현대중국어 ‘来/去+LocNP’ 구문과 조사‘了’의 상호작용에 대한 정보구조적 분석

Abstract

This study examines the asymmetric distribution of lai(来) and qu(去) in the constructions ‘S+lai/qu+le+LocNP’ and ‘S+lai/qu+LocNP+le’, focusing on how their information-structural functions diverge. The findings show that ‘S+qu+LocNP+le’ can serve as a sentence-focus, predicate- focus, or argument-focus structure, whereas ‘S+lai+LocNP+le’ is restricted to sentence-focus and predicate-focus uses. Moreover, ‘S+qu+le+LocNP’ readily forms an argument-focus structure, while ‘S+lai+le+LocNP’ does not. These differences stem from the interaction between the two types of le and the speaker-anchored deictic orientation of the verbs. Verb- adjacent le₁ in ‘S+lai/qu+le+LocNP’ marks event-internal completion and tends to induce argument focus, while sentence-final le₂ in ‘S+lai/ qu+LocNP+le’ signals the emergence of a new discourse state. The semantics of lai and qu further reinforce the asymmetry: qu introduces the destination as discourse-new, aligning syntactic and pragmatic focus, whereas lai presupposes the destination as given, constraining argument- focus realization.