Su (2011), she studies the comparatives without bi ‘than’ in MC and TSM. The comparatives discussed in her paper are the X Duo V (Y) D comparative in MC and the X Ke V/A (Y) D comparative in TSM. The typical examples of these two comparatives are given below for the convenience of discussion.
The X Duo V (Y) D comparative
(97) 張三 多 讀 (李四) *(兩 本 書)
Zhangsan duo du (Lisi) *(liang ben shu)
Zhangsan much read Lisi two CL book
‘Zhangsan read two more books than Lisi did.’ W. Su (2011)
The X Ke V/A (Y) D comparative:
1. The X Ke V (Y) D comparative
(98) 王仔 加 讀 (李仔) *(三 本 冊)
Ong-e
ke
thak (Li-e) *(sann pun tsheh) Ong-e much read Li-e three CL book‘Ong-e read three more books than Li-e.’ W. Su (2011)
2. The X Ke A (Y) D comparative
(99) 王仔 加 懸 (李仔) *(三 吋)
Ong-e
ke
kuan Li-e (sann tshun)Ong-e much tall Li-e three one-third decimeter
‘Ong-e is one decimeter taller than Li-e.’ W. Su (2011)
As can be seen in (97), the X Duo V (Y) D comparative involves the comparative morpheme duo ‘much’ which is the semantic nucleus that provides the comparative meaning.
Besides, the X Duo V (Y) D comparative contains the optional comparison standard such as
Lisi and the obligatory differential measure phrase like liang ben shu ‘two books’.
The TSM X Ke V/A (Y) D comparatives can be divided as the X Ke V (Y) D comparative in (98) and the X Ke A (Y) D comparative in (99). Both of these two comparatives bear the comparative morpheme and the semantic nucleus ke ‘add’ which expresses the comparative meaning. In addition, the optional comparison standard such as
Li-e and obligatory differential measure phrase like sann pun tsheh ‘three books’ and sann
tshun ‘one decimeter’ can be found in both of these two comparatives. The difference
between them is the predicate – The X Ke V (Y) D comparative involves the verbal predicate whereas the X Ke A (Y) D comparative includes the adjectival predicate.
The X Duo V (Y) D comparative in MC and the X Ke V/A (Y) D comparative in TSM
have several features in common. First of all, the predicate after duo ‘much’ must be a verb whereas the predicate preceded by ke ‘add’ can be either a verb or an adjective. Therefore, the X Ke V/A (Y) D comparative in TSM can be further classified as X Ke V (Y) D comparative and the X Ke A (Y) D comparative. This fact can be seen in the following sentences. Note that all the examples listed below are taken from W. Su (2011).
The X Duo V (Y) D comparative
(100) 張三 多 讀 李四 *(兩 本 書)
Zhangsan duo du Lisi *(liang ben shu)
Zhangsan much read Lisi two CL book
‘Zhangsan is read two more books than Lisi did.’
(101) *張三 多 高 李四 三 公分
Zhangsan duo gao Lisi san gongfen Zhangsan much tall Lisi three centimeters
‘Zhangsan is three centimeters taller than Lisi.’
The X Ke V (Y) D comparative
(102) 王仔 加 讀 李仔 *(三 本 冊)
Ong-e ke thak Li-e *(sann pun tsheh)
Ong-e much read Li-e three CL book
‘Ong-e read three more books than Li-e.’
The X Ke A (Y) D comparative
(103) 王仔 加 懸 李仔 *(三 吋)
Ong-e ke kuan Li-e (sann tshun)
Ong-e much tall Li-e three one-third decimeter
‘Ong-e is three decimeters taller than Li-e.’
Second, duo ‘much’ must be placed before the verb and no constituent can intervene between them. Similarly, ke ‘add’ should be followed by the verbal or adjectival predicate and they can not be separated by any element. This fact can be seen in the following sentences.
The X Duo V (Y) D comparative
(104) 張三 多 吃 李四 兩 碗 飯
Zhangsan
duo chi
Lisi liang wan fanZhangsan much eat Lisi two CL rice
‘Zhangsan ate two more bowls of rice than Lisi did.’
(105) *張三 吃 多 李四 兩 碗 飯
‘Ong-e ate three more apples than Li-e.’
