Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T20:56:41.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - On an Integral Theory of Word Formation in Chinese and Beyond

from Part Two - Morpho-lexical Issues in Chinese

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2022

By
Yafei Li
Edited by
Chu-Ren Huang ,
Yen-Hwei Lin ,
I-Hsuan Chen  and
Yu-Yin Hsu
Chu-Ren Huang
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Yen-Hwei Lin
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
I-Hsuan Chen
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Yu-Yin Hsu
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Get access

Summary

After critically reviewing the conflicting theories of word-formation, the integral model in Li 2005 is presented which is shown not only to make a minimal number of postulations but also to cover a wide range of cross-linguistic facts: morphological causativization in Bantu and Semitic, compounding in Chinese and English, the resultative constructions in Chinese, and noun-incorporation in Amerindian. Underlying this chapter is the long-lasting debate in this part of linguistic theorization as well as the methodological implications of the integral solution.

Keywords

word formationlexicalismUniformity of Theta-Assignment HypothesisMorphology–Syntax Mapping Hypothesis
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics , pp. 174 - 197
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, Mark. 1988. Incorporation: A theory of grammatical function changing. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit. 1991. The causative-inchoative alternation: A case study in parallel morphology. Linguistic Review 8:119–158.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit. 2015. The category of roots. In The syntax of roots and the roots of syntax, ed. Alexiadou, Artemis, Borer, Hagit, and Schafer, Florian, 112–148. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bowers, John. 1993. The syntax of predication. Linguistic Inquiry 24:591–656.Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan, and Mchombo, Sam A.. 1995. The lexical integrity principle: Evidence from Bantu. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 13:181–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruening, Benjamin. 2018. The lexicalist hypothesis: Both wrong and superfluous. Language 94:1–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chao, Yuen Ren. 1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Chen, Zhe, and Li, Yafei 陈哲, 李亚非. 2016. Evidence from Chinese for v 从汉语的角度看 vP. Foreign Language Teaching and Research 外语教学与研究 48:483–497.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1970. Remarks on nominalization. In Readings in English transformational grammar, ed. Jacobs, Roderick A. and Rosenbaum, Peter S., 184–221. Waltham, MA: Ginn.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Knowledge of language: Its nature, origin and use. New York, NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2004. Biolinguistics and the human capacity. Lecture at MTA, Budapest.Google Scholar
Di Sciullo, Anna Maria, and Williams, Edwin. 1987. On the definition of word. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, Jane. 1990. Argument structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Guo, Jimao 郭继懋. 1999. On intransitive verbs with objects like fei Shanghai 试谈“飞上海”等不及物动词带宾语现象. Studies of the Chinese Language 中国语文 5:337–346.Google Scholar
Hale, Kenneth, and Keyser, Samuel Jay. 1993. On argument structure and the lexical expression of syntactic relations. In The views from Building 20, ed. Hale, Kenneth and Keyser, Samuel J., 53–109. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harley, Heidi. 2005. How do verbs get their names? Denominal verbs, manner incorporation and the ontology of verb roots in English. In The syntax of aspect, ed. Erteschik-Shir, Nomi and Rapoport, Tova, 4–65. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haugen, Jason. 2015. ‘To kill’ and ‘to die’ (and other suppletive verbs) in Uto-Aztecan. Language Dynamics and Change 5:227–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higginbotham, James. 1985. On semantics. Linguistic Inquiry 16:547–593.Google Scholar
Huang, James. 1989. Pro-drop in Chinese: A generalized control theory. In The null subject parameter, ed. Jaeggli, Osvaldo and Safir, Kenneth, 185–214. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, James, Li, Audrey, and Li, Yafei. 2009. The syntax of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. Severing the external argument from the verb. In Phrase structure and the lexicon, ed. Rooryck, Johan and Zaring, Laurie, 109–137. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Larson, Richard. 1988. On the double object construction. Linguistic Inquiry 19:335–392.Google Scholar
Li, Charles and Thompson, Sandra. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Yafei. 1990a. X0-binding and verb incorporation. Linguistic Inquiry 21:399–426.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei. 1990b. On V-V compounds in Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 8:177–207.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei. 1993. Structural head and aspectuality. Language 69:480–504.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei. 1999. Cross-componential causativity. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 17:445–497.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei. 2005. X0: A theory of the morphology–syntax interface. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei 李亚非. 2014. Formal syntax, iconicity and the studies of Chinese 形式句法，象似性理论与汉语研究. Studies of the Chinese Language 中国语文 363:521–530.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei. 2022. Universal grammar and iconicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yafei, and Ting, Jen. 2013. Is UG like a chunk of Swiss cheese? Evidence for a “third-factor principle”. Language and Linguistics 14:737–754.Google Scholar
Lin, T.-H. Jonah. 2001. Light verb syntax and the theory of phrase structure. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Irvine.Google Scholar
Marantz, Alec. 1984. On the nature of grammatical relations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Marantz, Alec. 1997. No escape from syntax: Don’t try morphological analysis in the privacy of your own lexicon. UPenn Working Papers in Linguistics 4(2):201–225.Google Scholar
Mayr, Ernst. 1997. This is biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sun, Tianqi 孙天琪. 2010. A study on the licensing pattern and mechanism of non-core arguments in Mandarin Chinese 现代汉语非核心论元允准模式及机制研究. PhD dissertation, Peking University.Google Scholar
Sun, Tianqi, and Li, Yafei 孙天琪, 李亚非. 2010. Licensing non-core arguments in Chinese. Studies of the Chinese Language 中国语文 334:21–33.Google Scholar
Sybesma, Rint. 1992. Causatives and accomplishments: The case of Chinese ba. Doctoral dissertation, Leiden University.Google Scholar
Ting, Jen, and Li, Yafei. 1997. Manner de and resultative de. Paper presented at the Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, University of Leiden.Google Scholar
Vendler, Zeno. 1957. Verbs and times. Philosophical Review 66:143–160.Google Scholar
Verkuyl, Henk J. 1972. The compositional nature of the aspects. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Verkuyl, Henk J. 1993. A theory of aspectuality: The interaction between temporal and atemporal structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xing, Fuyi 邢福义. 1991. On grammatical objectification in Chinese 汉语里宾语代入现象之观察. Chinese Teaching in the World 世界汉语教学 2:76–84.Google Scholar
Yang, Yongzhong 杨永忠. 2007. The pragmatic motivations of Vi+NP construction Vi+NP 句法异位的语用动机. Chinese Linguistics 汉语学报 1:58–65.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×