Causative alternation in Zuo Tradition

Bibliographic Data

ID21757039
AuthorsSaina Wuyun (Shaanxi Normal University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume25
Issue1
Pages123-161
Publication date2024-01-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage and Linguistics 語言暨語言學 (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1606-822X • E-ISSN: 2309-5067
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/lali.00151.wuy
OpenAlexW4390501722
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited21

This study examines the different variants of causative alternation in Zuo Tradition ( 左傳 ), an archaic Chinese narrative history from the Pre-Qin period. It is found that denominal verbs, unergative verbs, and “pure” unaccusative verbs participate actively in the alternation, and that the causative variant bears a complex relation with the agentive and putative variants; this causes problems for previous analyses. This paper proposes a two-step build-up of eventuality for causative alternation in archaic Chinese. Specifically, I propose that verbs in archaic Chinese are monadic and select only one argument. The merger of the verb with this argument is the realization of its eventuality conceptualized in the Lexicon; any further merger is determined by the eventuality composed by different light verbs in syntax. The uninitiated light verb is a placeholder with an empty argument. A specific light verb value is determined by the eventuality that is sent to the syntactic structure. Thus, the difference between all variants in causative alternation witnessed in Zuo Tradition lies in the different eventualities which they introduce into the syntactic configuration

Causative · Lexicon · Linguistics · Syntax · Verb · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Mathematics · Medicine · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access