A Contrastive Description of the Ba− construction in Standard Chinese

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A Contrastive Description of the Ba− construction in Standard Chinese

and Xining Dialect

Tetsuya Kawasumi

^＊

１ . Introduction

In many Mandarin dialects, the so−called “ba−construction（orbazìjù"

把字句）

” is found. However, its usage differs a bit from dialect to dialect. This paper focuses on theba−construction used in Xining

西

!dialect^＊１. The purpose of this study is to show the characteristics of theba−construction in Xining dialect by comparing it with that in Standard Chinese.

The paper is organized as follows : in section

２

the usage of the ba−con- struction in Standard Chinese is summarized. Section

３

illustrates the charac- teristic features of the ba−construction in Xining dialect. Concluding remarks follows in section４.

２ . The ba−construction in Standard Chinese

Standard Chinese is an SVO language, in which the verb typically follows the subject and precedes the object. For instance, sentence

（１）is an example

of a regular Chinese SVO sentence, in which the objectnà ben shu" ¯

那本

#follows the verb phrasemài le $

了

^＊２.

＊福岡大学言語教育研究センター外国語講師

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（１）我

$

了那本

"

。

!

Wo mài le nà ben! shu¯.

１

SG sell PFT that CL book

‘I sold that book.’

Sentence

（１）

is a simple report of what I did. However, when the speaker is interested in informing the addressee about “what I did to that book”, then theba−construction is used. For example :

（２）我把那本

"$

了。

!

Wo ba! nà ben shu! ¯ mài le.

１

SG BA^＊３that CL book sell PFT

‘I sold that book.’^＊４

In this construction, the object is placed immediately after the preposition ba!

把

and before the verb, thus resulting in an SOV word order.

There are several rules associated with the use of this construction. Here we mention only what are relevant to the present study^＊５:

・The verb phrase must have the sense of disposal

^＊６.

・The verb followed by the potential complement（

kenéng! buyu!!

可能

%#

）

^＊７ cannot be used.

・The object following

ba is generally of definite reference^＊８.

Theba−construction cannot be employed if any of the above rules are not met. The following sentences are therefore unacceptable :

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（３）

^＊^＊９

我把

$

想着。

!

Wo ba! n xiang zhe.!

１

SG BA

２

SG miss DUR

‘I miss you.’

（４）

^＊%

把

&&

像。

Ta¯ ba! ma¯ma xiàng.

３

SG BA mother resemble

‘She resembles

（her）

mother.’

（５）

^＊

我把那件事情了解。

!

Wo ba nà jiàn shìqing! liaojie! !

１

SG BA that CL matter understand

‘I understand that matter.’

（６）

^＊

我把那个箱子洗不干

'

。

!

Wo ba! nà ge xia¯ngzi x bu ga¯njing.

１

SG BA that CL chest wash NEG COM

‘I can’t wash that chest clean.’

（７）

^＊

我把一本

"#

了。

!

Wo ba! yì ben! shu¯ mài le.

１

SG BA one CL book sell PFT

‘I sold a book.’ cf. sentence

（２）

The verbs in

（３）（５）

- do not affect their objects in the sense of disposal, sen-

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tence（６）contains the verb followed by the potential complement and the object in sentence

（７）

is indefinite. These are the reasons why sentences（３）

（７）

- are ungrammatical in Standard Chinese.

３ . The ba−construction in Xining dialect

In Xining dialect, too, the ba−construction is employed. However, com- pared to that in Standard Chinese, the construction in the dialect displays some unique features. For example, the verb phrase which does not allow a disposal interpretation can also be used as a predicate of a sentence of theba−construction^＊１^０:

（８）我把

"

想者。

［n

#^４^４ pA^２^１ ni^３ $j^$! ^４^４ t%"^２^１

］１

SG BA

２

SG miss DUR

‘I miss you.’

（９）他可价把

"!

上了。

［t

^hA^４^４ k^h#^２^１ t$jA^２^４ pA^２ ni^３^３ n"^２^１ %^$! ^４^４ lj#^３^１

］３

SG^＊１^１ already BA

２

SG love COM PFT

‘He has already loved you.’

（１０）家把家的阿

&

像着

^＊１^２

。

［t

$jA^２^４pA^２^１ t$jA^２^１ ts#^３ ^A^４^４ mA^４^４ $j^$! ^２^１ t%#%^４^２

］３

SG BA

３

SG GEN mother resemble PRT

‘She resembles her mother!’

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（１１）我把

*

的名字知道。

［n

"^４^４ pA^２^１ t^hA^４^４ ts%^３ mj^２^１ ts%^３ t()^４^４ t"^４^２

］１

SG BA

３

SG GEN name know

‘I know her name.’

（１２）我把他看

"

了。

［n

"^４^４ pA^２^１ tA^４^４ k^hã^２^１ t&jE^#^４ lj"^３^１

］１

SG BA

３

SG look COM PFT

‘I saw him.’

（１３）他把

$#,!?

［t

^hA^４^４ pA^２ ni^３^３ '!^#^２^１ ()^２ pA^３^１

］３

SG BA

２

SG recognize PRT

‘He knows you, doesn’t he?’

The verbs in（８）

（１

-

３）never involve or imply anything happening to the

object^＊１^３. In Xining dialect, however, these sentences are perfectly grammatical.

In addition, the verb followed by the potential complement can also appear in the construction. Examples are :

（１４）我把他

+

不下。

［n

"^４^４ pA^２^１ t^hA^３^３ j^２^１ pv^２ xA^２^４

］１

SG BA

３

SG win NEG COM

‘I can’t beat him.’

