1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Language and Linguistics
  4. Volume 24, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 24, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1606-822X
  • E-ISSN: 2309-5067
EPUB
PDF

Abstract

Abstract

This paper investigates the syntax and semantics of the third person singular pronoun in Shanghainese in its non-referential use. Evidence from its phonological dependence and syntactic integration with the preceding host verb is presented to show that the non-referential is a clitic. It is further observed that this use of requires licensing from the [+subjunctive] feature, echoing Qian (2004) and Jin (2016). However, my analysis diverges from theirs in treating the in question as an expletive licensed by the [+subjunctive] feature, rather than a subjunctive marker itself on grounds that it is not obligatory in a subjunctive sentence and that the subjunctivity must always be encoded by other elements in the sentence. in this use serves as an emphatic, strengthening the effect of deontic or imperative force in subjunctive contexts. Furthermore, it is shown that the licensing must obey a locality condition, whereby the expletive must be licensed by a c-commanding licenser in its local domain. From the perspective of grammaticalization, I propose that is going through an intermediate stage of becoming a purely modal functional marker. A final stage of this “upward” grammaticalization can be found in the expletive use of the third person pronoun in Cantonese, which has become a more grammaticalized marker that has scope over the sentence. It is pointed out that the development of the expletive pronoun suggests that being at the right-periphery is a crucial factor in motivating and facilitating grammaticalization in Chinese. Last, a comparison between the non-referential and the Mandarin non-referential third person pronoun in the V--NP/AP construction is presented, showing that both cases manifest interactions between VP-internal projections and higher functional categories.

© ILAS
Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu
2023-04-09
2024-12-09

