ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE

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1 ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE jwj r GAO Yan Abstract In teaching Chinese, we notice that for Chinese learners, there are some word order problems to understand. One of them is about duration phrases like san nian 'three years' and frequency phrases such as liang ci 'two times', which behave differently from other adverbial phrases such as locative, manner, and temporal phrases. In this paper we will try to apply XI-theory, which was formulated by Chomsky, to solve two questions. The first one concerns the properties of duration and frequency phrases: Are they adjuncts of VP or complements of VP? The second one is to find structural differences between duration phrases and frequency phrases. Key word: [XIIDfij~J XI-theory' [1ttJD~lI]J adjunct [flh~j complement [Ilif (rdl)iiflh~j duration phrase [~( 1,):) :S:flH~B-J frequency phrase 1. Introduction 1 In traditional grammar, frequency expressions and duration expressions, they are called as frequency complement (douryou hougo) and duration complement Giryou hougo) (ct. Moriya 1995). In recent studies of Chinese syntax, there have been two treatments proposed: in one propose, they are treated as complements and in the other, as adjuncts. In this paper, I will discuss the status of duration and frequency phrases and the distinctions between them, reviewing the two treatments. 2. Previous analyses 2.1 Tang (1990) According to Tang (1990), duration and frequency phrases, which appear in postverbal I Thanks to Pro UE for her valuable comments on this article. Any errors or shortcomings are my responsibility. ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE

2 position, are analyzed as outer complements as opposed to an inner complements such as an object. Thus, based on Larson's (1988) VP structure, which Tang adopts in her analysis, duration and frequency phrases may be projected as complements of V' as the structure in (1) shows. In a structure like (1), the verb is located in the lower V node and then is raised to the higher node, yielding the ordering of a direct object followed by a duration or frequency phrase. That is what we get in (2): (1) (Tang 1990:165) (2) a. wo xue Hanyu shi-ge yue Ie. I study Chinese ten-ge month LE 'It has been ten months since I started to study Chinese.' (3) a. wo xue Hanyu xue-ie shi-ge yue Ie. I study Chinese study-le ten-ge month LE 'It has been ten months since I started to study Chinese.' There is another natural expression as is shown in (3), in which the verb xue 'study' is reduplicated. In order to generate the sentence, we claim that the trace of the moved verb can be lexically realized as a result of repetition of the verb. 2.2 Huang (2009) In Huang (2009), duration and frequency phrases are analyzed as adjuncts of V' and thus they do not compete with the object in structure (4). Raising V to v yields the word order in which there are two postverbal objects with the FP/DrP between them as is shown in (5a), or the one in which FP/DrP precedes the object as is shown in (5b). (4) /vp"", NPl v / v'... /vp~ NP2 / V~ FP / V~ V NP3/S (Huang 2009:92) ijht*~oojllih:: / -7 -lvf~1p fl (2010) ~19%

3 (5) a. wo song-guo ta liang-ci liwu. I send-guo her two time present 'I sent her presents two times.' b. ta dang-guo yi nian lao shi. He be- GUO one year teacher 'He had been teacher for one year.' In the next section, I will examine the properties of duration and frequency phrases in Chinese in order to decide whether they should be considered as adjuncts of V' or complements of V'. 3. Comparing between typical adverbial adjuncts and duration and frequency phrases In order to find out what properties duration and frequency phrases in Chinese have, let us look at other types of adverbial phrases. First, duration and frequency phrases are typically placed in a postverbal position as is illustrated, whereas other adverbial phrases appear preverbally as shown in (6). (6) a. ta shi cong Shanghai lai de. she is from Shanghai come DE 'She came from Shanghai.' b. wo shang-ge xingqi yujian ta Ie. I last week meet her LE 'I met her last week.' c. ta nuli de xuexi Riyu. he hard DE study Japanese 'He study Japanese hard.' (6a) contains a locative adverbial, (6b) contains a temporal adverbial and (6c) contains a manner adverbial, and all these adverbial phrases are adjuncts. Second, duration and frequency phrases are NPs, but other adverbial phrases usually accompany prepositions such as in (6a) or (6c), that is, PPs. Third, as Huang (2009) points out, multiple occurrences of duration and frequency phrases are not allowed while multiple adverbials in other types are allowed. Examples are shown below: ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE

