What is the concept of verb-copying sentence in modern Chinese?

In the article Classification of Verb-copying Sentences in Modern Chinese, Tang Cuiju divides the corpus into two groups. One group can be transformed into "VO+ Ba +S+VC", and there is a causative relationship between VO and VC in this group of corpus, which is called "causative verb-copying sentence", and the other group is called "non-causative verb-copying sentence" with no causative relationship between VO and VC. [6] This division has gone deep into the essence of verb-copying sentences. After observation, there are indeed two kinds of verb-copying sentences with different properties, which are complementary in the whole Chinese grammar system.

3. 1 two different verb-copying sentences

3. 1. 1 causative verb-copying sentence

There is a causative relationship between two verb phrases in causative verb-copying sentences, or there is a causal relationship between them. VO directly leads to the emergence of VC, such as:

I like the theater.

He made the audience laugh when he said cross talk.

He was fascinated by the story.

From the above example, the relationship between the two verb components in the causative verb-copying sentence is causative and causative, and the complement behind it is relatively simple, usually a state adjective, a subject-predicate structure or a verb component.

3. 1.2 Non-causative verb-copying sentences

In non-causative verb-copying sentences, there is no causative relationship between VO and VC, that is, VC is not caused by VO. There are many types of complement components in non-causative verb-copying sentences, which can indicate state or result, possibility or evaluation significance. For example:

Angel Yao quickly sued. (Jing M.Guo, "How many flowers fall in a dream")

(36) Shi always said it well. (Liu Xinglong's "Drunk Spring Breeze")

He plays ball very well.

3.2 Semantic Orientation Analysis of Complement

The semantic connotation of verb-copying sentences is relatively complex. According to the semantic structure characteristics of verb-copying sentences and the semantic orientation of verb-copying sentence complements, the semantic types of verb-copying sentences can be divided into the following categories:

3.2. 1 complement c director s.

When the complement points to the agent, "c" refers to the state of the subject and describes the subject's situation, for example:

She sang and cried.

He is thirsty when he speaks.

The complements "cry" and "thirst" in the example sentence both point to the agent semantically, and we can analyze them like this:

He sang and cried. She sings. She cried.

He is thirsty. He spoke. He is thirsty.

3.2.2 complement c points to patient o.

When the complement points to the patient, "c" refers to the object O, and the object and complement can form the subject-predicate form, for example:

Mom's room is very tidy. Mother belongs to the room. The room is neat.

The teacher's question is simple. → The teacher gave the question. The question is simple.

The complements "very neat" and "very simple" in the example sentence point to the patient "room" and "topic" respectively in semantics.

3.2.3 the complement c points to the verb v.

When the complement points to the verb, the complement of the verb-copying sentence indicates the result, degree, trend or quantity of the action. For example:

He went to bed late. (indicating verb result)

I have looked for him three times. (indicating the number of times verbs appear)

3.2.4 Complement C points to the noun component in the complement.

When the complement points to the element that has the possessive relationship with the agent, the complement of the verb-copying sentence generally indicates the result of the event semantically. For example:

My eyes are sore from reading.

He turned pale because he was worried about the house.

In this example, "acid" and "white" point to "eyes" and "hair" respectively, while "eyes" and "hair" belong to subjects "I" and "he" respectively.

There is a special case of verb-copying sentences. When used alone, the complement does not point to the noun component in the agent, patient, verb or complement, but generally indicates the result of the event [7]. However, in the specific context of the dialogue, according to some of the information mentioned above or the information that both parties already know without explanation, we can conclude that the semantics of c refers to the noun component in the complement, such as:

Q: What happened to your eyes? A: I read books to see flowers.

Q: Why is your voice hoarse? A: Singing is dumb.

In the above example, the complements "Hua" and "dumb" can't find the corresponding semantic direction in a single sentence, but we can understand their semantic connotation according to the dialogue and context of common sense or context. For example, in the above example, we can judge that their semantics point to "eyes" and "sound" respectively.

3.3, the semantic relationship between O and V

3.3. Semantic relationship between1s and v

S in verb-copying sentences mostly means the agent, but some also mean the patient, place and time. Here are some examples:

A. for example, you stay up too much. (Zhou Keqin's "Xu Mao and His Daughters")

He got sunburned in the sun.

For example, many houses in that area collapsed under the heavy rain.

Time, for example, it rained heavily yesterday.

3.3.2 Semantic Relationship between O and V

O in verb-copying sentences is generally acted by nominal words, and a few non-nominal words can also act as objects. The semantic relationship with V is complicated, which can be summarized as follows:

A. the agent, such as the example listed above, "he got a sunburn." In this sentence, the object "Sun" is the sender of the behavior "Sun".

B. The object in verb-copying sentences is usually patient. For example, this hospital charges too much.

C. Take things as an example, I gave her too much.

The child slept on the floor and caught a cold.

