A Study On The Derivation Of The Unaccusative Construction And The Bei Construction In Modern Chinese

The unaccusative construction and the bei construction are two typicalconstructions in modern Chinese. During the past years, many scholars have done agreat number of insightful researches on these two constructions, and undoubtedlythese researches serve as good reference and guidance for current studies. In recentyears, there has appeared such a tendency that many scholars attempt to associatethese two constructions, trying to analyze the derivation of the two constructionsunder one theoretical framework. They believe that the bei construction is one type ofthe unaccusative construction, so it can be analyzed in the way the unaccusativeconstruction should be analyzed. This argument takes the hypothesis that the verb inthe bei construction has undergone passivization as its premise, declaring that the verbin the bei construction is similar to the unaccusative verb, which is incapable ofassigning accusative case to the post-verbal NP and has no Agent subject.This thesis demonstrates with solid evidence that the bei construction is differentfrom English passives, and that the verb in the bei construction does not lose itsability of assigning accusative case to the post-verbal NP. This verb is fundamentallydifferent form the unaccusative verb. The bei construction and the unaccusativeconstruction are two distinct Chinese constructions, which possess unique syntacticproperties and need independent analyses. Based on this conclusion and on previousstudies on these two constructions, this thesis takes Minimalist Inquiries: TheFramework (MI) and Derivation by Phase (DP), which represent further developmentof The Minimalist Program (MP), as the theoretical framework, and conducts athorough study of the two constructions respectively. The author classifies theunaccusative construction into five types. In each of the five types, there is a lightverb, which can be an ordinary light verb, an EXPERIENCE or CAUSE depending on the construction type. Except the first type, the light verb in the other four types is anondefective one with complete set of features. However, the verb in each type isincapable of assigning accusative case to the post-verbal NP whether the light verb is-complete or not. The NP in the first type is assigned a nominative case by T; thepost-verbal NP in the other four types is assigned an accusative case by the light verb.The sentence-initial NP in these types except the first is a base-generated subject. Thesubject in the last type is later omitted. According to this study, bei is a specialfunctional category, which conveys the meaning of passiveness and assigns itsSpecifier the Experiencer theta-role. Besides, bei has P-feature and can select vP as itscomplement. The bei construction is further divided into two broad types: longpassives and short passives. In long and short passives, there are the long passive witha retained-object and the short passive with a retained-object respectively. The longpassive and the short passive result from variation of the vP projection. The EPPfeature of v is selectional. So when the external argument (EA) of v is selected, a longpassive is formed; when EA is not selected, a short passive is formed. There is a-complete light verb in each type of the bei construction. Selected by a nondefectivev, the verb in the bei construction is a transitive verb which is capable of assigningaccusative case to the post-verbal NP. Due to the similarity of long passives and shortpassives in syntactic structure and analysis method, the author chooses three types ofbei construction as the target of analysis: the ordinary long passive, the long passivewith a retained object and the short passive with a retained object. The sentence-initialNP in the bei construction with a retained object is a base-generated subject.This study enriches the syntactic studies of Chinese syntax under UG andprovides reference for future studies on the bei construction and the unaccusativeconstruction in Chinese. Due to the fact that MP, MI and DP are still underdevelopment, this study surely needs further improvement and perfection with thedevelopment of relevant theories.