Object specificity in Chinese: A view from the vP periphery
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Wei-Tien Dylan Tsai
Abstract
This article deals with an indicative-modal asymmetry in Chinese, where a variety of specificity effects are found in fronted object indefinites. To provide a coherent solution under the cartographic approach (Rizzi 1997, Cinque 1999), we propose that there are two types of landing sites for Chinese object fronting: The outer focus position is in the left periphery, and occupied by a specific nominal. By contrast, the inner focus position is located in the peripheral area around vP (a clause-internal focus in Belletti's 2004 terms), where a bare NP is interpreted as specific in realis sentences, but non-specific in irrealis sentences. It is argued that this object specificity follows from a dynamic mechanism of syntax-semantics mapping encoded in the Extended Mapping Hypothesis, and should be treated on a par with Chinese subject specificity. Along this line, we are able to lay out the “topography” of Chinese foci based on the inner-outer dichotomy, and provide a solution to the indicative-modal asymmetry through the interaction between syntactic predication and aspectual quantification.
©Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Guest editor's note
- Deconstructing the shì … de construction
- Focus on identity – the dark side of zìjĭ
- The wh/q-polarity adverb daodi in Mandarin Chinese and the syntax of focus
- On parts of speech in Chinese: gen
- The serial verb construction in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot
- Shi … de focus clefts in Mandarin Chinese
- D is for Demonstrative – Investigating the position of the demonstrative in Chinese and Zhuang
- Object specificity in Chinese: A view from the vP periphery
- Publications received October 2007 – September 2008
- Language index
- Subject index
- Contents of volume 25
Articles in the same Issue
- Guest editor's note
- Deconstructing the shì … de construction
- Focus on identity – the dark side of zìjĭ
- The wh/q-polarity adverb daodi in Mandarin Chinese and the syntax of focus
- On parts of speech in Chinese: gen
- The serial verb construction in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot
- Shi … de focus clefts in Mandarin Chinese
- D is for Demonstrative – Investigating the position of the demonstrative in Chinese and Zhuang
- Object specificity in Chinese: A view from the vP periphery
- Publications received October 2007 – September 2008
- Language index
- Subject index
- Contents of volume 25
