LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS 13.

5:963-998, 2012
2012-0-013-005-000340-1

V / C

1.

1V / C (potential)

V / C
VC/
(infix) V / C/ VC
1961 1979 1982

VCV / C**
*

*
(NACCL-24, 2012)


1
V / C V VerbC
Complement



V / C
(2002a, 2002b) V / C
V / CV / C
V / C (component)

Goldberg (1995:4) (Construction Grammar)

V / C
V / C
2
(1)(2)
(3)

2.

2.1 V / C

2.2

2
VC
2008, 2009 (resultative verb
compound constructions) (Huang
2008)

964



2.1 V / C

(1989) V C
(1a)V C
(1b)

(1) a. 1989:319
b.
1989:319

Li & Thompson (1981) can cannot V / C

achievable unachievable
achievable unachievable/
(2)-(3)
(3)
(4)

(2) (Li & Thompson 1981:56)

(3) (Li & Thompson 1981:56)
(4) (Li & Thompson 1981:57)

V / C [ (achievability)]
VC (5)-(6)

(5) a.
b. ?? (Li & Thompson 1981:84)
(6) a.
b. ??
(7) a.
b. ?? /

965



(1982) V / C
(8)
(1982)

(8) 1982:28

(1999) V C
V CV
C V C
(9)

(9)
1999:138

(9) V
C (1999)
V C (i) (ii)
V CV
CV C
V C 67% 33% V
CVC

V C (10)
(11)

(10)
1999:141
(11)

V / C
(1982) (8)
Li & Thompson (1981) (1989) (1999)
(1982)

966



C
V CV
C

(1989) (1999)

(1982) 2.2

2.2

(middle) (active)
(passive) (voice)
(middle
construction)
3
(Goldberg 1995, Taylor 1998)

(12) This oven doesnt bake very well.

(12) this oven doesnt bake very well

doesnt bake very well this oven
(2004)
(focus)
(defocus)
(2005, 2007)
[NPVAdj]
(13) []
(14)

3

4.4

967



(13)
(14)

(2005, 2007)

(Theme)

3.

(Huang 2008)
4 3349
831

Theme
(Sinica Corpus) 5
vrr
6

Goldberg (1995, 2006) (Construction Grammar)
3.1

3.2
3.3
3.4

4


5
(Academia Sinica Corpus)
CCLGoogle

6

968



3.1

Goldberg (1995:4) (construction) C

<Fi, Si> (Fi) (Si) C
C 7

(polysemy)

3.2

Goldberg (2003:219)
V / C

1


Idiom /
V /
Idiom (partially filled) V /
V / C
Phrases
(subpart link)

7
C is a CONSTRUCTION iffdef C is a form-meaning pair <Fi, Si> such that some aspects of Fi or some
aspects of Si is not strictly predictable from Cs component parts or from other previously established
constructions (Goldberg 1995:4).

969



8 Subj V / C (Obj)
Sentence Structure


Discourse

V / C

3.3

(resultative constructions)
Huang (2008) (2008, 2009)
Huang (2008)
C 9 (semantic host)
(2009)

A. (object-oriented) 10
[ Subj V Comp Obj ]
AGT ACT RESULT PAT
X causes Z to become Y by Ving
(Huang 2008)
2008
2008

8
V
V 2007
9
C

10
Huang (2008) VC Huang (2008)

970



B. (subject-oriented)
[ Subj V Comp (Obj) ]
AGT-PAT ACT RESULT THM
X becomes Y by Ving
2008
(Huang 2008)
(Huang 2008)

C. (pseudo-passive)
[ Subj V Comp ]
PAT ACT RESULT
X becomes Y by sb Ving
(Huang 2008)
( 2008)
( 2008)

D. (inverted causative)
[ Subj V Comp Obj ]
11
THM ACT RESULT PAT
X causes Z to become Y by Z(~Z) Ving X
(Huang 2008)
(Huang 2008)

(15)

(16)

(17)

11
THM (theme)
(2008, 2009)

971



(18)

(15)-(16)
(17)
(18)
(15)-(18)

3.4

C
(2004)post-verbal complements
(2004)
V / CC
12 (verb particle)13 (phase)14 (resultative)

15
(2004:40)

