blame · 怪 / 责备 (guài / zébèi)

Hierarchy

Same inventory as English blame, Spanish culpar, French blâmer, Italian incolpare, and Japanese 責める. Not five-place. Not four sisters of one V. Surface count can name the committee, the weather, the delay, and an airline — but the lexicon does not list four co-arguments of √ASCRIBE_FAULT.

No MeasureP. There is no verbal Amount+Denomination object. Degrees that sneak in (shares of blame / 多少责任) live on the Abney spine of a light noun or of Charge — Left Branch Condition for sell / pay / charge_FEE does not apply as a verbal diagnostic here.

What Group A Mandarin changes is Case cloth and FAULT-on-N packaging (把, 因为, 怪在…身上, 责任 / 归咎). What it does not change is the inventory. Weather still satisfies Target and fails Judge. Cause-true is still not entailed. Target and Charge still do not invert at Transfer cost. There is no productive DOC of Target+Charge as two bare Themes.

Mandarin frames · Case clothes

Mandarin packages blame without a productive DOC. Under primary 怪 / 责备, Target is the post-V object; Charge sits in 因为 / 为 / 因. Alternate FAULT-on-N / on-geometry flips the Case object: 把 fronts Charge (or the FAULT host) with Target in 于 / 在…身上. NegQ under 没 / 没有 tracks the Case object of the chosen cloth — chat 22: Chinese 把 fronts the object of the frame under 没. Scout-leaning: 责怪 packaging is listed without a productivity ranking vs 怪 / 责备.

1. ✓ 委员会怪天气，因为延误。 canonical · post-V Target · 因为 Charge
2. ✓ 委员会责备天气造成了延误。 责备 companion · Target + clausal Charge
3. ✓ 他们没怪天气造成延误吗？ NegQ baseline · §12.2 (87)
4. ✓ 他们没把延误归咎于天气吗？ NegQ · 把 Charge-host · 归咎于 Target · §12.2 (88)
5. ✓ 把天气怪了。 把 fronts Target of the frame
6. ✓ 把延误怪在天气身上。 FAULT-on-N / on-geometry · 怪在…身上
7. ✓ 怪天气。 weather = Target · fine
8. ✓ 天气被怪了。 被 fronts Target · Voice, not Spec,T
9. ✓ Companion scout: 责怪天气延误。 责怪 · same ascription · scout ranking
10. ✓ Light-noun scout: 把责任归于天气。 责任 FAULT-N · Assign_Blame Chinese note
11. * 天气没怪航空公司吗？ weather as Judge · §12.2 (89)
12. * 委员会怪天气延误。 as two bare Themes DOC no productive DOC of Target+Charge
13. * 把迪克控告了欺诈。 as blame cloth on ACCUSE 控告 = charge_ACCUSE · 把 unused for ACCUSE Target
14. * 把二十块怪了天气。 FEE MeasureP ≠ Charge of blame · 收/收费 cloth

A bare negative answer on the canonical NegQ most readily challenges the ascription event or the Case object of the chosen cloth (Target under single-verb 怪; Charge-host under 把…归咎于 / 怪在…身上). Challenging the Charge wants that content already under discussion. Negation does not grow a double-object and does not create a fourth Case. 把 is not an outer CAUSE_G over a Judge event (§12.2). Topic ≠ Spec,T.

WH / NegQ diagnostics · no MeasureP LBC

Unlike sell / pay_GIVE / charge_FEE / bet / deduct, blame has no verbal MeasureP. There is therefore no Left-Branch Condition of the Amount-from-Denomination type on √ASCRIBE_FAULT. Degrees that appear are DP-internal on Charge or on the light noun 责任.

