200 MARK HANSELL
where NP 2 is both the object of V\ and the subject of V 2. Li and Thompson
make the distinction between pivot sentences that have realized V 2 s and
those that have unrealized V 2 s. For example:
(5) a. Wo qiú tä bang wo máng.
I beg him help me busy
"I begged him to help me."
b. Wo xièxiè tä bang wo máng.
I thank him help me busy
"I thanked him for helping me."
V 2 in (5a), "help" is unrealized, and regardless of whether or not the action
of Vj "beg" took place, we have no way of knowing whether "help" will or
will not occur. In (5b), however, V\ and V 2 have independent truth values,
and V 2 is realized (that is, the utterance makes no sense unless I at least
believe it to be true that he helped me — whether he in fact did help me or
not.)
Most uses of the pivot construction involve Vx with a directive causa
tive meaning (Shibatani 1974), where the subject of Vj tries to cause the
subject of V 2 to willfully (if not voluntarily) do something, as in (5a). In a
sense such verbs as qiú ("beg"), jiào ("tell to do s'thing"), qing ("invite"),
jiäo ("teach") etc. are three-place predicates involving a Causer, a Causee,
and a Caused Event. That is to say, although such a verb can appear with
only two arguments (Causer and Causee), such a sentence only makes
sense when there is an understood Caused Event. For example:
(6) a. Wo qing tä.
I invite him
"I invite him (to do something)."
b. Wo qing tä lái.
I invite him come
"I invite him to come"
(7) a. Tä jiäo wo.
he teach me
"He teaches me(to do something)."
b. Tä jiäo wö xië zi.
he teach me write characters
"He teaches me to write."