| Change log entry 40386 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2012-03-02 07:08:44 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 38784 - submitted by 'alanwatson' >> See for example Juku entries like 她拔牙时痛得叫了起来. I assume that it wasn't the dentist crying out with pain. Editor: You are trying to apply English grammar rules to a Chinese sentence. If I may quote from Yuen Ren Chao's "Mandarin Primer" ~ Chapter III: Grammar, Part B. Sentences, 4. The Meaning of Predication. "In a Chinese sentence, the subject is literally the subject matter and the predicate is just something said about the subject matter. The pedicate does not necessarily denote an action ... of what is denoted by the subject. For example, 這地方兒可以浮水 ‘This place can swim, — at this place one can swim’ ... "An important corollary to this is that the direction of action in verbs is to be inferred from the context. Thus, in talking about feeding poultry, 雞不吃了 means ‘The chickens are not eating any more,’ but as a reply to a host offering more chicken, the same sentence would mean ‘(As for) chicken, (I) am not going to eat any more.’ ... In short, there is no distinction of voice in Chinese verbs. " Note in particular (1) "the pedicate does not necessarily denote an action of what is denoted by the subject", and (2) "the direction of action in verbs is to be inferred from the context" Another example is 他是1948年选举的总统, which may be interpreted as "He is the president who was elected in 1948" (says Chao). From that, it would seem that 选举 means "to be elected". Why, then, do dictionaries say it means "to elect"? Well, "to elect" makes sense in 最近美國人選舉了第一 個黑人來當總統, and it is assumed by the dictionary editors that users understand that a verb may also have a "passive" sense, depending on the context. In a few of our entries, we have a definition that indicates both active and passive voice, but in general, it is considered superfluous to do so. e.g. 理頭 理头 [li3 tou2] /to have a haircut/to cut sb's hair/ For 拔牙, ABC says "pull out a tooth", 现代汉英词典 says "extract teeth", and nciku.com says "dental extraction; to extract teeth". Note that these references not only do not give the passive form, but in some cases they don't give the noun form. Dictionary editors often assume that the noun sense too can be inferred by the intelligent user. Dr.eye does give the passive, but not the noun ~ "to extract a tooth; to have a tooth taken out; to pull out a tooth". While some of what I've written here may seem to have an authoritative tone, it is, like most of my comments on the Change log, largely based on what I've just now read in my references, rather than on a comfortable familiarity with the topic, and I am ready to be stood corrected. :-) |
| Diff: |
= 拔牙 拔牙 [ba2 ya2] /to extract a tooth/ # + 拔牙 拔牙 [ba2 ya2] /to extract a tooth/to have a tooth taken out/ |