cognition based studies on chinese grammar

Cognition-Based Studies on
Chinese Grammar

Introducing the English translation of eight selected research articles originally
written in Chinese by Professor Yulin Yuan, Cognition-Based Studies on Chinese
Grammar is essential reading for researchers in Chinese syntax.
Yulin Yuan is one of the very first Chinese scholars who introduced cognitive
sciences into the study of Chinese language some twenty years ago, and his work
is well-known and highly regarded in China for its originality and theoretical contribution. The collection covers the core of his engagement with Chinese language
studies, ranging from lexical exploration to grammatical discussion.
Cognition-Based Studies on Chinese Grammar is designed for students or
researchers who specialise in the Chinese language, contemporary Chinese grammar and cognitive linguistics. It can also serve as a reference book for instructors
or teachers engaged in Chinese language pedagogy or in teaching Chinese as a
second or foreign language.
Yulin Yuan is Professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at
Peking University, China.
Guoxiang Wu is Associate Professor in the College of Foreign Languages at
Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, China.


Routledge Studies in Chinese Linguistics
Series editor: Hongming Zhang

Titles in the series:
Modern Chinese Grammar
A Clause-Pivot Theoretical Approach
Fuyi Xing, translated by Yong Wang and Fangfeng Dong
Cognition-Based Studies on Chinese Grammar
Yulin Yuan, translated by Guoxiang Wu
Dimensions of Variation in Written Chinese

Zheng-Sheng Zhang
Lexical Ontological Semantics
Guoxiang Wu and Yulin Yuan
Mandarin Chinese Words and Parts of Speech
Corpus-Based Foundational Studies
Huang Chu-Ren, Keh-Jiann Chen and Shu-Kai Hsieh
Partition and Quantity
Numeral Classifiers, Measurement, and Partitive
Constructions in Mandarin Chinese
Jing Jin
Syntax-Phonology Interface
Argumentation from Tone Sandhi in Chinese Dialects
Hongming Zhang


Cognition-Based Studies on
Chinese Grammar
Yulin YUAN
Translated by Guoxiang WU


First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
English language translation © 2017 Yulin Yuan and Guoxiang Wu
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yuan, Yulin, author. | Wu, Guoxiang (Translator)
Title: Cognition-based studies on Chinese grammar / Yulin Yuan (author) ;
Guoxiang Wu (translator).
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
[2017] | Series: Routledge studies in Chinese linguistics | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016020632 | ISBN 9781138796379 (hardback : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781315757919 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Chinese language—Syntax—Research. | Chinese
language—Grammar—Research.
Classification: LCC PL1241 .Y836 2017 | DDC 495.15—dc23
LC record available at />ISBN: 978-1-138-79637-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75791-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC


Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction

PART I

vii
1

Nominal valency in Mandarin Chinese

7

1

The di-valent noun

9

2

The mono-valent noun

PART II

38

Referential rules

67

3

The implicit predicate and its syntactic consequence

69

4

Nominal representation of verb phrases and the fluctuation
of pronominal reference

98

PART III

Topic and topicalisation

119

5

The Chinese topic structure

121

6

Grammatical significance of Chinese topics and their degrees
of grammaticalisation

160

vi Contents
PART IV

Word order and lexical co-occurrence: A cognitive explanation

199

7

The order of attributives: A cognitive explanation and
its theoretical implications

201

8

Container metaphor, set metaphor and the image schema

227

References
Index

264
272


Acknowledgements

As a collection of translated papers, this book has undergone two stages, i.e., the

publication of the original papers in Chinese and that of the translated ones. In
either case, we have received a lot of help from our teachers, students and friends.
We take this opportunity to express our gratitude to them for their helpful comments and constructive suggestions.
With regard to the publication of the eight original papers, we would like to
acknowledge support from the publishers and others. Chapter 1 is adapted from
the paper entitled ‘Xiàndài hànyǔ míngcí de pèijià yánjiū’ (现代汉语名词的配
价研究, On nominal valency in Mandarin Chinese), which appeared in Zhongguo Shehui Kexue (Social Sciences in China) in 1992. In this study, Prof. Zhu
De-Xi and Prof. Lu Jian-Ming have given us some instructions. Chapter  2 is
adapted from ‘Yījià míngcí de rènzhī yánjiū’ (一价名词的认知研究, A cognitive study of mono-valent nouns), which appeared in Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies
of the Chinese Language) in 1994. Prof. Lu and Prof. Xu Tong-Qiang have made
a number of corrections in our manuscript. Chapter  3 is adapted from ‘Wèicí
yùnhán jí qí jùfǎ hòuguǒ’ (谓词隐含及其句法后果, Implicit predicate and its
syntactic consequence), which was published in Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the
Chinese Language) in 1995. Prof. Lu and Prof. Jiang Shao-Yi have provided a
number of constructive suggestions. Chapter 4 is adapted from ‘Míngcí dàibiǎo
dòngcí duǎnyǔ hé dàicí suǒzhǐ de bōdòng’ (名词代表动词短语和代词所指的
波动, Nominal representation of verb phrases and the fluctuation of pronominal
reference), which was published in Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the Chinese Language) in 2002. Prof. Shen Pei has made a number of helpful comments. Chapter 5
is adapted from ‘Huàtíhuà jí xiāngguān de yǔfǎ guòchéng’ (话题化及相关的语
法过程, Topicalisation and related grammatical processes), which was also published in Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the Chinese Language) in 1996. Chapter 6
is adapted from ‘Hànyǔ huàtí de yǔfǎ dìwèi hé yǔfǎhuà chéngdù’ (汉语话题的
语法地位和语法化程度, The grammatical status of topical elements in Chinese
and the degree of their grammaticalisation), which was included in a collection
entitled Forum of Linguistics (25) by The Commercial Press in 2002. Chapter 7 is
adapted from ‘Dìngyǔ shùnxù de rènzhī jiěshì jí qí lǐlùn yùnhán’ (定语顺序的认
知解释及其理论蕴涵, The order of attributives: A cognitive explanation and its
theoretical implications), which appeared in Zhongguo Shehui Kexue (Social Sciences in China) in 1999. Chapter 8 is adapted from ‘Róngqì yǐnyù, tàojiàn yǐnyù jí