12
(verb particle)
Teng 1977 2004 2005

13
(phase)
2002:26

14

2004
15

972



(2004) (2004)

2
16

(2004) (semantic host)

17

(liao3) 18 (2005)
219 (2002) 220

16
(2004:51)
17


/


18

(liao3)
19
(2005) 121
2

973



4.
4.1

vrr 3900
3349
831 705 85% 126 15%
50 21 18% 14% 10%
4.2
4.3 4.4
4.5

4.2

V / C
(19) (20)

(21)
(19)-(21)
(22)

(19)
(20)

2

2
20
(2002) 12
1
22

21
1

974



(21)
(22)

C V / C

4.2.1

50 C (2004)
(I) (II) (III)
(IV) 22 C
V
(23)-(25) 2

(23)
(24)
(25)

(23) 2
(24) 2
(25) 2
2

(26) (27)

(26)
(27)

22
(2004) (III)
(IV)

975



(28) (29)

(28)

(29)

2
(arbitrary)

4.2.2 V / C

2.1

(30)
(31)

(32)
(33)

(30) (31)
??(32)

976



(33) ??

(1999) V C
V CVC
VC

(30) (31) (32) (33)

VC
(30)-(33)

4.3
4.4 (Theme)

4.3

[ Subj V / C (Obj) ]
AGT ACT RESULT (ARG)

(34) 23
(35)

23

S V V C

977



(36)
(37)

(34)
(35)
(34)-
(35)

(36) (patient) (37)

(recipient)

Li & Thompson (1981)

(+volitional) (+intentionality) (38)

(38)

(39)

(40)
(41)
(volitionality of the agent)

(39)
(40)
(41) *

978



(34) (35)
(42) (43) (44) (45)

(42) ??
(43) ??
(44)
(45)

(46)
24 (47)
(Li & Thompson 1981)

(46) /
(47) /

(1999) V CC

(48)

(48)

(49)

24

979



(49) * ()

(49)

(50)

(50)

(1990) V CV
Teng (1974)
V
(coercion) V (51)
(coercion)

(51) (Google)

4.3.1

(zero anaphor) (52)
(53)(54) (55)

980



(52)
(53)
(54)

(55)

(53) (55)

[ Subj V / C Obj ]
AGT ACT RESULT PAT
V C
[ (AGT) (PAT) V]
[ (PAT25) C]

V C
(sub-event)

(V) (C)

(56)

(56)

AGT ACT RESULT PAT
[] []
[]
[]

25
(experiencer) Teng (1975)

981



(56)

4.3.2

(57)-(59)

(57)
(58)
(59)

(57) (58)
(59) (57)-(59)

[ Subj V / C Obj ]
AGT-PAT ACT RESULT (ARG)
V C
[ (AGT) V]
[ (PAT) C]

V C

(V) (C)

4.3.1 (60)

982



(60)

AGT-PAT ACT RESULT REC26
[] []
[]
[]

(60)

4.3.3

(61)-(64)

(61)
(62)
(63)
(64)

(61)

(2004)

26
Recipient

983



(potentiality of carrying out the action)

(i)
(ii)

i.

[ Subj V / C Obj ]
AGT ACT GOAL (ARG)
V C
[ (AGT) V]
V C

V C

(V) (C) (C)
(65)

(65)

AGT ACT GOAL REC

[]

984



(65)

(66)-(67)
(68)-(69)
(70)-(73)

(66)
(67)
(68)
(69) (Google)
(70)
(71)
(72)
(73)
(66)-(68)(70)-(73)

ii.

(65)

[ Subj V / C (Obj) ]
AGT ACT GOAL (ARG)
[ V]
[ (AGT) V]

985



V V

(V) (C) (C)

(74)

(74)

AGT ACT GOAL REC
[]
[]

(74)

(75) (77)
V (76)
(77)

(75)
(76)
(77)
(78)

(77)-(78)

986



4.3.4

Goldberg (1995)

(type frequency) (token

frequency)

//
1 2 3

3 (type frequency)
(token frequency)
Type frequency of Type frequency of Token frequency of
Complements V de/bu C Complements

% % %
(i) 18 (38%) 54 (34%) 92 (16%)
(ii) 14 (29%) 30 (19%) 202 (36%)
(iii) 16 (33%) 73 (46%) 268 (48%)
27 48 (100%) 157 (100%) 562 (100%)

(C)
V / C54
34%30 19%
73 46% (productivity)
(34%)
(46%)
(38%) (33%) (token

27
2

987



frequency) 92 16%268 48%

(polysemy link)

4.3.5

4.3.4

B.

