acl: clausal modifier of noun
acl is used for clauses that modify a noun (in contrast to advcl which is used for clauses that modify a predicate). Clausal modifiers may precede the noun, and may be formed with (1) or without (2) the relativizer 的 de. They may also be postnominal, in which case they are simply juxtaposed after the noun without any linking function words (3-5).
# visual-style 4 2 acl color:blue
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
1 人 _ NOUN _ _ 2 nsubj _ people
2 説 _ VERB _ _ 4 acl _ say
3 的 _ PART _ _ 2 mark:rel _ REL
4 話 _ NOUN _ _ 0 root _ words
1 "words _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 (that) _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 people _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 say" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
# visual-style 3 1 acl color:blue
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
1 治 _ VERB _ _ 3 acl _ cure
2 病 _ NOUN _ _ 1 obj _ illnesses
3 方面 _ NOUN _ _ 5 nmod _ aspect
4 的 _ PART _ _ 3 case _ GEN
5 問題 _ NOUN _ _ 0 root _ matter
1 "the _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 matter _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 regarding _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 the _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 aspect _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 of _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 curing _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
8 illnesses" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
Postnominal clausal modifiers (known as “descriptive clauses” in Li & Thompson, 1981) are headed by V2 in a [(NP1) V1 NP2 V2-clause] structure, where NP2 (i.e., the second noun phrase) is the direct object of V1 and the V2-clause describes information regarding NP2. This analysis is contingent on the [(NP1) V1 NP2 V2-clause] sequence being a single sentence with one intonational phrase and no pause in between.
# visual-style 2 3 acl color:blue
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
1 有 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ exist
2 機會 _ NOUN _ _ 1 obj _ chance
3 學壞 _ VERB _ _ 2 acl _ learn-bad
1 "There's _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 a _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 chance _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 of _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 learning _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 from _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 bad _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
8 people." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
# visual-style 4 6 acl color:blue
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
1 我們 _ PRON _ _ 3 nsubj _ 1PL
2 突然 _ ADV _ _ 3 advmod _ suddenly
3 有 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ have
4 事 _ NOUN _ _ 3 obj _ things
5 要 _ AUX _ _ 6 aux _ need
6 忙 _ VERB _ _ 4 acl _ be-busy-at
1 "We _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 suddenly _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 have _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 things _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 that _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 need _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 busy _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
8 attending _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
9 to." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
# visual-style 5 6 acl color:blue
# visual-style 5 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 5 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
1 我 _ PRON _ _ 3 nsubj _ 1SG
2 昨天 _ NOUN _ _ 3 obl:tmod _ yesterday
3 收 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ receive
4 到 _ VERB _ _ 3 compound:vv _ arrive
5 信 _ NOUN _ _ 3 obj _ letter
6 説 _ VERB _ _ 5 acl _ say
7 我 _ PRON _ _ 8 nmod _ 1SG
8 帳户 _ NOUN _ _ 9 nsubj _ account
9 没 _ VERB _ _ 6 ccomp _ not-have
10 錢 _ NOUN _ _ 9 obj _ money
11 了 _ PART _ _ 3 discourse:sp _ SP
1 "I _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 received _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 a _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 letter _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 yesterday _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 saying _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 that _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
8 my _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
9 bank _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
10 account _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
11 is _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
12 empty." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
References
- Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. University of California Press.
acl in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cop] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [et] [eu] [fi] [fr] [fro] [ga] [gsw] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [ky] [ml] [no] [pa] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ro] [ru] [sl] [ssp] [sv] [swl] [tr] [u] [urj] [xcl] [yue] [zh]