The de-construction in Wenzhounese: how it differs from the bǎ-construction in Mandarin

Abstract

The canonical word order in Mandarin is SVO, but it becomes “S bǎ O V” in the bǎ-construction, where bǎ vaguely expresses the affectedness of the object. How to analyze the bǎ-construction is one of the most controversial topics in Chinese grammar. This paper approaches the issue from a fresh perspective by presenting new data from Wenzhounese, where the de-construction is parallel to the bǎ-construction. Although these constructions share a considerable degree of similarity, they differ in the following key respects. First, they differ in the strategies used to topicalize the post-de/bǎ noun phrase (NP). Second, the quantifier taking scope over the post-de/bǎ NP has distinct distributions. Third, Wenzhounese has a double-de construction unattested in Mandarin. Based on these observations, I offer a formal analysis of the de-construction within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar. This encompasses the lexical entries, constituent-structure, and functional-structure for de, which will capture the differences between de and bǎ and shed new light on the bǎ-construction in Mandarin.