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de in Mandarin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Lisa Lai Shen Cheng
Lisa Lai Shen Cheng*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Extract

In Mandarin, there is an element de which has for years been the subject of analysis. Li and Thompson (1981) and Ross (1983 and 1984) have tried, with little success, to provide a unified treatment of this element. Li and Thompson (1981) claim that there are several de’s in Mandarin: a possessive marker, an adjectival marker and a nominalization marker. But the structural properties of these de’s and the similarities among them are ignored.

Using the Government and Binding framework (Chomsky 1981), I will provide an analysis which accounts for the structural and functional similarities and differences among the various de’s in Mandarin. First, I will state the theoretical assumptions relevant to the discussion of de. Second, I will present the non-controversial evidence showing that de is a head-final complementizer in relative clauses. Third, I will present further data exemplifying a head-final de in other constructions. Fourth, I will demonstrate the impossibility of having a head-final de complementizer in resultative clauses. Finally, I will propose that there are two de complementizers in Mandarin, one head-final, the other head-initial.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , Winter 1986 , pp. 313 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1986

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References

Chomsky, Noam 1981 Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
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