Earticle

초록

영어

It is well known in the literature that a quantity of an object can affect the properties of the event denoted by the VP (e.g., Verkuyl 1972, Tenny 1994, Borer 2005, Travis 2010) such as event delimitededness (Tenny 1994). A delimited event has an inherent endpoint, and thus the event is viewed to be completed. For example, in the English sentence, ‘Max ate two apples.’, the event of eating two apples is understood to have an endpoint. This is because the event contains a quantified object such as ‘two apples’: the event will reach the endpoint when two apples are all consumed. This paper examines whether this type of well recognized correlation between event delimitedness and a quantified object is observed in a classifier language such as Mandarin where a classifier is employed to quantify a noun, unlike English. Interestingly, it is shown that the correlation in an English type language is absent in Mandarin; for example, a quantified noun via a numeral classifier (e.g., san ge pingguo ‘three apples’) does not contribute to event delimitedness in a sentence such as ‘He ate three apples.’. Moreover, it is shown that major approaches to nominal structure of Mandarin such as Cheng and Sybesma (1998, 1999) predict a similar correlation observed in English, contrary to the fact. Consequently, those approaches cannot account for the absence of the correlation.

목차

I. Introduction
II. Quantity of an Object and Event Completedness in English
III. A Quantified Object and Event Delimitedness in Mandarin
IV. Mass and Count Distinction and a Nominal Structure
4.1. Count and Mass Noun Distinction in English
4.2. Count and Mass Noun Distinction in Mandarin
V. Event Completedness and a Nominal Structure
VI. Conclusion
Works Cited
Abstract

키워드

저자

• Kim, Kyumin [ Cheongju University ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  영어영문학연구 [The Jungang Journal of English Language and Literature]

• 간기

  계간

• pISSN

  1598-3293

• 수록기간

  1968~2025

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재

• 십진분류

  KDC 840 DDC 810