LINGUIST List 4.678

Thu 09 Sep 1993

FYI: Preprint: Mandarin BA Sentences

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1. Picus Sizhi Ding, Preprint of M.A. Thesis Available

Title: The BA Resultative Construction: A Comprehensive
 study of Mandarin BA Sentences

Abstract:
 The present thesis studies a perennial problem in Chinese
linguistics -- the BA sentence. Three types of commonly found BA
sentences are identified to belong to the BA Resultative Construction
(BRC), in which BA is argued to have developed an abstract meaning of
'bringing about a resultative state'. BA is consequently proposed to
be the main verb of the periphrastic resultative construction. The
complexity of the BA problem is elucidated with a complex structure in
semantic, pragmatic, and syntactic studies of BRC. Semantically, a BA
sentence in BRC is complex in that it typically involves an underlying
action and a resultative state. With BA as a verb, a complex
structure is inevitable in the syntactic analysis of BRC.
Interestingly, BA sentences in BRC also possess a pragmatically
complex structure: an embedded topic structure.
 As a comprehensive study, the thesis adopts a multi-faceted
approach. Following an introduction of the BA problem in Chapter 1,
the constructional meaning of BRC is investigated in Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 tackles the syntactic structure of BRC within the
Government-Binding Theory while Chapter 4 focuses on the pragmatic
features of BRC. After an examination of the construction in these
three major linguistic areas, a lexical study of BA itself is pursued
in Chapter 5. Finally, conclusions are drawn in Chapter 6, and the
thesis ends with suggestion of feasible future research on BRC.


 The condensed version (single space) of the thesis is 56 pages
long, including bibliography and index. It is stored in PostScript
format under the filename 'BRC.ps' and can be obtained via anonymous
ftp from linguistics.archive.umich.edu, following the procedure below:
(Content in square brackets is what you need to type in from the keyboard.)

1) [ftp linguistics.archive.umich.edu]

2) Name (linguistics.archive.umich.edu:steng): [anonymous]
 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
 Password:[(your e-mail address)]

3) ftp> [cd linguistics]

4) ftp> [cd papers]

5) ftp> [get BRC.ps]
 <NOTE: It will take approximately one minute to transfer the
 file.>

6) ftp> [bye]

If you are not familiar with printing a PostScript file, please type
in: get '00README.ps'
before you send the command 'bye' to end the ftp session. For those
who have not access to ftp, I can send out the file via E-mail. (But
this method is not necessarily more direct and simple.) If you have
problems in getting a hard copy of the paper, please provide
information about your computer (IBM or Mac), the program used for
E-mail, and whether you know how to send a PostScript file to the
printer. Alternatively, you can mail a blank floppy diskette (3.5")
to me with postage for return mail. For more information, contact me
at: stengsfu.ca

--
Picus Ding <stengsfu.ca> Estu songhanto, sed faranto ankau.
Department of Linguistics
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6