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Phrase Structure

1. Introduction

� X-bar syntax

Any phrase (e.g. NP, VP, AP) is a projection of its head (and complement(s) and

specifier(s)) and at least contains a head. The head of an NP is the noun, the head of a

VP is the verb, etc.

• An X-phrase consists of an X-bar and an optional specifier:

(1) XP → (specifier), X’

• The X-bar level:

o One kind of X-bar consists of an X-bar and an adjunct, in either order:

(2) X’ → X’, adjunct

X’ X’

X’ Adjunct Adjunct X’

o Another kind of X-bar consists of an X (the head of the phrase) and any

number of complements (possibly zero), in any order:

(3) X’ → X, (complement)

X’ X’

X Complement Complement X

(4) a student of physics with long hair

NP

Det (Specifier) N’

a N’ PP (Adjunct)

N PP (Complement) P NP

student P NP with long hair

of physics

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� Head, complement, adjunct/modifier

• Head: Each phrase consists of a head, which has the same category as that of the

phrase.

• Complement: Complement is a semantic argument of the head of a phrase.

(5) a. read the book

b. in the park

c. the loss of the ship

d. his unthinkable attack on his friend

e. She is [interested in music].

• Adjunct: It is a modifier that modifies the head of a phrase (and the complement

of the head).

(6) a. read the book carefully

b. right in the park

c. the huge loss

d. very interested in music

2. English phrase structure

� Order of the head and its complement (see (5))

� Order of the head and the adjunct:

(7) a. carefully read the book

b. read the book carefully

c. read the book carefully enough

d. *carefully enough read the book

e. read the book so carefully that he can remember every detail of it

f. *so carefully that he can remember every detail of it read the book

(8) a. right in the park

b. *in the park right

(9) a. a big house

b. *a house big

c. a house big enough to hold ten people

d. *a big enough to hold ten people house

e. a house that can hold ten people

f. *a that can hold ten people house

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(10) a. very interesting

b. *interesting very

(11) a. He read the book [very carefully].

b. *He read the book [carefully very].

In terms of the order of the head and the adjunct of an XP, it precedes the head X

when the adjunct itself consists of a head alone, except that such adjuncts of a verb

and (its complement) can also follow the head of a VP. However, in cases where the

adjunct consists of more elements than its own head, it follows the head of the XP.

3. Chinese phrase structure

3.1 Introduction

� Chinese shows properties of not only SVO languages but also SOV and VSO

languages.

• Its basic SVO order is obviously a property of an SVO language ((12)).

(12) Zhangsan meitian dou he kafei.

Zhangsan every.day all drink coffee

‘Zhangsan drinks coffee every day.’

• However, Chinese also displays properties of SOV languages by having verb

modifiers that largely precede the verb ((13)) (cf. Universal 7 in Greenberg 1966).

(13) Zhangsan feichang xihuan ta-de gongzuo.

Zhangsan very.much like he-MM job

‘Zhangsan likes his job a lot.’

Universal 7: “If in a language with dominant SOV order, there is no alternative

basic order, or only OSV as the alternative, then all adverbial modifiers of the

verb likewise precede the verb” (Greenberg 1966: 80).

• Moreover, Chinese behaves like a VSO language by being prepositional (cf.

Universal 3 in Greenberg 1966).

(14) Zhangsan zai Meiguo jieshi-le henduo pengyou.

Zhangsan in America make-PERF many friend

‘Zhangsan made many good friends in America.’

Universal 3: “Languages with dominant VSO order are always prepositional”

(Greenberg 1966: 78).

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� In the literature, attempts have often been made to account for such a mixed picture of

Chinese phrase structure in a neat way. Among such accounts, Huang (1998/1982)

and Li (1990) are two representative ones proposed within the framework of

government and binding.

3.2 Huang’s (1998/1982) account

� Huang (1998/1982) proposes that Chinese has the X̅-structure in (15). According to

him, (1a) should be interpreted as operating only on the lowest level of phrasal

expansion.

(15) X̅-structure of Chinese (Huang 1998/1982: 7, 27)

a. [Xn X

n-1 YP*] iff n=1 and X≠N

b. [Xn YP* X

n-1] otherwise

(YP* means that more than one YP is allowed.)

� Problems

• While (15a) captures the fact that PPs and VPs in Chinese are head-initial and

NPs are head-final, it incorrectly predicts that APs in Chinese are always head-

initial as far as the order of the head and its complement is concerned. Although

there are APs like manyi ziji-de gongzuo in (16a) that are head-initial, there are

also APs in which the head occurs after the complement, as shown in (16b) and

(17).

(16) a. Ta hen manyi ziji-de gongzuo.

he very satisfied self-MM job

‘He is very satisfied with his job.’

b. Ta dui ziji-de gongzuo hen manyi.

he towards self-MM job very satisfied

‘He’s very satisfied with his job.’

(17) Wo zhen wei ta zihao.

