5. The Universal Syntax of Semantic Primes in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

This analysis represents an enlargement in scope over the one presented in Chappell (1994) which was largely restricted to proposing the semantic primes for Mandarin, thirty-seven in number at that time, and arguing in support thereof. Consequently, in this study, the syntax of the proposed primes for Mandarin is the primary focus. I test out the syntactic frames of each prime in order to verify the claims made by Goddard and Wierzbicka with respect to the universal syntax of these fifty-nine primes, specifically for their syntactic behaviour including combinatorial possibilities. Since the number of primes has increased to fifty-nine in the intervening period of research, some space has been allocated to justifying the selection of the particular lexemes or expressions for these newly proposed primes (see the introduction to this volume for a more detailed explanation) or in cases where I have revised my earlier (1994) analysis.

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