(i) Chinese uses gen as a way to encode comitativity and coordination. This yields

(1)

C ^HAPTER S ^IX Conclusion

6.1 A summary of previous chapters

This thesis has benefited from previous studies conducted on Chinese gen, which

have shown that:

(i) Chinese uses gen as a way to encode comitativity and coordination. This yields

the ambiguity of gen in some sentences.

(ii) It is possible to tell apart the ambiguous interpretations of gen by means of

syntactic and semantic tests. Among these various tests, the syntactic position of

a modifying adverbial is a common and easy solution.

(iii) As a preposition, gen can also serve to mark unidirectionality and reciprocity in

addition to comitativity.

With an attempt to incorporate these contributions into this thesis, we conducted

an extensive investigation into the syntactic distribution of gen as a verb, as a

preposition and as a conjunction in Chapter 3. It has been shown that as a verb, gen

can be the sole predicate or take an extended predicate to form a complex sentence.

What distinguishes gen as a preposition and gen as a conjunction is the syntactic

position of a modifying element. When a modifying element intervenes between the

two referents, gen will be treated as a preposition. When the modifying element does

(2)

not intervene but occurs after the two referents, gen will be looked upon as a

conjunction.

We also presented a comprehensive study of the semantic interpretations of gen

as a verb, as a preposition and as a conjunction. As a verb, gen could involve “spatial

sequence”, “temporal sequence” or only “sequence”. As a preposition, gen can

indicate reciprocity, comitativity, or unidirectionality. Unidirectionality can be either

goal-oriented or source-oriented. As a conjunction, gen can conjoin two referents

either at the phrasal level or at the sentential level.

Moreover, in Chapter 3, we have also investigated the nature of the two referents

that precede and follow gen (as a verb, a preposition and a conjunction) in terms of

their thematic roles and semantic features.

To account for the continuum notion, we have reviewed previous verb

classification frameworks, pointed out the inadequacies in these previous studies and

proposed our own verbal semantic framework in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, we have

shown that when gen co-occurs with stative non-reciprocal verbs, except for

“measure” verbs, it can only function as a sentential conjunction. When gen co-occurs

with reciprocal verbs, stative or non-stative, it can function as a preposition or as a

phrasal conjunction, except for some reciprocal verbs headed by huxiang ‘mutual’.

When gen co-occurs with non-stative non-reciprocal verbs, it can basically function as

(3)

a preposition, as a phrasal conjunction and as a sentential conjunction. Besides, in

co-occurrence with motion verbs, gen is likely to be perceived as a verb and thus

includes four functions: as a verb, a preposition, a phrasal conjunction and a sentential

conjunction; in co-occurrence with unidirectional verbs, gen as a preposition can mark

comitativity or unidirectionality and thus also serves four functions: as a preposition

marking comitativity, a preposition indicating unidirectionality, a phrasal conjunction

and a sentential conjunction.

6.2 Issues to be further considered

This thesis seeks to incorporate insights from previous studies and bring forth a

continuum model to account for the different behaviors of gen. However, we think

that there are still some interesting issues related to gen which are worth pursuit: the

phonetic issue and the comparison of gen with other markers.

6.2.1 The phonetic issue

³²

Given that gen as a verb undergoes grammaticalization and derives a preposition

and a conjunction status, we may hypothesize that the phonetic content of gen as a

verb might have been reduced during the grammaticalization processes. Therefore,

how the pronunciation of gen as a verb differs from that of gen as a preposition and as

a conjunction is worth exploration and pursuit. Future research can help to shed light

(4)

on the grammaticalization of gen from a phonetic perspective.

6.2.2 Comparison with other markers

As shown earlier, gen can display a variety of functions. For example, gen can

indicate the source of the denoted event. Consider sentence (1).

(1) Zhangsan gen Lisi jie le yixie qian

張三跟李四借了一些錢

Zhangsan GEN Lisi borrow PFV some money

‘Zhangsan borrowed some money from Lisi.’

Markers such as xiang ‘to, from’ and cong…nabian ‘from the side of’ can also

serve the same function while another marker dui ‘to’ cannot. Consider sentences

(2)-(4).

(2) Zhangsan xiang Lisi jie le yixie qian

張三向李四借了一些錢

Zhangsan from Lisi borrow PFV some money

‘Zhangsan borrowed some money from Lisi.’

(3) Zhangsan cong Lisi nabian jie le yixie qian

張三從李四那邊借了一些錢

Zhangsan from Lisi that-side borrow PFV some money

‘Zhangsan borrowed some money from Lisi.’

(4) *Zhangsan dui Lisi jie le yixie qian

張三對李四借了一些錢

Zhangsan to Lisi borrow PFV some money

When gen serves to indicate the goal of the denoted event, it can be replaced by

xiang and dui, but not by cong…nabian. Consider sentences (5)-(8).

