The original article with the same title was published in Yuyan Yanjiu, 1995, no.2. This is a revised version of it.

Wenze Hu
April 1996

1. Introduction

The situational¹ differences presented by presentative sentences have long been observed by Chinese linguists. Zhu (1982) classifies presentative sentences into two groups, namely the (dis)appearance and the existential groups. Li (1986), Nie (1989) and He (1992) more clearly point out that the two groups denote different semantic situations, change-of-state and state. Tai (1989) also observes that presentative sentences seem to be governed by certain semantic situations. In this study, I accept the viewpoint that presentative sentences should be classified into two basic situational groups, namely that of (dis)appearance which denotes achievement, and that of existence which presents state based upon the situational differences presented. Furthermore a sub-classification of quasi-existential sentences within the existential group will be introduced. Finally, I will argue that the situational differences are determined by the basic communicative functions of presentative sentences.

2. State vs. Achievement

Before discussing the situational classification of presentative sentences, it is necessary to clarify the two semantic notions mentioned in 1., namely, Achievement and State. In their influential studies in the field of verbal semantics, Vendler (1967) and Dowty (1979, 1986) have proposed a classification of four event types, namely states, activities, accomplishments and achievements based upon the notion of situational time, which is, the internal temporal structure of a situation. Since it is far beyond the scope of this study to engage a full scaled theoretical discussion of Vendler and Dowty's classification, I will not go into any detail, but touch upon only those aspects relevant to the current topic. The semantic characteristics of the two event types of state and achievement in terms of time span can be stated as follows:

1. State: static situation viewed at a given point of time.

2. Achievement: change of state with no interval.

Such being the semantic characteristics of the two event types, the question that follows is: how are they expressed by different groups of presentative sentences in Chinese? In the following, I will first offer a description of the general semantic characteristics of the two basic groups, and then focus on the verbal requirements by both groups of presentative sentences.

3. Semantic Characteristics of the Two Basic Groups of Presentative Sentences

As mentioned above, presentative sentences are classified into two basic groups, those of disappearance and those of existence. Examples of both groups are given as follows:²

(1) ¼ÒÀïÀ´ÁËһλ¿ÍÈË¡£

(2) СÀî¼ÒÅÜÁËÒ»Ö»¸ë×Ó¡£

(3) ÎÝÀï ·É×ÅÒ»Ö»ÃÛ ·ä¡£

(4) ÎÝ×ÓÕýÖÐ ·Å×ÅÒ»ÕÅ´ó×À×Ó¡£

Sentences (1) and (2) represent a situation of change-of-state³ i.e. (dis)appearance, whereas (3) and (4) are those of on-going state, i.e., existence. The first group denotes a change of state at the location symbolized by NPloc through the assertion of the appearance or disappearance of the entity represented by the NP at location 3 in the following syntactic structure of presentative sentences:

NP_loc [V NP]

1    2 3

In contrast, the second group focuses on the stative situation of the location presented by the locative NP via a description of certain mode of existence of the presented entity. What characterizes the former group is that all its members signify change. It differs from the group of existence in that it denotes a punctual situation, which involves a change of state, while the group of existence describes an on-going situation. As for (dis)appearance sentences, we have a retrospective aspect in a sense that they establish a relationship between a state and an earlier situation. But as for existential sentences like (3) and (4), no such relationship obtains. Thus, the appearance sentences present a contrast between the non-existence of an entity and the appearance of it, while disappearance sentences establish a contrast between the existence of an entity and the disappearance of that entity. Such a contrast however can not be found with sentences in the existence group. In the next section we are going to discuss how these two situations are presented and what requirements are on the selection of verbs in terms of verbal semantics.

