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.’
Crucially, the modal element de/bu takes scope over the external argument:
(3)
三个人就推得到那辆车。
Sān gè rén jiù tuī-dé-dǎo nà liǎng chē.
three CLF people then push-DE-topple that CLF car
‘(A group of) three people could make that car topple by pushing.’ (Williams 2005:258)
I present a syntactic and semantic account of V-de/bu-V compounds that accounts for this and other 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. Syntax Reading Group, UCL, 16 May 2025. [slides]
References:
- Williams, Alexander. 2005. Complex causatives and verbal valence. Doctoral
dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.