Resultative Verb Compounds in Mandarin Chinese: A Case for Lexical Rules

Abstract

1. WHAT IS A RESULTATIVE VERB COMPOUND? A resultative verb compound (hereafter RV) in Mandarin Chinese is, very roughly, a compound verb made up of two parts, the first indicating an action and the second the result of that action. An example is the verb of 1, illustrated in 2:' (1) la-kai 'pull-open' (2) Ta la-kai le men 'He pull-open ASPECT door' = 'He pulled the door open.' However, this is only a rough characterization. A generally accepted diagnostic for RV's is whether they can occur in the 'potential' mode.2 The 'potential' form of an RV involves the insertion of -deor -bubetween the two parts, -deadding the meaning 'be able', -bu'be unable': (3) T ld-de-kdi m6n 'He pull-can-open door' = 'He can pull the door open.' (4) Td ld-bu-kai m6n 'He pull-can't-open door' = 'He can't pull the door open.' Other compound-verb types in Mandarin do not permit the insertion of these two morphemes; e.g., corresponding to the verb-object compound 5, there is no 6: (5) tido-wiv 'jump-dance' = 'dance' (6) *tido-de-wa, *tido-bu-wi.