Attributive constructions

4.10.1 Modifying clause

The older typological distinction between Northern and Southern Chinese in the modifying clause structure barely exists in the modern dialects, although residues can still be found.

The Northern pattern is S/VP/PP/NP+ attr-mkr +^NPh where NPh signifies the Head Noun. The attr-mkr carries a dental initial. The residual Southern pattern is simply S/VP/PP/NP+^NPh with zero attributive marker. It survives in a few Jianghuai (Huáiyin, Shùyáng) and Wu (Chángzhou, Suzhou) dialects as well as Southern Min and Yue, where the NPh must contain a DEM in at least the Min and the Yue dialects. For example:

c. Méixiàn

(Hakka) ݺ! ٵ ܃ ԫ౳ ೏

d. Cantonese (Yue)

ݺ &ɔ³⁵ ٵ t’υ^&11 ܃ nei²⁴ ԫᑌ jɐ^t5jø&22 ೏ kow⁵⁵ e. Xiàmén

(Min) ݺ! ٽ! ڿ! ᑇ ( ) ᣬ!

1sg cnj 2sg same be-tall

‘I am of your same height.’

(81) a. SM ܃ ni213 > 11 ቝ ^ia&51ה t’a⁵⁵ ߷ᑌ na⁵¹ja& ೜!݇ tⁱε^{n51 twa&51} b. Cantonese

(Yue)

܃ nei²⁴ ۿ! ts’i²⁴ k’øy²⁴ [kɐ^m44] ݇೜ tʃɔ^{&44 kin22} c. Quánzhou

(Min)

ڿ! ᘣቝ!ૉ!ْ! ো!ট!

2sg resemble 3sg that strong

‘You are as strong as s/he is.’

(82) a. SM ݺ wɔ213 > 11≵ ڶ mej³⁵ jow ܃ ni213 >11 ( Ꮦ na⁵¹mə^{) kaw55} b. Cantonese ݺ &ɔ^{35 mow24} ܃ nei²⁴ [kɐ^m44] ೏ kow⁵⁵

1sg not-have 2sg that be-tall

‘I do not reach your height.’

(83) a. Huáiyin Գ ୮ ਢ!! ዦ ዦ ॽ ॽ Օ!! ࡤ ୞

IMPERS be beautiful big girl

‘She is a beautiful young girl.’

ᑇ

߷ ೏

The majority of the Southern and Central dialects however, share exactly the same structure as the Northern dialects except that classifiers function as the attributive marker, in particular, the general classifierଡ or its equivalents often override others. For example:

Two types of modifying clauses can be distinguished when the head noun is marked with a determiner that contains a demonstrative. When the modifying clause is preceded by DET, it is descriptive and when it precedes DET, it is restrictive. Semantically the former type simply gives a general description while the latter designates outstanding characteristics. Compare the following pair of examples in SM:

While the first example simply narrates the fact with no other implication, the second one implies that he still has some pen(s) left. Syntactically the head noun of the restrictive modifying clause must always have a DEM, indicating that it is always definite in reference.

In addition, such a clause cannot occur with Vex. Both of the following examples in SM are ungrammatical:

b. Kaipíng (Yue) ᄊ ᄊ nɔⁿ⁴⁴ⁿɔ^{n35 [nei&21] [kaw32]} ྾᜸ fan⁴⁴si³⁵ slightly-warm that CL sweet-potato

‘The slightly warm sweet potato.’

(84) a. Héngyáng

(Xiang) ܃ ֫ Ղ ೋ!! ပ՗ پլ - ڶ!↦

2sg hand on CL mushroom eat-not-can, have poison

‘The mushrooms in your hand are inedible; they are poisonous.’

b. Suzhou ॳ႓! ༉ ਢ ଶଶ ߨ!ၲ ೋ ՛द

A-Huang exactly be just leave CL puppy

‘A-Huang is the puppy that just left.’

(85) a. ה t’a⁵⁵ ނ pa213 > 11 ߷ na⁵¹ ࣤ t⁵⁵ ᄅ ⁱⁿ⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11

3sg BA that CL new buy

ऱ tə ࿝ pi213 > 11 ه tiw⁵⁵ Ա lə

attr-mkr pen lost FP

‘He lost that newly bought pen.’

b. ה t’a⁵⁵ ނ pa213 > 11 ᄅ ⁱⁿ⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11 ऱ tə ߷ na⁵¹

3sg BA new buy attr-mkr that

ࣤ t⁵⁵ ࿝ pi213 > 11 ه tiw⁵⁵ Ա lə

CL pen lost FP

‘He lost that newly bought pen.’

