Syntax-semantics mismatches and their variation in Chinese and English : ta-de laoshi dang-de hao revised

Abstract

本文提出证据支持汉英"形义错配句"的差异跟名物化短语的句法性质有关,特别是跟名物化词头的形态有关。在这个基础上,本文论证位于"形义错配句"主语的名物化短语,所包含的动词是空动词,属于深层复指,并非由移位产生。跟汉语允许空动词的情况不同,英语的形态不允许空动词,导致部分"形义错配句"无法形成。 In this paper,evidence is provided to support the claim that the cross-linguistic variation between Chinese and English with respect to the’syntax-semantics mismatches’ is due to the different syntactic properties of the gerundive phrase. It is further argued that the gerundive nominalization in the subject position contains an empty verb in Chinese,which should be regarded as an instance of ’deep anaphora’,not derived by verb movement. The prohibition on the empty verb in English is simply due to its morphology,causing the lack of some’syntax-semantics mismatches’.