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From: zohrab_p@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (Peter Zohrab)
Subject: Re: Chinese word ordering
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Date: Thu, 10 Nov 1994 17:00:17 GMT
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<snip>
> 
> But then Chinese word order can sometimes be somewhat illusive. Take the 
> sentence:
> 
> Zhei4  gua1    chi1zhe hen3  tian2.
> 
> This   melon   eating  very  sweet
> (This melon is sweet eating.)
> 
> What's the grammatical subject?

Maybe there's a topic, but no subject, i.e. the topic is:

"This melon eating".

Chinese elides subjects in a way that English does not.  Compare:

"Xia4 yu3"  and "*It* is raining."> 

It's not necessary, for communication, to say *what* is doing the 
raining, and it's likewise not necessary to specify an agent for the 
sweetness-sensation.  Chinese verbs are more likely to be ambiguous as 
between active and passive than English ones are.

> Doug Machle
> 
Peter Zohrab.


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