(109) *王仔 食 加 李仔 三 粒 蘋果
Ong-e
tsiah ke
Li-e sann liap phongko Ong-e eat much Li-e three CL apple(110) *王仔 加 李仔 食 三 粒 蘋果
Ong-e
ke
Li-etsiah
sann liap phongko Ong-e much Li-e eat three CL apple(111) *王仔 食 李仔 加 三 粒 蘋果
Ong-e
tsiah
Li-eke
sann liap phongko Ong-e eat Li-e much three CL appleThe X Ke A (Y) D comparative
(112) 王仔 加 懸 李仔 三 吋
Ong-e
ke kuan
Li-e sann tshunOng-e much tall Li-e three one-third decimeter
‘Ong-e is three decimeters taller than Li-e.’
(113) *王仔 懸 加 李仔 三 吋
Ong-e
kuan ke
Li-e sann tshunOng-e tall much Li-e three one-third decimeter
(114) *王仔 加 李仔 懸 三 吋
Ong-e
ke
Li-ekuan
sann tshunOng-e much Li-e tall three one-third decimeter
(115) *王仔 懸 李仔 加 三 吋
Ong-e
kuan
Li-eke
sann tshunOng-e tall Li-e much three one-third decimeter
Third, a transitive or intransitive verb after the duo ‘much’ can take two complements, namely, the referential NP such as Lisi in (116) as well as the non-referential differential measure phrase like liang ben shu ‘two books’ in (116). Likewise, these two complements can also be selected by the verb or the adjective after ke ‘add’ in TSM. For instance, Li-e and
sann pun tsheh ‘three books’ are the referential NP and the non-referential differential
measure phrase in (118), the X Ke V (Y) D comparative. In the X Ke A (Y) D comparative (120), the referential NP is also Lisi whereas the non-referential differential measure phrase is
sann tshun ‘one decimeter’. Also, these three comparatives share one feature – the referential
NP must precede the non-referential differential measure phrase. The reverse word order will cause ungrammaticality as the following comparison suggests.
The X Duo V (Y) D comparative
(116) 張三 多 讀 李四 兩 本 書
Zhangsan duo du
Lisi liang ben shu
Zhangsan much read Lisi two CL book
‘Zhangsan read two more books than Lisi did.’
(117) *張三 多 讀 兩 本 書 李四
*Zhangsan duo du
liang pen shu Lisi
Zhangsan much read two CL book LisiThe X Ke V (Y) D comparative
(118) 王仔 加 讀 李仔 三 本 冊
Ong-e ke thak
Li-e sann pun tsheh
Ong-e much read Li-e three CL book
‘Ong-e read three more books than Li-e.’
(119) *王仔 加 讀 三 本 冊 李仔
*Ong-e ke thak
sann pun tsheh Li-e
Ong-e much read three CL book Li-eThe X Ke A (Y) D comparative
(120) 王仔 加 懸 李仔 三 吋
Ong-e ke kuan
Li-e sann tshun
Ong-e much tall Li-e three one-third decimeter
‘Ong-e is one decimeters taller than Li-e.’
(121) *王仔 加 懸 三 吋 李仔
*Ong-e ke kuan
sann tshun Li-e
Ong-e much tall three one-third decimeter Li-e
Based on Larsonian VP-shell structure (1998) and Huang’s analysis of V-de construction (2006), W. Su (2011) proposes the tree structure for the X Ke A (Y) D comparatives in TSM, which is the comparative construction involving ke ‘add’. A typical example and its tree diagram are provided below.
(122) 阿榮 加 懸 阿狗 三 公分
A-ing ke kuan A-kao sann gongfun A-ing add tall A-kao three centimeter
‘A-ing is three centimeters taller than A-kao.’
(123) ExceedP
DP Exceed’
A-ing Exceed VP
kei+kuanj DP V’
A-kao V’ MP
V A(manner)
ti + tj sann gongfun
According to W. Su, the main verb ke ‘add’ is a comparative morpheme placed in the V
head position. It combines with the adjective kuan ‘tall’ to form the compound word ke-kuan
‘add-tall’. Next, the compound word is subsequently raised to the Exceed head position to
check the feature to form the comparative structure.
However, the statement that ke ‘add’ is a comparative morpheme may be problematic when it co-occurs with the comparative morpheme khah ‘more’. The phenomenon can be seen in the following sentences.
