Study On The Licensing Conditions For "Zheng-zai" Entering "Ba" Sentence

"Ba"(把)sentence is a sentence pattern which is not only used in thehigher frequency in modern Chinese, but also shows the specific syntactic characterof Chinese. As one traditional subject of Chinese grammar,"ba" sentence has beenconcerned about for a long time by scholars which accumulated abundant researchdocuments. Since 1920s the study was first made by Li Jinxi, both oversea anddomestic scholars have made profound researches on "ba" sentence from differentperspectives and achieved great progress.Although the sentence pattern is used in the higher frequency, the "ba" sentenceswith "zheng-zai" are used in a very low frequency. In all the Modern Chinese corpusdata from Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU, we have found only 176 "ba"sentencesin which there is a "zheng-zai"as an adverbial. In this thesis, we have made a study ofthese "ba" sentences.According to our study, we find that: "zheng-zai" can enter "ba" sentence if thesentence is with these three semantic features:[+dynamic] , [+durative] and [-measurable]. These features are also the licensing conditions for "zheng-zai" entering"ba" sentence.Licensing condition one is that "ba" sentence should usually be [+dynamic],which is originated from the semantic of the sentence pattern. Only when some linkverbs, such as "zuo-wei","dang-zuo", appear in "ba" sentences as predicative verbs,"zheng-zai" can enter the sentences without the feature of dynamics.Licensing condition two is that "ba" sentence must be [+durative]. There are threekinds of dynamics in the sentences: first one is that a single action which is durativeneeds a period of time; the second one is that the repeat of a single action which is notdurative needs a period of time; the third one is that the repeat of a single action whichis durative needs a period of time. Predicative verbs, complements, adverbials ,objectof "ba" and subjects are the restraining factors of the feature of duration. Moreover,this kind of duration in "ba" sentence is relatively durative. Reference time can be inthe time period of the action as an time point.Licensing condition three is that "ba" sentence must be [-measurable]. Thesentence component which shows the certain quantity of action or the amount of timeis not allowed to be in "ba" sentences.