Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

222 MARK HANSELL

The third operator relevant to this discussion is aspect. Aspect is a nuc­

lear operator, and as such has scope over the nucleus, including the com­

plex nucleus of a cosubordinate nuclear juncture. In core and clausal

junctures, however, linked juncts can be marked separately for aspect:

(45) Wo zhèngzài zébèi tā mèi bängzhu ni.

I PROG reproach him NEG+PERF help you

"I am reproaching him for not having helped you."

(46) a. Gou yäo huai le wo de xiézi.

dog bite bad PERF me GEN shoe

"The dog chewed up my shoes."

b. *Gou zhèngzài yäo huài le wo de xiézi.

dog PROG bite bad PERF me GEN shoe

In the core juncture (Pivot Construction) in (45) it is possible for the first

junct to be in the progressive and the second junct in the perfective. The

nuclear junctures in (46), however, must have both juncts under the scope

of the same aspect marker, as evidenced by the nonsensical (46b).

5.2 Valence and case roles

5.2.1 Valence-increasing CCs

CCs can be valence increasing in the sense that an intransitive verb (valence

= 1) whose argument is non-agentive can be given an agent by being linked

in a CC to a transitive verb (valence = 2). In such cases the transitive verb

is V1 and the intransitive is V 2. Usually the V1 adds additional semantic con­

tent in that it encodes an action that brought about the result encoded by

V 2 ; however there are a few semantically "empty" V1S that can be consid­

ered strictly valence increasers. Words like nòng and gäo (usually translated

as "do" or "make") have this effect:

(47) a. Bù shï le.

cloth damp ASP

"The cloth (has gotten) damp."

b. Wo bä bù nòng shï le.

I PRETRANS cloth "do" damp ASP

"I dampened the cloth."