viii Acknowledgements

xiāngguān de yǔfǎ xiànxiàng’ (容器隐喻、套件隐喻及相关的语法现象, Container metaphor, set metaphor and related grammatical phenomena), which was
published in Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the Chinese Language) in 2004. This
study was supported by the ‘Trans-century Training Program Foundation for Talents’ and the ‘Tenth Five-Year Plan’ Project (01JB740006), both funded by the
Chinese Ministry of Education. With regard to the graphic and semantic analyses
of Chinese characters in section 5, Prof. Shen has provided some comments and
suggestions. With regard to how the semantic rules of linguistic expressions can
be constructed and formulated, Dr. Zhan Wei-Dong has given suggestions. For the
journals, publishers and our colleagues, we hereby extend our heart-felt thanks
to them.
With regard to the translation of the eight original papers, our thanks, first of
all, go to Prof. Wendy Bowcher (Sun Yat-sen University). Prof. Bowcher is the
first expert who proofread and revised the sample translation. We also thank Prof.
Kuo-Ming Sung (Lawrence University) and Prof. Chao-Hsien Wang (Peking University) for proofreading the first two chapters of this book. It is worth mentioning
Prof. Sung also invited his wife and his son to proofread these two chapters. Special thanks go to Prof. Wu Haibo (Shandong Agricultural University) and Prof.
Wu Yicheng (Zhejiang University) for their careful proofreading of the whole
manuscript. Finally, we want to thank the following scholars for offering various forms of support for the translation of this book: Prof. Gao Yi-Hong (Peking
University), Prof. Jiang Wang-Qi (Peking University), Prof. Zhou Ren (Beijing
Language and Culture University) and Prof. Wu Jianming (Shanghai International
Studies University).
This translation work is an important part of the translator’s postdoctoral program. We gratefully acknowledge funding support from National Social Science
Foundation Grant (12&ZD175) and Huaqiao Huaqiao University’s Academic
Project Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Univers­
ities (15SKGC-QG09).
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to Ms. Sun Lian for offering us
much help and support during the whole process of translation and publication.
Our deep-felt thanks also go to our dear families. Without their omnipresent support, encouragement and love, we could not have finished this translation work.


Introduction

This is a collection of eight translated papers originally written in Chinese. The
earliest original paper was published in 1992 and the latest one in 2004. The
time spans over a decade. During the past two decades, the original works have
had considerable influence in China’s linguistic circle. These works are the most
widely distributed and highly cited among more than 100 papers written by the
author. According to the latest (2014) statistics of China National Knowledge
Infrastructure (CNKI), the total citations of the original author amount to 3600,
and the H-Index is 33. In terms of successive publications, on the basis of the
original papers, the following five related monographs (in Chinese) have been
published in recent years:
(1) Cognition-based Studies on Chinese Computational Linguistics. (Yuan Yulin,
2008). Beijing: Peking University Press.
(2) A Handbook of Classification of the Parts of Speech in Chinese. (Yulin Yuan,
2009). Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press.
(3) Studies on Chinese Nominal Valency Grammar. (Yulin Yuan, 2010). Beijing:
The Commercial Press.
(4) Cognitive Studies and Fuzzy Classification of the Parts of Speech in Chinese.
(Yulin Yuan, 2010). Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.
(5) Self-selected Papers by Well-known Middle-aged Linguists Yuan Yulin. (Yuan
Yulin, 2013). Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.
The eight selected original papers constitute the core of these five monographs.
With regard to the papers, the monographs either provide further exemplification
(e.g., Cognition-based Studies on Chinese Computational Linguistics and Studies
on Chinese Nominal Valency Grammar) or make thorough application (e.g., A
Handbook of Classification of the Parts of Speech in Chinese and Cognitive Studies and Fuzzy Classification of the Parts of Speech in Chinese). Apparently, the
original papers still maintain its academic excellence and vitality, since they are
the guidelines of the successive studies.
The grammatical studies as conducted in the original papers have four
aspects of academic values. They have focused on the characteristics of the
Chinese language, inherited the academic traditions in Chinese grammar,