4 (7) a. ta cong Xi'an xiaoyinyiyi de hui-iai-ie. he from Xi'an cautious DE come-back-i.e 'He cautiously came back from Xi'an.' (Huang 2009: 100) b. *wo mai-guo liang ci yi nian yu. I sell-guo two time one year fish Intended reading: 'I sold fish for a year two times.' (Huang 2009:100) Being adjuncts to X', the adverbial cong Xi'an 'from Xi'an' and the manner adverbial can occur multiply while duration and frequency phrases can not appear as the ungrammaticality of (7b) shows. Fourth, the position of the NP object and that of duration and frequency phrase inside VP are interchangeable while other adverbials can not exchange their position with the NP object. The typical adjunct adverbials generally precede the verb and its complements. (8) a. wo jian-guo ta liangci. I meet-guo her two time 'I met her two times.' b. wo qiao Ie sanxia men. I knock-le three time door 'I knocked door three times,' (Iwada 2001:82) c. wo zuo tian jian-guo tao I yesterday meet-guo him 'I met him yesterday.' d. *wo jian-guo zuo tian tao I meet-guo yesterday him *Intended reading: 'I met him yesterday.' e. *wo jian-guo ta zuo tian. meet-guo him yesterday *Intended reading: 'I met him yesterday.' Summarizing, it is be concluded that duration and frequency phrases behave differently from typical adjunct adverbials such as, locative, manner, and temporal. Thus, in contrast to adjunct adverbials, duration and frequency phrases could be interpreted as complement adverbials inside V'. In the next section, comparing with complements and adjuncts of V', we will try to propose that

5 duration and frequency phrases are complements ofv1. 4. The properties of duration and frequency phrases in Chinese In the following, let us first look at questions below: (9) a. ni xue shenme waiyu? you study what foreign language 'what foreign language do you study?' b. ni xue Hanyu duo chang shijian c. ni jian ta ji ci Ie? you meet him how many times LE 'How many times did you meet her?' (10) a. ta wen [ni xue shenme waiyul? he ask you study what foreign language 'What foreign language did he ask you were studying?' b. ta wen [ni xue Hanyu duo chang shijian lel? he ask you study Chinese how long time LE 'How long did he ask you have been studying Chinese?' c. ta wen [ni jian ta ji ci lel? he ask you meet him how many times LE 'How many times did he ask you met her?' The examples in (9) are simple sentences while examples in (10) are complex sentences with embedded clauses. As shown in (10), both the duration phrase duo chang shi jian 'how ong' and frequency phrase jici 'how many times' can be questioned as well as the direct objet shenme waiyu 'what foreign language' in (10a). Huang (1982,2009) discusses several tests to distinguish between adjuncts and complements of VP. He argues that, when are two questions words in the embedded clauses, the contrast between complements and adjuncts appears. ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE

6 (11) a. (?) ta xiang zhidao [shei xue shenme waiyu)? he want know who study what foreign language *what foreign language does he want to know who studies?' b. *ta xiang zhidao [shei zenme chang minge)? he want know who how sing folksong *'How does he want to know who sings folksongs?' [with how modifying sing) (Huang 2009:79) In (l1a), shenme waiyu 'what foreign language' can turn the whole sentence into a question; in contrast, the adjunct manner adverbial zenme 'how' cannot as the ungrammaticality of (lib) shows. (lib) is acceptable if both shei 'who' and zenme 'how' are part of the indirect question. Huang's claim is that the adjunct is much harder to question than the complement. Keeping this in mind, let us examine frequency and duration phrases in terms of question formation. (12) a. (?) ta xiang zhidao [shei xue Hanyu duo chang shijian Ie)? he want know who study Chinese how long time LE *'How long dose he want to know who studies Chinese?' b. (?) ta xiang zhidao [shei jian ta jici Ie)? he want know who meet her how many times LE *'How many times does he want to know who meet her?' Although the judgment is subtle and difficult, which may not be equally clear to every native speaker of Chinese, (12a) and (12b) are better in acceptability under the intended readings than (11 b). This leads us to argue for the complement status of the duration and frequency phrases. Another distinction between complements and adjuncts appears when the main verb is negated. (13) a. (?) ta mei gaosu women [ni xue shenme waiyu)? he not tell us you study what foreign language *'What foreign language did he not tell us that you study?' b. *ta mei gaosu dajia [ni zenme chang zhe-shou minge)? he not tell us you how sing this-cl folksong Intended reading:* 'How did he not tell people that you sing this Folksong?' [with how modifying sing) (Huang 2009:79)

