A Syntactic Analysis of Quasi Attributive Constructions

The paper focuses on the question of whether there is a syntactic relation between the quasi attributive construction (QAC) and the matrix verb, arguing that the possessor and possessee in the QAC are arguments of an implicit predicate but not the matrix verb.The value of the implicit predicate is assigned by the context including the matrix verb.The QAC has a nominalization category G denoting the event.The attributive marker "de(的)" is an initial head as the genitive marker "'s" in English.Hence, it can block both the movement of a head in its complement out of the noun phrase, and its attachment to the possessor.Buyu(补语) as a complement of the verb also requires the QAC to compute as a whole noun phrase.The relationship between the QAC and verb-copying construction is that the functional category Bec(ome) can select "S de O" and "SVO" to act as a Causee in them.