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Preposition zài
Adina Williams
New York University∗
1 Introduction
Crosslinguistically, imperfective semantics is often expressible using a locative preposition (Bybee et al. 1994;
Comrie 1976; Barrie and Spreng 2009; Boogaart 1991; Laka 2006; Salanova 2007; Thrainsson 1979; Jóhanns-
dóttir 2011; Wood 2012; Bolinger 1971a,b; Kayne 2015; Nagano 2014).
(1) Zhāngsān zài túshūguăn
Zhangsan ZÀI library
‘Zhangsan is at the library’
(2) Zhāngsān zài kàn shū
Zhangsan ZÀI read book
‘Zhangsan is reading’
(3) zài tuśhūguăn Zhāngsān kàn le yi-bĕn-shū
ZÀI library Zhangsan look LEperf one-CL-book
(perf.) ‘Zhangsan read a book in the library’
(4) zài Lı̆sì zuò fàn de shíhòu Zhāngs̄an kàn le yi-bĕn-shū
ZÀI Lisi do food DE time, Zhangsan look LEperf one-CL-book
(perf.) ‘At the time when Lisi was making food, Zhangsan read a book’
In this talk, I will argue that zài is always a preposition, which has two main uses:
1. The modificational use is formed by adjoining the PP above vP
2. The predicative use features small clause predicate adjuncts which are base-generated in the specifier of
inner aspect (explaining the connection between locative zài and Progressive Aspect).
• Deep similarity between locative predicates and progressive aspect by postulating that the two share an
underlying syntactico-semantic similarity: Figure-Ground (in the sense of Talmy 2011; Svenonius 2006,
2004; Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria 2004; Hale 1986; Talmy 1978 i.a.)
(5)
PredP
Figure Pred0
Pred Ground
∗ Special thanks to my informants (Vera Zu, Jeff Lin, Linmin Zhang, Haoze Li, Shengfu Wang, Han Cheng, Liquan Liu, Hanbo Yan, and K.C. Lin),
the advisor for this project (Stephanie Harves), my officemates (Dunja Vesilinovic̀, Dani Szeredi, and Yohei Oseki), my two anonymous IWSC 2015
reviewers, the audience of IWSC 2015, and the NYU Syntax Brown Bag Community. Any errors or omissions are my own.
1
• zài takes the ground as its innermost argument. The figure is supplied by another head.
• small clause analysis of predicative PPs (Roy 2013; Bowers 2011; Svenonius 2004; Bowers 1993, i.a.)
vP vP
v pP DPsubject v0
DPsubject p0 v PlaceP
p PP PP Place0
(a) Perfective le
(b) Again & Again — yòu and zài
(c) Anti-stativity
– Distinguishable from verbs, since it cannot cleft, inflect for aspect, or reduplicate (see Wu 2015)
– Distinguishable from aspect, since doesn’t distribute like aspect
• No consensus about the category of the aspectual use. It has been analyzed as some type of aspectual
marker (Huang et al. 2009; Liu 2009; Lin and Liu 2004; Klein et al. 2000; Li 1993; Chen 1978) or as a
(serial) verb (Woo 2010; Chao 1968)
• Elements from the purported class Mandarin prepositional phrases are not uniform (McCawley and Ma
1992, Li and Thompson 1974)
Consensus seems to be that prepositional phrases (e.g. zài- and gĕi-phrases) generally fall between the subject
noun phrase and the verb (Cheung pear, Huang et al. 2009, Li and Thompson 1974, a.o.):
Since zài can be used both as a modificational preposition, and as some sort of predicative preposition (either
locative or progressive), we should take a moment to situate it within the broader context of Mandarin Aspect.