4. Requirements on Verb Selection in the Two Basic Groups of Presentative Sentences

4.1 Requirements on Verb Selection in (Dis)appearance Sentences

Conditioned by the semantic situation presented£(dis)appearance sentences only allow certain types of verbs in their VPs. Appearance sentences, as observed by Tai (1989), may contain the verbs, lai (come) and chu (appear) and any verbs compounding with them. Here I would add one more, xian (appear)£¬ and verbs compounding with it. These are all achievement verbs⁴ denoting appearance into a space. Illustrations are give bellow:

(5) ÁÖ×ÓÀï·É³öЩÃÀÀöµÄÄñ¡£

(6) ÃÅÀï×ß³öһλÀϺº¡£

(7) °ë·ɱ³ö¸ö³ÌÒ§½ð¡£

(8) ÔºÀï×ê³öÒ»Ìõ´ó¹· ¡£

(9) Ç°Ãæ¹ÎÀ´Ò»ÕóÁ¹·ç¡£

(10) ÄÄ ·ÉÀ´Ò»Ö»°Ë¸ç¡£

(11) ´°Íâ´«À´Ò»ÕóЦÉù¡£

(12) ÃÅÍâ×ßÀ´Ò»ÄÐһŮ¡£

(13) Ç°·½³öÏÖÁËһƬƽԭ¡£

(14) ÑÛÇ°³ÊÏÖһƬ»¶ÀÖ¡£

(Dis)appearance sentences involve another group of achievement verbs indicating disappearance, such as si (die), xiaoshi (disappear), diu (lose), etc., and a group of motion verbs⁵ such as pao (...by way of running), zou (...by way of walking), etc. The semantic status of the latter group is worth discussing. My own observation is that the semantic core of verbs like pao and zou indicates the mode of certain movement. Only when they occur with certain aspectual markers in specific syntactic constructions do they denote any aspectual situations. In addition, contexts also play a very important role in determining their aspectual implications. In sum, these verbs do not possess any inherent aspectual properties; rather, their aspectual properties are conditioned by the semantic situations represented by the syntactic constructions adopted in particular communicative contexts. Thus we have pao and zou in (15) and (16):

(15) ËûÔÚÅܲ½¡£

(16) Ëû×ßÁËÒ»Ìì·¡£

They denote an on-going dynamic situation, whereas the same verbs in (17) and (18) describe an instantaneous change of state.

(17) ÄǸöÔôÅÜÁË¡£

(18) СÀî×ßÁË¡£

When these motion verbs occur in presentative sentences, they will signify either a change-of-state, or a state depending on what aspectual marker they are suffixed with. And in the case of disappearance sentences, -le is the only choice; for example,

(19) ÎÒÃǼÒÅÜÁËһֻè¡£

(20) ÎÝÀï×ßÁËÒ»¸öÈË¡£

Otherwise the sentences formed will have a different aspectual implication which I will discuss in the next section.

4.2 Requirements on Verb Selections in the Existential Group

He (1992) observes that verbs in this group typically consist of placement, posture and motion verbs. It is this group of verbs suffixed with the stative aspect marker -zhe that occur in presentative sentences depicting an atemporal, static situation at the location symbolized by the locative NP. It is characteristic of these verbs that they project an image of conceptualized mode of existence in existential sentences. It has been observed that existential sentences describe the existence of entities with different images. Thus we have the following:

(21) ÌìÉϹÒ×ÅÎÞÊý¿ÅÐÇÐÇ¡£

(22) ÌìÉÏǶ×ÅÎÞÊý¿ÅÐÇÐÇ¡£

(23) ÌìÉÏ×°µã×ÅÎÞÊý¿ÅÐÇÐÇ¡£

Despite the fact that all these sentences talk about the same physical reality, they present quite different images of existence of stars in the sky. However, none of them gives a factual description but rather conceptualized images from the speaker/writer's viewpoint, since no matter how one depicts the scene, the actual mode of existence of stars is always the same and is not affected at all by subjective descriptions. Also note that what each of the above sentences offers is an integrated picture in a sense that the mode of existence and existence combine together into an inseparable whole. Thus, existential sentences require their verb phrases to be able to present a situation of state, and at the same time be able to depict images of existence. That is, the verbs involved must be semantically compatible with the semantic situation presented by existential sentences. It is my opinion that two semantic qualities of the verbs involved make these verbs fit in with the requirement of existential sentences. First they are all verbs of manner description, including those motions verbs, whose semantic characteristics were discussed in the previous section, verbs of placement and verbs of posture. Second, all these verbs, suffixed with - zhe⁶ occurring in the construction of existential sentences, signify a situation of state. Verbs without these two qualities cannot occur in existential sentences.

