Contents

Preface

List of Tables

List of Figures

Symbols and Glossing Conventions

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Theoretical Framework

1.2 Methodology

1.3 Organization of the Book

Chapter 2 Grounding: A Literature Review

2.1 The Notion of Grounding

2.2 Grounding in Linguistics

2.2.1 The Sequentiality Account

2.2.2 The Transitivity Account

2.2.3 Grounding as an N-ary Notion

2.2.4 Critiques of the Accounts

2.3 Semantic Characteristics of Grounding

2.3.1 Event Sequentiality

2.3.2 Telicity and Boundedness

2.3.3 Kinesis, Agency, Punctuality, and Completeness

2.3.4 Modality and Negation

2.4 Grammatical Indications of Grounding

2.4.1 Tense and Aspect

2.4.2 Subordination

2.4.3 Word Order

2.5 Narrative Discourse and Grounding

2.5.1 Characterizing Narrative

2.5.2 Analyzing Narrative

2.6 Chapter Summary

Chapter 3 Grammatical Features of Chinese and Previous Grounding Analysis

3.1 The Important Notion of Topic

3.2 Units in Written Discourse

3.2.1 The Sentence

3.2.2 The Clause

3.2.3 The VP

3.3 Constituent Order

3.3.1 Basic Word Order

3.3.2 Principle of Temporal Sequence

3.3.3 Positional Meaning

3.4 Indication of Temporal Location

3.5 -Le and Le

3.5.1 The Perfective -Le

3.5.2 Sentence-Final Le

3.5.3 -Le or Le?

3.6 Previous Grounding Analysis of Chinese

3.7 Chapter Summary

Chapter 4 At the Verb Phrase Core: Foregrounding Through Bounding

4.1 Aspect in Chinese

4.2 Grammatical Aspect Markers and Grounding

4.2.1 The Perfective -Le

4.2.2 The Durative -Zhe

4.2.3 The Progressive Zai

4.2.4 The Experiential -Guo

4.2.5 The Inceptive -Qilai

4.2.6 Grounding Strength of Aspectual Markers

4.3 Situation Aspect and Grounding

4.3.1 Situation Types

4.3.2 Event-Bounding Expressions

4.3.3 Syntactic Slots for Bounding Expressions

4.4 Bounded Events and Narrative Advancement

4.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 5 In Single-Verb Clauses: Constituent Order and Grounding

5.1 Clause Types Under Examination

5.2 Analysis of Constituent Order and Clause Types

5.2.1 Type A: SV(O)

5.2.2 Type B: Notional Passive

5.2.3 Type C: Pre-Posed Patient

5.2.4 Type D: Double Nominative

5.2.5 Type E: Existential

5.3 Statistical Verification

5.3.1 Hypothesis

5.3.2 Coding Data

5.3.3 Results

5.4 Discussion

5.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 6 In Complex Predicates: Grounding of Verb Phrases

6.1 Serial Verb Constructions

6.1.1 The Narrow Sense

6.1.2 The Broad Sense

6.1.3 Aspectual Marking

6.2 Multiple Aspectually Marked Verb Phrases

6.2.1 The Phenomenon

6.2.2 V-Zhe in the VP1

6.2.3 V-RVC in the VP1

6.2.4 V-Le in the VP1

6.2.5 The Progressive Zai

6.3 Discussion

6.3.1 Similar or Different Structures?

6.3.2 Aspectual Interpretation

6.3.3 Structural Configurations and Degrees of Backgrounding

6.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 7 In Complex Sentences: Margins Versus Nucleus

7.1 Literature Review: Margins and Subordination

7.2 Adverbial Margins in Chinese

7.2.1 Margins with Connectives

7.2.2 Margins in the Nominal Form

7.2.3 Margins in Coordinate Clauses

7.2.4 Margins with the Imperfective Marker –Zhe

7.2.5 Margins Expressed by Perfective Verbs

7.2.6 Margins Expressed by Negation

7.2.7 Margins Expressing Intended but Unrealized Events

7.2.8 Margins Indicated by Adverbs

7.3 Discussion: Sentence-Initial Margins With Zero Subject

7.3.1 Syntactic Features

7.3.2 The Use of Subordinate Connectives

7.3.3 Weight Reduction

7.3.4 The Backgrounding Function

7.3.5 Types of Semantic Links

7.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 8 Related Issues

8.1 Coercion in Semantic and Aspectual Reinterpretation

8.1.1 The Concept of Coercion

8.1.2 Coercion of V-Le Triggered by Non-Agent Subject/Topic

8.1.3 Other Possible Coercion Phenomena

8.2 Interpretations of Postverbal Zai-PPs

8.2.1 Foregrounding in a Dynamic Context

8.2.2 Backgrounding in a Stative Context

8.3 The Foregrounding Function of Jiu

8.3.1 The Notion of Focus and Foregrounding

8.3.2 Jiu in Complex Predicates

8.3.3 Jiu in Complex Sentences

8.4 Clause Integration and Backgrounding

8.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 9 Concluding Remarks

9.1 Major Findings

9.1.1 Grounding in Chinese Narrative

9.1.2 Semantic Features and Formal Devices

9.1.3 Interpretations of Aspect and Grounding

9.2 Contributions of the Study

9.3 Remaining Issues

References

Sources of Data and Examples

Index