Problems Caused by Modelling Chinese Grammar on Subject and Predicate

It is only an analogy to say Chinese grammar also has subject and predicate, since the language has no formal criteria defining subject and predicate which exist in Indo-European languages, and what is called ‘S-P structure’ in Chinese refers to proposition in Aristotelian logic.Modelling Chinese grammar on ‘S-P structure’ has caused many problems, especially in the topics arousing general interest and heated argument, such as ergative language, middle construction, event structure, relative clause, and topic prominence.To tackle these problems, we should adhere to the ‘fundamental principle of linguistic study that we have no right to inject into our analysis of a language distinctions not expressed in the language’ as pointed out by L.Bloomfield and seriously consider the possibility of studying Chinese grammar beyond the pre-established categories subject and predicate.