5. Quasi-Existential Sentences: Group of the Resultative State

Apart from the two basic groups of presentative sentences, there is a third group. I call it the "Quasi-Existential" group because members of this group are traditionally treated the same as those of the existential group. The semantic situation signified by this group is different from the (dis)appearance group, but it is not the same as the existential group either, as many mistakenly believe. It is typical of this type of presentative sentences to have verbs of placement and posture suffixed with -le. Examples are:

(24) ǽÉϹÒÁËÒ»·ù»­¡£

(25) µØÉÏÌÉÁËÒ»¸öÈË¡£

(26) ¹øÀïÖóÁ˲»ÉÙÍÁ¶¹¡£

(27) СÎÝÀï¶ÑÁËЩÙÁ¹Ï¡£

When native speakers are asked about their feelings about these sentences in comparison with the corresponding existential sentences (28)-(31), they often say the corresponding sentences are almost the same, though they can still sense a subtle difference between the two.

(28) ǽÉϹÒ×ÅÒ»·ù»­¡£

(29) µØÉÏÌÉ×ÅÒ»¸öÈË¡£

(30) ¹øÀïÖó×Ų»ÉÙÍÁ¶¹¡£

(31) СÎÝÀï¶Ñ×ÅЩÙÁ¹Ï¡£

I would argue that while sentences from the existential group present a situation of state, members of the current group as illustrated by (24)-(27) depict a situation of resultative state. That is, they are about states as a result of some previous actions. This turns out to be the case when we consider the following pair:

(32) ¸ô±Úס×ÅһλҽÉú¡£

"There is a doctor living next door."

(33) ¸ô±ÚסÁËһλҽÉú¡£

"A doctor has moved in next door."

Examples (32) gives a description of an on-going situation whereas (33) involves a change, even though the focus is on the state after the change. This analysis is further supported by two other examples:

(34) Ê÷ÉÒÉϹÒ×ÅÒ»ÂÖÃ÷Ô¡£

(35) *Ê÷ÉÒÉϹÒÁËÒ»ÂÖÃ÷Ô¡£

In (34) gua zhe (hanging) describes an image of the conceptualized mode of existence of ming yue, which is fully compatible with the semantic situation of state the sentence presents. However, as for (35), since the sentence presents a resultative state which is a state due to certain previous action, there is a conflict between the semantic situation depicted and native speakers' conception about the real world. The unacceptability of (35) is due to the fact that the position of the moon cannot be the result of the handling of gua. The fact is that once ming yue (bright moon) is replaced by (for example) shizi (persimmon), as in (36), the sentence becomes acceptable with the meaning that the shizi is on top of the tree as a result of certain action with the posture of gua.

(36) Ê÷ÉÒÉϹÒÁËÒ»¸öÊÁ×Ó¡£

This analysis is further supported by the fact that resultative verb compounds (RVC) consisting of elements of manner fit in perfectly with this type of presentative sentences, for example:

(37) Ôº×ÓÀï¼·ÂúÁËÈË¡£

(38) µØÀïÖÖÉÏÁËׯ¼Ú¡£

However, despite the fact that this type of presentative sentences presents a resultative state, which involves a change as pointed by He (1992), the information focus of these sentences is on the state itself, rather than on the action or the change of state. That explains why most speakers feel that these sentences are more like existential sentences than (dis)appearance sentences.

It is worth pointing out here that Jaxontov's (1988) research on the resultative state with respect to presentative sentences in Mandarin has ignored the factual distinction between quasi-existential sentences and existential sentences, but has categorized existential sentences as presenting a "resultative state," which I refer to as "state." Jaxontov's analysis is supported by Yeh (1991) with the argument that sentences with - zhe present an imperfective viewpoint having its locus on a state brought about by a telic event. The aspect marker -zhe thus "focuses on the interval after the final end point of the event" (Yeh 1991: 238). Yeh illustrates his argument by the following presentation of the viewpoint of -zhe in relation to the situation of gua yi zhang hua (hang a piece of picture.):⁷