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/lali.00135.zhu.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bhatt, Rajesh
    2006 Covert modality in non-finite contexts (Interface Explorations 8). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110197341
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197341 [Google Scholar]
  2. Bybee, Joan L.
    1998 “Irrealis” as a grammatical category. Anthropological Linguistics40(2). 257–271.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Chan, Ning-ping
    1985 The use of the third-person pronoun in Mandarin Chinese. Cahiers de Linguistique-Asie Orientale14(1). 47–81. 10.3406/clao.1985.1167
     https://doi.org/10.3406/clao.1985.1167 [Google Scholar]
  4. Chao, Yuan-Ren
    1968 A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Chomsky, Noam
    1981 Lectures on government and binding (Studies in Generative Grammar 9). Dordrecht: Foris.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. 1986 Barriers (Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 13). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. 2000 Minimalist inquiries: The framework. InMartin, Roger & Michaels, David & Uriagereka, Juan & Keyser, Samuel Jay (eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik, 89–155. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Chung, Sandra & Alan Timberlake
    1985 Tense, aspect, and mood. InTimothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, volume 3: Grammatical categories and the lexicon, 202–258. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Dai, Xiang-ling
    1992 Chinese morphology and its interface with the syntax. Columbus: The Ohio State University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Diesing, Molly
    1992 Indefinites (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 20). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Emonds, Joseph E.
    1970 Root and structure-preserving transformations. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Gan, Min
    2011 Jiujiang fangyan zhong de chuzhishi “keoi”ziju [Disposed sentences with third person singular pronoun keoi in Jiujiang dialect]. Xiandai Yuwen [Modern Chinese] 2011(7). 146–149.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Givón, Talmy
    1994 Irrealis and the subjunctive. Studies in Language18(2). 265–337. 10.1075/sl.18.2.02giv
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.18.2.02giv [Google Scholar]
  14. Hackl, Martin
    1998 On the semantics of “ability attributions”. Cambridge: MIT. (Manuscript.)
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Haegeman, Liliane
    2012 Adverbial clauses, main clause phenomena, and the composition of the left periphery (The Cartography of Syntactic Structures 8). New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858774.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858774.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  16. Han, Chung-hye
    1998 The structure and interpretation of imperatives: Mood and force in universal grammar. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Haverkort, Jacobus Maria Wilhelmus
    1993 Clitics and parametrization: Case studies in the interaction of head movement phenomena. Tilburg: Tilburg University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Hopper, Joan B. & Thompson, Sandra A.
    1973 On the applicability of root transformations. Linguistic Inquiry4(4). 465–497.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Huang, C.-T. James
    1982 Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Huang, C.- T. James
    1991 Modularity and Chinese A-not-A questions. InGeorgopoulos, Carol & Ishihara, Roberta (eds.), Interdisciplinary approaches to language: Essays in honor of S.-Y. Kuroda, 305–332. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 10.1007/978‑94‑011‑3818‑5_16
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3818-5_16 [Google Scholar]
  21. Huang, C.-T. James
    1999 Chinese passives in comparative perspective. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies29(4). 423–509.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Iljic, Robert
    1987 Empty ta in Mandarin Chinese. Computational Analyses of Asian and African Languages261. 15–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Jackendoff, Ray S.
    1972 Semantic interpretation in generative grammar (Studies in Linguistics Series 2). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Jiang, Yan & Wang, Yuying
    2016 Counterfactual subjunctive assertions in Shanghai dialect. InChin, Andy C.-O. & Kwok, Bit-chee & Tsou, Benjamin K. (eds.), Commemorative essays for Professor Yuen-Ren Chao: Father of modern Chinese linguistics, 193–201. Taipei: Crane.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Jin, Yaohua
    2016 Cong rencheng daici dao xuni biaoji—Shanghaihua “dongci chongdieshi + yi” de yufahua [From personal pronoun to subjunctive marker: On grammaticalization of the VV+[i] construction in Shanghai dialect]. Fangyan [Dialect] 2016(4). 420–424.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Kao, Grant
    2014 What makes a Mandarin complement clause subjunctive?InLam, Zoe & Weber, Natalie (eds.), Proceedings of Northwest Linguistics Conference 29 (University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics 38), 59–98. Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Kayne, Richard S.
    1975 French syntax: The transformational cycle. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. 1994 The antisymmetry of syntax (Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 25). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Klavans, Judith L.
    1985 The independence of syntax and phonology in cliticization. Language61(1). 95–120. 10.2307/413422
     https://doi.org/10.2307/413422 [Google Scholar]
  30. Kojima, Miyuki
    2006 Yu “geiyu” xiangguan de rencheng daici wuzhi yongfa [The non-referential uses of personal pronouns related to give]. (Paper presented at theIACL-14 & IsCLL-10, Taipei, 25–29 May 2006.)
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Ladusaw, William A.
    1980 Polarity sensitivity as inherent scope relations. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistic Club. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Laitinen, Lea
    2002 From logophoric pronoun to discourse particle: A case study of Finnish and Saami. InWischer, Ilse & Diewald, Gabriele (eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization (Typological Studies in Language 49), 327–344. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.49.21lai
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.49.21lai [Google Scholar]
  33. Li, Charles N. & Thompson, Sandra A.
    1981 Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Lin, Jo-wang
    1994 Object expletives, definitesness effect and scope interpretation. InGonzàlez, Mercè (ed.), NELS 24: Proceedings of North Eastern Linguistics Society, vol.11, 287–301. Amherst: GLSA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Lin, Jo-wang & Zhang, Niina Ning
    2006 The syntax of the non-referential TA ‘it’ in Mandarin Chinese. Language and Linguistics7(4). 799–824.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Lin, Huayong & Li, Minying
    2019 Cong Lianjiang fangyan kan Yueyu “keoi” zi chuzhiju [The Cantonese disposal construction with keoi: Evidence from the Lianjiang dialect]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2019(1). 89–101.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Lu, Louis Wei-lun & Su, Lily I-wen
    2009 Speech in interaction: Mandarin particle Le as a marker of intersubjectivity. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht14(1). 155–168.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Lü, Shuxiang
    1985 Jindai Hanyu zhidaici [Modern Chinese pronouns]. Shanghai: Academia Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Man, Patricia Yuk-Hing
