向 / 對 …… 發出

[dwq]

While talking on the MERS thread, I come across the sentences

政府對南韓發紅色旅遊警示

政府宣布向南韓發出紅色旅遊警示

The Government is issuing the Red Outbound Travel Alert for Korea

(source: http://news.now.com/home/hot/player?newsId=138931

http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/admin/html/2015/06/20150609_102350.shtml)

I thought the grammar pattern is '向 / 對 + object + verb phrase'.

e.g. 入境事務處向申請者發出護照。

The Immigration Department issues a passport to the applicant.

However my understanding of the above sentences is that the government issues an alert warning citizens not to go to South Korea, so '南韓' is not the recipient of the alert, the omitted 'citizens' would be.

How should I analyse the grammar of the above sentences?

If I give you the sentence "政府向市民發出紅色旅遊警示" how would you add 南韓 to it?

[Michaelyus]

Surely 南韓 can be interpreted as the recipient? Even if the 南韓 referred to is the departure gate or even the document which lists all the alert statuses.

 

Syntactically sound, but perhaps semantically troubling for you?

[Altair]

I just always assumed that these words were more broadly used than just to indicated an addressee or a recipient, such as indicating the target of an activity.

 

From my dictionary:

 

本书对《老子》的哲理颇多发明。　　This book does much to expound the philosophy of the Lao Zi.

对一切损失承担全部责任      commit oneself to answer for all the losses incurred

向不良现象作斗争    combat unhealthy phenomena

向世界纪录展开猛烈冲击    make vigorous attempts to break the world records

[陳德聰]

I think this comes about from a misunderstanding of thematic roles in the sentence. The pattern is not 向 + object + verb, it is 向 + target(for lack of a better word) + verb (+ object). The object is the 紅色旅遊警示, and the sentence makes no mention of the recipient of the action, the 向 here indicates what the object is about moreso than who/what it is for.

[Kenny同志]

政府對南韓發紅色旅遊警示

 

 

To me the title is misleading in that South Korea can be interpreted as the recipient of the warning but this is, in fact, not the case.

 

I think the author can improve the title by changing it to 政府對赴韓旅遊發佈紅色警告 or 韓國疫情堪憂 政府發佈紅色旅遊警告.