Abstract
Chinese resultative compounds provide evidence that the thematic hierarchy is not the only factor determining the link between theta roles and syntactic arguments. Rather, it interacts with the causative hierarchy and when in conflict, can be overridden by the latter. This “asymmetrical” interaction between the two factors is shown to be responsible for the complex and, in some cases, totally unexpected patterns of ambiguity that resultative compounds demonstrate in various syntactic contexts. To the extent that the presence/absence of the causative hierarchy can be accurately predicted and its interaction with the thematic hierarchy explicitly specified, this paper lends support to the multi-dimensional nature of human language.
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The data as shown in (4) was brought to my attention by Bao Zhiming. I thank Jane Grimshaw for discussing the basic analysis with me at its beginning stage. Grimshaw (1990) has important influence on the ways in which my analysis is presented. This revised version benefits greatly from the detailed comments of threeNLLT reviewers and Carol Georgopoulos. I am also grateful to Emily Huang, Teng Qiuyun, Wang Yuyan, and Xie Qing for providing judgments on the Chinese data.
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Li, Y. The thematic hierarchy and causativity. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 13, 255–282 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992783
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992783