adopted widely-accepted cognitive and empirical approaches, and employed the


2 Introduction
methodologies of contemporary computational linguistics. These values are elaborated as follows:
(1) Characteristics of the Chinese language. Except that a few chapters make
reference to a small number of English examples, the majority of examples
cited in the original papers come from Mandarin Chinese or Beijing dialect (e.g., Chapter 8). In addition, a number of examples are also taken from
Classical Chinese (e.g., Chapter 3 and Chapter 4) or from Modern Chinese
dialects (e.g., Chapter 5). The research and discussion not only throw light
on linguistic universals, but also demonstrate the factual landscape of the
Chinese language. For instance, there is a fuzzy borderline between Modern
Chinese and Classical Chinese; the spoken and the written languages are in
fact penetrative with each other. The studies conducted in the original papers
have uncovered a large number of characteristics of the Chinese language.
(2) Research traditions in Chinese grammar. Except that the original author refers
to the works or research reports of linguistic scholars at home and abroad, the
original studies observe the research tradition in Chinese grammar. Several
generations of Chinese linguists have developed this mainstream academic
tradition since the beginning of the 20th century, e.g., Chao Yuen Ren, Wang
Li, Lǚ Shu-Xiang and Zhu De-Xi. From the original works, readers can learn
about Chinese grammatical studies during the past two decades and of Chinese linguistics as a whole in the past century.
(3) Cognitive and empirical approaches. Under the traditional research methodology, the original papers have introduced modern cognitive sciences and
empirical approaches into the studies of Chinese grammar, with the view
to exploring cognition-based grammatical studies. The original papers have
dealt with a large number of important grammatical issues, ranging from lexical to grammatical analyses, so they should be conducive to further lexical
and grammatical studies. In addition, since empirical approaches are adopted,
grammatical theories and their application in language processing and teaching are closely interconnected.
(4) The methodologies of computational linguistics. These are important means
of contemporary empirical approaches. The linguistic description in the

original papers makes good use of basic concepts and insights from computer sciences. For example, studies on nominal valency attempt to formalise
knowledge through linguistic means, i.e., the encyclopedic knowledge of various complex relations among different objects are transformed into syntactic
and semantic relations among different nouns; in the studies of metaphor, the
original works transform metaphorical expressions into computational expressions, namely, meanings can be computed. In a sense, the original works
have set up an interface between grammatical studies and computational
linguistics.
In a word, based on the solid data from the Chinese language, the grammatical
studies carried out in the original works are both theoretically and empirically
significant for the study of linguistics, cognitive sciences and computer sciences


Introduction  3
and technology. In addition, they are also conducive to future studies. It is owing
to their social influence and academic value that we decide to translate them into
English and present them to English-speaking readers.
In this collection, the translated eight papers are arranged into eight chapters.
Specifically, they are divided into four parts, which each contains two chapters. It
covers a number of Chinese grammatical issues, such as valency, referential rule,
topic structure, word order, and lexical co-occurrence. The main contents and
important points of view are shown as follows:
(1) Part 1 adopts the concept ‘valency’ to probe into the syntactic and semantic
features of Chinese nouns. If a noun has a valency of one, it is mono-valent.
With a valency of two, it is di-valent.
Chapter 1 uses the downgraded predication N<a P b> or N<X> to represent
the semantic structure of di-valent nouns. It has the following features: (1) the
patterns ‘NP1 duì NP2 yǒu N<X>’ and ‘NP1 duì NP2 de N<X>’ are transformable;
(2) if NP in ‘duì NP de N<X>’ represents ‘someone’, the pattern is ambiguous;
(3) NP1 and NP2 in ‘NP1 duì NP2 de N<X>’ hold a subject-object relation, but
the latter has a stronger dependency upon N<X>; (4) since ‘NP1 duì NP2 de’ is
self-designative, it cannot independently represent the head noun N<X>. Further

analysis shows that the preposition duì (对, ‘toward’) mainly functions to introduce the downgraded object.
Chapter 2 adopts a cognitive approach to Chinese grammar. Two cognitive processes are explored, i.e., spreading activation and reasoning by default. In the
former, a mono-valent noun activates the dependent item, which in turn serves as
the frame of reference of the valent noun. In the latter, based on the semantic interaction between the independent item and the predicative adjective, the implied
mono-valent noun can be recovered. This shows that grammatical valency resides
deeply in human cognition. It is, therefore, necessary to study language in cognitive terms.
(2) Part 2 discusses referential relations between the noun and the verb in the
de-construction. Reference is a phenomenon in which one lexical item or
grammatical structure refers to or represents another lexical item or grammatical structure.
Chapter 3 examines the construction ‘X + de + Y’ in which de nominalises X
and introduces the implicit predicate to account for what is commonly referred to
as syntactic deletion, semantic implication and pragmatic ellipsis involved in this
construction. The de-construction ‘X + de’ may extracts syntactic constituents
with different semantic cases. Those which extract kernel cases can represent the
head Y; in contrast, those which extract peripheral cases cannot represent the head
Y. It is due to this referential feature that the morpheme de is traditionally distinguished between the self-designative and the trans-designative.
Chapter 4 further explores the referential relations among nouns, verb phrases
and related pronouns. A verb phrase is commonly composed of a noun and a verb.


