Abstract
This study shows how what has been originally ascribed to the ‘lexicon’ is ‘distributed’ among different components of syntax and how degrees are compositionally introduced across categories by investigating the syntax and semantics of the Taiwanese Mandarin X hěn dà construction. In this construction, degrees are compositionally introduced by the literally vacuous adjective dà ‘DA’, which contributes a structure-preserving map from entities, events or states to their measures along various dimensions (Wellwood in Linguist Philos 38(1):67–101, 2015). Syntactically, the constituent hěn dà ‘HEN DA’ functions to be predicated of the root of the X component at the root-level, and the root later must move into the corresponding light head position to be categorically defined.
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Notes
Expressions like xīshēng hěn dà ‘sacrifice very big’ in (i) had already existed in Taiwanese Mandarin before the advertising slogan shā hěn dà ‘kill very big’ appeared.
(i)
Wèi-le
yán
hăo
jiăosè,
zhèng
mēi
xīshēng
hěn
dà.
for-ASP
play
well
role
beautiful
girl
sacrifice
very
big
‘The beautiful girl sacrifices a lot to play the role well.’
So, the advertising slogan shā hěn dà ‘kill very big’ might not be a newly created expression but one derived from expressions like xīshēng hěn dà ‘sacrifice very big’. Whether the slogan shā hěn dà ‘kill very big’ is a newly created expression is an issue beyond the scope of this study and will be left for future research.
Abbreviations used in this paper include: ASP: aspect marker, CL: classifier, DE: marker for modifying phrases, and SFP: sentence final particle.
Liu (2012: 62) claims that adjectives describing the configuration of an object cannot occur as the X component of the X hěn dà expression. This claim, however, is challenged by examples like (4c).
The adjective dà ‘very’, as Huang et al. (2014: 294–296) point out, can also modify an action-denoting verbal noun which has a transitive verb counterpart in a morphologically identical form (Chao 1968; Zhu 1982).
(i)
Zhè
yī
chéngguŏ
dùi
tāmen
de
gōngzuò
yóu
hěn
dà
(de)
bāngzhù.
this
one
outcome
to
they
DE
work
have
very
big
DE
help
‘This result would help their work a lot.’
(ii)
gúwŭ
‘encouragement, to encourage’
zhīchí
‘support, to support’
qĭfā
‘inspiration, to inspire’
The X hěn dà expression that takes a verb as the X component further allows the marker dé ‘DE’ to occur between the verb and the hěn dà component, as shown below.
(i)
Dŭshèng
Zhōu
Xīng-Chí
zhè
yě
wán
dé
tài
dà
le,
yī
bă
yíng
ì
god-of-gamblers
Zhou
Xing-Chi
this
also
play
DE
too
big
SFP
one
bet
win
one
qiān
wàn.
thousand
ten-thousand
‘How heavily the god of gamblers Zhou Xing-Chi gambles! He won ten million dollars in one bet.’
(ii)
Zhōngguó
kěnéng
shū
dé
gèng
dà,
yīnwèi
zhōngguó
cóng
měiguó
China
possible
lose
DE
even-more
big
because
China
from
USA
jìnkŏu
de,
bù
shăo
shì
shēngchăn
zhìzào
de
jīběn
yuánjiàn
huò
bùkěhuòquē
import
DE
not
few
is
produce
make
DE
basic
raw-material
or
necessary
de
ruántĭ.
DE
software
‘China might lose even more because most of her imports from the USA are the basic raw materials and indispensable software.’
As one anonymous reviewer notes, the sequence hěn dà ‘HEN DA’ seems to be quite similar to the sequence hěn duō ‘HEN many/much’ found in cases like (i), where the sequence hěn duō ‘HEN many/much’ also functions as a reference to a high degree reading related to the property denoted by the word preceding it (henceforth, the X hěn duō construction).
(i)
Zhāngsān
qián
hěn
duō.
Zhangsan
money
HEN
much
‘Zhangsan has a lot of money.’
The X hěn duō construction, however, differs from the X hěn dà construction in the following aspects (Lin 2014; Liu 2018b). First, if the X component is a gradable adjective, the X hěn duō construction like that in (ii) conveys a meaning of explicit comparison, and the sequence hěn duō ‘HEN many/much’ functions to refer to the differential between the target of comparison and the standard of comparison. However, this is not the case for the X hěn dà construction.
(ii)
Zhāngsān
gāo
gèng/hěn
duō.
Zhangsan
tall
even-more/HEN
much
‘Zhangsan is even much/much taller (than someone).’
Second, the X hěn duō construction cannot take a verb, either gradable or non-gradable, as the X component if the hěn duō ‘HEN many/much’ sequence functions to refer to a high degree reading related to the X component, as (iii) shows.
(iii)
*Zhāngsān
xĭhuān/zhuàn
gèng/hěn
duō.
