A Semantic And Syntactic Analysis Of Adjectival Reduplication In Mandarin Chinese

Reduplication,as a cross-linguistic pattern,is a process of morphological change.It involves the doubling of some components of a morphological base.Among those different reduplications,adjectival reduplication(i.e.honghongde‘red_REDUPL,very red’and laolaoshishide‘honest_REDUPL,very honest’)has been a popular research topic both at home and abroad since the 20^th century,and it is still garnering considerable research interest.Many studies have been conducted on describing the patterns,composition principles and grammatical meanings of reduplicated adjectives within different constructions.However,they seem to have reached the goal of descriptive adequacy but not the goal of explanatory adequacy.Much more work,therefore,needs to be done to explain the semantic and syntactic properties of adjectival reduplication in distinct syntactic grammatical constructions.According to the findings of previous research,this study aims to investigate the semantic and syntactic properties of adjectival reduplication in Mandarin Chinese.We have selected reduplicated adjective predicate sentences（RAPS）like Ni guaiguaide‘Be well-behaved_REDUPL’as the research object.Moreover,we target to comprehensively understand the characteristics and derivation of duplicated adjectives within RAPS.Based on one of the semantic properties of reduplicated adjectives--the agentivity activation function（namely,activating the agentivity of the subject）,this research has explored the syntactic properties of RAPS like Ni guaiguaide‘Be well-behaved_REDUPL’.Via a comparative analysis with typical characteristics of English imperatives in generative grammar,RAPS are shown to be imperative sentences with some syntactic tests.Semantically,RAPS express the intention of speakers to ask addressees（or performers）to obey certain commands.Syntactically,they present parallel properties of regular imperatives,such as the subject restriction and embedment restriction.The subject of RAPS normally refers to a second person you and it is sometimes optional.They cannot be embedded within a matrix clause,otherwise,the imperative meaning may disappear.RAPS hence are imperative in nature.This imperative analysis of RAPS helps to explain why an adjective must be reduplicated in this structure.Imperative sentences require eventive predicates that denote controllable processes.RAPS are shown to present an imperative structure.Once reduplicated,the new adjectives may turn dynamic and indicate controllable actions.Thus this happens to meet the structural requirement of imperative RAPS.Meanwhile,the imperative analysis also contributes to explain the co-occurrence restriction with comparison or negation in RAPS.Through the discussion of semantic and syntactic properties of RAPS,this study deepens our understanding of reduplicated adjectives within a particular construction,which may shed some lights on further research.