Volume 47, Issue 1
GBP
Buy:£15.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This study investigates the non-negating negator in Taiwanese. With respect to its function, this study argues that it is neither an intensifier nor a rhetorical marker. Furthermore, contrary to prevalent intuition, the combination is not parallel to the ostensible cognate in Mandarin Chinese. Instead, the non-negating is an intersubjective speech-act adverbial affix attaching to the head of FocP (realized as or ) that takes scope over whatever follows. Typologically, this study uncovers another use of non-negating negation in natural languages, and consequently challenges the enterprise pursuing a unified analysis for the phenomena of the so-called expletive negation.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
2021-04-19
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Biq, Yung-O.
    1984 The Semantics and Pragmatics of Cai and Jiu in Mandarin Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. 1987The Semantics and Pragmatics of Cai and Jiu in Mandarin Chinese. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. 1988 From focus in proposition to focus in speech situation: Cai and jiu in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics16.1:72–108.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bolinger, Dwight
    1972Degree Words. The Hague, the Netherlands: De Gruyter Mouton. 10.1515/9783110877786
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110877786 [Google Scholar]
  5. Chao, Yuen Ren
    1968A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley & Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Chen, Cun
    2017 Sin-lūn “M̄-tsiah” kap “M̄-tio̍h” Sû-tsoo ê Gí-khì [An Extended Discussion of the Mood of the Two Phrases, “M̄-tsiah” and “M̄-tio̍h”]. RetrievedMay 2, 2019, fromhttps://tinyurl.com/y3r8yn9z
  7. Chen, Xiu
    1991Táiwānhuà Dà Cídiǎn [A Comprehensive Taiwanese Dictionary]. Taipei: Yuan-liou.
  8. Cheng, Robert Liang-wei
    1983 Focus devices in Mandarin Chinese. Studies in Chinese Syntax and Semantics—Universe and Scope: Presupposition and Quantification in Chinese, ed. by Ting-chi Tang , Robert Liang-wei Cheng and Ying-che Li , 50–102. Taipei: Student Book Co., Ltd.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Chien, Hung-Mien
    2010 Yóu móxíng: Extensive vs. intensive chónggòu Táiyǔwén de jiāqiángcí. [Reconstructing the intensifiers in Taiwanese from the ‘extensive vs. intensive’ modal]. Hǎiwēng Táiyǔwén Jiāoxué Jìkān10:52–74.
  10. Chomsky, Noam
    1999Derivation by Phase. MIT Occasional Papers in Linguistics 18. Cambridge, MA: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. 2000 Minimalist inquiries: The framework. Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honor of Howard Lasnik, ed. by Roger Martin , David Michaels and Juan Uriagereka , 89–155. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. 2001 Derivation by Phase. Ken Hale: A Life in Language, ed. by Michael Kenstowicz . Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Chor, Winnie
    2013 From ‘direction’ to ‘positive evaluation’: On the grammaticalization, subjectification and intersubjectification of faan1 ‘return’ in Cantonese. Language and Linguistics14.1:91–134.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Cinque, Guglielmo
    1999Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. 2008 Two types of non-restrictive relatives. Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics7 (CSSP 2007), ed. by Oliver Bonami and Patricia Cabredo Hofherr , 99–137. Paris: Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Dinković, Irena Zovko , and Gašper Ilc
    2017 Pleonastic negation from a cross-linguistic perspective. Jezikoslovlje18.1:159–180.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Douglas, Carstairs
    1873Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy: With the Principal Variation of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects. London: Trübner & Co.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Eilam, Aviad
    2007 Expletive negation in modern Hebrew: Neither expletive nor negation. Paper presented at the23rd Annual Conference of the Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics (IATL-23). Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Espinal, Maria Teresa
    1992 Expletive negation and logical absorption. The Linguistic Review9.4:333–358. 10.1515/tlir.1992.9.4.333
    https://doi.org/10.1515/tlir.1992.9.4.333 [Google Scholar]
  20. Ghesquière, Lobke
    2017 Intensification and focusing: The case of pure(ly) and mere(ly). Exploring Intensification: Synchronic, Diachronic and Cross-Linguistic Perspectives, ed. by Maria Napoli and Miriam Ravetto , 33–53. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. 10.1075/slcs.189.03ghe
    https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.189.03ghe [Google Scholar]
  21. Guo, Shaoyu
    1938 Zhōngguó yǔcí zhī tánxìng zuòyòng [The flexibility of Chinese words]. Yānjīng Xuébào24:2–3.
  22. Hackstein, Olav
    2016 Negative interrogatives and whatnot: The conversion of negation in Indo-European. Indo-European Linguistics4:150–189. 10.1163/22125892‑00401005
    https://doi.org/10.1163/22125892-00401005 [Google Scholar]
  23. Haegeman, Liliane
    2002 Anchoring to speaker, adverbial clauses and the structure of CP. Georgetown University Working Papers in Theoretical Linguistics2:117–180.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. 2012Adverbial Clauses, Main Clause Phenomena and the Composition of the Left Periphery: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Volume 8 (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax Series). New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858774.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858774.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  25. Huang, Dinghua
