Argument structure representation: Formation of serial verb constructions in Standard Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

This paper argues for a distinction between nuclear and core serial verb constructions in Standard Mandarin Chinese, following the Role and Reference Grammar framework. Both nuclear and core SVCs in Standard Mandarin Chinese form via the nexus relation of cosubordination and they differ in terms of the argument structure formation. Assuming a two-level argument structure, it is argued that nuclear SVCs form by fusing the semantic level of argument structure of component verbs, and the core SVCs form by partially fusing the syntactic level of argument structure of component verbs. Our analysis indicates that nuclear SVCs, which function on par with a single predicate, constitute a type of complex predicates. Unlike nuclear SVCs, core SVCs comprise two separate predicates, each owning a partially independent argument structure. In this sense, core SVCs fall outside of the category of complex predicates.