汉语动词的典型性等级

On the typicality hierarchies of Chinese verbs

由于各类实词不仅能充当属于它们所属类别的无标记的、典型的句法功能,同时还具有充当属于其他词类的典型句法功能的潜能,因此根据是否能充当句子的主语、谓语和表语并不能构成名词、动词和形容词之间的区别性特征,各类实词内部都存在不同程度的典型与非典型等级。本文主要讨论汉语动词的典型性等级,用名词固有的空间属性和动词固有的时间属性来测量动词,根据3202个动词是否可接受定语性时间名词短语、定语性处所名词短语、数量词的修饰,将动词分为四类,这四类动词体现了汉语动词在典型性上的差异。文章最后通过动词在“NP的VP”结构中的句法形态限制证明动词充当主宾语将丢失大部分动词所具有的形态特征。

Given that content words can potentially function as other parts of speech distinct from their typical ones that are normally unmarked,it no longer holds as a distinguishing characteristic to classify nouns,verbs,and adjectives by simply checking their referentiality and predicativeness(or descriptiveness).Each content-word class contains members ranging from typical ones to less typical ones,i.e.members of a category vary in their typicality.Hence there exist certain hierarchies even within the same category.This paper deals with the typicality hierarchies of Chinese verbs by examining Chinese verbs for their spatial trait and temporal trait,of which the former typically belongs to the noun,whereas the latter to the verb.After examining a sample of up to 3,202 Chinese verbs,this paper puts Chinese verbs into four typicality hierarchies,based on whether these verbs accept modifications of noun phrases of time normally functioning as attributive,noun phrases of space(or location)normally functioning as attributive,and noun quantifiers.These four verb types represent the typicality distinctions amongst Chinese verbs.With proof from the morpho-syntactic restrictions of Chinese verbs in the"NP的VP"construction,this paper proves that verbs functioning as subject or object lose most of its typical morpho-syntactic characteristics.