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Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese

  • Haley Wei Wei
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New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax
This chapter is in the book New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax

Abstract

This article investigates a group of sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese. We start with the general properties and proposes an approximation of the effects of three particles: yòu, dào, and yě. We then turn to their word order in the main clause and restricted distribution in embedded clauses. The observations are analyzed in correlation with functional projections in an expanded CP domain. In terms of meaning contributions, based on the Table model of discourse (Farkas and Bruce 2011), the core meaning of dào is captured as contributing to the speaker’s discourse commitment, which marks misalignment between the discourse participants’ beliefs. The findings suggest viable formal frameworks for explaining the distribution, meaning, and pragmatic effect of discourse particles.

Abstract

This article investigates a group of sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese. We start with the general properties and proposes an approximation of the effects of three particles: yòu, dào, and yě. We then turn to their word order in the main clause and restricted distribution in embedded clauses. The observations are analyzed in correlation with functional projections in an expanded CP domain. In terms of meaning contributions, based on the Table model of discourse (Farkas and Bruce 2011), the core meaning of dào is captured as contributing to the speaker’s discourse commitment, which marks misalignment between the discourse participants’ beliefs. The findings suggest viable formal frameworks for explaining the distribution, meaning, and pragmatic effect of discourse particles.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. The structure of lexical and functional projections
  5. Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture 17
  6. Place and distance 77
  7. “Descriptive complements” are manner adverbials 111
  8. SVCs in disguise 133
  9. Part II. Modal verb syntax
  10. Modal movement licensed by focus 165
  11. Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min 193
  12. Part III. Syntax-semantics interactions
  13. Skolemized topicality for indefinites and universal quantifier mei -phrases in Chinese 219
  14. Chinese comparatives 249
  15. Head dependency and degree words in Mandarin 293
  16. Constraints on the representation of anaphoric definiteness in Mandarin Chinese 301
  17. Noncanonical arguments via the high applicative 331
  18. Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection 357
  19. On the syntax of incompleteness 395
  20. Part IV. The syntax and interpretation of particles
  21. On the syntax of mirativity 431
  22. On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min 445
  23. Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min 479
  24. Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese 509
  25. Part V. Acquisition of syntactic structures
  26. V- gei vs. double object construction 539
  27. Predicting the unpredictable 555
  28. Index 575
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.18wei

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. The structure of lexical and functional projections
  5. Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture 17
  6. Place and distance 77
  7. “Descriptive complements” are manner adverbials 111
  8. SVCs in disguise 133
  9. Part II. Modal verb syntax
  10. Modal movement licensed by focus 165
  11. Negative modals and prohibitives in Taiwanese Southern Min 193
  12. Part III. Syntax-semantics interactions
  13. Skolemized topicality for indefinites and universal quantifier mei -phrases in Chinese 219
  14. Chinese comparatives 249
  15. Head dependency and degree words in Mandarin 293
  16. Constraints on the representation of anaphoric definiteness in Mandarin Chinese 301
  17. Noncanonical arguments via the high applicative 331
  18. Applied objects in Mandarin and the nature of selection 357
  19. On the syntax of incompleteness 395
  20. Part IV. The syntax and interpretation of particles
  21. On the syntax of mirativity 431
  22. On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min 445
  23. Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min 479
  24. Sentence-internal discourse particles in Mandarin Chinese 509
  25. Part V. Acquisition of syntactic structures
  26. V- gei vs. double object construction 539
  27. Predicting the unpredictable 555
  28. Index 575
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