(38) ǽÉϹÒ×ÅÒ»ÕÅ»­¡£

I_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ F Nat _ _ _

Situation:gua yi zhang hua / / +state

Viewpoint:state -zhe

There is nothing wrong with such illustration and interpretation of the resultative state. What is wrong is Jaxontov and Yeh's analysis of the Chinese data, to be exact, existential sentences. Whether or not an aspectual situation should be categorized as resultative state depends upon whether the given situation, i.e., state, makes any reference to its resulting event. The presence or absence of that reference reflects the intuitive aspectual viewpoint of native speakers using the specific syntactic construction with specific aspect markings. It is exactly this presence or absence of reference to the resulting events that differentiates the two kinds of existential sentences illustrated in (32)-(35). It would be possible from a purely technical viewpoint to use an arbitrary term for the kind of semantic situation depicted by existential sentences if no such distinction existed between sentences like (32), (34) on the one hand and (33), (35) one the other as illustrated. However, since we do have this contrastive difference, it is necessary to make a clear distinction in our analysis so that we may keep our account closer to fact and eliminate possible confusion.

6. Verb Selection and a Functional Viewpoint

I have discussed the semantic situations of different types of presentative sentences and their corresponding verb selections. Here is the general picture of the relationship among the three groups of presentative sentences presenting various semantic situations and the corresponding verb selection in each group.

The (dis)appearance group, which represents a situation of achievement has the following types of verbs, movement verbs, such as zou, pao, lai etc., and achievement verbs, such as compounds consisting of -lai, and -qu, and si (die), diu (lose), etc. In this group of sentences, the aspect marker is -le. Existential sentences on the other hand denote an on-going state. The verbs occurring in this group of sentences are those of conceptualized postrure, including placement and posture verbs, and those of motion. The choice of aspect marker with this group is -zhe. Sentences of the quasi-existential group, which were traditionally treated as members of the existential group, present a situation of resultative state. The verb phrases of this group consist of placement and posture verbs. The aspect marker occurring in these sentences is -le. The above not only offers a factual description of the semantic situation involved in each group of presentative sentences and their requirements on the corresponding verb selections, but also explains why some verbs cannot occur in presentative sentences. It has been observed by Huang (1987) that verbs like ku (cry) cannot occur in presentative sentences. Huang's argument is that verbs like ku do not qualify as existential verbs because they are pure intransitive verbs and do not sub-categorize for objects.⁸ This observation is also cited in Li (1990) to confirm the distinction between ergative verbs and intransitive verbs in Chinese. However, I would argue from a different perspective that the unacceptability of verbs like ku in presentative sentences is due to the fact that the aspectual nature of these verbs is incompatible with the semantic situations signified by presentative sentences. Verbs like ku are pure activity verbs.⁹ Unlike motion verbs and posture verbs whose semantic implications largely depend upon which aspect marker they are suffixed with, and the syntactic construction in which they occur, pure activity verbs do not permit the semantic adjustment or shift as we have with motion verbs such as zou, or pao. Compare:

(39) ËûÔÚ×ß·¡£

(40) Ëû×ßÁË¡£

(41) ËûÔÚ¿Þ¡£

(42) Ëû¿ÞÁË¡£

The contrast between (39) and (40) is obvious. Apart from the fact that the former describes an on-going process while the latter presents a change of state, native speakers feel that even the lexical meanings of the two zous are different. However, this is apparently not the case with ku. In Chinese, time expressions such as yi tian (one day), yi xiaoshi (one hour) can be placed at the post-verbal position. However, as He (1992) points out that they have different temporal indications depending on the inherent aspect of verbs involved. In the case of verbs of activity and verbs of change-of-state, the time expressions will have the functions of durative and elapse of time respectively. That is, with verbs of activity, the time expressions indicate the time span of the activity itself, while with verbs of change of state, they indicate the elapse of time since the change of state occurred. Let us apply the time expression of yi tian to the post-verbal position of both zou and ku.

(43) Ëû×ßÁËÒ»Ìì¡¡£®£®£®£®£®£®

a. "He has been walking for one day. ..."

b. "It is one day since he left. ..."

