Abstract
There are different views concerning the typology of Chinese. Based on the study of Motion events, Talmy (1985, 1991, 2000) categorises Chinese as a satellite-framed language, but Slobin (2004, p. 228) proposes Chinese belongs to what is called “equipollently-framed languages”. Following an empirical study of Motion expressions in Mandarin Chinese, more evidence is found that Chinese speakers rely strongly on serial verb constructions. The Manner verbs in Chinese stories are not as varied as those in English stories while Path verbs are more varied in Chinese than in English. The result suggests that Chinese follows what Slobin (2004) categorises an equipollently-framed language.
Highlights
Chinese satellites can stand alone as independent verbs, which is not possible with English satellites. Gao (2001, p. 62) points out that “these satellites in Chinese can function as independent verbs themselves.” In (2a), for example, the word 来lai2 “come” is used in the Manner + Path combination, with 跑pao3 “run” being the Manner verb and 来lai2 “come” being the Path verb
The Manner verbs in Chinese stories are not as varied as those in English stories while Path verbs are more varied in Chinese than in English
The hypothesis consists of two parts: (a) Manner in Chinese does not receive the same salience as in English, and (b), Chinese speakers will strongly rely on serial verb constructions
Summary
Chinese satellites can stand alone as independent verbs, which is not possible with English satellites. Gao (2001, p. 62) points out that “these satellites in Chinese can function as independent verbs themselves.” In (2a), for example, the word 来lai2 “come” is used in the Manner + Path combination, with 跑pao3 “run” being the Manner verb and 来lai2 “come” being the Path verb. In (2a), for example, the word 来lai2 “come” is used in the Manner + Path combination, with 跑pao3 “run” being the Manner verb and 来lai2 “come” being the Path verb In this case, a serial verb construction is formed, which is called 连动式 “lian dong shi4” They find that Spanish speakers prefer Manner verbs to describe vertical Motions, which is contrary to the general assumption that Spanish speakers favour the use of Path verbs Ji (2009) approves of Slobin’s proposal that Chinese is an equipollently-framed language in that it has the representative characteristics of both satellite-framed languages and verb-framed languages
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