(5) Zhangsan gen Lisi jieshi le yixie shiqing

張三跟李四解釋了一些事情

Zhangsan GEN Lisi explain PFV some thing

‘Zhangsan explained some things to Lisi.’

(5)

(6) Zhangsan xiang Lisi jieshi le yixie shiqing

張三向李四解釋了一些事情

Zhangsan to Lisi explain PFV some thing

‘Zhangsan explained some things to Lisi.’

(7) Zhangsan dui Lisi jieshi le yixie shiqing

張三對李四解釋了一些事情

Zhangsan to Lisi explain PFV some thing

‘Zhangsan explained some things to Lisi.’

(8) *Zhangsan cong Lisi nabian jieshi le yixie shiqing

張三從李四那邊解釋了一些事情

Zhangsan from Lisi that-side explain PFV some thing When gen is a comitative marker, none of the alternative markers can replace

gen. Consider sentences (9)-(12).

(9) Zhangsan zuotian gen Lisi yiqi dushu

張三昨天跟李四一起讀書

Zhangsan yesterday GEN Lisi together read-book

‘Zhangsan studied with Lisi yesterday.’

(10) *Zhangsan zuotian xiang Lisi yiqi dushu

張三昨天向李四一起讀書

Zhangsan yesterday to Lisi together read-book (11) *Zhangsan zuotian dui Lisi yiqi dushu

張三昨天對李四一起讀書

Zhangsan yesterday to Lisi together read-book (12) *Zhangsan zuotian cong Lisi nabian yiqi dushu

張三昨天從李四那邊一起讀書

Zhangsan yesterday from Lisi that-side together read-book The above examples suggest that gen evidences a wider range of functions than

other markers. Besides, though gen can be replaced by dui in goal orientation, not

every goal-oriented verb can work out as well with dui as with gen. Compare

sentences (13) and (14).

(6)

(13) Zhangsan gen Lisi ti guo zhejian shiqing

張三跟李四提過這件事情

Zhangsan GEN Lisi mention EXP this- CL thing

‘Zhangsan mentioned this thing to Lisi.’

(14) *Zhangsan dui Lisi ti guo zhejian shiqing

張三對李四提過這件事情

Zhangsan to Lisi mention EXP this- CL thing

Also, though gen and xiang can indicate the source of the denoted event, they are not

always exchangeable (Gu 2000:42). Compare sentences (15) and (16).

(15) women yinggai yao xiang Leifeng xuexi

我們應該要向雷鋒學習

1PL MOD want to Leifeng learn

‘We should learn from Leifeng (someone who is dead).’

(16) ?women yinggai yao gen Leifeng xuexi

我們應該要跟雷鋒學習

1PL MOD want GEN Leifeng learn

Gu (2000:42) Sentence (15) sounds better than (16). Gu (2000) explains that when gen occurs as a

preposition indicating the source of the denoted event, the source needs to refer to

someone who is alive because the ‘someone’ can be followed. In the usage of xiang,

no such concern arises.

Finally, as far as Chinese nominal coordinators are concerned, gen, ji, yu, and he

are probably the four most common coordinators in Taiwan Mandarin. However,

these four coordinators vary in terms of frequency. One pilot study

³³

suggested that

gen is the most frequently heard in oral speech and yu and ji are rarely heard. Besides,

the degree of formality seems to lie behind the motivation to use different

33

We thank Prof. Lillian M. Huang for sharing this study with us.

(7)

coordinators. For example, in written form, yu is the preferred coordinator but in

informal conversations, gen is the most frequently heard coordinator. These issues

await larger-scale research for illumination and insights.

Finally, as Paris (2005a) points out, he ‘and’ seems to be able to function as a

comitative marker ‘with’. In other words, he can function not only as a conjunction

but also as a preposition. In this light, it would be interesting to look into (i) the

similarities gen as a preposition and as a conjunction shares with other markers and (ii)

dissimilarities that distinguish gen from them.

(i) Chinese uses gen as a way to encode comitativity and coordination. This yields

C HAPTER S IX Conclusion

6.1 A summary of previous chapters

This thesis has benefited from previous studies conducted on Chinese gen, which

have shown that:

(i) Chinese uses gen as a way to encode comitativity and coordination. This yields

the ambiguity of gen in some sentences.

(ii) It is possible to tell apart the ambiguous interpretations of gen by means of

syntactic and semantic tests. Among these various tests, the syntactic position of

a modifying adverbial is a common and easy solution.

(iii) As a preposition, gen can also serve to mark unidirectionality and reciprocity in

addition to comitativity.

