Synthetic Compounds in Mandarin

This paper takes Chinese five-syllable compounds as examples to re-examine the derivation of Chinese synthetic compounds. With phonological evidences which show that Chinese synthetic compounds are left stressed, the paper proves that Chinese synthetic compounds are derived in the interface of lexicon and syntax, based on argument structures of the root verbs. The paper assumes that Chinese synthetic compounds should have the same derivation process, although some seem to have different argument structures from others.