Orientation: Unselectiveness of Subject and ObjectIn Mandarin Chinese

Orientation: Unselectiveness of Subject and Object
In Mandarin Chinese
In this paper, I attempt to argue that Lin Tzong-Hong¡¯s proposal on unselectiveness of subjects and objects in Mandarin Chinese and the theory of phrase structure is inadequate, in light of Minimalist Program, and expect to arrive at a neater and more unified explanation.

Cross-linguistically, the canonical theta-role of subjects of verbs is agent and that of objects is patient. However, very often we see non-agent nominals take a subject position and non-patient nominals take the position of objects, namely, ¡®the unselectiveness of subject and object¡¯ titled by Lin, which is very noticeable in Mandarin Chinese. For instance:
(1) Unselectiveness of subject in Mandarin Chinese
a. Laozhang kai-le yi-liang tanke-che. (Agentive)
p.n. drive-Perf one-Cl tank
'Laozhang drove a tank.'
b. Gaosu-gonglu-shang kai-zhe yi-pai tanke-che. (Existential)
expressway-on drive-Dur one-line tank
'There...