| This thesis is focused on a proper analysis of syntactic properties of de in a variety ofnominal phrases under the generative framework. In discussion, the paper will set to explorethe exact status and function of de in argument/adjunct relative clauses, possessionconstructions, attribute phrases and nominalization structures.To provide more insight into its current unclear identity, this thesis begins with theinvestigation into the diachronic development of de. de could be traced back to at least twodistinct origins, i.e., zhe and zhi, referred as de1and de2throughout this paper. Thus a clearclassification of de should be made concerning its syntactic properties in differentconstructions.After elaborating upon the possible origins for de, this thesis is focused on examining theexact status of de in modern Chinese. In the chapters concerned, it is argued that de1inargument relative clauses could be analyzed as a C0(Complementizer) with the feature of [-wh,+pred]. By virtue of its [+pred] feature, de1would always select an open clause containing agap as the complement. Then the paper proceeds to investigate into de2in adjunct relativeclauses, possession constructions, attribute phrases and nominalization structures. de2inadjunct relatives is approached as C0(Complementizer) which selects a semantic variable inthe preceding clause. And de2in possession/attribute/nominalization constructions is proposedas a determiner which has undergone near full bleaching of its original specification. Theslight difference between possession constructions and attribute phrases lies in the whether thenominal phrase preceding de is base-generated or moved. As for the nominalization structures,the VP complement has a nP shell.As a summarizing remark, the rather unclear identity of de in modern Chinese could beattributed to its grammaticalization from different origins. On the basis of the neatcategorization, we could achieve an adequate analysis of de in various constructions in modernChinese. |
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