Verb Complement Constructions in Chinese Dialects: Types and Markers
Résumé
This chapter discusses internal variation in Sinitic concerning verb complements and their complementizers. We discuss most of the complements introduced by DE 得 in Standard Mandarin, such as the complements describing the manner or the extent of the action expressed by the verb it follows. Our survey also includes the so-called potential complements. We propose a preliminary typology of verb complements in Sinitic, which shows that Sinitic languages exhibit a huge variation in terms of the number of complement types, as well on the number and source of their complementizers. This variation is shown to exist even within Mandarin dialects.