Answer all questions. The information you give in your answers must be logical, relevant to the questions asked, and explicitly stated. To support your answers, provide detailed explanations and well-structured arguments.

I. The reduplication of an adverb modifying a verb (action or stative) in Mandarin often denotes “emphasis or intensity”. See 1 and 2 below.

1. Wß fÑichÖng, fÑichÖng gÐoxäng. ???,?????
I very happy
I am extremely happy.
2. Wß shØfÑn, shØfÑn gÐoxäng. ???,?????
really
I am really very happy.

However, one cannot reduplicate hÝn ? ‘very’, zhÑn ? ‘really’ or hÜo ? ‘quite’ as seen in 3, 4 and 5 below–common errors made by many beginning level
learners of Mandarin.

3. *Wß hÝn, hÝn gÐoxäng. *??,????
I am very, very happy.

4. *Wß zhÑn, zhÑn gÐoxäng *??,????
I am really, really happy.

5. *Wß hÜo, hÜo gÐoxäng. *??,????
I am quite, quite happy.

But hÝn, zhÑn and hÜo can be used emphatically in 6, 7 and 8 below.

6. Wß hÝn gÐoxäng, hÝn gÐoxäng. ????,????
7. Wß zhÑn gÐoxäng, zhÑn gÐoxäng. ????,????
8. Wß hÜo gÐoxäng, hÜo gÐoxäng. ????,????

Question I.A State the rule that determines what type of reduplication is allowed and what type is not allowed?
Question I.B Why do beginning learners make such errors like 3, 4 and 5? State your reasons.

II. It has been proposed that the rule for making a human noun or pronoun plural is by suffixing -men ? to such a noun or pronoun–e.g., lÜoshi-men ??? ‘teachers’, wß-men ?? ‘we’. However, the data below suggests that this rule does not always apply. Examine 1a-d below.

1a. LÜoshi-men lÖi le. ??????
The teachers have arrived.
b. LÜoshi lÖi le. ?????
The teacher has arrived.
*The teachers have arrived.
c. LÜoshi-men dÓu lÖi le. ???????
All the teachers have arrived.
d. LÜoshi dÓu lÖi le. ??????
All the teachers have arrived.

Question II.A “-men ?” is not used in either 1b or 1d. Why can’t 1b
mean “The teachers have arrived”, while 1d can?

Examine more data below.

2a. *SÐnshØ ge yóukè-men qæ le TÖiwÐn. *???????????
Thirty tourists went to Taiwan.
b. SÐnshØ ge yóukè qæ le TÖiwÐn. ??????????

c. *LÞ lÐoshÞ yßu sÐnshØ ge xu×sheng-men. *???????????
Professor Li has thirty students.
d. LÞ lÐoshÞ yßu sÐnshØ ge xu×sheng. ??????????
Professor Li has thirty students.

3a. XàduÓ yóukè-men qæ le TÖiwÐn. ??????????
Many tourists went to Taiwan.
b. XàduÓ yóukè qæ le TÖiwÐn. ?????????

c. BæshÜo de yóukè -men qæ le TÖiwÐn. ???????????
Quite a few tourists went to Taiwan.
d. BæshÜo de yóukè qæ le TÖiwÐn. ??????????

e. Sußyßu de yóukè-men qæ le TÖiwÐn. ???????????
All the tourists went to Taiwan.
f. Sußyßu de yóukè qæ le TÖiwÐn. ??????????

Question II.B Based on sentences 2a-d and 3a-f above, what is the rule that determines when -men must not be used and when it can be used optionally? Why? Could there be any exception to this rule? If so, what is the exception?

III. Compare the English “a little bit” and its Mandarin counterpart yidian ??. Examine sentences 1-3 below.

1. Ta you yidian qián. ??????
He has a little money.
2. Ta you yidian míng(qì). ?????(?)?
He is a little famous.
3. Ta you yidian lèi. ??????
He is a little tired.

Question III.A. What are the similarities and differences between the comparable Mandarin and English sentences?

Now examine 4-5 below.

1. Duo chi yidian fàn. ??????
Have a little more rice.
2. Duo he yidian shui. ??????
Drink a little more water.
3. Duo hua yidian qián. ??????
Spend a little more money.

Question III.B How do the English and Mandarin sentences differ? Translate each sentence word-for-word into Chinese and ask a native speaker if the translation is acceptable–if needed; and, if not, what is wrong with it?
Question III.C Summarize the similarities and differences between “a little bit” and “yidian ??”.

IV. In Chapter 11, Li and Thompson discuss two types of verbs: Verbs of
Displacement and Verbs of Placement.

Task IV.A Describe the structural and meaning differences between
these two types of verbs, as proposed by Li and Thompson.
Task IV.B Examine the examples they provide and determine if such a
distinction is necessary–give your reasons.

V. According to Li and Thompson, “The sentence-final -le ?is not used in non-conversational situations in which there is no need to tag a state of affairs as relevant to any given time frame–expository and descriptive prose, formal spoken-language situations such as news reports, speeches, lectures, and proclamations.”

To determine if this is true, complete the following tasks.
1) Read the new report article below.
2) Identify where in this article, in your opinion, -le ?could or would be used in spoken Mandarin describing the same event.
3) Based on your findings, offer an opinion and an explanation on whether or not Li and Thompson’s statement has any merit.

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(NOW News ????, 2015?03?03?)

??? ??? ?? ???, ?? ?? ?? ???
Feilubin Maníla zuìdà pínmínku, zuórì wanjian fasheng dàhuo.
Phillipines Manila slum occur huge fire
There was a huge fire in the largest slum in Manila in the Philippines.

?? ? 5000 ? ?? ??, ?? 50?? ?????
dàyue you 5000 dòng fángwu shaohui, jiangjìn 50 wàn rén wújia kegui.
approximately CL. building burn down close to 500000 people no home to return to
There were approximately 5,000 buildings destroyed by the firs, close to 500,000 people lost their homes.

?? ? ? ???(Parola)?? ? 1 ? ?? ??,
qiyi shì zài baluóla (Parola) shèqu you 1 dòng mínfáng shihuo,
cause district residence caught fire
The cause was that a residence in the Parola district caught on fire,

?? ?? ?? ? ??,?? ?? ?? ? 1 ?? ???
fùjìn doushì yìrán de jiànzhù, huoshì xùnsù mànyán zhì 1gongqing zhi dà.
nearby flammable fire rapidly spread to acre
and nearby were all flammable buildings which led to the rapid spread of the fire covering an area as large as one acre.

????, ?? ? 5000 ? ?? ? ??, 10? ? ?? ?? ??,
chubùgujì, dàyue you 5000 dòng fángwu bèi fénhui,10wàn hù jiatíng shòudào yingxiang,
initial estimate affected
Initial estimates indicate that there were approximately 5000 buildings burned down, 100,000 households were affected,

50? ? ?? ??, ?? ?? ? 190 ? ???
50wàn rén shiqù jiayuán, cáichan sunshi yue 190 wàn Meiyuán.
lose home property loss 1.9 million US dollars
500,000 people lost their homes, and the loss of properties was approximately US$ 1.9 million.

??? ?? ?? ?, ?? ?? ?? 6 ? 30?
xiaofángche jìnrù zaiqu hòu, zhídào jinrì qingchén 6 shí 30 fen
Fire engine enter disaster area until early morning
? ?? ?? ???
cái wánquán pumiè dàhuo.
completely put out
After the fire engines entered the disaster area, the fire wasn’t completely put out until 6:30 this morning.