期刊论文

Wang, Yong

英文

FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE

0929-998X

2016

23

3

361-383

10.1075/fol.23.3.04wan

'New Century Talent Supporting Project, Ministry of Education, China' [NCET-13-0819]

本校为第一且通讯机构

This article deals with impersonal clauses in Chinese (ICiCs) (e.g. Táishàng chàngzhe xì,. These are called pseudo-existentials in the literature, as they resemble typical existentials both in form and in meaning. I argue that ICiCs are impersonal, ergatively oriented, and existential. They are impersonal in that the actor of the process is typically demoted to the end position or completely omitted; ergatively oriented in that they express the meaning of happening instead of doing, and existential in that they present the existence of even...

This article deals with impersonal clauses in Chinese (ICiCs) (e.g. Táishàng chàngzhe xì, 台上唱着戏). These are called pseudo-existentials in the literature, as they resemble typical existentials both in form and in meaning. I argue that ICiCs are impersonal, ergatively oriented, and existential. They are impersonal in that the actor of the process is typically demoted to the end position or completely omitted; ergatively oriented in that they express the meaning of happening instead of doing, and existential in that they present the exist...