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The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai

Received: 15 April 2021     Accepted: 4 May 2021     Published: 1 June 2021
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Abstract

Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
Page(s) 106-110
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Progressive Operator zai, Telicity, Atelicity, Singularity, Plurality

References
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[2] Filip, H. “The Telicity Parameter Revisited,” In Proceedings of Semantic and Linguistic Theory XIV. Watanabe, K. & Young, R. B. Eds. Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications. 2005.
[3] Yang, S.-Y. (2011) The Parameter of Temporal Endpoint and the Basic Function of –le. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 20 (4), 383-415.
[4] Yang, J. and Wu, Y. (2015) Revisiting the (Non-) Existence of Accomplishments in Chinese. Modern Foreign Languages, 38 (6), 731-741 (in Chinese).
[5] Ferreira, M. (2016) The Semantic Ingredients of Imperfectivity in Progressive, Habituals, and Counterfactuals. Natural language semantics, 24 (4), 353-397.
[6] Smith, C. S. The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997.
[7] Xiao, R. Z., & McEnery, A. M. Aspect in Mandarin Chinese: A Corpus-based Study. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2004.
[8] Bach, E. (1986) The Algebra of Events. Linguistics and Philosophy, 9 (1), 5-16.
[9] Rothstein, S. Structuring Events: A Study in the Semantics of Lexical Aspect. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
[10] Krifka, M. “The Origins of Telicity”, in Events and Grammar, S. Rothstein, Eds. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1998.
[11] Link, G. “The logical Analysis of plurals and mass terms: A lattice-Theoretical Approach”, in Formal Semantics-the Essential Readings, Portner, P. & Partee, B. H. Eds. Blackwell, 1983.
[12] Li, X & Duan. W. A Reanalysis of the Telicity of Chinese accomplishment. (forthcoming).
[13] Zhang, M. and Lin, Y. (2019) On Non-culminating Accomplishments in Mandarin Chinese. Modern Foreign Languages, 42 (5), 585-596 (in Chinese).
[14] Zhang, A. (2020) Referentiality, Individuation and Incompletive Readings. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 29: 435–468.
[15] Lin, J.-W. (1998) Distributivity in Chinese and its Implications. Natural language semantics, 6 (2), 201–243.
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[17] Li, X. Numeral Classifiers in Chinese: The Syntax-Semantics Interface. Germany: Walter de Gruyter, 2013.
[18] Chierchia, G. (1998) Reference to Kinds across Language. Natural Language Semantics, (4), 339–405.
[19] Landman, F and Rothstein, S. (2012) The Felicity of Aspectual for-Phrase Part 2: Incremental Homogeneity. Language and Linguistics Compass, (2): 85-96.
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  • APA Style

    Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing. (2021). The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(3), 106-110. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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    ACS Style

    Zhang Mengjie; Zhu Haiting; Lin Yunqing. The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(3), 106-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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    AMA Style

    Zhang Mengjie, Zhu Haiting, Lin Yunqing. The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(3):106-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17,
      author = {Zhang Mengjie and Zhu Haiting and Lin Yunqing},
      title = {The Selectional Constraint of the Chinese Progressive Operator zai},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {106-110},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210903.17},
      abstract = {Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AU  - Zhu Haiting
    AU  - Lin Yunqing
    Y1  - 2021/06/01
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
    T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
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    EP  - 110
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0221
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210903.17
    AB  - Previous studies on the Chinese progressive mainly focus on the distinctions between Chinese progressive zai and the continuous -zhe, but few has noticed that the progressive zai is sensitive to the plurality of the event encoded by the predicate in its scope. Inspired by the observations of the selectional constraints of the English progressive, this paper aims to find out the selectional constraints of Chinese progressive zai. It is argued that Chinese progressive zai requires its modified predicates to denote singular durative events as its English counterpart do. Given that no studies have illustrated the semantic criterion for identifying predicates denoting singular events in Mandarin, this study proposes that singular telic (incremental) predicates compatible with zai are those with singular atoms or singular groups as the incremental themes and singular atelic predicates co-occurring with zai are those being incremental homogeneous. An incremental accomplishment with a singular atom as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a quantized incremental object with the cardinal numeral quantifier yi ‘one’ as the measure phrase, while that with a singular group as the theme is expressed by the combination of an incremental verb and a definite object modified by the definite determiner like na ‘that/those’. In contrast, incremental homogeneous predicates are expressed by activities or plural achievements.
    VL  - 9
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Author Information
  • School of Foreign Languages, Beihang University, Beijing, China

  • School of Foreign Languages, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China

  • English Department, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China

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