The syntax of aspectual deixis in Mandarin Chinese

This thesis investigates the aspectual use of the deictic verbs in Mandarin Chinese, such as lai `come' in wo lai kai men `I'll open the door' and jing xia xin lai
`calm down'. Deictic verbs are usually used to indicate movement in space, the location of which is related to the speaker. In addition to physical movement, deictic verbs can also be used in a metaphorical way, where abstract motion takes place. I argue that in Mandarin Chinese, when the deictic verb appears before and after a verb phrase, it functions as a viewpoint aspect. The preverbal aspectual deictic verb refers to the state prior to the occurrence of the event. Both the pre-VP lai `come' and the pre-VP qu `go' signify the state before the event, yet they view the event from different angles. On the other hand, the deictic verb following the verb phrase indicates some part of the event. In this usage, lai `come' refers to the result state of the event and qu `go' designates the early part of the event. I propose two Deictic Phrases between ModP and AspP for the aspectual deictic verb. When the aspect is associated with the speaker's physical location, the deictic verb is in the Spatial Deictic head; when the aspect is related to the speaker's perspective, the deictic verb is in the Nonspatial Deictic head. These Deictic heads inherit [+/-realize] features from C. When the feature is [-realize], it refers to the state prior to the occurrence of the event and agrees with the event in situ. When the feature is [+realize], it refers to some part of the event and triggers the event to move to the Spec,DeicP, making the deictic verb appear after the verb phrase.