A Comparative Study Of English And Chinese Double Object Constructions

As a very special sentence pattern, the double object construction (DOC) is a hot issue often being discussed in the field of generative syntax. Many scholars at home and abroad have carried out studies on it. On the basis of previous studies, and according to such theories as Theta Theory, C-command, Feature-checking Theory and Phase Theory within the framework of Minimalist Program, this thesis aims to carry out an overall comparative study of English and Chinese DOCs. This thesis mainly discusses the following two issues:the defining properties of DOC and the syntactic Derivation of DOC.The defining properties of DOC are illustrated from the following aspects:the basic structure and the basic meaning of DOC, the restrictions on the indirect object and the direct object, the semantic and the structural relationships between the subject, the indirect object and the direct object, and the comparison between DOC and the dative construction (DC).This thesis also discusses the syntactic derivation of DOC from the following several aspects. First of all, it points out that it is one-sided to classify DOCs solely based on the meanings expressed by their verbs or objects, and indicates that the simplest classification method should be in light of the transference directions they imply. Secondly, in terms of the derivation of DOC, there are two viewpoints:transformational derivation and base-generated derivation. Some restrictions between DOC and DC show the infeasibility of the transformational derivation, thus DOC is base-generated. During the derivations of English and Chinese DOCs, this thesis redefines the functional category G put forward by He (何晓炜2008a,2008b). Considering functional categories cannot contain semantic meanings like content words, the thesis argues that G cannot express transference, and proposes that the transference direction is determined by the entire DOC and obtained through transfer during the derivation by Phase. Then, within the theoretical framework of Minimalist Program, this thesis carries out a detailed comparative study of English and Chinese DOCs, and points out the similarities and differences between them. Moreover, this thesis assigns default values or optional values to the features of English and Chinese DOCs by imitating the simple operation model of computer.Finally, this study reveals that there are far more similarities than differences between English and Chinese DOCs, and their differences are mainly reflected in Chinese DOCs.