On The Syntax And Semantics Of Non-Canonical Objects In Mandarin Chinese: First-Phase-Syntax Approach

It is a standard observation that the semantic relations between the V and NP in the so called the non-canonical object(NCO)construction are variable and complex in Mandarin Chinese,such as chi shitang ‘eat canteen'(have meals at a canteen),shua youqi ‘brush paint'(brush something with paint)and chi fumu ‘eat parents'(live on the parents).They bear interesting implications on how arguments to be realized in an optimum theory.From the perspective of pragmatics,syntax and cognition,we make a brief review of previous researches on Chinese NCO constructions,among which the remaining issues and limitations are focused on.Based on the first-phase-syntax approach,the thesis proposes to address such three research questions:(1)What are the syntactic and semantic features of non-canonical objects?(2)What are the syntactic and semantic differences between canonical objects and non-canonical objects in Mandarin Chinese?(3)What are the reasons for the above idiosyncratic features of NCO constructions?In light of first-phase-syntax,this paper draws the following conclusions through analysis:(1)The nature of the verbs taking an NCO is unergative and their semantics as denoting action is undermined and abstract.(2)NCOs are closely attached to the hosting verbs and in semantics,most of NCOs are non-referential and unaffected arguments.NCO constructions as a whole denote activities,and serve as event kind-classifying elements.(3)In light of the first-phase-syntax approach,the canonical objects and the non-canonical objects are base-generated in different syntactic positions in accordance with their different semantic contributions.NCOs are base-generated in the complement position while most COs are in the specifier position of the head verbs.The innovation of the thesis,on the one hand,lies in that we further supplement the frontier researches on Chinese NCO constructions by supplying more evidence.On the other hand,we systematically demonstrate and explain NCOs in contrast with COs under the framework of first-phase-syntax.The paper hopes to make a valuable contribution to the understanding of NCOs and to the enterprise of studying verb-object relationships in Chinese.