With an attempt to incorporate these contributions into this thesis, we conducted

an extensive investigation into the syntactic distribution of gen as a verb, as a

preposition and as a conjunction in Chapter 3. It has been shown that as a verb, gen

can be the sole predicate or take an extended predicate to form a complex sentence.

What distinguishes gen as a preposition and gen as a conjunction is the syntactic

position of a modifying element. When a modifying element intervenes between the

two referents, gen will be treated as a preposition. When the modifying element does

not intervene but occurs after the two referents, gen will be looked upon as a

conjunction.

We also presented a comprehensive study of the semantic interpretations of gen

as a verb, as a preposition and as a conjunction. As a verb, gen could involve “spatial

sequence”, “temporal sequence” or only “sequence”. As a preposition, gen can

indicate reciprocity, comitativity, or unidirectionality. Unidirectionality can be either

goal-oriented or source-oriented. As a conjunction, gen can conjoin two referents

either at the phrasal level or at the sentential level.

Moreover, in Chapter 3, we have also investigated the nature of the two referents

that precede and follow gen (as a verb, a preposition and a conjunction) in terms of

their thematic roles and semantic features.

To account for the continuum notion, we have reviewed previous verb

classification frameworks, pointed out the inadequacies in these previous studies and

proposed our own verbal semantic framework in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, we have

shown that when gen co-occurs with stative non-reciprocal verbs, except for

“measure” verbs, it can only function as a sentential conjunction. When gen co-occurs

with reciprocal verbs, stative or non-stative, it can function as a preposition or as a

phrasal conjunction, except for some reciprocal verbs headed by huxiang ‘mutual’.

When gen co-occurs with non-stative non-reciprocal verbs, it can basically function as

a preposition, as a phrasal conjunction and as a sentential conjunction. Besides, in

co-occurrence with motion verbs, gen is likely to be perceived as a verb and thus

includes four functions: as a verb, a preposition, a phrasal conjunction and a sentential

conjunction; in co-occurrence with unidirectional verbs, gen as a preposition can mark

comitativity or unidirectionality and thus also serves four functions: as a preposition

marking comitativity, a preposition indicating unidirectionality, a phrasal conjunction

and a sentential conjunction.

6.2 Issues to be further considered

This thesis seeks to incorporate insights from previous studies and bring forth a

continuum model to account for the different behaviors of gen. However, we think

that there are still some interesting issues related to gen which are worth pursuit: the

phonetic issue and the comparison of gen with other markers.

6.2.1 The phonetic issue

Given that gen as a verb undergoes grammaticalization and derives a preposition

and a conjunction status, we may hypothesize that the phonetic content of gen as a

verb might have been reduced during the grammaticalization processes. Therefore,

how the pronunciation of gen as a verb differs from that of gen as a preposition and as

a conjunction is worth exploration and pursuit. Future research can help to shed light

on the grammaticalization of gen from a phonetic perspective.

6.2.2 Comparison with other markers

As shown earlier, gen can display a variety of functions. For example, gen can

indicate the source of the denoted event. Consider sentence (1).

(1) Zhangsan gen Lisi jie le yixie qian

張三 跟 李四 借 了 一些 錢

Zhangsan GEN Lisi borrow PFV some money

‘Zhangsan borrowed some money from Lisi.’

Markers such as xiang ‘to, from’ and cong…nabian ‘from the side of’ can also

serve the same function while another marker dui ‘to’ cannot. Consider sentences

(2)-(4).

(2) Zhangsan xiang Lisi jie le yixie qian

張三 向 李四 借 了 一些 錢

Zhangsan from Lisi borrow PFV some money

‘Zhangsan borrowed some money from Lisi.’

(3) Zhangsan cong Lisi nabian jie le yixie qian

張三 從 李四 那邊 借 了 一些 錢

Zhangsan from Lisi that-side borrow PFV some money

‘Zhangsan borrowed some money from Lisi.’

(4) *Zhangsan dui Lisi jie le yixie qian

張三 對 李四 借 了 一些 錢

Zhangsan to Lisi borrow PFV some money

When gen serves to indicate the goal of the denoted event, it can be replaced by

xiang and dui, but not by cong…nabian. Consider sentences (5)-(8).

C ^HAPTER S ^IX Conclusion

張三跟李四借了一些錢

張三向李四借了一些錢

張三從李四那邊借了一些錢

張三對李四借了一些錢

張三跟李四解釋了一些事情

張三向李四解釋了一些事情

張三對李四解釋了一些事情

張三從李四那邊解釋了一些事情

張三昨天跟李四一起讀書

張三昨天向李四一起讀書

張三昨天對李四一起讀書

張三昨天從李四那邊一起讀書

張三跟李四提過這件事情

張三對李四提過這件事情

我們應該要向雷鋒學習

我們應該要跟雷鋒學習