本篇論文首先探討的是漢語與英語的發生類動詞。在過去的文獻中，發生類動詞被視為非賓格動詞(unaccusative verb)，且常出現於「處所倒裝」結構(locative inversion)，可參考Perlmutter (1978), Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995)。在漢語中，也有諸多學者認為漢語也有所謂的「處所倒裝」結構，也就是「處所倒裝」的句子的主詞是由內部處所論元往上提昇的結果(Li & Thompson 1981, S. Huang 1982, Wu 2008)。然而Lin (2001, 2008, 2009)認為漢語中不存有「處所倒裝」現象。處所主語是由輕動詞所引介的，與謂語內部的任何成分都沒有關係。
因此，本文提供了幾個佐證，證明漢語發生類動詞的處所主語是由輕動詞(OCCUR)所引介，生成在vP指示語(specifier)位置。而英語的發生類動詞happen，它的處所主語則位在VP的指示語(specifier)的位置，且此VP是vP的補語，且與vP形成一致(agreement)。除此之外，我們也將會探討漢語動詞「發生」與英語動詞happen 在補語選擇上的不同之處。我們採用Pustejovsky (1995)所提出的衍生詞彙理論(the theory of Generative Lexicon)以及語義誘迫機制(type coercion)來分析兩個動詞的不同之處。
此外，本篇論文還觸及到另一個議題，主要探討的是漢語出現類動詞「出現」與「出」的特質與句法結構。首先，我們觀察到動詞「發生」與動詞「出現」的不同之處在於，動詞「發生」為輕動詞(OCCUR)的補語，然而動詞「出現」為輕動詞(EXIST)的補語。此外，我們也探討了動詞「出」各種不同的用法，在我們的分析中，動詞「出」有兩種不同的句法結構。第一、它能作為及物動詞(transitive verb)且帶有兩個論元(argument)。第二、它可作為移動動詞(motion verb)，且帶有名詞組(noun phrase)為其補語，補語被視為來源(source)。

This work starts with the discussion on the verbs of happening fasheng ‘happen’ in Mandarin Chinese and happen in English. Previous studies show that verbs of happening are unaccusative verbs and also occur frequently in the locative inversion constructions (Perlmutter 1978, Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995). Besides, there also have been researchers who propose that Mandarin Chinese exhibits locative inversion, that is, an internal locative argument raising to the subject position (Li & Thompson 1981, S. Huang 1982, Wu 2008). However, Lin (2001, 2008, 2009) assumes that the locative subjects may not arise from inversion of an internal argument or adjunct, but is introduced by light verbs. The locative subjects have no association with any VP-internal position.
Therefore, from the evidence provided in this work, I adopt Lin’s (2009) theory and propose that the verb fasheng ‘happen’ is introduced by the light verb OCCUR. Besides, the locative expression is licensed by the light verb OCCUR as its specifier. In English, the verb happen projects a VP, with a locative expression as the specifier and this VP is the complement of a light verb v, which agrees with the verb happen. Additionally, we also compare fasheng ‘happen’ and happen. In fact, there is an asymmetry between fasheng ‘happen’ and happen in their complement selection. On this point, we introduce the theory of Generative Lexicon proposed by Pustejovsky (1995) and type coercion mechanisms to explain this asymmetry.
Another issue addressed in this thesis is the properties and structures of the verbs of appearance chuxian ‘appear’ and chu ‘appear’ in Mandarin Chinese. First, we investigate the difference between fasheng ‘happen’ and chuxian ‘appear’ and observe that fasheng ‘happen’ is the complement of the light verb OCCUR, but chuxian ‘appear’ is the complement of the light verb EXIST. Second, we also discuss the different uses of the verb chu ‘appear’. In our analysis, there are two different syntactic constructions. Namely, the verb chu can be a transitive verb, and takes two arguments, or functions as a motion verb taking NP (source) as its complement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 2 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON EXISTENTIAL SENTENCES 5
1. The definition of existential sentences 5
2. Basic properties of unaccusative occurrence and appearance verbs 6
3. Unaccusative verbs in locative inversion 9
4. Verbs of existence and comparison with verbs of occurrence 13
5. Locative inversion in Mandarin Chinese 19

CHAPTER 3 THE VERB FASHENG IN MANDARIN CHINESE 24
1. Introduction 24
2. Previous studies on the verb fasheng 24
3. Problems of locative subject in the fasheng construction 35
4. The syntactic structure of the verb fasheng 44
5. Summary 54

CHAPTER 4 COMPARING HAPPEN AND FASHENG 55
1. Introduction 55
2. The syntactic behavior of happen and a comparison with fasheng 55
3. The asymmetry between happen and fasheng in their complement 64 selection
4. Pustejovsky’s (1995) theory of Generative Lexicon 66
5. Lin & Liu (2005) 73
6. The analysis 74
7. Summary 83

CHAPTER 5 THE VERB CHUXIAN AND CHU IN MANDARIN CHINESE 84
1. Introduction 84
2. Basic properties of the verb chuxian 84
3. The difference between fasheng and chuxian 87
4. The analysis 89
5. The different uses of the verb chu 99
6. A syntactic analysis for the different uses of chu 100
7. Summary 107

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 109

REFERENCES 112

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