The Discourse and Grammar Interface: Preferred Clause Structure in Mandarin Conversation

Abstract

Seven ordinary conversations among native Mandarin speakers (N unspecified) were comprehensively coded to determine typical clause structure in conversational Mandarin. Clausal intonation units were classified according to their degree of transitivity & argument forms & their distribution was determined. Low transitivity verbs & a single overt argument in each clause were found to be preferred. It is noted that high transitives tended to take a patient-like argument, whereas low transitives took an agent-like argument. M. Gordon.