2
Mandarin Aspect
Perfective Imperfective
Mandarin has a couple of elements that exhibit aspectual behavior: zài; zhe, an imperfective marker; le,
which has a range of perfective meanings; and gùo, an experiential perfective (Klein et al. 2000, Lin 2004,
Huang et al. 2009, Li 2012); only zai occurs preverbally and cannot appear postverbally (without a comple-
ment):
2.2 Selectional restrictions on the predicative zài — diagnostics for two separate structures
• Modificational zài has no selectional restrictions
• Predicative zài is incompatible with: Perfective le, States and Static ‘Again’
Imperfective aspect picks out an internal portion of an interval (usually an event or time interval), leaving out
initial and final points or states (Smith 1991, 1997; Klein 1994):
3
Compatible with Compatible with
Perfective le Stative ‘Again’ Stative Verbs
temporal modifier 3 3 3
spatial modifier 3 3 3
locative predicate 7 7 7
progressive predicate 7 7 7
• I use double instances of le as the diagnostic to factor our confusion with sentence-finality
4
(25) Zhāngsān yı̆jīng dì-èr-cì zài dú zhè-bĕn-shū le
Zhangsan already ordinal-2-time ZÀI read this-CL-book LEincho
(incho.)‘Zhangsan reading this book and it’s the second time he’s doing so’
*(perf.) ‘Zhangsan read this book a second time’
(26) * Zhāngsān zài dú le (zhè-bĕn-shū dì-èr-cì le)
Zhangsan ZÀI read LEpast this-CL-book ordinal-2-time LEincho
(perf. + incho.)‘Zhangsan started reading this book for the 2nd time (and finished it)’
Predicative Locative Uses
• Modificational zài prepositions are grammatical with zàiagain and with yòu
5
(36) Xiaoming zuótiān yòu qu táibĕi
Xiaoming yesterday again go Taibei
‘Xiaoming went to Taibei again yesterday’
(37) * Tā zài zài păobù
He again ZÀI run (. . . or He ZÀI again run)
(int.) ‘He is running again’
(38) Tā yòu zài păobù
He again ZÀI run
‘He is running again’
(39) * Tā zài zài tuśhūguăn
He again ZÀI library
(int.)‘He is at the library again’
(40) Tā yòu zài tuśhūguăn
He again ZÀI library
‘He is at the library again’
Predicative zài is compatible with the stative version of ‘again’ for selectional reasons1 .
Predicative progressive zài is incompatible with events that are non-dynamic (i.e. are stative or have a result
state). Predicative locative zài has no lower event to test.
The difference between imperfective zhe and imperfective zài is that they impose different semantic require-
ments on their verb (Huang et al. 2009; Smith 1991), so zàiaspect and zhe should never appear together2
1 It has been suggested that the incompatibility of the progressive zai ‘again’ derives from the unfortunate fact that they are homophonous. However,
I will follow Lin and Liu (2009) which argues that the two ‘agains’ actually differ aspectually.
2 Interestingly, there are some cases when imperfective aspect can be doubled, although this is in dialectal variation.
6
(47) zài wŏ jiā lĭ qíang shàng guā zhe yi-fú-huā
ZÀI I house in wall on hang ASPimperf. one-CL-picture
‘A picture is hanging on the wall in my house’
(48) zài túshūguăn Zhāngs̄an shùi zhe
ZÀI library Zhangshan sleep ASPimperf.
‘Zhangsan is sleeping in the library’
(49) zài Lı̆sì zuò fàn de shíhòu Zhāngs̄an shùi zhe
ZÀI Lisi do food de time Zhangshan sleep ASPimperf.
‘At the time when Lisi was making food, Zhangsan was sleeping’
OuterAsp vP OuterAsp vP
[perf.] [perf.]
DPsubject v0 DPsubject v0
PP Place0 PP Place0
LE V DP [hab.] V DP
book book
read read
• Many scholars of Mandarin have analyzed post-verbal aspect markers as the heads of outer aspect, since
their semantics provides a temporal perspective on events (Woo 2013; Tsai 2008; Smith 1991).
• However, these elements also have some of the hallmarks of situational aspect or aktionsart (i.e. the
aspect which is related to internal temporal constituency of events, see (Klein 1994; Vendler 1967).
7
3.2 Modificational Uses — Temporal Modifiers
The PP-adjunct acts as the ground; the event is the figure (Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria 2007).
• Base-generated temporal event-modifing elements in the low TP-domain (Cheung 2012, 2013, 2015)
• Base-generated in the specifier of OuterAspP following (Todorović and Wurmbrand 2015; Demirdache
and Uribe-Etxebarria 2004, i.a.)
