On The Syntactic Features Of De-Construction And Reanalysis Of "NP+DE+VP"

De-construction is a most frequently-used phrase structure inMandarin Chinese, and it has been discussed intensively by manylinguists both at home and abroad. Within the theoretical framework ofGenerative Grammar, this thesis focuses on the syntactic features of dethrough the investigation and analysis of de-constructions, andreanalyzes a typical de-construction in Chinese, i.e. "NP+de+VP"construction.From the perspective of Universal Grammar, we agree with Ning(1995, 1996) and Wu (2000) that de is a special functional category inChinese, and it is the head of its construction. Through comparison andanalysis, we find that the syntactic function of de in "NP+de+VP" issimilar to that of the complementizer "that" in English. As thecomplementizer "that" in English possesses[+N] feature, we argue thatChinese de also possesses [+N] feature through comparison. Therefore,de-construction is nominal and it often serves as the subject or object ina sentence.Our discussion focuses on the syntactic features of "NP+de+VP"construction. Obviously, "NP+de+VP" is a nominal structure, which isoften used as subject or object in a sentence. However, whether the verb in the "NP+de+VP" construction is nominalized has been a questionamong linguists for quite a long time. Besides, many linguists agree thatthe verb is the head of this construction. However, it is difficult for themto explain the contradiction between the verbal features of the verb andthe nominal features of the whole construction. This opinion is alsocontradictory to the Endocentric Construction Theory.We find that the verb in the "NP+de+VP" construction stillpreserves some features of a predicate verb. For example, it can stillhave its complement. But it also has gained some nominal features. Forexample, the whole construction can be used as subject or object, andthe verb in it cannot have tense or aspect marker.We focus on the grammatical features of de and the categorialchange of the verb in the "NP+de+VP" construction, and thederivational process of this construction in this thesis. We do not supportthe opinion of nominalization. But, at the same time, we also find itdifficult to explain the nominal features of the verb. Chomsky (1979)introduces the empty affix Af in accordance with Standard Theory. Heargues that [+V] feature of a verb is gained in lexicon, and the [+N]feature of the verb is assigned by the affix Af during the derivation.Chomsky's analysis gives us much inspiration in writing this thesis.Based on his assumption, we argue that there exists a functional nullelement n behind the head "de". This element also has strong[+N] feature. It is combined with VP to form nP, which helps the verb in theconstruction to obtain [+N] feature. That is why "NP+de+VP" can beused as subject or object in Chinese. In the "NP+de+VP" construction,the maximal projection nP formed by n and VP acts as the complementof the head de. The nominal feature of the whole construction isdetermined by the head de, while the nominal feature of the verb isdetermined by the null element n. The verbal feature of the verb isgained in the lexicon. Thus, in this way, we can account for the verbaland nominal features of the verb and the nominal feature of the wholeconstruction as well.