The (Dis) appearance of Affected Role “lìnɡ/shǐ…” in the Causative Adjective-Noun Composition

Abstract

The adjective-noun composition of “emotional value + emotional initiation” has causal meaning, which can be indicated by adding the affected role “lìnɡ/shǐ…” before adjectives. However, “lìnɡ/shǐ…” cannot be added before some adjective-noun compositions. On the basis of some literature, this paper discusses this issue, pointing out that the (dis)appearance of the affected role “lìnɡ/shǐ…” can be preliminarily explained through the semantic relation between the adjectives and nouns referring to things or participants in events.