Verbal reduplication in Mandarin Chinese: An HPSG account

Abstract

The current study presents an HPSG analysis for verbal reduplication in Mandarin Chinese. After discussing its interaction with Aktionsarten and aspect markers, we argue that it is a morphological rather than syntactic process. We put forward a lexical rule for verbal reduplication in Mandarin Chinese and the different forms of reduplication are captured in an inheritance hierarchy. The interaction between verbal reduplication and aspect marking is handled by multiple inheritance. This analysis covers all forms of verbal reduplication in Mandarin Chinese and has none of the shortcomings of the previous analyses.