(55) zài Lı̆sì zuò fàn de shíhòu Zhāngs̄an kàn le yi-bĕn-shū
ZÀI Lisi do food DE time, Zhangsan read LEperf one-CL-book
‘At the time when Lisi was making food, Zhangsan read a book.’
Only the highest PP element can topicalize to PP-topic position (Rizzi 2004, 1997 i.a.).
(56) zài Lı̆sì zuò fàn de shíhòu Zhāngs̄an zài túshūguăn kàn le yi-bĕn-shū
ZÀI Lisi do food DE time, Zhangsan ZÀI library read LEperf one-CL-book
‘At the time when Lisi was making food, Zhangsan read a book at the library.’
(57) * zài túshūguăn zài Lı̆sì zuò fàn de shíhòu Zhāngs̄an kàn le yi-bĕn-shū
ZÀI library ZÀI Lisi do food DE time, Zhangsan look LEperf one-CL-book
(int.) ‘At the time when Lisi was making food, Zhangsan read a book at the library.’
(58)
TopicP P
PP TopicP P 0
DPsubject T0
Zhangsan T OuterAspP
PP OuterAsp0
Zhangsan v PlaceP
PP Place0
P DP Place InnerAspP
zài
library . . . read a book . . .
However, if we try to modify a progressive sentence with a spatial modifier, we only get the predicative reading.
No double zài is possible with a spatial modifier.
If the prepositional phrase were a simple adjunct, one might expect that you would have multiple instances of
zài. This is not possible.
8
(59) * Zhāngs̄an zài túshūguăn zài kàn shū
Zhangsan ZÀI library ZÀI read book
(int.) ‘Zhangsan is reading in the library’
(60) * Zhāngs̄an zài túshūguăn zài kàn shū
Zhangsan ZÀI library ZÀI read book
(int.) ‘Zhangsan is reading in the library’
(61) * Zhāngs̄an kàn shū zài túshūguăn
Zhangsan read book ZÀI library
(int.) ‘Zhangsan is reading in the library’
(62) * Zhāngs̄an zài kàn shū túshūguăn
Zhangsan ZÀI read book library
(int.) ‘Zhangsan is reading in the library’
(63) Lı̆sì zài túshūguăn kàn shū (65) Lı̆sì zài kàn shū
Lisi ZÀI library read book Lisi ZÀI read book
‘Lisi is reading in the library’ ‘Lisi is reading’
(64) vP (66)
vP
DP v0
DP v0
Lisii v InnerAspP
Lisii v InnerAspP
pP InnerAsp0
pP InnerAsp0
DP p0 InnerAsp VP
DP p0 InnerAsp VP
PROi p PP [prog.] V DP
PROi p PP [prog.] V DP
P DP read book
P DP read book
ZÀI library
ZÀI loc.
(67) Lı̆sì zài túshūguăn
Lisi ZÀI library
‘Lisi is at the library’
(68)
vP
v pP
DPsubject p0
Lisi p PP
P DP
library
ZÀI
A compatible alternative to PRO-binding would be adopting "delayed gratification" Myler (2014), which allows
the matrix subject to act as the subject of the small clause PP via semantic means.
9
4 Interim Summary — Comparison with prior work
Woo (2013) postulates a null event as the complement of the prepositional head.
• Semantically, it’s not clear that there is any implied event present in examples like (69)-(71).
• To postulate a null event, one would have to ensure that it is dynamic so that it is compatible with the
selectional restrictions of zài.
(69) wŏmén zài chı̄ fàn (71) wŏmén zài chı̄ fàn
we ZÀI eat food we ZÀI eat food
‘We are eating’ ‘We are eating’ Woo 2013, (97)
(70) (72)
TP TP
DPsubject T0 DPsubject T0
wei T AspP
we T OuterAspP
[present]
[present]
Asp pP
OuterAsp vP [imperf.]
imperf+v+p+ZÀI DPsubject p0
[imperf.] DPsubject v0
wei p PP
wei v InnerAspP
p+ZÀI DP P0
pP InnerAsp0
LOC P XP
DP p0 InnerAsp VP
ZÀI proi eat
proi p PP [prog.] V DP
food
P DP eat
ZÀI loc.
