| In this dissertation, I survey three classes of Bu-Yu complex-predicate structures in Mandarin Chinese. They are traditionally termed as Jieguo---'resultative' Bu-Yu, Keneng---'potential' Bu-Yu, and Chengdu/Miaoshu---'degree/descriptive' Bu-Yu.; These Bu-Yu structures differ from one another in terms of structure, aspect marking, negation, and A-not-A question formation. A thorough study of their internal structures and a finer categorization within each class help explain these differences.; Questions I am concerned with regarding Jieguo Bu-Yu, or V-V compounds, include why only the second predicate (P2) is under the scope of negation and why an intransitive P2 shows up in a case-assigning position. My analysis of first predicate (P1) and P2 incorporation will shed light on these questions.; Keneng Bu-Yu will be argued to be derived from Jieguo Bu-Yu, based on the similarities in their semantic interpretations, the transitivity of their P2, and the optionality observed in their object topicalization and pro-drop. I will argue, however, that Keneng Bu-Yu has a serial-verb construction, the particle de being an analytical morpheme, providing not only potentiality but also causativity. A two-separate-course analysis will be given to account for the idiosyncrasy in Keneng Bu-Yu A-not-A question formation, which takes the form of P1-DE-P2-P1-not-P2, different from the A-not-A questions of the other two Bu-Yu structures.; I divide Chengdu/Miaoshu Bu-Yu into descriptives, resultatives, and causatives, depending on the nature of P2. When P2 is an individual-level predicate, we have descriptive structures, with P2 being the main-predicate. When P2 is a stage-level predicate, we have resultative or causative structures. Resultatives can have either subject-control or complex-clausal structure, based on the finiteness of P2. Causative structures have ECM. The de in descriptives will be argued to be a nominalizer to explain the peculiar P1-copying effect. The de in resultatives will be argued to be a complementizer like English 'that'. The de in causatives will be argued to be a prepositional complementizer like English 'for' that introduces infinitive complement. |