Zhangsan
like/earn
even-more/HEN
much
However, the same is not true of the X hěn dà construction. So, the scope of this study will not include the X hěn duō construction.
Liu (2012: 59), assuming the framework of construction grammar, simply claims that the X hěn dà is a ‘construction’ without providing any evidence and without going into the details of the syntax and semantics of the X hěn dà construction or considering any of the questions raised by the X hěn dà construction. So, no specific comments on Liu (2012) are given in the rest of this paper.
Wellwood (2015: 75) uses Hilbert’s є operator to represent the silent indefinite determiner which combines with beer.
In (34a), there exists a possessive relation between xiězhēn nyŭxīng ‘poster girl’ and zhuāng ‘makeup’. So, in (34cvi–vii), I use the term ‘Hold’ to specify this possessive relation.
As Harley (2009: 134) argues, roots carry the encyclopedic semantic information which distinguishes a type of event that necessarily entails an internal argument from one that does not; therefore, argument selection is a feature of roots.
As suggested by Harley (2009: 137–138) as well as Levinson (2010: 156), a root can merge with something other than its arguments. For example, quick-acting in (ia) is one in which the root √ACT is modified by the adjective quick, as (ib) shows.
(i)
a.
quick-acting baking powder (It acts quick(ly))
b.
[aP [a [√ [a [√QUICKquick]-[a ∅]] [√ACTact]]-[a -ing]] [√P [√ACT
act][aP [a∅][√QUICK
quick]]]]I assume the unstressed degree adverb hěn ‘HEN’ in the X hěn dà construction is the overt positive morpheme, and a positive form like hěn gāo ‘HEN tall’ has semantics in (ib) (Kennedy 2007: 17).
(i)
a.
⟦[Deg hěn]⟧ = λgλx.g(x) ≥ s(g)
b.
⟦[DegP hěn gāo]⟧ = λx.gāo(x) ≥ s(gāo)
That is, in (ib), the context-sensitive function s chooses a standard of comparison in such a way as to ensure that the objects of which the positive form is true ‘stand out’ in the context of utterance, relative to the measurement encoded by the adjective gāo ‘tall’.
The term ‘Theta’ represents the thematic role that the individual x carries.
The light verb head v functions to introduce the agent role for the event denoted by the verb, and the light adjective head a functions to introduce the experiencer or theme role for the state denoted by the adjective.
This proposal does not exclude the possibility that the variable μ might be treated as one with type <e, d> and α is an element with type <e> (i.e., an entity) because the adjectival predicate hěn dà ‘HEN DA’, as (i) shows, can directly take an entity-denoting nominal as a subject.
(i)
Yŏu
yī-zhŏng
yòuhuò
hěn
da.
have
one-CL
temptation
HEN
DA
‘There is a kind of temptation and, as for the degree of allurement, it allures people a lot.’
Hence, as (ii) shows, example (i) is true only when there is an entity x and x is temptation, the A(μ)-measure of which is greater than or equal to that of the contextually determined standard of comparison chosen by the context-sensitive function s; if A(μ) is the degree of allurement, the sentence is interpretable.
(ii)
∃x[yòuhuò(x) & A(μ)(x) ≥ s(A(μ))]
A(μ) is the degree of allurement
So, I assume that there is only one dà ‘DA’.
An accomplishment verb cannot occur as the X component of the X hěn dà construction, which can also be explained by the assumption that, in the X hěn dà construction, only measure functions that apply to non-trivially structured domains are allowed and the mapping must be monotonic (Schwarzschild 2002, 2006). As Vendler (1967) and Dowty (1979) argue, activity and stative verbs can be considered homogeneous but a singularly-interpreted telic verb (e.g., an accomplishment verb) cannot. So, a singularly-interpreted telic verb cannot occur as the X component of the X hěn dà construction, as the ungrammaticality of (i) attests.
(i)
*Fúwùshēng
bēizi
dăpò
hěn
dà.
waiter
cup
hit-broken
HEN
DA
This assumption also explains why a semelfactive verb (e.g., ké ‘cough’) can occur in an X hěn dà construction if a context with a derived multiple-event consisting of repeated semelfactive events is available, as (ii) shows.
(ii)
Jiàng
xiěyā
yàowú
guòmĭn,
ōujīsàng
ké
hěn
dà.
decrease
blood-pressure
drug
allergy
elder
cough
HEN
DA
‘The elder coughs a lot because s/he is allergic to the drug that helps decrease blood pressure.’
In (69cviii), the capital E with the type of <v, t > represents a set of events. For ease of exposition, I use ‘money’ to replace the variable y.
As one anonymous reviewer notes, it would be very useful to see how the degree argument of a gradable adjective or verb is introduced when the X hěn dà construction is not involved. For example, what would my compositional analysis of a simple sentence like (i) look like?
