Ba construction
Encyclopedia
The bǎ construction is a grammatical construction
in the Chinese language
. In a bǎ construction, the object
of a verb is placed after the function word
bă, and the verb placed after the object, forming a subject–object–verb (SOV) sentence. Linguists
commonly analyze bǎ as a light verb
construction, or as a preposition.
, a property that describes the effect a verb has on its object; bǎ does not occur grammatically with verbs that express states or emotions, such as "love" and "miss," or with verbs that express activities that have no effect on the direct object, such as "sing" and "see."
The direct object of a bǎ construction must meet certain requirements as well. It is usually definite, meaning that it is specific and unique (as in phrases beginning with the equivalent of this, that, these, or those). It may sometimes also be generic, such as "salt" in the sentence "She sometimes eats salt thinking it's sugar." The object of a bǎ construction is nearly always something that both the speaker and hearer know about and are aware of.
violations (such as bǎ being followed by a verb rather than a noun) and semantic
violations (such as bǎ being followed by a verb that doesn't express "disposal") have been used to study the interaction of syntactic and semantic processing in the brain using the neuroimaging
technique of ERP
, and to evaluate construction grammar
's model of meaning-building.
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
in the Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. In a bǎ construction, the object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
of a verb is placed after the function word
Function word
Function words are words that have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker...
bă, and the verb placed after the object, forming a subject–object–verb (SOV) sentence. Linguists
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
commonly analyze bǎ as a light verb
Light verb
In linguistics, a light verb is a verb participating in complex predication that has little semantic content of its own, but provides through inflection some details on the event semantics, such as aspect, mood, or tense...
construction, or as a preposition.
Formation
Charles Li and Sandra Thompson (1981) offer the following examples of the bǎ construction:| [subject] | [bǎ] | [direct object] | [verb] | ||
| Transcription Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into... |
nĭ | bă | tā-de yìsi | jiăng-chū-lái le | |
| Gloss | you | BA | he-POSSESSIVE Possessive case The possessive case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It is not the same as the genitive case, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.See Possession for a survey of the different... meaning |
speak-out-come CRS | |
| Translation | You have explained what he meant. (Literally: "You have spoken out his meaning.") | ||||
| Transcription Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into... |
wŏ | bă | zhè sān-bĕn shū | dōu mài-le | |
| Gloss | I | BA | these three-CL Classifier (linguistics) A classifier, in linguistics, sometimes called a measure word, is a word or morpheme used in some languages to classify the referent of a countable noun according to its meaning. In languages that have classifiers, they are often used when the noun is being counted or specified... book |
all sell-PERFECTIVE Perfective aspect The perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms... |
|
| Translation | I sold all three books. | ||||
Usage
The bǎ construction may only be used in certain contexts, generally those in which the verb expresses "disposal" of, or action upon, the object. According to Wang Li, "the disposal form states how a person is handled, manipulated, or dealt with; how something is disposed of; or how an affair is conducted," or, in other words, "what happens to" the object. Therefore, it is generally used with verbs that are high in transitivityTransitivity (grammatical category)
In linguistics, transitivity is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take direct objects and how many such objects a verb can take...
, a property that describes the effect a verb has on its object; bǎ does not occur grammatically with verbs that express states or emotions, such as "love" and "miss," or with verbs that express activities that have no effect on the direct object, such as "sing" and "see."
The direct object of a bǎ construction must meet certain requirements as well. It is usually definite, meaning that it is specific and unique (as in phrases beginning with the equivalent of this, that, these, or those). It may sometimes also be generic, such as "salt" in the sentence "She sometimes eats salt thinking it's sugar." The object of a bǎ construction is nearly always something that both the speaker and hearer know about and are aware of.
Research
Because of the numerous constraints on the kinds of words that may be used in bǎ construction, this construction has often been used in studies on language processing and on grammaticality judgments of native speakers. For example, sentences with bǎ construction that have syntacticSyntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
violations (such as bǎ being followed by a verb rather than a noun) and semantic
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
violations (such as bǎ being followed by a verb that doesn't express "disposal") have been used to study the interaction of syntactic and semantic processing in the brain using the neuroimaging
Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/pharmacology of the brain...
technique of ERP
Event-related potential
An event-related potential is any measured brain response that is directly the result of a thought or perception. More formally, it is any stereotyped electrophysiological response to an internal or external stimulus....
, and to evaluate construction grammar
Construction grammar
The term construction grammar covers a family of theories, or models, of grammar that are based on the idea that the primary unit of grammar is the grammatical construction rather than the atomic syntactic unit and the rule that combines atomic units, and that the grammar of a language is made up...
's model of meaning-building.