4 Introduction
The noun expresses an object and the verb phrase expresses an event. On one
hand, if the verb phrase acts as topic in the sentence, the noun can then represent
the whole verb phrase. On the other, a pronoun may refer to either the object or
the event. Therefore, pronominal reference possibly fluctuates between the object
and the event. In this case, the context places a crucial role in disambiguating the
pronominal reference.
(4) Part 3 analyses the co-existing subject-predicate and topic-comment structures in Chinese. On the basis of the subject-predicate structure, Chapter 5
and Chapter 6 discuss the grammatical processes as well as the grammatical
status of the topic structure.

Chapter 5 investigates the derivational relation between the subject-predicate
predicate sentence (i.e., the topic structure) and the subject-predicate sentence
(i.e., the S-P structure). On one hand, the topic structure is derived from the S-P
structure. This is because the existence of an S-P structure is a prerequisite for
the existence of the corresponding topic structure. On the other hand, the topic
structure is a fundamental pattern from a synchronic perspective. This is because
not all S-P sentences can be transformed into the topic structure and not all S-P
predicate sentences can be converted into the S-P pattern. In a word, the topic and
the subject have equal grammatical status in Mandarin Chinese.
Chapter 6 further examines the grammatical status and the degree of grammaticalisation of the Chinese topic. On one hand, the grammatical means (e.g., verbs
and word order) is often used to mark the topic. This is referred to as grammaticalisation of topics. On the other hand, the lexical means (e.g., modal particles)
is often used to introduce the topic. This is referred to as the textualisation of
sentences. In other words, the topic is characterised by syntactic and textual features simultaneously. Evidently, the topic-comment structure has gradually grammaticalised into a syntactic structure.
(5) In Part 4, it is pointed out that language and cognition are closely related.
For this reason, we can either demonstrate cognitive structures by means of
language or make computational analysis of language by means of cognitive
models.
In Chapter 7, it is hypothesised that different attributives belong to different
semantic paradigms which contain different number of opposite items. In general,
the attributive with fewer opposite items is located before the attributive with
more opposite items, because the former contains less information than the latter.
In terms of cognitive processing, the constituent with less information is easier to
parse than the constituent with more information. As a cognitive strategy, the easy
constituent is positioned before the difficult one. The present research shows that
(1) description and explanation are closely related; (2) linguistic structure can be
described in terms of information theory.
Chapter 8 exemplifies the roles which the image schema plays in Chinese language and literature. The image schema is a human cognitive mechanism used


Introduction  5

to experience the world. In Chinese, the one whole schema ‘ONE’ is often seen
to neutralise the one-pair schema ‘PAIR’ and the two-half schema ‘TWO’. With
this theoretical basis, this chapter makes a schematic analysis of the container
metaphor ‘FULL’ and the set metaphor ‘WHOLE’. A unified cognitive analysis is
thus achieved, which is in turn transformed into operable algorithms. In this way,
a computation-oriented cognitive approach to linguistics is demonstrated.
To sum up, as far as current trends of international linguistic studies are concerned, on one hand, the Chinese language or Chinese studies are taken more often
than ever as an indispensable subject matter; on the other hand, Chinese scholars
become ever keener to employ novel linguistic frameworks to describe the characteristics of the Chinese language. In either case, this collection has uncovered
the characteristic features of the Chinese language. Moreover, it has developed
Chinese linguistic traditions to a considerable degree. In the current background
of the internationalisation of Chinese studies, this book caters for these two lines
of research endeavour with the common goal, i.e., toward a Chinese grammatics.



