《最简探索:框架》下对“被”字结构的再探索

A Tentative Analysis of Chinese bei-Construction within Minimalist Inquiries: the Framework,

本文是在《最简探索:框架》(Chomsky1998)下对汉语典型被动句式———“被”字结构的尝试性分析。针对早期相关研究中有关“被”字语类特征的种种假设所面临的问题,本文提出将“被”分析为一个带有强名词性特征的功能语类,“被”字结构通过移位而生成。基于《最简探索:框架》中有关核心功能语类基本结构特征的论述,本文指出“被”字结构的生成基本遵循同一种模式;并且通过实例说明长式被动句与短式被动句在转换中的区别可以通过核心功能语类v的基本结构特征来加以解释。

This paper attempts to tentatively analyze Chinese bei-construction in accordance with Minimalist Inquires: the Framework. The categorical status of bei and the derivation of bei-construction are the major concerns. Contrary to the previous assumptions that bei can be a preposition, an inflectional passive morpheme like -en in English passives or a verb, this paper proposes that bei should be treated as a functional category with a strong P-feature. There are four arguments for this proposal. Firstly, all of those previous assumptions about bei's categorical status are problematic in one way or another. Secondly, according to Radford's definition of functional categories (1997:38) and his test for classifying a word as a lexical or a functional category, bei should be included in functional categories. Thirdly, although Chomsky(1998)specifies three functional categories as Core Functional Categories in Minimalist Inquires: the Framework, he doesn't deny the existence of other functional categories. In line with Cedric Boeckx's view on function projections (1998), bei appears more like a functional category specific to the Chinese language. Fourthly, bei should not be identified with a verb which is the functional head of a transitive construction. In addition, this paper proposes that bei selects a transitive construction which has a verb as its head and that bei-construction undergoes movement. It is also suggested that based on Chomsky's hypothesis about the basic structural properties of the CFCs, Chinese bei-construction should basically be derived in a uniform fashion and the derivational distinctions between the long and the short passive should primarily be explained by the structural properties of v, the 'light verb' head of a transitive construction.