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（１５）

$

把我

(

不下。

［ni

^４^４ pA^２^１ n$^３^３ p^hjE^&^４^４ pv^２^１ xA^１^３

］

２

SG BA

１

SG deceive NEG COM

‘You can’t deceive me.’

（１６）我把那些

#

听不

+

。

［n

$^４^４ pA^２^１ n#^２^１ %i^３^３ xwA^２^４ t^hj^４^４ pv^４ tw"^&^４^４

］１

SG BA that CL talk hear NEG COM

‘I can’t understand those talks.’

（１７）

$

把

"

些菜吃下

)?^＊１^４

［ni

^４^４ pA^３ t&'^２^１ %i^３ ts^h#^２^４ t&^h'^２^１ xA^２^１ ljA^３

］２

SG BA this CL dish eat COM PRT

‘Are you able to eat these dishes?’

Added to these, not only a definite noun phrase, but also an indefinite noun phrase can occur as an object of a sentence of theba−construction^＊１^５:

（１８）我把一本

!*

上了。

［n

$^４^４ pA^２^１ %^２^４ p"^&^２^１ fv^３ m#^４^４ &^&! ^３ lj$^２^１

］１

SG BA one CL book buy COM PFT

‘I bought a book.’

From the examples above we can see that the use of theba−construction in Xining dialect, unlike Standard Chinese, is unrelated to the sense of disposal.

In other words, the function of

把［p

A

］

in the dialect is simply to move the ob-

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ject to the front of the verb.

４ . Concluding remarks

It should be concluded, from what has been said above, that, in Xining dialect,

把［p

A

］

evolved into a more general preverbal noun phrase marker. Con- sequently, in the dialect, theba−construction occurs more freely and more fre- quently than in Standard Chinese.

As we have mentioned in section

２

, the ba−construction is structurally as- sociated with an SOV word order. In this connection, Jin

（１９９５）

argues that the frequent occurrence of theba−construction in Chinese dialects of Qinghai province is caused by language contact with Amdo Tibetan^＊１^６. However, to discuss this point is beyond the scope of this paper and demands a separate study.

Notes

＊１ Xining dialect is a North−western Mandarin dialect spoken in Qinghai

青海

province. The Xining dialect examples in this paper are from my own field- work, which has been conducted since

２００３

. I would like to express my gratitude to Zhao Zongzhou !

宗洲, who kindly taught me Xining dialect. I

am also grateful to Zheng Lei#

磊

for his very helpful comments of earlier drafts of this paper. Needless to say, any errors or shortcomings in this paper are solely the responsibility of the author.

＊２ The examples in this paper are given the following four−line format :

（１）

Simplified Chinese characters

（

jiant zì! $

体字）

.

（２）Romanization.（for Standard Chinese, the

pı¯nyı¯n "

音

is used and for Xining dialect, the IPA is employed）

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（３）

English gloss.

（４）

English translation.

＊３ In this paper,ba

把

is glossed simply BA.

＊４ The more literal translation of sentence（２）would be ‘What I did to that book was to sell it’.

＊５ The rules described here are adapted from Li and Thompson

（１９８１: chap.

１５）

.

＊６ Therefore, emotional verbs, stative verbs and cognition verbs cannot occur in theba−construction

（Some of “non-disposal” verbs, however, can be used

in the construction when an appropriate postverbal element is added. For a more detailed discussion, see Li and Thompson１

９８１

, pp.４

６８

−

４７０）

.

＊７ The potential complement construction is a grammatical device to indicate the possibility or impossibility of achieving a desired result through an ac- tion. It is formed by inserting a particle between a verb and its complement.

In Standard Chinese, the particle for the affirmative potential form isde

得.

The negative pattern placesbu

不

between the verb and the complement.

＊８ Because an object can be disposed of only when it is definite.

＊９ The use of the asterisk

（

^＊

）indicates that the sentence following is an ex-

ample of unacceptable usage.

＊１０There are brief discussions of this feature in Cheng

（１９８０: １４４）and Jin

（１９９５: ６５）

.

＊１１Xining dialect has two third person singular pronouns ;

［t

^hA^４^４

］

and［t!jA^２^４

］

which I transcribe as

家（See sentence １０）

. These two forms are free vari- ation.

＊１２The sentence−final particle “着” indicates admiration

（Du１９９３: ４８）

.

＊１３In Standard Chinese, all of these verbs cannot occur in theba−construction.

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＊１４In Xining dialect, the affirmative potential complements take a “verb−COM”

form.

＊１５Cheng

（１９８０: １４４）

gives a brief reference to this point.

＊１６Amdo Tibetan is an SOV language spoken in Qinghai province.

Abbreviations

１

SG : first person singular

２

SG : second person singular

３

SG : third person singular

CL : classifier COM : complement

DUR : durative aspect marker GEM : genitive marker NEG : negative marker PFT : perfective aspect marker PRT : particle

References

Cheng Xianghui（程祥!）.１９８０. Qinghai kouyu yufa sanlun［青海口##法散"］. Zhong- guo Yuwen１９８０−２:１４２−１４９.

Du Xingzhou（都$宙）.１９９３. Xining fangyan zhong de xuci “zhe” bianyi［西!方言中的虚

%“着”辨'］.Qinghai minzu xueyuan xuebao（shehui kexueban）１９９３−２:４７−５１. Jin Yulan（(玉&）.１９９５. Qianxi Qinghai fangyan “ba” ziju de jizhong teshu yongfa［*析

青海方言“把”字句的几)特殊用法］. Qinghai minzu xueyuan xuebao（shehui kexue- ban）１９９５−３:６４−６６.

Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson.１９８１.Mandarin Chinese. Berkeley : University of California Press.

A Contrastive Description of the Ba− construction in Standard Chinese