Part I

Nominal valency in
Mandarin Chinese



1 The di-valent noun

The concept of ‘valency’ originates in chemical sciences. It refers to the property
of atoms of one element to combine with atoms of other elements. The term is
borrowed into linguistics to denote a dependency relation between a verb and
a given number of nouns. A verb which obligatorily takes one noun is called
a mono-valent verb, e.g., zǒu (走, go) as in rén zǒu (人走, ‘a person goes’) and

fēi (飞, fly) as in niǎo fēi (鸟飞, ‘a bird flies’). Similarly, a di-valent verb has
a valency of two, i.e., it obligatorily takes two nouns (Zhu, 1985a: 125–150),
e.g., mǎi (买, buy) as in tā mǎi cài (他买菜, ‘he buys the food’) and zhuó (啄,
peck) as in jī zhuó mǐ (鸡啄米, ‘a chick pecks the rice’). This chapter is intended
to apply the concept of verbal valency to examine nouns.1

1.  Nominal valency and downgraded predication
1.1  Nouns also have their own valencies: a governing noun requires that one or
more subordinate nouns should co-occur with it. For example,
(1) zhè
jiàn shì
Lǎo Zhāng
yǒu
yìjiàn

这
件
事
老张
有
意见
this  CL  matter  Lao Zhang  have  opinion

‘Lao Zhang has an opinion on this matter.’
(2) zhè
zhǒng
shì
wǒ
bù
gǎn

xìngqù

这
种
事
我
不
感
兴趣
this CL matter I NEG feel interest

‘I do not have any interest in this matter.’
(3) tā
duì
Liú Gāng
méi
yǒu
hǎogǎn

他
对
刘刚
没
有
好感

he
DUI
Liu Gang
NEG

have
good impression

‘He does not have any good impression about Liu Gang.’
(4) chǎngzhǎng
duì
zhè qǐ
shìgù
fùyǒu zérèn

厂长
对
这
起
事故
负有 责任

factory director DUI this CL accident take
responsibility

‘The factory director is held responsible for this accident.’


10  Nominal valency in Mandarin Chinese
In (1), yǒu (有, have) is a di-valent verb, which takes two dependent items,2 i.e.,
Lǎo Zhāng (老张, ‘Lao Zhang’) and yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’). The nominal phrase
(NP) zhè jiàn shì (这件事, ‘this matter’) is a dependent item not of the verb yǒu
(有, ‘have’) but of the noun yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’). Yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’)
means ‘a point of view which someone has toward someone else or something’.
A close examination shows that Lǎo Zhāng (老张, Lao Zhang) is simultaneously

another dependent item of yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’). Apparently, the noun yìjiàn
(意见, ‘opinion’) connects two entities and requires two dependent items, so it is
considered a di-valent noun. Similarly, xìngqù (兴趣, ‘interest’), hǎogǎn (好感,
‘good impression’) and zérèn (责任, ‘responsibility’) in (2) ~ (4) are all di-valent
nouns, so they require two dependent items to co-occur with them. If one of the
two dependent items is absent, the meanings of the sentences would be incomplete. For example (note that a pre-positioned question mark ‘?’ indicates that the
sentence is less acceptable),
(3’) ?tā yīzhí
méiyǒu hǎogǎn
(1’) ?Lǎo Zhāng yǒu yìjiàn
?老张
有 意见?他 一直
没有
好感

?Lao Zhang have opinion
?he all along lack
good
 impression

‘Lao Zhang has an opinion’
‘he has never had a good impression’
(2’) ?wǒ bù
gǎn xìngqù (4’) ?chǎngzhǎng
fùyǒu zérèn
?我 不
感
兴趣?厂长
负有 责任

?I NEG have interest
?factory director take responsibility

‘I do not have any interest’
‘the factory director shoulders
  res­ponsibility’
1.2  In this chapter, the concept of downgraded predication3 is adopted to account
for the semantic relation between the di-valent noun and its dependent items. Let
us come back to yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’). It has two senses (DEO, 2012: 1545):
(1) a point of view or an idea toward something; (2) a dissatisfactory idea (toward
someone or something) on account of a belief that someone or something is incorrect. These two senses can be merged and simplified as ‘a point of view which
someone has toward something’. In this way, the semantic structure of yìjiàn
(意见, ‘opinion’) can be represented as follows:
yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’): point of view <someone toward something>
The downgraded predication <someone toward something> is similar to a semantic feature. It can be used to describe the valent structure of yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’). Similarly, with regard to di-valent nouns such as lìchǎng (立场, ‘stance’),
jièxīn (戒心, ‘vigilance’), gǎnxiǎng (感想, ‘sentiment’) and xìngqù (兴趣, ‘interest’), their semantic structures can be represented as follows:
(i) lìchǎng (立场, ‘stance’): attitude <someone toward something>
(ii) jièxīn (戒心, ‘vigilance’): alert <someone toward something>
(iii)gǎnxiǎng (感想, ‘sentiment’): mental reflection <someone toward something>
(iv) xìngqù (兴趣, ‘interest’): joyful mood <someone toward something>


The di-valent noun  11
For these semantic expressions, ‘N’ can be used to represent the major semantic
component, e.g., ‘point of view’ or ‘attitude’; ‘<a P b>’ can be used to represent
the downgraded predication <someone toward something> (‘a’ and ‘b’ represent
the individual constants, e.g., ‘someone’ and ‘something’; ‘P’ represents the predicate, e.g., duì [对, ‘toward/on’]). In this way, the semantic structure of a di-valent
noun can be formulated as follows:
N<a P b>
For convenience, the complex symbol <X> is used to stand for the downgraded

predication <a P b>. In this way, the di-valent noun N< a P b > can be rewritten
as N<X>.
The downgraded predication reflects the valent structure of di-valent nouns, so
it contains rich grammatical information, including various syntactic and semantic relations among various constituents. For this reason, it can be used to account
for the syntactic function of di-valent nouns.

