An Analysis Of The Argument Structure Of Adjectives In Mandarin Chinese

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the argument structure of Chinese adjectives in the framework of generative grammar.The argument structure of adjectives is interesting:while some adjectives only project monadic structures,mental property adjectives project either monadic or dyadic structures.Some scholars point out that the projection of monadic or dyadic structures may be related to the individual-level/stage-level distinction in adjectives.Such phenomena are found in multiple languages including English,Dutch,Italian and Chinese,but the analysis is mainly concerned with English adjectives,adopting theoretical tools like the aP shell and operators.Among the limited research on Chinese adjectives,Guo and Gu(2020)proposed to explain the argument structure by using the applicative structure.This analysis has certain explanatory power,but seems to overuse the notion of applicative structure in some cases.This thesis agrees with the previous view that individual-level/stage-level distinction is the key to understanding the argument structure of adjectives.Basically,the individual-level property is stable and the stage-level property is temporarily or eventually bound.Correspondently,a stage-level adjectival predicate implies an Event argument or contains a complex event structure.In terms of the technical device for approaching the argument structure,this thesis endorses Landau’s two operators,SAT(URATION)and R(EIFICATION),in explaining the emergence and suppression of arguments.In order to better understand the argument structure of Chinese adjectives,this thesis investigates the adjectives through the lens of individual-level/stage-level distinction.Based on this distinction,we argue that Chinese adjectives can be divided into three types:(a)individual-level adjectives,(b)stage-level adjectives,and(c)doublets,which are able to alternate between an individual-level version and a stage-level version.Surrounding the three types of adjectives,this thesis is intended to answer the following two sets of questions:(i)What are the semantic characteristics of each type of adjective based on individuallevel/stage-level distinction?(ii)How is the argument structure of each type of adjective represented?And conversely,how is the individual-level/stage-level distinction manifested in the argument structure of each type of adjective?In order to answer the first question,this thesis identifies the semantic subgroups of the three types of Chinese predicative adjectives respectively based on a general meaning-based classification of adjectives.The findings are as follows.First,individual-level adjectives usually denote the stable properties of external entities(as opposed to the inner mind and body)such as appearance,characters,weight and value.Second,stage-level adjectives mainly denote the states of the inner mind or body,i.e.,emotional and physical states,which are fluctuating.Third,doublets denote either mental properties like wiseness and brazenness,or relational properties like usefulness,friendliness and knowledge.The second group of questions consists of two sub-questions.The first sub-question focuses on the argument structure of the three types of adjectives and their mechanisms.The findings are summarized below.First,the argument structure of individual-level adjectives is simple,containing only a Holder argument.Second,the argument structure of the most typical type of stage-level adjectives is formed like this:the root is expected to be associated with an event structure containing a Cause and an Experiencer,but the Cause-introducing light verb,i.e.,vCAUSE,is then saturated by the SAT operator,leading to the absorption of the Cause and the result of a monadic structure.Third,the argument structures projected by the two types of doublets are different.Mental property adjectives project only a Holder argument in the individual-level version,and in the stage-level version they project not only a Holder argument,but also a Realizer argument by means of the R operator,which is actually the embodiment of the Event argument.Relational adjectives project a dyadic structure containing a Holder/Experiencer argument and an optional Goal/Recipient/Theme argument in both individual-level and stage-level versions,but the second arguments involved in the two versions differ.In some cases,a relational adjective describing animate entities can project a Realizer argument in addition to a Holder argument like mental property adjectives.The second sub-question explores the way in which the individual-level/stage-level distinction is embodied in the argument structure.Usually,individual-level predicates are predicated solely and directly of the Holder argument.Stage-level predicates express stagelevel properties mainly by binding themselves with an event in different ways.Emotional/physical adjectives imply a caused event in the argument structure,mental property adjectives project a Realizer argument to embody the Event argument,and relational adjectives implicate an event mainly through the specific interactional relation between the Holder argument and the Goal/Recipient argument or between the Experiencer argument and the Theme argument.In this thesis,based on individual-level/stage-level distinction,Chinese adjectives are divided into three categories:individual-level adjectives,stage-level adjectives and doublets.On this basis,the meaning of each type is systematically sorted out and the argument structure is analyzed.The embodiment of individual-level/stage-level distinction in the argument structure is further explored,which is enlightening for the future research of Chinese predicative adjectives on their semantic properties and argument structure.