A Syntactic Analysis Of Patient-subject Construction In Mandarin Chinese

As a widely used construction in Mandarin Chinese,Patient-Subject Construction（PSC）has received much attention over the past decades.Researchers have obtained a number of achievements on the definition and derivation of PSC.However,they have not reached a consensus on the basic definition of PSC in Chinese.Moreover,in terms of the derivation of PSC,although researchers have explained PSC with syntactic and lexical approaches,these approaches have some limitations.To fix these unsettled problems,this thesis mainly investigates features of the basic structure of PSC and explores its derivation from the syntax-morphology interface.Under the framework of Distributed Morphology,this study aims to provide a new perspective to explore PSC in Mandarin Chinese,hoping to deepen our understanding of this phenomenon.First,this thesis analyzes the canonical constituents of PSC.In Mandarin Chinese,the basic PSC is mainly constructed by a noun phrase,a verb,a resultative phrase and‘le’,such as‘Fan chi wan le.’（The meal was eaten up.）.To be specific,the noun phrase is headed by an inanimate patient noun,indicating a definite reference.The verb is a transitive action verb,and the resultative phrase is headed by an adjective which can be a lexical word to express a specific meaning or a grammaticalized word to represent the achievement.The‘le’is a sentence-final aspect marker,signifying a realized aspect.Second,based on the constituent analysis of PSC,this thesis explores the derivation of PSC in Mandarin Chinese by adopting the framework of Distributed Morphology.It is noted that the verb in PSC can neither be modified by the manner adverbial nor be questioned by the manner‘zenme’（how）.Thus,inspired by previous research,this thesis proposes that the verb V is not the main verb as it seems to be.Instead,the real main verb of PSC is a covert light verbф_BEC.The verb V in PSC,as a manner adjunct,is not generated in syntax,but to be introduced into the derivation by merging after syntax at the morphological or phonological level.Following this line,the PSC is derived both in syntax and after syntax.In syntax,PSC is mainly comprised of a BECP which selects a NP as its specifier and a resultative phrase RP as its complement.Meanwhile,the‘le’heads an Asp P and selects the BECP as its complement in syntax.To satisfy the Extended Projection Principle（EPP）,the NP,as the specifier of the BECP,moves to the subject of the sentence in syntax.After syntax,R head-moves toф_BECat PF,forming R-ф_BEC to satisfy the affixal property ofф_BEC.Then,V_<MANNER>externally merges with R-ф_BEC at PF as a manner and forms V_<MANNER>-R-ф_BEC.At last,to meet the morphological requirement of the Asp marker‘le’,V_<MANNER>-R-ф_BEC head-moves to the Asp‘le’and forms V_<MANNER>-R-ф_BEC-le.In conclusion,this thesis argues that PSC in Mandarin Chinese is the product of the interaction between syntax and morphology.Differing from traditional analysis in syntax,this morphosyntactic approach provides a new perspective for the derivation of PSC.