A Phase-based Approach To The Derivation Of English And Chinese Middle Constructions

Middle construction,being a cross-linguistic phenomenon,has been a hot topic for scholars in linguistic field in recent decades.On the basis of Chomsky's(2005,2008)Phase theory,the author is intended to express some opinions about the features and derivation mechanism of middles.When defining the middle construction,linguists always consider its semantic and syntactic properties.Semantically,there is a generic and modal reading in middles;syntactically,middles are always accompanied by an adjunct modifier.However,in our opinion,only referring to the semantic and syntactic characteristics is not enough,we should also take middles' pragmatic properties into account.The derivation mechanism of middles has generated much debate.Linguists represented by Fagan(1988,1992)hold that middle constructions are derived in the lexicon and middle verbs are intransitive in nature,while scholars represented by Keyser & Roeper(1984)argue that middles are derived in the syntactic level,in which NP-movement is involved.Based on Han Jingquan's(2003)analysis of English middles,taking Phase theory as the theoretical framework,we display the derivation process of typical middles both in Chinese and English.The author agrees with Sung's(1994)idea,who puts forward that there is a middle morpheme in middle construction,which manifests as an empty category in English and qilai in Chinese.It is due to the existence of this morpheme that the external argument is suppressed and can't be present in syntactic level,meanwhile,the middle verb loses the ability to assign accusative case to the internal argument.Two movements are involved in the derivation process of theme-subject and adjunct-subject middles: one is the light verb with strong affixal nature attracting the middle verb to merge with it,and the other is the internal argument moving to the Spec-TP position to satisfy the EPP feature of T.Middle formation in Chinese and English should follow four constraints: the affectedness effect,the aspectual constraints of middle verbs,the constraints of adjuncts and the responsibility condition of subjects.With regard to Chinese middles,middle verbs should observe the volitional condition besides the aspectual constraints.And the responsibility condition of subjects in Chinese is different from its English counterpart.A comparative study of Chinese middles and English middles is also made in this thesis.In terms of the subject,adjunct-subject middles are more productive in Chinese than in English.As for the verb,resultative compounds are not allowed in Chinese middles while can undergo English middle formation.And there are many variations in adjuncts between Chinese and English.Through our analysis,we find that as a cross-linguistic phenomenon,middle construction possesses its universality as well as speciality in different languages.