2.  Di-valent nouns expressing notions or feelings
2.1  In Mandarin Chinese, the di-valent noun is a large sub-class of nouns. In
terms of semantic composition and syntactic performance, they vary from type to
type. This chapter mainly focuses on those di-valent nouns which express notions
or feelings, i.e., the notion/feeling di-valent noun or simply N<X>. This sub-class
includes the following common members:
yìjiàn (意见,
jiànjiě (见解,
gāojiàn (高见,
  ‘opinion’)  ‘understanding’)  ‘insight’)
piānjiàn (偏见,
chéngjiàn (成见,
yìsī (意思,
  ‘bias’)  ‘prejudice’)  ‘meaning’)
xiǎngfǎ (想法,
kànfǎ (看法,
huànxiǎng (幻想,
  ‘idea’)  ‘view’)  ‘fantasy’)
dá’àn (答案,
dáfù (答复,
jiélùn (结论,
  ‘answer’)  ‘reply’)  ‘conclusion’)
dìnglùn (定论,
gǎnqíng (感情,

zhēnqíng (真情,
  ‘judgment’)  ‘feelings’)  ‘true feeling’)
qíngyì (情义,
rèqíng (热情,
ēnqíng (恩情,
  ‘friendship’)  ‘passion’)  ‘benefaction’)
ēndé (恩德,
jièxīn (戒心,
àixīn (爱心,
  ‘benevolence’)  ‘vigilance’)  ‘affection’)
piānxīn (偏心,
yíxīn (疑心,
gùlǜ (顾虑,
  ‘partiality’)  ‘suspicion’)  ‘worry’)
gǎnjué (感觉,
zhíjué (直觉,
gǎnshòu (感受,
  ‘sense’)  ‘institution’)  ‘perception’)
gǎnxiǎng (感想,
tǐhuì (体会,
yìnxiàng (印象,
  ‘sentiment’)  ‘experience’)  ‘impression’)
fǎnyìng (反应,
xìnxīn (信心,
xìnniàn (信念,
  ‘reflection’)  ‘confidence’)  ‘faith’)


12  Nominal valency in Mandarin Chinese
xìnyǎng (信仰,

díyì (敌意,
jìngyì (敬意,
  ‘belief’)  ‘hostility’)  ‘respect’)
hǎoyì (好意,
hǎogǎn (好感,
lìchǎng (立场,
  ‘favour’)  ‘good impression’)  ‘stance’)
tàidù (态度,
zérèn (责任,
xìngqù (兴趣,
  ‘attitude’)  ‘responsibility’)  ‘interest’)
These words share a common semantic composition, which can be represented
as follows:
notion/feeling <someone toward someone/something>
Formally, these nouns can enter into the following transformational relation
between Si and Sii:
Si:NP1 duì NP2 yǒu N(NP1对NP2有N) ↔ Sii:NP1 duì NP2 de N (NP1对



  NP2的N)
NP1 DUI NP2 have N
NP1 DUI NP2 DE N
‘NP1 has N toward/on NP2’
‘N which NP1 has toward/
 
on NP2’
(3) and (4) belong to the pattern Si. They can be transformed into the pattern Sii
as shown below:
(3) Si: tā duì Liú Gāng méi yǒu hǎogǎn

他 对 刘刚
没
有
好感
he DUI Liu Gang NEG have good impression
‘He does not have any good impression about Liu Gang.’

↔ Sii: tā duì Liú Gāng de hǎogǎn
他 对
刘刚
的 好感
he
DUI
Liu Gang
DE
good impression

‘the good impression which he has about Liu Gang’
(4) Si: chǎngzhǎng
duì zhè qǐ shìgù
fùyǒu zérèn
厂长
对 这 起 事故
负有 责任
factory director DUI this CL accident take responsibility
‘The factory director is held responsible for this accident.’

↔ Sii: chǎngzhǎng duì zhè qǐ shìgù de zérèn
厂长
对 这 起 事故

的 责任
factory DUI
this
CL
accident
DE
responsibility
 
director

‘the responsibility which the factory director holds for this
  accident’
Si: ‘NP1 duì NP2 yǒu N’ is an assertive form; it states that someone holds a notion
or a feeling toward someone else or something. In correspondence to Si, Sii: ‘NP1
duì NP2 de N’ is a designative form; it specifies a notion or a feeling held by


The di-valent noun  13
someone toward someone or something else. For more details about assertion and
designation, please refer to Zhu (1982: 124) and Zhu (1990a: 58).
2.2 According to our observation, a number of nominal verbs (written as
NV) can also enter into the above transformational relation between Si and Sii. For
example,
(5) Si: Lǎo Lǐ duì Shānxī fāngyán yǒu yánjiū
老李
对
山西
方言
有
研究

Lao Li
DUI
Shanxi
dialecthave
research

‘Lao Li has done some research on Shanxi dialects.’

