Ergativization and Chinese passives

Abstract

本文假设汉语的四种被动句由作格化推 导出来。汉语有两种策略让受事宾语适应作格化:第一种策略是宾语进行移位,推导出直接被动句;第二种策略是宾语滞留并且获得部分格,推导出间接被动句。作 格化谓语必须有一个主语,只要不是施事,这个主语可以是任何一种题元角色。长被动句"被"后面的名词短语并非施事,它是使役动词的主语,语义上属于使役 者。 It is proposed in this paper that four types of Chinese passives are derived by ergativization.There are two strategies that the patient object may choose to survive in ergativization in Chinese,namely(a)undergoing movement,deriving direct passives,and(b)being retained and assignedpartitive case from the ergativized verb,deriving indirect passives.Assuming that every predicatemust have a subject,the ergativized predicates are not exceptional and their subject could receiveany kind of thematic roles as long as they are not agentive.The noun phrase preceded by bei in longpassives is not the agent and should be the subject of a causative verb,interpreted as the causersemantically.