A Syntactic Study of the ‘NP1+V-le+NP2+QP’ Causative Constructions in Modern Chinese

This study investigates the syntactic features of the ‘NP1 + V-le + NP2 + QP’ causative construction in Modern Chinese. This construction is derived from a reflexive causal structure in which the agent (x) undergoes a resultant state caused by their own action or internal condition. When a non-agentive argument (y) is topicalized through prominence operation, the structure is reconfigured as ‘NP1 + V-le + NP2 + QP’, forming a causative construction. In this process, the predicate undergoes causative alternation, the agent is demoted to an object position, and the quantificational phrase (QP) specifies the result in the sentence-final position. This study argues that the construction is not a simple inversion of surface order, but a syntactic realization of event reconstruction and focus shift. The analysis is grounded in generative semantics and information structure theory.