↔ Sii: Lǎo Lǐ duì Shānxī fāngyán de yánjiū
老李
对
山西
方言
的 研究
Lao Li
DUI
Shanxi
dialectDE
research

‘the research which Lao Li has done on Shanxi dialects’
(6) Si: yīyuàn duì bìngrén zhèngzhuàng yǒu jìlù
医院
对
病人
症状
有
记录
hospital
DUI

patient
symptom have
record

‘the hospital has records on the symptoms of the patients’

↔ Sii: yīyuàn duì bìngrén zhèngzhuàng de jìlù
医院
对 病人
症状
的 记录
hospital
DUI
patient
symptom DE
record

‘the records which the hospital has on the symptoms of
  the patients’
These nominal verbs possess a dual property, i.e., they have both nominal and
verbal properties. In Si and Sii, the nominal aspect is realised. If a nominal verb
acts as the head of a predicate, however, its verbal aspect would be realised (Zhu,
1990b). In this case, it can also enter into the following pattern (Siii):
Siii:NP1 + NV + NP2
For example, (5) and (6) can be transformed into the pattern Siii as follows:
(5’)Siii: Lǎo Lǐ yánjiū (guò)
Shānxī fāngyán
老李
研究(过)
山西

方言

Lao Li research (PERF) Shanxi dialect

‘Lao Li studied Shanxi dialects’
(6’)Siii: yīyuàn jìlù
(le)
bìngrén zhèngzhuàng
医院
记录(了)
病人
症状
hospitalrecord (PERF) patient symptoms

‘the hospital recorded the symptoms of the patients’
In contrast, the notion/feeling di-valent noun N<X> cannot enter into Siii. Therefore, on the basis of the transformational relation among Si, Sii and Siii, we can
define N<X> as follows: N<X> is a sub-class of nouns which can enter into Si and
Sii, but cannot enter into Siii.


14  Nominal valency in Mandarin Chinese
2.3  Different nouns are modified by different measure words. According
to their measure words or classifiers, Zhu (1982: 41–42) classifies nouns into
five types: (i) countable nouns, (ii) uncountable nouns, (iii) collective nouns,
(4) abstract nouns, and (v) proper nouns. The notion/feeling di-valent noun N<X>
belongs to abstract nouns. They can be modified by a small number of measure
words, including zhǒng (种, ‘type’), diǎnr (点儿, ‘a little’), xiē (些, ‘a few’), etc.
Examples of their collocation are listed as follows:
(i) yī zhǒng (一种, a/an CL):

~ yìjiàn (~意见, ‘an opinion’)
~ gǎnjué (~感觉, ‘a sense’)

~ xìnniàn (~信念, ‘a faith’)
~ lìchǎng (~立场, ‘a stance’)
(ii) zhè zhǒng (这种, this CL):

~ xiǎngfǎ (~想法, ‘this idea’)
~ gǎnqíng (~感情, ‘this feeling’)

~ xìnxīn (~信心, ‘this confidence’)
~ tàidù (~态度, ‘this attitude’)
(iii)(yǒu) xiē ([有]些, some):

~ chéngjiàn (~成见, ‘some prejudice’) ~ gùlǜ (~顾虑, ‘some worry’)

~ yìnxiàng (~印象, ‘some impression’) ~ xìngqù (~兴趣, ‘some interest’)
(iv) (yǒu) diǎnr ([有]点儿, a little):

~ kànfǎ (~看法, ‘a little dissatisfaction’) ~ rèqíng (~热情, ‘a little passion’)

~ gǎnxiǎng (~感想, ‘a little sentiment’) ~ hǎogǎn (~好感, ‘a little good
  impression’)
N<X> shares a number of linguistic features with other abstract nouns. In the
following sections, we will mainly discuss its grammatical and semantic features.

3.  Downgraded subject, downgraded object and ambiguity
3.1  As mentioned in section  2.1, the semantic structure of the notion/feeling
di-valent noun (i.e., N<X>) is formulated as follows:
notion/feeling <someone toward someone/something>

The downgraded predication <someone toward someone/something> is often
used to modify N<X>. This gives rise to the following subordinate phrase (a designative form):
(mǒurén duì mǒurén/mǒushì)
de N<X>
(某人
对
某人/某事)
的 N<X>
(someone DUI someone/something) DE N<X>
‘[the] N<X> which someone has toward someone/something’
For example,
de yìjiàn
(1’’) Lǎo Zhāng duì zhè jiàn shì

老张
对
这 件 事
的 意见

Lao Zhang DUI this CL matter DE opinion

‘the opinion which Lao Zhang has on this matter’


