On de as a head in Chinese

Abstract

本文在生成语法学的理论框架下探讨名词性短语“的”的句法地位。本文认为作为功能词的“的”并不一定是中心语,还需要有一定的语义内容,得到语义的印证和支持。至于“的”字修饰语的句法地位,本文发现汉语应该跟附接语类型语言接近。 The focus of this paper is on the syntactic status of de in Chinese nominal phrases under the generative framework.It is argued that being a functional category,de(的)is not necessarily treated as a head unless there is independent supporting evidence from semantics.It is also argued that the modifiers to which de is attached should be analyzed as adjuncts rather than specifiers,according to the criteria listed in Duffield(1999).The discussion in this paper hopefully can resolve some of the debates on the status of de in the literature.