    1998 Postverbal keoi as a marker for nonasserted bounded clauses. InMatthews, Stephen (ed.), Studies in Cantonese linguistics, 53–62. Hong Kong: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Matthews, Stephen & Yip, Virginia
    1994 Cantonese: A comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Obata, Masabumi
    1892 Huyu bian shang [The Shanghainese dialect guide for visiting traders]. Shanghai: Nihondō Shoten.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Pan, Victor Junnan
    2015 Mandarin peripheral construals at the syntax-discourse interface. The Linguistic Review32(4). 819–868. 10.1515/tlr‑2015‑0005
     https://doi.org/10.1515/tlr-2015-0005 [Google Scholar]
  43. Panzeri, Francesca
    2006 Subjunctive relative clauses. InDenis, Pascal & McCready, Eric & Palmer, Alexis & Reese, Brian J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 2004 Texas Linguistics Society Conference: Issues at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface, 60–68. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Portner, Paul
    2018 Mood. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Postal, Paul M.
    1969 On so-called “pronouns” in English. InReibel, David A. & Schane, Sanford A. (eds.), Modern studies in English: Readings in transformational grammar, 201–224. Hoboken: Prentice-Hall.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Postal, Paul M. & Pullum, Geoffrey K.
    1988 Expletive noun phrases in subcategorized positions. Linguistic Inquiry19(4). 635–670.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Qian, Nairong
    2004 Shanghai fangyan zhong de xuniju [On subjunctive sentence of the Shanghai dialect]. Fangyan [Dialect] 2004(2). 97–110.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Qiang, Xingna
    2011 Shanghaihua guoqu xuni biaoji “manhao”–jianlun Hanyu fangyan guoqu xuni biaoda de leixing [The past subjunctive mood marker manhao in the Shanghai dialect]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2011(2). 155–163.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Roberts, Ian & Roussou, Anna
    2003 Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 100). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511486326
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486326 [Google Scholar]
  50. Roberts, Ian
    2011 Head movement and the minimalist program. InBoeckx, Cedric (ed.), The Oxford handbook of linguistic minimalism, 195–219. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Su, Yu-Ying Julia
    2012 The syntax of functional projections in the vP periphery. Toronto: University of Toronto. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Sui, Na & Hu, Jianhua
    2016 Dongci chongdie de jufa [The syntax of verbal reduplication in Chinese]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 18(3). 317–338.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. 2019 Jumo zhuci “kan” de jufa he yuyi [The syntax and semantics of the tentative particle kan in Chinese: From the perspective of the new descriptivism]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 21(3). 350–363.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Sun, Chaofen
    1996 Word-order change and grammaticalization in the history of Chinese. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Tang, Sze-Wing
    2003 Hanyu fangyan yufa de canshu lilun [A parametric theory of Chinese dialectal grammar]. Beijing: Peking University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Travis, Lisa deMena
    1984 Parameters and effects of word order variation. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
     [Google Scholar]
  57. 2010 Inner aspect: The articulation of VP (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 80). Dordrecht: Springer. 10.1007/978‑90‑481‑8550‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8550-4 [Google Scholar]
  58. Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
    2015 On the topography of Chinese modals. InShlonsky, Ur (ed.), Beyond functional sequence (The Cartography of Syntactic Structures 10), 275–294. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190210588.003.0015
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190210588.003.0015 [Google Scholar]
  59. 2018 High applicatives are not high enough: A cartographic solution. Lingua Sinica41. 1–21. (Article no. 2.) 10.1186/s40655‑018‑0034‑y
     https://doi.org/10.1186/s40655-018-0034-y [Google Scholar]
  60. Uriagereka, Juan
    1995 Aspects of the syntax of clitic placement in Western Romance. Linguistic Inquiry26(1). 79–123.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. van Riemsdijk, Henk
    1999 Clitics: A state-of-the-art report. Invan Riemsdijk, Henk (ed.), Clitics in the languages of Europe, 1–30. Belin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110804010.1
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110804010.1 [Google Scholar]
  62. Wu, Xiu-Zhi Zoe
    2004 Grammaticalization and language change in Chinese: A formal view. New York: Routledge Curzon. 10.4324/9780203420645
     https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203420645 [Google Scholar]
  63. Wu, Yicheng & Matthews, Stephen
    2010 How different are expletive and referential pronouns? A parsing perspective. Lingua120(7). 1805–1820. 10.1016/j.lingua.2009.11.005
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2009.11.005 [Google Scholar]
  64. Xu, Dan
    1987 Ta non référentiel. Cahiers de Linguistique-Asie Orientale16(2). 259–276. 10.3406/clao.1987.1232
     https://doi.org/10.3406/clao.1987.1232 [Google Scholar]
  65. Xu, Liejiong
    1999 A special use of the third person singular pronoun. Cahiers de Linguistique-Asie Orientale28(1). 3–22. 10.3406/clao.1999.1542
     https://doi.org/10.3406/clao.1999.1542 [Google Scholar]
  66. Xu, Liejiong & Shao, Jingmin
    1998 Shanghai fangyan yufa yanjiu [Studies on Shanghainese grammar]. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Yeh, Jui-chuan
    2006 On the excessive construction in Mandarin Chinese. Concentric: Studies in Linguistics32(2). 93–118.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Yuan, Yulin
    2003 Wuzhi daici “ta” de jufa yuyi gongneng [The syntactic and semantic functions of the non-referential pronoun ta]. In Editorial Office of Zhongguo Yuwen (ed.), Yufa yanjiu he tansuo [Research & explorations in Chinese grammar], vol.121, 44–64. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Zhang, Niina Ning
    2005 Juggling singular and plural pronouns. Chiayi: National Chung Cheng University. (Manuscript.)
     [Google Scholar]
  70. 2007 A syntactic account of the direct object restriction in Chinese. Language Research43(1). 53–75.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. 2017 Unifying two general licensors of completive adverbials in syntax. Linguistics55(2). 371–411. 10.1515/ling‑2016‑0042
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2016-0042 [Google Scholar]
  72. Zhu, Dexi
    1982 Yufa jiangyi [Lectures on grammar]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  73. Zhu, Jialei
    . Forthcoming. Shanghaihua zhong “dongjieshi-tʰəʔ⁷” de jufa jiegou [The syntax of VR-tʰəʔ⁷ construction in Shanghainese]. (Accepted byYuyan Kexue [Linguistic Sciences].)
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Zwicky, Arnold M.
    1977 On clitics. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Zwicky, Arnold M. & Pullum, Geoffrey K.
    1983 Cliticization vs. inflection: English n’t. Language59(3). 502–513. 10.2307/413900
     https://doi.org/10.2307/413900 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu
Loading
A more special use of the third person singular pronoun in Shanghainese
Language and Linguistics 24, 391 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu
/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu
/content/journals/10.1075/lali.00135.zhu
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): clitic; expletive; grammaticalization; locality condition; mood/modal

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error