1. ✓ 谁怪天气造成延误？ WH = Judge
2. ✓ 谁没怪天气？ WH = Judge / Target · NegQ · §12.2 (90)
3. ✓ 什么被怪了？ WH = Target under 被
4. ✓ 因为什么怪天气？ WH = Charge
5. ✓ 把什么归咎于天气？ WH = Charge-host under 把
6. ✓ 怪在谁身上？ WH = Target under on-geometry
7. ✓ 没把天气怪吗？ NegQ · 没 over 把-Target
8. ✓ 多少责任归于天气？ degree on light noun · Abney-side
9. * 把多少怪了 ETH？ no verbal MeasureP LBC host
10. * 天气没怪谁吗？ as weather-Judge WH weather cannot be Judge under WH either
11. * 委员会怪天气延误吗？ as DOC of Target+Charge no Neg-rescued DOC

Superiority ranks Judge > Target > Charge. It does not rank Charge against a silent Purpose, Price, or Theme₂. Cheap NegQ association tracks the Case object of the chosen cloth: Target under single-verb 怪 / 责备; Charge-host under FAULT-on-N / 把…归咎于 / 怪在…身上.

Geometry · 怪 ≠ 控告 ≠ 收 ≠ 归功于 ≠ Transfer

In 委员会怪天气，因为延误, the committee holds that the weather is responsible for the delay. That is ascription, not HAVE of goods and not SWAP of Themes. Weather is Target. The delay is Charge. HOLD is an attitude; RESPONSIBLE(Target, Charge) is content, not a presupposed fact.

• ≠ English DOC / Transfer invert. There is no productive *委员会怪天气延误 as two bare Themes. Negation does not rescue it. Transfer Themes invert under Romance NegQ; blame Target and Charge do not at Transfer cost.
• ≠ attribute_ATT polarity merge. Shared family (ascribe content to Target) and shared Voice filter; blame writes FAULT polarity. Keep the Assign_Blame split: single-verb 怪 / 责备 … 因为 vs light-noun 把责任归于 / 把…怪在…身上.
• ≠ credit_MERIT / 归功于. Opposite polarity of merit. credit_MERIT defaults to Target of praise; blame defaults to Target of fault. Keep FIN/MERIT/FAULT splits on Mandarin packaging.
• ≠ charge_ACCUSE / 控告. Fault content can overlap in discourse; legal / speech-act overlays stay on charge_ACCUSE. ChargeACCUSE Group A: Mandarin 把 is unused for ACCUSE Target (*把迪克控告了欺诈). On blame, 把 does front Target or Charge-host of the ascription frame — different cloth, same coverb letter tracking different Incremental Themes. This page does not invent a second root.
• ≠ charge_FEE / 收 / 收费. FEE’s 把 fronts the money MeasureP. Blame has no MeasureP; 把二十块怪了天气 is the wrong cloth. Live twin: charge-fee-zh.html.
• Missing defaults. Cause-true and settlement are not entailed. 他们没怪天气造成延误吗？ is compatible with the weather not in fact causing the delay.

English twin pointer: Target for Charge / Charge on Target. Spanish: culpar a … de / light-noun echar la culpa a. French: blâmer … pour / light-noun attribuer / jeter la faute à|sur. Italian: incolpare … di / light-noun attribuire / dare / gettare la colpa a|su. Japanese: 責める … で / のせいで / light-noun 責任を負わせる / …のせいにする. Weather OK as Target, *not* as Judge. Mandarin spells the for-frame as 怪 / 责备 … 因为 / 为 / 因; the on-geometry surfaces as 把…怪在…身上 / 归咎于 / light-noun 责任.

Shells, ApplP, and Case

VoiceP  [ Judgepre-V
  vP / √ASCRIBE_FAULT
    post-V / 把-fronted   Target   (怪 / 责备-frame)
    PP_因为 / 为 / 因      Charge   (因为 / 为 / 因 + NP / clause)
]

FAULT-on-N / on-geometry:
VoiceP  [ Judge
  vP / √归咎 / √怪在…身上
    把               Charge-host / FAULT-N
    于 / 在…身上      Target
]

把 under 没 (chat 22 · §12.2):
  没 + 把 + object-of-frame + V
  — Target under 怪-frame; Charge-host under 归咎 / 怪在…身上
  — 把 ≠ outer CAUSE_G over a Judge event

被 Voice (passive-ish):
  Target fronts under 被 — Voice, not Spec,T
  Topic ≠ Spec,T

Mandarin blame never assigns four structural Cases. Under 怪 / 责备, Target is the post-V / 把 object; Charge is inside 因为 / 为 / 因. Under FAULT-on-N cloth, 把 hosts the Charge / FAULT noun; Target is 于 / 在…身上. No low Appl_HAVE. No low Appl_SWAP. No Appl_TASK. No MeasureP. High Appl / Affectee is extra when present and is not a listed argument of √ASCRIBE_FAULT.

