Partial Success and Failed Attempts in Mandarin Change-of-State Predicates

Abstract

This paper investigates the incomplete interpretations of Mandarin change-of-state predicates, with a focus on two subtypes: Partial Success and Failed Attempts. Through a detailed analysis of a group of consumption and destruction verbs, the study reveals a key distinction between Mandarin accomplishments, which do not inherently require culmination and therefore allow incomplete readings, and achievements, which lexically entail culmination. Aspectual diagnostics further corroborate this contrast. While previous studies attribute incomplete interpretations of change-of-state predicates to isolated factors, this paper identifies the primary source in the lexical semantics of verbs. To account for the semantic behavior of Mandarin accomplishments and their capacity to convey Partial Success and Failed Attempts, this paper proposes a formal representation that incorporates various incremental features into their lexical semantics. This approach unifies the analysis of these incomplete interpretations and sheds light on the mechanisms underlying variability in non-culmination. The findings offer a refined understanding of the Incompletion Effect (Chief 2007) and its implications for event semantics. By advancing the theoretical analysis of event structure in Mandarin, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of typological variation in accomplishments, bridging lexical semantics with cross-linguistic perspectives on event interpretation.