This is a study of the structure and properties of compound verbs in Mandarin Chinese. By excluding separable structures such as Verb-Object phrases and resultative and directional constructions, we are able to establish that verbs, like nouns, are invariably right-headed, i.e. modifiers always precede what they modify; and also that compound verbs with relatively few exceptions are disyllabic...
This study investigates the internal structure of noun phrases In Chinese and argues that number, referentiality, and totality/partitivity are all syntactically represented. Viewing number in a new light, it claims that number in a classifier language is syntactically encoded via the use of a $P, i.e., NumP, the head of which is occupied by a classifier/massifier (cf. Boer 2005). Plurality Is realized differently in a #P via the use of numerals, the plural classifier xie, quantifiers, or the reduplication of classifiers/massiflers. The plural marker-men is a derivational suffix marking either collective plurality or semantic plurality, resolving the problem that syntactic plurality may co-occur with semantic plurality when syntactic plurality marks an indeterminate quantity. Unlike the standard head-complement analysis that assumes a DP-NumP-CIP-DP hierarchy, this study argues that a numeral or a quantifier enters into a relation with a classifier/massilier, forming a UP A P (with or w
