論漢語習慣句

Abstract

This paper aims to give an introduction to Mandarin habitual sentences as well as try to account for the ill-formedness found in some of these habitual sentences, particularly those which contain an accomplishment/achievement verb phrase such as John smokes a cigarette. Habitual sentences are commonly viewed as having a tripartite structure. For example, a habitual sentence like When John is in a bad mood, he always smokes is partitioned into three parts with the adverb of quantification as the operator, the when-clause as the restrictor, and the remaining as the nuclear scope. Nonetheless, simple habitual sentences like John smokes a cigarette show that if we assume there to be a tripartite structure in habitual sentences, it would be difficult to account for the unacceptability in these sentences. After careful examination, it seems that Carlson’s Gn operator together with some ideas from Rimell (2004) is able to make up for the insufficiency in the traditional analysis for English habitauls.

However, the revised analysis is still not enough for Mandarin, and there still are problems left. To solve them, I propose that the source of habituality in Mandarin is actually the adverb of quantification, overt or covert. The overt AdvQs are capable of saving those with a perfective predicate while the covert operator only works with sentences containing an imperfective. In addition, I suggest that there are two interpretations of those AdvQs, and it is the cardinal/non-proportional reading which leads to the problem with accomplishments. To improve the ill-formedness, there are two useful strategies: the shift of focus and the employ of hui. The shift of focus can change the acceptability of a habitual sentence by eliminating the non-proportional reading. As for the mysterious hui, it is discussed with hypothesis that this circumstantial modal functions as an overt Gen operator, thus improves all the ill-formed habitual sentences.

This paper aims to give an introduction to Mandarin habitual sentences as well as try to account for the ill-formedness found in some of these habitual sentences, particularly those which contain an accomplishment/achievement verb phrase such as John smokes a cigarette. Habitual sentences are commonly viewed as having a tripartite structure. For example, a habitual sentence like When John is in a bad mood, he always smokes is partitioned into three parts with the adverb of quantification as the operator, the when-clause as the restrictor, and the remaining as the nuclear scope. Nonetheless, simple habitual sentences like John smokes a cigarette show that if we assume there to be a tripartite structure in habitual sentences, it would be difficult to account for the unacceptability in these sentences. After careful examination, it seems that Carlson’s Gn operator together with some ideas from Rimell (2004) is able to make up for the insufficiency in the traditional analysis for English habitauls.

However, the revised analysis is still not enough for Mandarin, and there still are problems left. To solve them, I propose that the source of habituality in Mandarin is actually the adverb of quantification, overt or covert. The overt AdvQs are capable of saving those with a perfective predicate while the covert operator only works with sentences containing an imperfective. In addition, I suggest that there are two interpretations of those AdvQs, and it is the cardinal/non-proportional reading which leads to the problem with accomplishments. To improve the ill-formedness, there are two useful strategies: the shift of focus and the employ of hui. The shift of focus can change the acceptability of a habitual sentence by eliminating the non-proportional reading. As for the mysterious hui, it is discussed with hypothesis that this circumstantial modal functions as an overt Gen operator, thus improves all the ill-formed habitual sentences.