(73) Lı̆sì zài túshūguăn kàn shū (75) Lı̆sì zài túshūguăn kàn shū
Lisi ZÀI library read book Lisi ZÀI library read book
‘Lisi is reading in the library’ ‘Lisi is reading in the library’
(adapted from Woo 2013)
(74) (76)
OuterAspP AspP
OuterAsp vP Asp vP
[imperf.]
[imperf.] DPsubject v0 imperf+v+p+ZÀI v pP
wei v InnerAspP p0
v+p+ZÀI DPsubject
pP InnerAsp0 Lisi p PP
DP p0 InnerAsp VP p+ZÀI DP P0
ZÀI library
My account assumes a null ground nominal in sentences where one is not overtly present, following Woo
(2013); Chao (1968).
10
5 A Consequence — Small-clause-selecting verbs in Mandarin Chinese
If we follow a small clause PP analysis as in the above sections, we would expect to find something akin to the
following small clause structure in Mandarin:
(77) Mary is writing letters on the train (i.e. they end up on the side of the train).
(78)
vP
DPsubject v’
Mary
v InnerAspP
is
InnerAsp VP
[prog.]
-ing V pP
write
DP p0
letters
p PP
P DP
on
the train
Li (2014) analyzes classical examples of PP structural ambiguity from Zhu (1981a,b) by suggesting that verbs
that select for prepositional phrases exist in Mandarin:
Combining these two ideas together, we can analyze all of the readings of the sentences above by adopting the
following:
• Mandarin has an adjunction site (PlaceP) above Inner Aspect (see sections above)
• Mandarin can move PPs into PlaceP from any position PlaceP c-commands
Since the account put forth in this talk base-generates the predicative adjunct pP in spec. InnerAspP, it predicts
that the structural ambiguity present in PP-selecting verbs will not be available for the PP-final sentences like
in (80).
11
(81) (a) reading for (79): (83) (a) reading for (80):
(82) (84)
TP TP
DPsubject T’ DPsubject T’
OuterAsp vP OuterAsp vP
[imperf.] [imperf.]
DPsubject v’ DPsubject v’
PP Place0 InnerAsp VP
InnerAsp VP write DP p0
characters
[prog.] V pP p PP
ZAI train
DPsubject T’
Zhangsan T OuterAspP
OuterAsp vP
[imperf.]
DPsubject v’
Zhangsan v InnerAspP
pP InnerAsp0
DP p0 InnerAsp VP
PROi
p PP [prog.] V pP
P DP write DP p0
ZÀI train character(s)
p PP
(on paper)
12
6 Conclusion
P DPground DPsubject p0
p PP
ZAI
P DPground
ZAI
(88) zài tuśhūguăn Lı̆sì kàn le (92) Lı̆sì zài tuśhūguăn
PREP library Lisi look LEperf Lisi PREP library
yi-bĕn-shū ‘Lisi is in the library’
one-CL-book
(93) Lı̆sì zài kàn-shū
(perf.) ‘Lisi read a book in the library’ Lisi PREP read-book
(89) zài Lı̆sì zuò fàn de shíhòu Zhāngs̄an (prog.)‘Lisi is reading.’
PREP Lisi do food DE time Zhangsan
(94) Lı̆sì zài tuśhūguăn kàn-shū
kàn le yi-bĕn-shū Lisi PREP library read-book
look LEperf one-CL-book
(prog.)‘Lisi is reading in the library.’
(perf.) ‘At the time when Lisi was making
food, Zhangsan read a book.’
(90) Lı̆sì zài túshūguăn kàn-shū
Lisi PREP library read-book
(hab.)‘Zhangsan reads in the library’
(91) Lı̆sì zài túshūguăn kàn le
Lisi PREP library read LEperf.
yi-bĕn-shū
one-CL-book
(perf.)‘Zhangsan read a book in the library’
Benefits of my analysis:
3. No null events
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