(44) Ëû¿ÞÁËÒ»Ìì¡£

Sentence (43) is ambiguous without context. The ambiguous readings are due to the semantic nature of such motion verb as zou, which is basically a symbolization of a kind of conceptualized mode of motion without aspectual specification. The aspectual implications of sentences containing such verbs will depend upon contexts, the communicative function of the syntactic construction those sentences build on, and the aspect markers these verbs occur with. As for (44), we have a very clear-cut situation. The post-verbal time expression can only indicate the duration of time of the activity of ku. It does not have the aspectual flexibility as the motion verbs have. In addition, verbs like ku, do not project images of posture or placement. That is one of the essential characteristics of verbs involved in presentative sentences. Thus, we see why verbs like ku, cannot occur in presentative sentences. It is because they can fit in with none of the semantic situations different groups of presentative sentences present.

By way of conclusion, I would argue that the semantic situation presented by each group is not a result of the types of verbs involved, but is due to the requirement of the communicative functions of different groups of presentative sentences. The fundamental function of presentative sentences is PRESENTATION, that is, to introduce an entity into a space. This task of presentation is carried out through the presentation of conceptualized images of entities in space along a continuum of existence. This continuum consists of at least three stages, namely appearance, existence, and disappearance. The different groups of presentative sentences then function to symbolize the conceptualized images of the three states respectively. Appearance and disappearance are the two ends of the state of existence, which are illustrated by the following scheme:

(45) ------------>|------------- |-------------->

appearance-----> existence--->disappearance

Conceptually, they all involve changes. Accordingly, the linguistic expressions depicting the images of the two states are required to reflect such changes in terms of verbal semantics. In the same vein, the function of presenting an image of an on-going situation of existence determines that all verbs involved in the existential group must meet the semantic requirement to describe such a situation. However, in the real world, the difference between change and non-change is relative and is not as clear-cut as we would like for the purpose of characterization. Therefore, we have a situation which involves change, yet has its focus on the impact of that change. Accordingly, the corresponding linguistic expressions reflect a resultative state. This is exactly the case of the group of quasi-existential sentences.

7. Conclusion

I have discussed the major semantic characteristics of presentative sentences in terms of their situation types, and the relationship among different groups of presentative sentences and their verb selections. It should be pointed out that the different semantic features demonstrated in different groups of presentative sentences cannot be simply explained away by verb classification only. These differences are controlled by different semantic situations which are determined by the basic communicative functions of presentative sentences. In other words, the functional requirements of different groups of presentative sentences have established the situational conditions for their verbal semantics which in turn dictates the selection of the types of verbs.

² Most examples given in this article are from Li (1986), and Nie (1989).

³ Here the term, "change of state" is used differently from Y. R. Chao's (1968) "change of status." It refers to the instantaneous change from one state to the other without any interval, while Chao's "change of status" or "new situation," according to my interpretation, focuses on the state after the change.

⁴ We classify these verbs as "achievement" verbs, because they all denote an instantaneous change of state. For example, the verb "chulai"(come out) denotes an instantaneous change from the state of being inside to that of being outside without any interval.

⁵ The term "motion" as well as those of "placement" and "posture" which are used later in this study are not terms in the classification of verb types in verbal semantics, but rather working classifications adopted in this paper in terms of the descriptive functions these verbs have. I do not have an exhaustive list of verbs classified along this line. These terms are used here simply for the convenience of analytical purpose.

⁶ He (1992) categorizes -zhe as a stative marker, which may be suffixed to non-absolute stative verbs, activity verbs, placement verbs and posture verbs to indicate the existence of static situations without reference to the temporal structure of such situations.

⁷ The original glosses are changed by this author to fit in with the style of the current paper. In this illustration, "I" stands for initial endpoint, "F" stands for final endpoint, "Nat" is for "natural," and _ _ refers to successive states according to Yeh (1991:237).

⁸ Huang (1987) tries to account for presentative sentences in the framework of GB with the ergative hypothesis. He points out that only verbs of a certain category can occur in presentative sentences. These verbs are ergative in nature in that they do not have D-Structure Subject. The verbs occurring in these patterns are further termed as existential verbs which "are assumed to select, as a lexical property, only complements but no subjects." Verbs of other categories cannot occur in these patterns. For example, ku (cry) a pure intransitive verb which does not subcategorize for an object, does not qualify as an existential verb.

⁹ Activity verbs" are those verbs with the inherent aspectual properties denoting on-going dynamic situations. Verbs like ku (cry), tiao (jump), da (beat) etc., all belong to this category.

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