The di-valent noun  15
(2’’) wǒ duì zhè zhǒng shì
de xìngqù

我 对
这 种

事
的 兴趣
I DUIthisCL matterDE interest

‘the interest which I have in this matter’
(3’’) tā duì
Liú Gāng de hǎogǎn

他 对
刘刚
的 好感

he DUI Liu Gang de good impression

‘the good impression which he has about Liu Gang’
(4’’) chǎngzhǎng
duì zhè qǐ shìgù
de zérèn

厂长
对
这 起 事故
的 责任

factory director DUI this CL accident DE responsibility

‘the responsibility which the factory director holds for this accident’
In example (1’’), though the immediate constituent Lǎo Zhāng duì zhè jiàn shì
de (老张对这件事的, ‘[of] Lao Zhang on this matter’) modifies yìjiàn (意见,
‘opinion’), neither Lǎo Zhāng (老张, ‘Lao Zhang’) nor zhè jiàn shì (这件事, ‘this

matter’) is directly related to yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’). These two constituents are
combined by the preposition duì (对, ‘toward/on’) into a quasi subject-predicate
construction, i.e., Lǎo Zhāng duì zhè jiàn shì (老张对这件事, ‘Lao Zhang on this
matter’). In this construction, Lǎo Zhāng (老张, ‘Lao Zhang’) and zhè jiàn shì
(这件事, ‘this matter’) act as subject and object, respectively.4 To be exact, with
regard to yìjiàn (意见, ‘opinion’), Lǎo Zhāng (老张, ‘Lao Zhang’) is the downgraded subject (written as NPa) and zhè jiàn shì (这件事, ‘this matter’) is the
downgraded object (written as NPb). That is, different semantic roles are assigned
respectively to the two dependent items of N<X>.
With the downgraded subject NPa and the downgraded object NPb, the above
designative form can be rewritten as follows:
(NPa duì NPb) de N<X>
(NPa 对NPb) 的 N<X>
(NPaDUINPb) DE N<X>
‘[the] N<X> (which NPa has toward/on NPb)’
Here, either NPa or NPb may be absent. In this case, the following (a) or (b) will
be generated:
(a) (duì NPb) de
N<X>
(b)
(对NPb) 的
N<X>
(DUINPb) DE N<X>

‘[the] N<X> (toward/on NPb)’

(NPa) de N<X>
(NPa) 的 N<X>
(NPa) DE N<X>
‘[the] N<X> (of NPa)’

For example,
(1a) duì zhè jiàn shì
de yìjiàn
(1b) Lǎo Zhāng de yìjiàn

对 这 件 事
的 意见老张
的 意见
DUIthisCL matterDEopinion Lao ZhangDEopinion

‘the opinion on this matter’
‘the opinion of Lao Zhang’


16  Nominal valency in Mandarin Chinese
(2a)



(3a)




duì zhè zhǒng shì
de xìngqù
(2b) wǒ de xìngqù
对 这 种
事
的 兴趣

我 的 兴趣
DUIthis CL matter DE interest
I DEinterest
‘the interest in this matter’
‘my interest’
duì Liú Gāng de hǎogǎn
(3b) tā de hǎogǎn
对 刘刚
的 好感
他 的 好感
DUI Liu Gang DE good impression
he DE good impression
‘the good impression about Liu Gang’
‘the good impression of him’
(4a) duì zhè qǐ shìgù de zérèn
(4b) chǎngzhǎng de zérèn

对 这 起 事故
的 责任
厂长
的 责任

DUIthisCLaccidentDEresponsibility factory
DEresponsibility
 
director

‘the responsibility for this accident’
‘the responsibility of the factory
  director’

The expressions dealt with in this subsection are all nominal subordinate constructions, which can act as subject and object.
3.2  The following expressions are ambiguous (Zhu, 1985b):
(7) duì chǎngzhǎng
de yìjiàn

对
厂长
的 意见

DUI factory director DE opinion

‘the opinion on the factory director’ / ‘with regard to the opinion of the
  factory director’
(8) duì zhàngfu de gǎnqíng

对
丈夫
的 感情
DUIhusbandDEfeeling

‘the feelings for the husband’ / ‘with regard to the feelings of the husband’
(9) duì háizi
de xìngqù

对
孩子
的 兴趣
DUIchildren DEinterest

‘the interest in the children’ / ‘with regard to the interest of the children’
On one hand, (7) can be understood as follows:
(7a) zhēnduì chǎngzhǎng
ér
tíchū de
yìjiàn

针对
厂长
而
提出 的
意见

toward factory director CONJ raise DE opinion

‘the opinion which is raised on the factory director’
In this case, chǎngzhǎng (厂长, ‘the factory director’) is the downgraded object
of yìjiàn (意见, opinion), so (7a) is a token of ‘duì NPb de N<X>’. On the other
hand, (7) can also be understood as follows:
(7b) duìyú
chǎngzhǎng
suǒchí
de
yìjiàn
对于
厂长
所持
的
意见
toward

factory director
have
DE
opinion
‘with regard to the opinion that the factory director has’