A Minimalist Study Of Mandarin Chinese Verb Copying Sentences

Mandarin Chinese verb copying constructions are unique grammatical phenomenon. Since Wang Li (1944) noticed this phenomenon, linguists have paid enormous attentions to it. However, most of these researches are descriptive. Though some are about the generation of this construction, they are deficient. Therefore, we aim at finding out a more reasonable and uniform explanation in the framework of GT, based on the light verb theory.Our thesis includes five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction of research questions, methodology, purpose and significance. Chapter Two introduces the definition and classification of verb copying sentences briefly. Chapter Three makes a review on previous generative studies of verb copying sentences, and points out some deficiencies of them. Chapter Four is an introduction of applications of the light verb theory at home and abroad, and we put forward our assumption in this chapter. It mainly deals with two issues. The first one is the property of verb-object phrases. The second is the generation process of verb copying sentences. Chapter Five is a conclusion.Verb copying sentences are sentences constructed by two verb phrases. One is verb-object phrase, and the other is verb-complement phrase. At the same time, the two verbs have the same phonetic forms. Constructions like that "Ni Jiao Jiao Wo" (please teach me) are not verb copying sentences. As to the classification, scholars classify this unique construction by different standards. Hence, the results are quite different. In this thesis, we adopt Li Xianju's (2006) dichotomy to classify Mandarin Chinese verb copying sentences into marked ones and unmarked ones, which are all-around. Based on this comprehensive classification, we elaborate the derivation process of this special construction in Chapter Four.We accept the general opinion that the second verb in the verb copying construction is the predicate. What status does the verb-object phrase occupy in this construction? We hold that it is a Chinese topic by examining it with characteristics of the Chinese topic.Based on the light verb theory, we postulate that there are light verbs in constructions of Mandarin Chinese verb copying sentences. Chomsky (1995) indicates that CFC (C T v) has strong features which are uninterpretable. According to the checking theory, the derivation converges at the LF-representation when the PF-representation only contains semantically interpretable features. Otherwise, the derivation will crash at LF-representation which means that the corresponding sentence is ungrammatical. Light verb v has the feature of verbs, so it attracts a verb to rise to merge with it, and the strong feature is erased by this way. In the verb copying construction, the light verb attracts the head of inner VP to rise to check the strong feature, and a V-v is formed leaving a trace behind. The trace can be deleted according to Chomsky's verb copying theory. After these operations, the constructions formed are not acceptable in Chinese. It is necessary to do further operations. We have two choices that one is deleting the objects, and the other is copying the verbs. In this research, we propose that VP is an adjunct. The process of verb copying is a process of adjunction. The status of VP gives a piece of evidence structurally proving that VP is a topic.We postulate that the derivation of the Mandarin Chinese verb copying sentence is aroused by the light verb. The light verb attracts the head of inner VP to rise to check the strong feature. Then VP is made as an adjunct to v-bar to generate a verb copying sentence. This enlarges the application area of the light verb theory, and provides an important proof to the universals of languages.