1 August 2017 To appear in Natural Language & Linguistic Theory Non-Canonical Objects as Event Kind-Classifying Elements Niina Ning Zhang Abstract Non-canonical objects in Mandarin Chinese denote instrument, time, manner, and so on, instead of theme. The predicates that contain such objects show properties of unergative predicates. The paper thus claims that the syntactic position of such objects is the complement of a verb in the unergative use. The semantic function of such objects parallels that of classificatory adjectives in the nominal domain, and that of pseudo-incorporated nominals in the verbal domain. Such objects denote properties, and restrict, rather than saturate, predicates. Non-canonical objects are thus identified as event kind-classifying elements. Four properties of such objects motivate this analysis. They are never in the form of a pronoun, and never admit comparison; their hosting predicate encodes a subclass of an event kind, and the event is subject to an institutionalization constraint. Such objects are thus not arguments or adverbials. The paper further claims that since these properties are also found in cognate objects and weak definites in English, these two types of nominals are also event kind-classifying elements. These different types of nominal event kind-classifying elements are all complements of their associated verbs. Keywords: non-canonical object, kind-classifying element, unergative, classificatory adjective, incorporation, weak definite, cognate object 1. Introduction This paper studies the syntax and semantics of non-canonical objects (NCOs) in Mandarin Chinese (e.g., Lin 2001; Sun & Li 2010; Li 2014). A NCO follows a verb, like a direct object, but it does not denote a theme, as shown by the italic part of the examples in (1) through (9). The verbs in the a-examples and (9) may be followed by a theme and thus used as transitive verbs in other contexts, but they are followed by a NOC here; and the verbs in the b-examples in (1) through (8) are intransitive verbs, but they are also followed by a NCO here. NCOs may encode various non-theme roles, as labeled in (1) through (9). 1,2 (1) a. xie mao-bi b. shui shui-dai [Instrument] write brush-pen sleep sleep-bag ‘write with a brush-pen’ ‘sleep in a sleeping bag’ (2) a. chuan kuanshi b. tiao balei [Manner] wear style dance ballet ‘wear clothes stylishly’ ‘dance in the style of a ballet dancing’ 1 Abbreviations: CL: classifier; BA: causative; DE: modification/nominalization; EXP: experiential; PRF: perfective; PRG: progressive; PRT: sentence-final aspect/mood particle; RED: reduplicant; YA: empty morph between a monosyllabic verb and its RED. 2 The examples in (1) through (9) do not exhaust the semantic types of NCOs. But there is no comitative NCO (Barrie & Li 2015a, b). One account could be that a comitative is not base-generated separately from the associated agent (Kayne 1994; Zhang 2007), and thus syntactically is different from other arguments. Barrie & Li (2015a.b) claim that there is no benefactive NCO, but (9) and the underlined parts in (i) falsify the claim. (i) a. Women zai jiao shui. Lili jiao hua wo jiao shucai. 1PL PRG water water Lili water flower 1SG water vegetable ‘We are watering plants. Lili waters flowers and I water vegetables.’ b. cun ziji (Lianhe Bao ‘United Daily News’, July 7, 2016, Sec. D) deposit self ‘save money for oneself’