Mandarin Distributive Quantifier Ge ‘Each’, The Structures Of Double Complement Constructions And The Verb–Preposition Distinction

Author: Soh, Hooi

Source: Journal of East Asian Linguistics, Volume 14, Number 2, April 2005 , pp. 155-173(19)

Publisher: Springer

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $47.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

In this paper, I present an argument from Mandarin Chinese for the claim that the double object construction involves more structure than the dative construction (Marantz (1993), Bruening (2001), Miyagawa and Tsujioka (2004)). The evidence involves a contrast between the double object and the dative constructions in the distribution of the distributive quantifier GE ‘each’. I propose that GE may adjoin to a vP or a VP (cf. Lin (1998), Kung (1993)), and the distribution of GE may be used to diagnose the presence of a vP or a VP layer. The proposed analysis provides evidence for the existence of the verb–preposition distinction in Mandarin Chinese.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10831-004-6307-8

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Linguistics, ESL, Slavic Languages and Literatures, 221 Nolte Center 315 Pillsbury Drive S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, U.S.A, Email: sohxx001@tc.umn.edu

Publication date: 2005-04-01