    1958 Mǐnnán fāngyán lǐ de chángyòng fǒudìngcí [Common negative words in Southern Min]. Zhōngguá Yǔwén 1958.4:189–196.
  26. Karlgren, Bernhard
    1949The Chinese Language: An Essay on Its Nature and History. New York: The Ronald Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Koster, Jan
    1978Locality Principles in Syntax. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Foris Publications. 10.1515/9783110882339
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110882339 [Google Scholar]
  28. Lai, Huei-ling
    1999 Rejected expectations: The scalar particles cai and jiu in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics37.4:625–661. 10.1515/ling.37.4.625
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.37.4.625 [Google Scholar]
  29. Lau, Seng-hian
    2010 Syntax of Kám Questions in Taiwanese. MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. 2017 Charting the High Seas: A Cartographic View of Taiwanese Southern Min from the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface. Doctoral dissertation, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. 2020 Táiyǔ jīběn fǒudìngcí “m̄”, “bô” de xuǎnyòng yuánlǐ jí jiāoxué [The selection of negative words in Taiwanese: The principles and pedagogy]. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics18.2:89–149.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Lee, Hui-chi
    2005 On Chinese Focus and Cleft Constructions. Doctoral dissertation, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Li, Charles N. , and Sandra A. Thompson
    1989Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Taipei: Crane Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Li, Cherry Ing
    1997 Logical entailment and conversational implication: A discourse-pragmatic account of Taiwanese toh and ciah . Journal of Taiwan Normal University: Humanities & Social Science42:55–70.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Lien, Chinfa
    2010 Desiderative modals and negative words in Taiwanese Southern Min: A dynamic account of competition and change. Diachronic Change and Language Contact: Dialects in South East China (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series no. 24), ed. by Hung-nin Samuel Cheung and Song Hing Chang , 68–88. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. 2013 Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ qíngtàicí de fǒudìng lèixíng tànsuǒ [Negative patterns of modals in Taiwanese Southern Min]. Language and Linguistics14.2:213–239.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. 2015 Interpreting 都 to 1 TO in earlier Southern Min texts. Lingua Sinica1, article no. 9. 10.1186/s40655‑015‑0009‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1186/s40655-015-0009-1 [Google Scholar]
  38. 2016 Mǐnnányǔ “bián” de yòngfǎ chūtàn [The uses of bian2 in Southern Min]. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics9.1:58–66. 10.1163/2405478X‑00901006
    https://doi.org/10.1163/2405478X-00901006 [Google Scholar]
  39. Lin, Jo-wang
    2016 Negation under yiqian ‘before’ in Mandarin Chinese and cross-linguistic variation of expletive negation. Language and Linguistics17.1:1–16.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Lin, Min-ching
    1996 Discourse Functions of Toh and Chiah in Taiwanese. MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Liu, Chien-ren
    2017 “M̄-bián” vs. “m̄-tsiah”, “m̄-tio̍h”. RetrievedApril 29, 2019, fromhttps://tinyurl.com/y3x2qwbf
  42. Liu, Meichun
    1993 Discourse, Grammar and Grammaticalization: Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis of Mandarin Adverbial Marker Jiu and Cai . Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Lu, Guang-cheng
    2002 Táimǐnyǔ de Cífǎ yǔ Jùfǎ [Taiwanese Morphology and Syntax]. RetrivedApril 29, 2019, from203.64.42.21/iug/Ungian/patlang/su-ku/su-ku.htm
  44. Lü, Shuxiang
    1963 Xiàndài hànyǔ dān shuāng yīnjié wèntí chū tán [A preliminary study of the problem of monosyllabism and disyllabism in modern Chinese]. Zhōngguó Yǔwén1:11–23.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. 1984Xiàndài Hànyǔ Bābǎi Cí [800 words in Modern Chinese]. Beijing: Shang Wu Shu Guan.
  46. Lyons, John
    1977Semantics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. 1995Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511810213
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810213 [Google Scholar]
  48. Makri, Maria-Margarita
    2013 Expletive Negation beyond Romance. Clausal Complementation and Epistemic Modality. MA thesis, University of York, York.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Margulis, Daniel
    2018 Expletive negation and the decomposition of only . Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 21, ed. by Robert Truswell , Chris Cummins , Caroline Heycock , Brain Rabern and Hannah Rohde , 845–862. Konstanz, Germany: University of Konstanz.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Matthewson, Lisa
    2013 Gitksan Modals. International Journal of American Linguistics79.3:349–394. 10.1086/670751
    https://doi.org/10.1086/670751 [Google Scholar]
  51. Medadian, Gholamreza , and Dariush Nejadansari Mahabadi
    2018 A more explicit framework for evaluating objectivity and (inter)subjectivity in modality domain. Research in Language16.1:65–98. 10.2478/rela‑2018‑0003
    https://doi.org/10.2478/rela-2018-0003 [Google Scholar]
  52. Murray, Sarah E.
    2010 Evidentiality and the Structure of Speech Acts. Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Ogawa, Naoyoshi
    (eds.) 1931–1932Tai-Nichi Dai Jiten [A Comprehensive Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]. Taihoku: Taiwan Sotokufu.
