Shudong Ma | Zhongnan University of Economics and law (original) (raw)
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Papers by Shudong Ma
This contribution examines the descriptive and resultative de-constructions in Mandarin Chinese, ... more This contribution examines the descriptive and resultative de-constructions in Mandarin Chinese, e.g. Wǒ pǎo-de hěn kuai ‘I run very fast’. There is a longstanding debate about this construction. The primary point of dispute concerns the main predicate: Is the first predicate the root of the sentence, i.e. pǎo-de ‘run’, or is the second predicate the root, i.e. kuai ‘fast’? We demonstrate here that from a dependency grammar (DG) perspective, the second predicate should be taken as the root. A number of diagnostics support this conclusion: 1) yes/no-questions with ma, 2) position of the negation bu, 3) omission, 4) placement of the adverb yě ‘also’, 5) ne-questions, and 6) modal insertion. The conclusion is important for the development of DG as applied to the syntax of Mandarin, since many basic questions about Mandarin sentence structure have not yet been examined from a DG perspective.
Drawing on temporal frames of reference, this study addresses an analysis of two constructions: b... more Drawing on temporal frames of reference, this study addresses an analysis of two constructions: biān A biān B ‘side A side B’ and yòu A yòu B ‘again A again B’. It has been discovered that biān-biān as a simultaneity frame emphasizes durative synchronization between pairwise actions, and cannot structure spatial entities, states or properties; yòu-yòu as another simultaneity frame, by contrast, emphasizes simultaneity out of successive iteration, and can structure spatial entities, states or properties. Despite these differences, either biān-biān or yòu-yòu manifests the identical interval effect, i.e., the closer the utterance distance between biān and biān or yòu and yòu is, the more these two simultaneity frames are instantiated. This fact suggests that linguistic features in form regulate the formation of a conceptual frame.
Shift in constructions refers to the ambiguous readings of one expression. This research mainly f... more Shift in constructions refers to the ambiguous readings of one expression. This research mainly focuses on the correspondence among the introspection and usage-based shifts of temporal and atemporal constructions, using the linguistic structure of duplicated interrogative pronouns as research materials. The introspection shows that on the condition of duplicated interrogative pronouns, the high-low availability of two structural meanings is correspondent with the long-short distance of duplicated interrogative pronouns, which is correspondent with the high-low frequencies of the instances of those structural meanings in a certain extent. Hence, results evidence that the introspection-based shift of constructions matches the usage-based one, the whole effect of which to a certain degree can account for the weakened long-distance dependency of duplicated interrogative pronouns. Further, results suggest that the part-whole relationship in linguistic structure is beyond the correspondence of verb and argument structure.
This contribution examines the descriptive and resultative de-constructions in Mandarin Chinese, ... more This contribution examines the descriptive and resultative de-constructions in Mandarin Chinese, e.g. Wǒ pǎo-de hěn kuai ‘I run very fast’. There is a longstanding debate about this construction. The primary point of dispute concerns the main predicate: Is the first predicate the root of the sentence, i.e. pǎo-de ‘run’, or is the second predicate the root, i.e. kuai ‘fast’? We demonstrate here that from a dependency grammar (DG) perspective, the second predicate should be taken as the root. A number of diagnostics support this conclusion: 1) yes/no-questions with ma, 2) position of the negation bu, 3) omission, 4) placement of the adverb yě ‘also’, 5) ne-questions, and 6) modal insertion. The conclusion is important for the development of DG as applied to the syntax of Mandarin, since many basic questions about Mandarin sentence structure have not yet been examined from a DG perspective.
Drawing on temporal frames of reference, this study addresses an analysis of two constructions: b... more Drawing on temporal frames of reference, this study addresses an analysis of two constructions: biān A biān B ‘side A side B’ and yòu A yòu B ‘again A again B’. It has been discovered that biān-biān as a simultaneity frame emphasizes durative synchronization between pairwise actions, and cannot structure spatial entities, states or properties; yòu-yòu as another simultaneity frame, by contrast, emphasizes simultaneity out of successive iteration, and can structure spatial entities, states or properties. Despite these differences, either biān-biān or yòu-yòu manifests the identical interval effect, i.e., the closer the utterance distance between biān and biān or yòu and yòu is, the more these two simultaneity frames are instantiated. This fact suggests that linguistic features in form regulate the formation of a conceptual frame.
Shift in constructions refers to the ambiguous readings of one expression. This research mainly f... more Shift in constructions refers to the ambiguous readings of one expression. This research mainly focuses on the correspondence among the introspection and usage-based shifts of temporal and atemporal constructions, using the linguistic structure of duplicated interrogative pronouns as research materials. The introspection shows that on the condition of duplicated interrogative pronouns, the high-low availability of two structural meanings is correspondent with the long-short distance of duplicated interrogative pronouns, which is correspondent with the high-low frequencies of the instances of those structural meanings in a certain extent. Hence, results evidence that the introspection-based shift of constructions matches the usage-based one, the whole effect of which to a certain degree can account for the weakened long-distance dependency of duplicated interrogative pronouns. Further, results suggest that the part-whole relationship in linguistic structure is beyond the correspondence of verb and argument structure.