Chappell, Hilary (2002). The universal syntax of semantic primes in Mandarin Chinese. In Cliff Goddard, & Anna Wierzbicka (Eds.), Meaning and universal grammar: Theory and empirical findings. Vol. I (pp. 243-322). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.60.12cha
The present chapter represents an enlargement in scope over Chappell (1994), which was mainly restricted to identifying Mandarin exponents of semantic primes, 39 in number at that time. In the present study, the primary focus is the syntax of the proposed primes in Mandarin. I examine the syntactic frames of each prime to test the claims made by Goddard and Wierzbicka with respect to the universal syntax of semantic primes. Since the number of primes has increased to 59 in the intervening period, some space has been allocated to justifying the selection of the particular lexemes or expressions for the newly proposed primes, and for cases where I have revised my earlier analysis.
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
