Small Clause Theory And Syntactic Analysis Of Resultative Constructions In Mandarin Chinese

The Chinese resultative construction is one of the most popular research topics in Chinese grammar in modern times. By now, three types of RC have been focused on: "de" RCs, simple RCs and directional RCs. Since studies on resultative constructions under generative grammar vary so much, this thesis attempts to make a unified, rational and simple analysis to the resultative construction in Mandarin Chinese.Based on a study of all available literature concerning resultative constructions under generative grammar at home and abroad, the author finds that Small Clause (SC) Theory can best explain the derivation of simple RC and "de" RC. Therefore, we have adopted the SC Theory to analyze the locative double object construction. The author is successful in proving that it is feasible to analyze the directional RC under SC theory.Further research and investigation in this paper show that the derivation process of "V+Vshang directional complement+O" is similar to that of simple RC, and similarities between "V+O+lai" and locative prepositional dative construction, "V+lai+O" and locative double object construction, also exist.The conclusion is that Mandarin resultative constructions—simple RC, "de" RC and directional RC—can be well explained under Small Clause Theory.