I really for he proud

‘I’m really proud of him.’

• Given (15b), Huang’s X̅-structure incorrectly rules out sentences like (18). As far

as (18a) is concerned, san ci ‘three times’ cannot be the complement of jian ‘meet,

see,’ and (15b) incorrectly predicts that the frequency phrase cannot appear after

the head.

(18) a. Wo jian-guo ta san ci.

I meet-EXP him three time

‘I met him three times before.’

b. Zhangsan deng-le wo liang-ge xiaoshi.

Zhangsan wait-PERF I two-CL hour

‘Zhangsan waited for me for two hours.’

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• Huang’s X̅-structure in (15) also incorrectly rules out sentences like (19). Both gei

Lisi ‘to Lisi’ in (19a) and zai zhuozi-shang ‘on the table’ in (19b) are

subcategorized complements. According to (15a), these subcategorized

prepositional phrases are expected to occur postverbally, not preverbally. As these

phrases occur before the head in (19), Huang’s X̅-structure incorrectly predicts

that such sentences are ungrammatical in Chinese. Huang may argue that the PPs

in (19) are not a sister of V, but of V’. Given (15b), these PPs should thus occur

preverbally. However, if so, Huang would not be able to give a successful account

of sentences like (20). In (20), gei Lisi, the same PP as in (19a), occurs at the end

of the sentence. If this PP is analyzed as a sister of V’ as in (19a), it is not

expected to occur after ji-le yi-ben shu ‘sent a book,’ given (15b). As a result, on

this analysis sentences like (20) are incorrectly ruled out.

(19) a. Zhangsan gei Lisi ji-le yi-ben shu.

Zhangsan to Lisi send-PERF one-CL book

Intended: ‘Zhangsan sent a book to Lisi.’

b. Zhangsan zai zhuozi-shang fang-le yi-ben shu.

Zhangsan at table-on place-PERF one-CL book

Intended: ‘Zhangsan put a book on the table.’

(20) Zhangsan ji-le yi-ben shu gei Lisi.

Zhangsan send-PERF one-CL book to Lisi

‘Zhangsan sent a book to Lisi.’

3.3 Li’s (1990) account

� As for Li’s (1990) account, it involves two levels of phrase structure. According to Li

(1990, 2008), Chinese is underlying head-final. However, because of the requirement

of any overt NP’s being assigned a Case and because of the left-to-right directionality

of Case assignment in Chinese, PPs and VPs in the language become head-initial on

the surface. As for NPs, they are head-final both underlyingly and on the surface

because nouns do not assign Case.

� This neat analysis of Chinese phrase structure is achieved, however, at the cost of

leaving some counterexamples unsettled and of making language-specific

assumptions which are against the standard assumptions of generative grammar.

• Li (1990) analyzes postverbal duration and frequency phrases as NPs. To account

for the occurrence of such phrases after intransitive verbs (e.g. (21)), Li claims

that all intransitive verbs in Chinese can assign Case, which is really not a

standard assumption in generative grammar.

(21) Zhangsan lai-guo liangci.

Zhangsan come-EXP twice

‘Zhangsan came twice.’

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• Li’s Case account of Chinese phrase structure incorrectly rules out sentences like

(22) because there are three postverbal NPs that need Case and there is only one

Case assigner, namely the verb qingjiao. Li might approach this problem through

incorporation. On this approach, the verb and the first two NP form a complex

verb that assigns Case to the frequency phrase. However, there is no evidence for

such an incorporation operation and such a mechanism is not independently

motivated. Moreover, it would be quite a stretch to think that the verb and its

subcategorized direct object and indirect object form a complex verb so as to

assign Case to a non-subcategorized expression.

(22) Wo qingjiao-guo ta zhe-ge wenti liangci.

I ask-EXPERIENTIAL he this-CL question twice

‘I asked him the question twice.’ Huang (1992: 254)

• Li fails to account for sentences like (23). Recall that Li (1990) analyzes duration

and frequency expressions as NPs. On her account, at the Surface Structure these

expressions must occur postverbally to meet the requirement of Case assignment.

However, as shown in (23), contrary to the prediction of the constraint proposed

by Li, duration and frequency phrases may also occur preverbally. Li (1990) does

not discuss such counterexamples, and it is not clear how the frequency

expression in (23) can receive Case at the Surface Structure because she assumes

that Case is assigned from left to right in Chinese.

(23) Wo liangci laifang ni dou bu zai

I twice come.and.visit you all not be.in

‘I came to visit you twice, but you were not in.’

• Finally, as pointed by Huang (1992), it is not clear how Cases are assigned when

there are two preverbal NPs, as in the double nominative construction in (24).

Since Li does not discuss whether the topic in the double nominative construction

needs Case (and if so, how it is assigned Case), the construction shown in (24)

forms a potential problem for her analysis.

(24) Zhongguo lishi youjiu

China history long

‘China has a long history.’

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Reminder

Final project proposal due on 3/31.