Event structure and the encoding of arguments: the syntax of the Mandarin and English verb phrase

This work presents a theory of linguistic representation that attempts to capture the syntactic structure of verbs and their arguments. My framework is based on the assumption that the proper representation of argument structure is event structure. Furthermore, I develop the hypothesis that event structure is syntactic structure, and argue that verb meanings are compositionally derived in the syntax from verbalizing heads, functional elements that license eventive interpretations, and verbal roots, abstract concepts drawn from encyclopedic knowledge. The overall goal of the enterprise is to develop a theory that is able to transparently relate the structure and meaning of verbal arguments. By hypothesis, languages share the same inventory of primitive building blocks and are governed by the same set of constraints—all endowed by principles of Universal Grammar and subjected to parametric variations. Support for my theory is drawn from both Mandarin Chinese and English. In particular, the organization of the Mandarin verbal system provides strong evidence for the claim that activity and state are the only two primitive verb types in Chinese— achievements and accomplishments are syntactically-derived complex categories. As a specific instance of complex event composition, I examine Mandarin resultative verb compounds and demonstrate that a broad range of variations can be perspicuously captured in my framework. I show that patterns of argument sharing in these verbal compounds can be analyzed as control, thus grounding argument structure in wellknown syntactic constraints such as the Minimum Distance Principle. Finally, I argue that cross-linguistic differences in the realization of verbal arguments can be reduced to variations in the way functional elements interact with verbal roots. Overall, my work not only contributes to our understanding of how events are syntactically represented, but also explicates interactions at the syntax-semantics interface, clarifying the relationship between surface form, syntactic structure, and logical form. A theory of argument structure grounded in independently-motivated syntactic constraints, on the one hand, and the semantic structure of events, on the other hand, is able to account for a wide range of empirical facts with few stipulations. Thesis Supervisor: Boris Katz Title: Principal Research Scientist