Introduction

1. Topic-driven Derivation and Interpretation of Verb Copying in Mandarin Chinese Zhiguo XIE Cornell University Department of Linguistics zx28@cornell.edu Yao YAO UC-Berkeley Department of Linguistics yaoyao@berkeley.edu • Introduction • Verb copying (VC) in Mandarin is a phenomenon where one single verb is pronounced twice in a sentence. Its general form is DPsub Vi DPobjVi de/Asp XP. An example (Cheng 2007, citing others): • zhangsan1 qi [na pi ma]2 qi de e1/2 hen lei. • John ride that CL horse ride DE very tired • ‘John rode the horse and as a result John/the horse got very tired.’ • The construction raises two interesting questions: • Why are multiple copies of the same verb phonetically realized, superficially a violation of Kayne’s L(inear) C(orrespondence) A(xiom)? • The construction is ambiguous between subject- and object-oriented readings. How to derive this ambiguity? • Topic-Driven Derivation • We use topic as a cover term for topic and focus, because distinctions between them do not matter for our purpose. • In VC, a [+TOPIC] feature (Ochi 1999) exists in the projection above the lower copy of the verb, and this feature has to be checked off. • The choice of the subject- vs. object-oriented readings depends on how TOPIC is checked off by the DPobj: ‘pure’ merge vs. copy + merge. The phonetic realization of multiple copies of the same verb follows from the phonological requirement of topic (Landau 2006) and from the morphological re-analysis of the verb (Nunes 2001). • Object-oriented reading: DPobj topicalized via copy and merge • a. qi de [na pi ma] hen lei. (some point in derivation) b. [na pi ma] qi de [na pi ma] hen lei (copy+mergenapima; delete lower copy) c. qi [na pi ma] qi de [na pi ma] hen lei (copy and merge qi) d. zhangsan qi [na pi ma] qi de [na pi ma] hen lei(mergezhangsan) • Subject-oriented reading: DPobj topicalized via ‘pure’ merge • a. qi de zhangsan hen lei (some point in derivation) b. [na pi ma] qi de zhangsan hen lei (‘pure merge’ napima) c. qi [na pi ma] qi de zhangsan hen lei (copy and merge qi) d. zhangsan qi [na pi ma] qi de zhangsan hen lei (copy and merge zhangsan; delete lower copy) • After the verb copies and merges to the topicalized DPobj, the lower copy of verb undergoes morphological reanalysis with de due to the clitic nature of the latter. The higher copy undergoes reanalysis into the TOPIC proper; hence the V+DPobj complex behaves like a constituent and can be manipulated accordingly. For example, it can be further fronted to a regular, sentence-initial topic position (7). • qi na pi ma, zhangsan qi de hen lei. • V+DPobj is pronounced due to the phonological requirements imposed by TOPIC (Landau 2006). The LCA does not ‘look inside’ into the topic proper or into the fused V-de complex. It treats the two copies of verb as distinct. Therefore the lower copy of the verb does not delete. • The agent/experiencer phrase in the embedded XP (napima in (5d) and zhangsan in (6d)) deletes in PF, to avoid violating the LCA. • Some Plausible Predictions • It is possible that the subject of the embedded XP is spelled out and different from the matrix DPsubj (8). Only ‘quasi’ subject-oriented reading is available, because DPobj can only be topicalized via ‘pure’ merge in such cases. • zhangsan qi na pi ma qi de xiezi diao le. • John ride that CL horse ride DE shoe fall PAST. • ‘John rode the horse and as a result his shoes fell off.’ • Our analysis allows the generally null agent/experiencer NP in the embedded XP to be spelled out if it carries certain extra ‘phonetic content’. In such cases the lower copy of NP is distinct from the higher copy,thus posing no violation of LCA. • a. ?*ta1 qi [na pi ma]2 qi de ta1 hen lei. (ta = ‘he’, regular intonation) b. ta1 qi [na pi ma]2 qi de TA1 hen lei. (ta is stressed) c. ta1 qi [na pi ma]2 qi de te1 hen lei. (ta is de-stressed) • Topic VPs are not subject to modification by negation or VP-level adverbials. Thus our topic-based analysis explains the non-occurrence of negation (10) or VP-level adverbials (11) before the higher copy of verb. The untopicalized lower copy of verb can be preceded by negation (12). The lower verb cannot be followed by a perfective marker due to its morphological reanalysis with de (13). • zhangsan (*mei=‘not’) qi na pi ma qi de hen lei. • zhangsan qi (*le) na pi ma qi de hen lei. (le: past marker) • zhangsan qi na pi ma (mei=‘not’) qi de hen lei. • zhangsan qi na pi ma qi (*le) de hen lei. • VC: Sentence-internal Topicalization • VC is sentence-internal topicalization/focalization (Hsu 2008). Evidence: • The V+DPobj constituent is sensitive to island effects, parallel to regular, sentential-initial DP or VP topicalization: • a. *ta xiangzhidao lisi dasao fangjian shenmeshihou dasao deganjing. he wonder Lisi sweep room when sweep DE clean ‘You wondered when he swept the room clean.’ b. */??fangjian, ta xiang zhidao lisi shenmeshihou dasao. c. *dasao fangjian, ta xiangzhidao lisi shenmeshihou dasao deganjing. • The V+DPobj constituentshows properties of either topic or focus, depending on the linguistic context. It can precede a canonical focused phrase (3) and is most naturally interpreted as topic. It can be modified by a focus sensitive operator (4), suggesting it can be a focus phrase. • tazuo timu lian [zui nan de na dao]FOCdou zuo de chu. hedo problem even most hardMOD that CL all do DE out ‘As for doing problems, he has even worked out the hardest one.’ • tashi chi wanfan chi de mantoudahan, bu shi (chi) wufan. he BE eat dinner eat DE big sweat not BE eat lunch ‘It was (when) eating dinner that he sweated, not (when) eating lunch.’ Selected References Cheng, L. 2007. Verb Copying in Mandarin Chinese. in N. Corver. and J. Nunes (eds.). The Copy Theory of Movement. Hsu, Y. 2008. Sentence-internal Topic and Focus in Mandarin Chinese. Proceedings of BLS 34. Landau, I. 2006. Chain Resolution in Hebrew V(P)-fronting. Syntax 9. Nunes, J. 2001. Sideward movement. Linguistic Inquiry 32 Ochi, M. 1999. Some Consequences of Attract F. Lingua 109.