The Syntax Of Double Object Construction In Xiangyin Dialect

DOC is one of the research goals in modern linguistics. The present study mainly focuses on DOC in Xiangyin dialect, in an attempt to categorize verbs in DOC in Xiangyin dialect syntactically.This thesis discusses three kinds of commonest double objective construction comprising V+O+P+O', V+O'+O, V+O+O'. V+O+P+O'is called dative construction, V+O'+O typical double object construction, V+O+O'inverse double object construction. Specially, V+O+O'only pertains to Xiangyin dialect and does not occur in mandarin. According to the viewpoints put forward by Zhu Dexi in 1979, the verbs of DOC are grouped into three types. Moreover, after verbs'usage in different DOC is considered, verbs are subdivided into'ba, wen, ji, na, chao'. The present study presents three characteristics in Xiangyin dialect: 1. the positions of direct object and indirect object cannot exchange; 2. if V+O+P+O'exists, V+O+O'also does; if V+O+P+O'does not exist, neither does V+O+O'; 3. words order in DOC is related to verb types.The relationship between typical object construction and dative structure has been controversial, and therefore, the relationship among typical object construction, dative construction and inverse double object construction is discussed in this present thesis. On the basis of'propositions omission'put forward by Tang Sze-Wing, we think inverse DOC is not an independent construction but a dative construction with preposition omission. Preposition omission, of course, is governed strictly. Only when the indirect object is the personal pronoun can preposition be omitted. We also find out that the distribution of typical object construction and dative construction remains asymmetrical, so typical object construction is independent and cannot be derived from dative construction.Through the analysis of the three patterns as well as the principle of ideal distance iconicity, we have concluded that the dative construction is the unmarked pattern in Xiangyin dialect.