(86) a. *ᄅ ⁱⁿ⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11 ऱ tə ԫ ji⁵⁵ ࣤ t⁵⁵ ࿝ pi213 > 11

new buy attr-mkr one CL pen

ه tiw⁵⁵ Ա lə

lost FP

b. *ڶ jow213 > 11 ᄅ ⁱⁿ⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11 ऱ tə ԫ ji⁵⁵ ࣤ t⁵⁵

exist new buy attr-mkr one CL

࿝ pi213 > 11 ڇ! tsaj⁵¹ ຍࠝ tə^r51

pen locate here

൓

4.10.2 Noun complement clause

When the head noun is a time noun or [+ abstract] noun or a ‘nominalized’ ^NP, the modifiers constitute a noun complement clause rather than a modifying clause. The main difference between the two is that a head noun must always occur with a noun complement but it may be elided in a construction with a modifying clause. Compare the following in SM:

In addition, the head noun in a construction with a modifying clause is co-referential with either the subject or the object (including object of a preposition) in the d-structure of the modifying clause, while the head noun in a construction with a noun complement is not co-referential with such elements but with an adverbial.

To distinguish between attr-mkr in (87a) or (88a), which occurs with the head noun, and attr-mkr in (88b), which does not occur with the head noun, the former should be called a clause marker (attr-mkr) and the latter a nominalizer. In most dialects, the attr-mkr and the

NOMZR share the same form, either a classifier or some form of . assumes the phonetic shape of [tə] or [ni]/[nə]/[ne] (Southwestern Mandarin) and is believed to have derived from ࢍ of the Tang-Song period and ultimately from ृ of the Qin-Han times. The general classifier ଡ ([kɔ⁴⁴] in Cantonese) and its cognates with a velar initial are widely used in the Southern and Central dialects as well as a number of Southwestern Mandarin dialects distributed mainly in the southern periphery of Hunan (Xintián, Gùiyáng, Yízhang, Línw©, Lánshan, NíngyuWn, Dàoxiàn, Jianghuá, Jiangy¦ng, Fènghuáng). It also appears in a reduced form such as [e] in the Min and the Hakka dialects spoken in Taiwan.

4.11 Nominalization

Apart from decapitated modifying clauses exemplified in (88b) in the previous section, which may be considered nominalized and marked with a nominalizer, nominalization is other-wise unmarked in Chinese. A VP or a sentence can be embedded as the subject or object of another sentence without being nominalized into an NP through marking. The matrix sentence in which an embedded sentence occurs as subject usually has Vcop or Vstat as the matrix verb, and the Vstat serving as such a matrix verb are those which can take [+ abstract] subjects, such as ‘to be important’, ‘to be easy’, ‘to be good’, ‘to be all right’, ‘to be common’. For example:

(87) a. ה t’a⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11 ऱ!tə ଺ ڂ ɥε^{n35 jin55}

3sg buy attr-mkr reason

‘The reason he bought (something)’.

b. *ה t’a⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11ऱ tə

‘for which (reason) he bought’

(88) a. ה t’a⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11 ऱ tə ࣟ ۫ tυ&⁵⁵ⁱ

3sg buy attr-mkr thing

‘The thing he bought’.

b. ה t’a⁵⁵ ၇ maj213 > 11 ऱ tə

3sg buy attr-mkr >NOMZR

‘that which he bought’.

(89) SM ݺ wɔ213 > 11 լ pu^{51 > 35} װ t^’y51 ױא k’ 213 > 35 ji Ⴏ ma

1sg neg go to-be-all-right QP

‘Is it all right if I do not go?’

ऱ ऱ

Apart from the quotative verb (Vq), ‘to say’, a great variety of verbs (Vdo, Vtrq, verbs express-ing thoughts or perceptions, etc.) can take a VP or sentence as object. For example in Cantonese:

The above example actually contains a sentence as object of the matrix verb ‘to know’ and within the embedded object sentence, a VP serves as the subject.