2

A.

(a)
(b) 2
(c)

D.

C.

1A
1B

988



1C
1D

4.4

[ Subj V / C Obj ]
THM ACT RESULT (ARG)
THM

(V) (C) (THM)

(79)

(79)

THM ACT RESULT

(79)

(Theme)
(80) (81) (82)
(83)
(82) (84)

(80)
(81)

989



(82)

(83)
(84) (Google)

(82)
(85)

V C/
/

(85) (Google)

(86)
(87)

(86)

(87)

990



(88) (89)

(88)
(89)

(type frequency) (token frequency)

4 (type frequency)
(token frequency)
Type frequency of Type frequency of Token frequency of
Complements V de/bu C Complements

% % %
(i) 18 (51%) 58 (62%) 101 (47%)
(ii) 7 (20%) 8 (9%) 23 (11%)
(iii) 10 (29%) 27 (29%) 89 (42%)
28 35 (100%) 93 (100%) 213 (100%)

4
18 51%
58 62%
101 47% 7
(20%)10 (29%) 8 (9%)27 (29%)
23 (11%)89 (42%)

28
3

991



4.5

4.3.4 4.4

5

29

92 (57%) 202 (90%) 268 (80%) 562 (73%)
101 (43%) 23 (10%) 89 (20%) 213 (27%)
193 225 357 775

73% 27%
30 V / C

90% 80%

57%
43%

5.

(Goldberg 1995)
V / C (Li & Thompson 1981
1989 1999)

29
831 (Idioms)
30
18% 7% 13%

992



(i) (ii)

(Theme)
(Theme)

V / C

993



1

147 115 84 79 62 48 40 33 28 27
17.69% 13.84% 10.11% 9.51% 7.46% 5.78% 4.81% 3.97% 3.37% 3.25%

18 15 12 11 9 8 6 5 4
2.17% 1.81% 1.44% 1.32% 1.08% 0.96% 0.72% 0.60% 0.48%



3 2 1
0.36% 0.24% 0.12%

2 (type frequency)

(i) 2311712223221
1211112
2121
(ii) 7532311
1112111
(iii) 232161278544
4324111
1

3 (type frequency)

(i) 218454222
1111111
1121
(ii) 2111111
(iii) 43321342
121

31
2002
2
32
2 2005

994



Chang, Edison Chun (). 2007. Huayu fanfuxing shijian geshi V+lai+V+qu de
tansuo: cong geshi yufa de jiaodu tanqi VV
[The iterative event construction V-Lai-V-Qu
in Chinese: a constructional approach]. Journal of Chinese Language Teaching
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[Received 10 January 2012; revised 30 April 2012; accepted 3 May 2012]

Huichen S. Hsiao
Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
National Taiwan Normal University
162, Sec. 1, Heping East Road
Taipei 106, Taiwan
huichen.hsiao@ntnu.edu.tw

997



On Mandarin Potential Complement Constructions

Huichen S. Hsiao and Chienju Lin

National Taiwan Normal University

In this paper, we adopt the framework of Construction Grammar (CG) to

discuss the potential complement (PC) constructions, and investigate the types,
structures, meanings, and semantic constraints of PC constructions in Mandarin.
Taking a corpus-based approach and taking type/token frequency into consideration,
we claim that the central meaning of the PC is GOAL-achieving. The results
show that there are two kinds of PC constructions. One is GOAL-achieving PC
construction, which expresses the potential of achieving the goal by carrying out
the action. The other subtypes of PC constructions are related to the main type
via polysemous or instance links. The semantic constraints of the construction
include volitionality of the agent and predictability of result. The other kind of
PC construction is MIDDLE-type (Adjectival) PC construction, which describes
the trait of the theme, the trait that is responsible for the result of the action.

Key words: potential complement constructions, Construction Grammar, Mandarin,

potential complement V de/bu C

998