E. for example, he is tired of taking Sunday off.

F. tools, such as he is used to eating big bowls.

G. reasons, such as: that new dress has shrunk a lot! [8]

3.4 volt type

The verb v in verb-copying sentences is finite. Generally speaking, there are many monosyllabic verbs, but there are also disyllabic verbs because monosyllabic verbs are very flexible. Since the verb-copying sentence itself is composed of VO and VC, it is decided that the verb of the verb-copying sentence must be able to take the object and complement directly. As yang yuling said, the limit value of verb-copying sentence is a tendency, which tends to be monosyllabic and transitive, but intransitive verbs can enter as long as they can temporarily take an object. Verb-object clutch words can enter verb-copying sentences because this verb-object word formation gives people the impression that the postverb components are saturated, so the clutch words enter verb-copying sentences in the form of "verb-object" [10]. According to the nature of verbs, this paper classifies verbs in verb-copying sentences from syntactic and semantic perspectives.

3.4. 1 V-type at syntactic level

3.4. 1. 1 intransitive verb

V in verb-copying sentences is composed of intransitive verbs, which mainly have two forms, one is a clutch word with its own dominant meaning, and the other is a verb that can take a locative object without an object. Here are some examples:

He slept soundly!

I have been to this park several times.

In the first example above, v is a disjunctive word, but when they are converted into monosyllabic verbs ("sleeping" and "sleeping"), their meanings are still similar, which makes VO look like a predicate-object structure. In general, the word "lai" (5 1) can not take an object, but it can take a locative object. Verbs like this include "go" and "live".

3.4. 1.2 Transitive Verb

Transitive verbs in verb-copying sentences are mostly verbs expressing the nature of action, and there are a few verbs expressing psychology, but neither immediate verbs nor ending verbs can enter verb-copying sentences. In the sense of expression, verbs in verb-copying sentences can be divided into two types [1 1]:

A. indicating the continuity of action

Action verbs in verb-copying sentences should be used according to the specific language environment, such as:

(52) Waiting for money is really impatient. (Ding Ling's Shanghai in the Spring of 1930 (I))

He gave a report for two hours.

In verb-copying sentences, there is a kind of verb that not only expresses people's subjective will, but also indicates the continuity of action, which we call psychological verbs, such as:

Look at your face if you don't believe me. I miss my wife very much. (Ye Shengtao's "Minor Diseases")

B. indicates that the action is repetitive, for example:

Everyone applauded louder. (Zhang Tianyi's "Dalin and Kobayashi")

3.4.2 Types of V on the semantic level

Action verb

Action verbs refer to actions directly or indirectly issued by body organs. These verbs are common in verb-copying sentences, such as: beating, dragging, shaking, knocking, pulling, cursing, cutting, watching, saying, waiting, coming, going and living. Examples are as follows:

I can't stop him. (Guo Moruo, "Zhuo Wenjun")

So we got the wrong guy. (Wang Shuo's "In vain")

He waited for nearly two hours.

The universal verb of 2

Universal verbs are action verbs, but they don't mean specific actions. There are few common verbs in verb-copying sentences, mainly including "engage in", "hurt", "get rid of", "make trouble" and "correct", for example:

He didn't understand for a long time.

(60) er ~, this damn guy, don't you think I'm hurt enough? (Li Yunshi, "That boy is really handsome")

(6 1) There was a big scene in the bridal chamber-a tearful red "Xi". (rural world 1994 12)

(62) Count the money until your hand cramps and move the whole person to space flight! (Ni Laosi's "Dominating the Immortal World")

3.4.2.3 suffers from verbs.

These verbs are basically disyllabic verbs, but a few monosyllabic verbs can enter verb-copying sentences, generally only "one" and "accept", for example:

(63) Learn to hit people after playing enough, hehe! (The Road to Rebirth by Heishan Huangshui)

I've had enough. (Woody Allen's Kugelmass Episode)

3.4.2.4's psychological feeling verbs

In the analysis of persistent verbs, the verbs expressing psychological feelings have been mentioned above, which include: strange, thinking, love, hate, hate, trouble, resentment and so on. For example:

It's all my fault that I didn't read much. (Lao She's "Salesgirl")

Today, I suddenly feel that I miss her like crazy. (Summer in Zhang Kangkang) [12]

3.5 Semantic features

The semantic features of verb-copying sentences are mainly manifested in two aspects: the semantic center of gravity and the semantic relationship between two verb phrases. The discussion of semantic center of gravity must be analyzed in combination with semantics. Semantic gravity has always been a hot topic among scholars. In the past, most scholars thought that the semantic center of verb-copying sentence was complement c, but this was somewhat general. The semantic center of gravity of verb-copying sentences is directly related to the establishment of the syntactic nature of verb-copying sentences, which requires us to analyze the deep connotation of verb-copying sentences more comprehensively. This paper holds that the semantic focus of verb-copying sentences must be considered from two aspects, namely, structural focus and expression focus. S in verb-copying sentence is the object of the whole sentence statement and expression; VO and VC jointly state the situation about S. VO provides a concrete and complete context for the whole sentence, while VC describes the state and result of the action or event. These two verb phrases constitute the double-focus structure of verb-copying sentences, and their combination makes the event or state about S more comprehensive and complete. The semantic focus of verb-copying sentences is also reflected in the focus of expression. The VC component of verb-copying sentences used in communication or article writing can often be added with critical modifiers, which can attract others' attention.