  54. Paris, Marie-Claude
    1985 The semantics of jiu and cai in Mandarin Chinese. Computational Analysis of Asian and African Language24:181–196.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Rizzi, Luigi
    2004 Locality and left periphery. Structures and Beyond: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Volume 3 (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax Series), ed. by Adriana Belletti , 223–251. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Rooryck, Johan
    2018 French negation and restrictive focus. A Coat of Many Colors: A Festschrift for Dany Jaspers on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday, ed. by Jan Ceuppens , Hans Smessaert , Jeroen van Craenenbroeck and Guido Vanden Wyngaerd , 296–310. Brussels: CRISSP.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Sadock, Jerrold M.
    1971 Queclaratives. Papers from the Seventh Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 232–231. Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistics Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. 1974Towards a Linguistic Theory of Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Shklovsky, Kirill
    2012 Expletive negation and polarity focus in Tseltal (Mayan). Paper presented at the7th Meeting of Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas (SULA 7), Cornell University, Ithaca.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Tang, Ting-chi
    1999 Mǐnnánhuà fǒudìngcí de yǔyì nèihán yǔ jùfǎ biǎoxiàn [The semantics and syntax of Southern Min negative words]. Mǐnnányǔ Yǔfǎ Yánjiù Shìlùn, 135–185. Taipei: Taiwan Students Book Co.
  61. Traugott, Elizabeth Closs , and Richard B. Dasher
    2001Regularity in Semantic Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511486500
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486500 [Google Scholar]
  62. Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
    2010 Tán Hànyǔ mótàicí de fēngbú yǔ quánshì zhī duìyìng guānxī [On the correspondence between the distribution and interpretation of Chinese modals]. Zhōngguó Yǔwén336: 208–221.
  63. 2015a A case of V2 in Chinese. Studies in Chinese Linguistics36.2:81–108. 10.1515/scl‑2015‑0006
    https://doi.org/10.1515/scl-2015-0006 [Google Scholar]
  64. 2015b On the topography of Chinese modals. Beyond Functional Sequence: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Volume 10 (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax Series), ed. by Ur Shlonsky , 275–294. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190210588.003.0015
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190210588.003.0015 [Google Scholar]
  65. von Fintel, Kai , and Anthony S. Gillies
    2008 An opinionated guide to epistemic modality. Oxford Studies in Epistemology2, ed. by Tamar Gendler and John Hawthorne , 32–62. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. 2010Must…stay…strong!Natural Language Semantics18.4:351–383. 10.1007/s11050‑010‑9058‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-010-9058-2 [Google Scholar]
  67. von Fintel, Kai , and Sabine Iatridou
    2007 Anatomy of a modal construction. Linguistic Inquiry38.3:445–483. 10.1162/ling.2007.38.3.445
    https://doi.org/10.1162/ling.2007.38.3.445 [Google Scholar]
  68. Waksler, Rachelle
    2012 Super, uber, so and totally: Over-the-top intensifications to mark subjectivity in colloquial discourse. Subjectivity in Language and Discourse, ed. by Nicole Baumgarten , Inke Du Bois and Juliane House , 17–31. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Wang, Li
    1944Zhōngguó Yǔfǎ Lǐlùn [Chinese Grammatical Theories]. Shanghai: Shāngwù Yìn Shū Guǎn.
  70. Xu, Ji-Dun
    1990Táiwānyǔ Gàilùn [An Introduction to Taiwanese Grammar]. Taipei: Foundation of Taiwanese Research and Development.
  71. Yang, Hsiu-fang
    1991Mǐnnányǔ Yǔfǎgǎo [Draft of the grammar on Southern Min]. Taipei: Daan Press.
  72. 1992 Cóng lìshǐ yǔfǎ de guāndiǎn lùn Mǐnnányǔ “tio̍h” jí chíxùmào [On tio̍h and the durative aspect in Southern Min from a diachronic perspective]. Hànxué Yánjiù10.1:349–394.
  73. Yoon, Suwon
    2011 ‘Not’ in the Mood: The Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics of Evaluative Negation. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Chicago, Chicago.
    [Google Scholar]
  74. 2013 Parametric variation in subordinate evaluative negation: Korean/Japanese versus others. Journal of East Asian Linguistics22.2:133–166. 10.1007/s10831‑012‑9100‑0
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-012-9100-0 [Google Scholar]
  75. Zhang, Zheng-Xing
    1989Táiwān Mǐnnán Fāngyán Jìluè [A Concise Grammar on Taiwan Southern Min]. Taipei: The Liberal Arts Press.
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Keyword(s): expletive negation; non-negating negator; speech-act adverbial; Taiwanese; 台語; 空填補否定詞; 虛否定; 言語行為

Most Cited