(i)
Zhāngsān
hěn
gāo.
Zhangsan
very
tall
‘Zhangsan is very tall.’
I suggest two alternative responses to this question. One is to adopt Bresnan’s (1973) idea that there exists a rule like (ii), which applies after the rule that produces more (Wellwood 2014; 2015).
(ii)
much → ∅/_A
The other is to put aside the issue of English much and simply assume that, in Taiwanese Mandarin, the adjective dà ‘DA’ only compositionally introduces degrees for non-gradable expressions. According to the first option, in English what is underlyingly as much intelligent, for example, surfaces as as intelligent. Following the same reasoning, in Taiwanese Mandarin, a sentence with an adjectival predicate like (i) should contain the adjective dà ‘DA’, as (iii) shows, and this adjective is deleted later.
(iii)
Zhāngsān
hěn
dà
gāo.
Zhangsan
very
DA
tall
This option is supported by the evidence in (iva-b), in which the compound adjectives have the adjective dà ‘DA’ as their second component.
(iv)
a.
Zhè-ke
shù
hěn
gāodà.
this-CL
tree
very
tall-DA
‘This tree is very tall.’
b.
Shùgàn
fēicháng
cūdà.
trunk
extremely
thick-DA
‘The trunk is extremely thick.’
So, (iva) has a syntactic structure like (va), based on which the semantic composition of (va) can be demonstrated by (vb).
(v)
a.
[S Zhè-ke shù [DegP [Deg’ [Deg hěn][aP [a’ [aa] [√P [√ [√ √GĀO][A dà]]]]]]]]
b.
i.
⟦[A dà]⟧A = λα.A(μ)(α)
ii.
⟦[√ √GĀO]⟧ = λη.√GĀO(η)
iii.
⟦[√ √GĀOdà] ⟧A = λη.√GĀO(η) & A(μ)(η)
iv.
⟦[aP gāodà]⟧A = λxλs.Theme(s)(x) & gāo(s) & A(μ)(s)
v.
⟦[Deg hěn]⟧ = λgλα.g(α) ≥ s(g)
vi.
⟦[DegP hěn gāodà]⟧A = λxλs.Theme(s)(x) & gāo(s) & A(μ)(s) ≥ s(A(μ))
vii.
⟦S⟧A = λs.Theme(s)(zks) & gāo(s) & A(μ)(s) ≥ s(A(μ))
viii.
= T iff ∃s[Theme(s)(zks) & gāo(s) & A(μ)(s) ≥ s(A(μ))]
A(μ) is the height of trees.
As for the second option, we could say that a gradable adjective like gāo ‘tall’ does not need the adjective dà ‘DA’ to introduce degrees for it because it is gradable. So, a sentence with an adjectival predicate like (i), which has a syntactic structure as in (via) and a semantic interpretation like (vibiv).
(vi)
a.
[S Zhāngsān [DegP [[Deg hěn] [AP gāo]]]].
b.
i.
⟦[AP gāo]⟧ = λdλx.gāo(x) ≥ d
ii.
⟦[Deg hěn]⟧ = λgλx.g(x) ≥ s(g)
iii.
⟦[DegP hěn gāo]⟧ = λx.gāo(x) ≥ s(gāo)
iv.
⟦[S Zhāngsān hěn gāo]⟧ = gāo(zs) ≥ s(gāo)
At this point, I leave it open as to which of these two alternatives prevails.
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Acknowledgements
Parts of the earlier versions of this paper have been presented at the International Workshop on Degrees and Grammar: An East Asian Perspective held by Nanjing University in March 2019 and the 27th Annual Conference of International Association of Chinese Linguistics held by Kobe City University of Foreign Studies in May 2019. I am grateful for the feedback from the audiences there, especially Chao-Ting Chou, Dun Deng, Michael Erlewine, Thomas Grano, Jie Guo, Christopher Kennedy, Andrew Koontz-Garboden, Xuping Li, Jo-Wang Lin, Qiongpeng Luo, Louise McNally, Osamu Sawada, Beibei Xu, Linmin Zhang and Niina Zhang. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Yi-Hsun Chen and Hsiu-Chen Liao for their timely and helpful consultation on the semantic part of this paper as well as Jim Huang and Ting-Chi Wei for their suggestions. My deep gratitude also goes to the two respectable anonymous reviewers, from whom I have learned a lot, and their rigorous but constructive comments as well as inspiring suggestions have brought the paper into a more readable state than it otherwise would have been. Added to these, I gratefully acknowledge the research Grant MOST 107-2410-H-009-020 from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Needless to say, any errors or inconsistencies that have persisted are, of course, my responsibility.
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Liu, CS.L. The adjective dà in Taiwanese Mandarin: degree, measurement and roots. J East Asian Linguist 29, 119–157 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-020-09206-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-020-09206-8