Outer CAUSE_G (让) wraps Voice — Type A. The causee, not the weather, is the Judge. 把 under NegQ is not that outer Cause (§12.2). Topic is not Spec,T. Passive-ish 被 fronts Target.

Omission does not demote Charge to a pure adjunct. Selected P-layers are optional in the numeration; they are still arguments when present. The diagnostic is participanthood under Case, binding, and WH — not omitability.

Underivables (Mandarin)

1. * 天气没怪航空公司吗？ weather / inanimate as Judge · §12.2 (89)
2. * 上司没让天气怪航空公司吗？ 让 does not wash Voice filter
3. * 委员会怪天气延误。 as DOC of Target+Charge no productive DOC
4. * 把多少怪了 ETH？ no verbal MeasureP LBC
5. * 委员会把天气和延误交换了。 as blame SWAP SWAP cloth ≠ ascribe-fault
6. * 把二十块怪了天气。 FIN / FEE MeasureP ≠ Charge of blame
7. * 把迪克控告了欺诈。 as blame 控告 ACCUSE · 把 unused for that Target
8. ✓ weather as Target: 怪天气。 / 把天气怪了。 inanimate Target fine

Group A packaging · this tick Mandarin closes EN+Romance+JA+ZH blame

Group A (English clothes, Japanese sei / semeru, Mandarin 把, Navajo scout) is the packaging contrast set already used for NegQ on blame. Same hierarchy as English; different host of Charge/Target Case and FAULT-on-N spelling. Mandarin: 怪 / 责备 Target 因为 Charge, or 把 delay 怪在 Target 身上; 把 fronts the ACC object of the chosen cloth under 没; scout 责怪; light-noun 责任 / 归咎于. This tick is Mandarin only — and it finishes the EN+ES+FR+IT+JA+ZH blame line. English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Japanese twins are live at blame.html, blame-es.html, blame-fr.html, blame-it.html, and blame-ja.html. Navajo classificatory Target packaging remains deferred — do not invent depth this tick. Group B Romance and Group C (HU Focus, PL GEN-neg) stay on their twin pages / predictions.

Open items

• English / Romance / Japanese twins. blame.html, blame-es.html, blame-fr.html, blame-it.html, and blame-ja.html are sprint-depth. Keep pages split by Case cloth (for/on · de · pour · di · JA o/de/sei/ni · ZH 因为/把/身上).
• 责怪 / 归咎于 / 责任 productivity. Listed in Group A notes with 怪 / 责备; relative naturalness needs controlled elicitation — flagged scout-leaning, not closed.
• 的 / 把 on Charge vs Target under 没. Same scout status as Abney_DP_Chinese_Scout_de_WH. Boundary between FAULT-on-N and Cause-adjunct 因为 under discourse coercion is open.
• Navajo micro-entry. Same Group A geometry; HANDLE / classificatory Target packaging. Deferred — do not invent depth this tick.
• Group C packaging. Hungarian Focus+nem, Polish GEN-neg predictions remain scout / predicted. No fake elicitation.
• ACCUSE / FEE 把 contrast. Keep ChargeACCUSE Group A extract (把 unused for 控告 Target) and FEE live page (把 fronts money) as contrast only — do not merge roots.

Corpus filenames

Primary extract for this micro-entry is Group A Chinese packaging on blame (怪 / 责备; NegQ Blame §12.2; 把 under 没). Geometry is shared with the English lexical entry. Light-noun contrast from Assign_Blame_Comparison (Chinese 把责任归于 vs 责怪). Chat packaging: Tritransitive chats 13 (assign vs blame Case / NegQ) and 22 (blame in negative questions · no fourth theta · “Chinese 把 fronts the object of the frame under 没”). ACCUSE contrast: ChargeACCUSE Group A extract (把 unused for Target on 控告). INDEX2 Attitude cell absent for ZH.