7 c. (?) ta mei gaosu women [ni JC,ue Hanyu duo chang shijian lei? he not tell us you study Chinese how long time I.E * 'How long did he not tell us that you had been studying Chinese?' d. (?) ta mei gaosu women [ni jian ta jici lei? he not tell us you meet her how many times I.E *'How many times did he not tell us that you met her?' The judgment here is again subtle, but it is true that (13c) and (13d) which contain a duration phrase and frequency phrase are better than (13b), which contains a typical adjunct phrase. (13b) is significantly more difficult to interpret. The results obtained in (13) are similar to those in (11) and (12). There is a difference in behavior between true adjuncts on one hand and duration and frequency phrases on the other with respect to the negated main verbs. On the basis of these observations, I suggest that duration and frequency phrases should be analyzed as complement constituents inside VP rather than adjunct constituents. 5. More differences between duration phrases and frequency phrases In this section, we will take a further look at duration and frequency phrases, and point out more detail a remaining problem that arises by treating both of them as complements. Showing some differences on properties in detail and translations in English, we will suggest that: despite their complement status, duration phrases have more adjunct properties than frequency phrases. First, let us consider the following expressions (14). (14b) contains multiply duration and frequency phrases. (14) a. ta renzen de jiao wo Hanyu. he seriously DE teach me Chinese 'He seriously teaches me Chinese.' b. wo yinian xuele liangci Riyu. lone year study I.E two times Japanese 'I studied Japanese for one year two times.' c. *wo liang ci xue Ie Riyu yi nian. I two times study I.E Japanese one year Intending meaning: 'Totally I studied Japanese for one year, plus the first time and the second time.' Contrary to what Huang's (2009) assumption that multiple use duration and frequency phrases is ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE

8 not allowed, we try to suggest that occasionally as in (14b), duration and frequency phrases could be used multiply if and only if as in the duration phrase appears preverbally and the frequency phrase appears postverbally. In contrast with (14b), (14c) is ungrammatical where the order of duration and frequency phrase is opposite. Therefore, we can claim that when duration and frequency appear in the same sentence, the duration phrase behaves more like adjunct of VP; whereas the frequency phrase keeps its complementness. Another distinction between duration and frequency phrase can be shown in their relation to objects. Next, let us rearrange (14b) as below: (15) a. wo yi nian xuele Riyu liangci. I one year studyle Japanese two time 'I studied Japanese for one year two times.' b. *wo xuele yinian Riyu liangci. I study LE one year Japanese two time Intending meaning: 'Two times I totally studied Japanese for two years.' c. *wo xue Ie Riyu yinian liangci. study LE Japanese one year two times Intending meaning: 'Two times I totally studied Japanese for two years.' As illustrated above, two things become clear. One is that it is possible to change positions between the frequency phrase liangci 'two times' and the object Riyu 'Japanese'; However, as shown in (15b) and (15c) this kind of change is not possible for the duration phrase yin ian 'one year' and the object Riyu 'Japanese'. These facts further support the differences between duration and frequency phrases: Chinese as are shown in (15b) and (15c). the frequency phrases have more stronger relation with their objects than the duration phrases. Next, let us examine whether the structural difference between duration and frequency phrases still remain when they are translated into English. (16) a. ta du Ie yi-ge xiaoshi de shu. she read LE one-ge hour DE book 'She read book for one hour.' b. ta du Ie si-bian zhebu manhua. she read LE four-bian this-bu cartoon 'She read this cartoon four times.' Examples above show us the categorical difference between duration and frequency phrases that: the former act more like PPs while the later are NPs.

9 To sum up, the observations above imply that there is a range of complementness. The frequency phrases have more of complementness while duration phrases have less of complementness, that is more of adjunctness. 6. Conclusions In this article, I have tried to show that duration and frequency phrases, which are one of the controversial grammatical items in Chinese syntax, should be considered as complements rather than adjuncts ofv'. However, with respect to their complementness, I have argued that there is a slight difference between them. The positions of the two phrases in sentence are affected by other factors such as the nature of objects. I will leave this problem for further study. ON DURATION and FREQUENCY PHRASES in MANDARIN CHINESE

10 References Huang,C.-T.James (1982) Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar. Doctoral dissertation, MIT. Huang,C.-T.James, Y.-H.Audrey Li, Ya-Fei Li (2009) The Syntax of Chinese. New York: Cambridge University Press. Iwada, Noriyuki (2001) Anshoshitemanabu Chugokugo (shukyuhen) (Chinese by reciting) Tokyo: Hakuteisya. Moriya, Hironori (1995) Yashashikukuwashi Chugokugo Bunpo (easy and detailed Chinese grammar) Tokyo: Tohoshoten. Radford, Andrew (1988) Transformational Grammar: A First Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tang, C.-C. Jane (1990) Chinese Phrase Structure and the Extended XI-theory. Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University.