On De In Chinese Subject-predicate Constructions Viewed From Generative Grammar

The research on de began in the 1960s in Chinese grammar field. Zhu Dexi's On De is the beginning of the systematic investigation. Since then, linguists demonstrate the properties and functions from various angles. However, they do not reach a consensus on the syntactic status of de. The focus of this thesis is on the status of de in subject-predicate constructions, which fall into two categories --- de following the construction and de in the middle of the construction. The purpose is to reveal the consistency of deep structure in both Chinese and English and elaborate the application of universal grammar in Chinese.Chinese grammarians adopted Bloomfield's endocentric construction theory to analyze de and de construction in their earlier research. They found the contradiction of nature between the construction and its head and attempted several ways to deal with the puzzle, such as the relaxation of Bloomfield's theory, the proposal of nominalization hypothesis, and so on. However, they have not obtained a satisfying result. When Chomsky's generative grammar was introduced to China, researchers began to apply this theory in their research.Nowadays, there are two main streams on this research --- determiner analysis and complementizer analysis. The former adopts antisymmetry approach and DP hypothesis to demonstrate de's property. This analysis lacks reasonable movement mechanism in the exact procedures. The author of the thesis supports the latter analysis. Based on the research within Government and Binding framework, the author proposes a better understanding of the properties and syntactic status of de. The detailed derivational process is available for analyzing de as a complementizer.Regarding de as a complementizer conforms to the language facts of Chinese, and at the same time, it enforces the explanation adequacy of the theory. It provides strong evidence for the hypothesis of universal grammar. Indeed, considering de as a complementizer brings some theoretical problems that need explaining. However, as a new method of research on Chinese, it strengthens our understanding of the complicated de constructions. Also, it puts forward a new research task for the universality among languages all over the world.