(124) 阿榮 較 懸 阿狗 三 公分
A-ing
khah
kuan A-kao sann gongfunA-ing more tall A-kao three centimeter
(125) 阿榮 加 較 懸 阿狗 三 公分
A-ing
ke khah
kuan A-kao sann gongfunA-ing add more tall A-kao three centimeter
‘A-ing is three centimeters taller than A-kao.’
As the above sentences suggest, the comparative morpheme khah ‘more’ can provide the comparative meaning in (124) and (125). However, ke ‘add’, according to W, Su, is also a comparative morpheme which can express the comparative semantics. Therefore, two comparative morphemes, ke ‘add’ and khah ‘more’ co-occur in (125) and cause the
redundancy in the sentence. Thus it is curious why the two components that have the same functions need to occur in a sentence.
Thus, I suggest that the comparative morpheme in (125) is khah ‘more’ rather than ke
‘add’. In contrast, the comparative morpheme is not overtly realized in (122). The
comparison between (122) and (125) is repeated as (126) and (127) below.
(126) 阿榮 加 懸 阿狗 三 公分
A-ing ke kuan A-kao sann gongfun
A-ing add tall A-kao three centimeter
‘A-ing is three centimeters taller than A-kao.’
(127) 阿榮 加 較 懸 阿狗 三 公分
A-ing ke
khah
kuan A-kao sann gongfunA-ing add more tall A-kao three centimeter
‘A-ing is three centimeters taller than A-kao.’
As demonstrated in (126) and (127), the difference between these sentences is that the comparative morpheme in (126) is covert, whereas it is overly realized as khah ‘more’ in (127). Both the overt and covert comparative morpheme in (126) and (127) can provide the comparative meaning.
As for ke ‘add’, it is not a comparative morpheme since the comparative meaning in (126) and (127) is not provided by ke ‘add’. Furthermore, the comparative semantics in (126) below is expressed by the covert comparative morpheme rather than ke ‘add’.
(128) 阿榮 懸 阿狗 三 公分
A-ing kuan A-kao sann gongfun A-ing tall A-kao three centimeter
‘A-ing is three centimeters taller than A-kao.’
If we follow W. Su’s suggestion that ke ‘add’ is a comparative morpheme, then the addition of ke ‘add’ in (128) will form the sentence like (126), making the sentence contain two comparative morphemes and lead to the redundancy phenomenon in the sentence.
Some could argue that the covert comparative morpheme may be overly realized as either ke ‘add’ or khah ‘more’ in TSM. However, both khah ‘more’ and ke ‘add’ are overt in (127). One comparative morpheme can not have two overt realizations. Besides, ke ‘add’ is optional in (124) and (125). The appearance of ke ‘add’ will reinforce the degree of the adjective. Therefore, I regard ke ‘add’ in (126) and (127) as merely an intensifier rather than a verb or comparative morpheme. This suggestion yields another benefit in that we can prevent the function of ke ‘add’ from simultaneously serving multiple functions for being a verb and also a comparative morpheme.
Moreover, the example in (127) shows that ke ‘add’ and adjective kuan ‘tall’ can be separated. This finding is contrary to W. Su’s suggestion that ke ‘add’ and adjective can not be separated. As a result, W. Su’s claim that ke ‘add’ and adjective should form a compound word is also problematic. The adjective kuan ‘tall’ in (127) is adjacent to khah ‘more’ instead of ke ‘add’. In other words, the overt comparative morpheme khah ‘more’ or the covert counterpart should be closer to the adjective than ke ‘add’, or the sentence will be
ungrammatical as the following sentence suggests. This example supports the view that ke
‘add’ and an adjective can indeed be linearly disassociated.
(129) *阿榮 較 加 懸 阿狗 三 公分
*A-ing
khah ke
kuan A-kao sann gongfunA-ing more add tall A-kao three centimeter
‘A-ing is three centimeters taller than A-kao.’
As explicitly illustrated in (129), it is the comparative morpheme that should be
immediately adjacent to the adjective. The intervention of ke ‘add’ between the comparative morpheme and the adjective is not allowed. That is, the intensifier ke ‘add’ should be
followed by the comparative morpheme and the adjective.