V-de/bu-V compounds like tī-dé/bù-duàn ‘kick-DE/BU-snap’ in (1) share the same resultative meaning as their V-V resultative counterparts tī-duàn ‘kick-snap’ in (2), but with an additional modal interpretation.
(1)
老魏踢得不断那条木板。
Lǎo Wèi tī-dé/bù-duàn nà tiáo mùbǎn.
Lao Wei kick-DE/BU-snap that CLF plank
‘Lao Wei can/not make that plank snap by kicking.’ (Williams 2005:256)
(2)
老魏踢断了那条木板。
Lǎo Wèi tī-duàn-le nà tiáo mùbǎn.
Lao Wei kick-snap-PFV that CLF plank
‘Lao Wei made that plank snap by kicking.’
The modal element de/bu transports us from the actual world to the possible world. Even if Lao Wei and that plank have no relation in the actual world, the modal element de/bu indicates that there exists (or does not exist) a possible world in which Lao Wei kicks that plank and causes it to snap. The thematic relations of Causer and Theme only exist in this possible world, and not the actual world. In other words, the modal de/bu takes scope over the thematic relation between V-V and its arguments.
At the same time, the modal element de/bu cannot take scope over any material external to the V-de/bu-V compound such as a preverbal modifier (Wu 2004).
(3)
#老魏轻而易举地踢得/不断那条木板。
#Lǎo Wèi qīngéryījǔ-de tī-dé/bù-duàn nà tiáo mùbǎn.
Lao Wei effortlessly kick-DE/BU-snap that CLF plank
(i) ‘Lao Wei was effortlessly (un)able to kick and snap that plank.’ (#effortlessly > de/bu)
(ii) ‘Lao Wei was (un)able to effortlessly kick and snap that plank.’ (*de/bu > effortlessly)
(adapted from Williams 2014:321)
I present a syntactic and semantic account of V-de/bu-V compounds that accounts for these scope facts.
I argue that alternative accounts that assume that the external argument of a V-de/bu-V compound is introduced by an external functional head like Voice make incorrect predictions.
How can I find out more?
You can read more about my work here:
Thesis:
- Wenkai Tay. 2024. Resultative expressions in Mandarin Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, UCL. [thesis]
Presentations:
- Wenkai Tay. Unsevering the external argument: evidence from V-de/bu-V compounds in Mandarin Chinese. Singapore Summer Meeting, Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies, National University of Singapore, 1 Aug 2025. [slides]
- Wenkai Tay. Unsevering the external argument: evidence from V-de/bu-V compounds in Mandarin Chinese. Lexical Semantics Group, Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore, 1 Jul 2025. [slides]
- Wenkai Tay. Unsevering the external argument: evidence from V-de/bu-V compounds in Mandarin Chinese. Syntax Reading Group, UCL, 16 May 2025. [slides]
References:
- Williams, Alexander. 2005. Complex causatives and verbal valence. Doctoral
dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. - Wu, Ching-Huei Teresa. 2004. On de/bu and the syntactic nature of resultative verbal compounding. Language and Linguistics 5:271–329.