International Journal of Chinese Linguistics - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2014

This article discusses differential comparatives involving the adjective of quantity duo ‘many/much’ in Mandarin Chinese. We show that the obligatory construal of a post-adjectival duo-phrase as a differential phrase rather than a degree modifier is due to the interaction of four factors: (i) gradable adjectives denote measure functions rather than relations between degrees and individuals, (ii) post-adjectival duo-phrases are generalized quantifiers over degrees, (iii) the null positive degree morpheme is an independent functional head that takes AP as its complement and (iv) the null differential comparative morpheme is an affixal element adjoined to the adjective. In addition, this article also shows that the quantificational/attributive, predicative and differential duo can all be unified under the same semantics by analyzing duo as a function from degrees to sets of degrees, thus lending support to Solt’s (2014) analysis of adjectives of quantity.

Assuming the cartographic approach (Rizzi 1997, 2004; Cinque 1999), this study attempts to map four Chinese yes-no question markers onto the left periphery, including ke/shifou/A-not-A in Mandarin Chinese and kam in Taiwan Southern Min. It is found that while these four markers all represent yes-no questions, they are not exactly alike on syntactic grounds. The syntactic behavior of ke is particularly different in that it is not able to lead an embedded null-subject question whereas kam/shifou/A-not-A are able to. Also, ke in its own right cannot license the focus interpretation of its following NP or clause whereas kam/shifou/A-not-A (MEpi-not-MEpi) can. Given these differences, this study proposes a topography and attributes them to different projections of the question markers in the fine structure of split CPs, where ke is merged in Fin0 and raised to Int0 in LF, while kam/shifou/A-not-A(MEpi-not-MEpi) are merged in SpecFocP and raised to SpecIntP in LF. VP-not-VP forms, however, are not base-generated in CP, but within TP/IP. They are subsequently forced to raise to SpecIntP in LF to check the feature [+Q].

This paper is about how English inputs that are not allowed in the native Mandarin phonology are adapted to Mandarin phonotactics in Mandarin loanwords. The focus of the discussion is on whether or not the elements in the inputs are preserved or deleted and what causes the phenomena. Through analyses of English consonant adaptation in Mandarin loanwords, the functions of both borrowers’ perception and the native Mandarin phonology are consistently found. The high preservation of the nasal consonants in any syllabic position clearly shows the functions, in that the salient segments are usually preserved and the acceptance of nasal codas in Mandarin phonology makes Mandarin speakers easily perceive the nasal sounds even in the coda positions. Furthermore, English /m/ and /n/ in the final positions are usually differently adapted into Mandarin loanwords. English /m/ mostly forms an independent syllable by vowel insertion while /n/ is mostly adapted into the coda nasal of the preceding syllable (e.g., English loam → Mandarin lú-mǔ, English pint → Mandarin pǐn-tuō). This tendency is due to the function of Mandarin phonology, because a nasal /n/ is allowed as a coda consonant, but /m/ is not allowed. The high deletion of English /ɹ/ in the coda or in the consonant clusters also supports the argument. The English /ɹ/, except in the initial position, is not easily perceived due to its own vowel-like quality and the fact that it is a non-Mandarin phoneme. Lastly, the higher preservation of consonants in the initial clusters than in the final clusters also shows the close relationship between perception and Mandarin phonology. Even though Mandarin does not allow consonant clusters in any position, final consonant clusters should be harder for Mandarin speakers to perceive. The reason is that in Mandarin phonology, consonants usually do not come in the final positions while all the consonants except /ŋ/ can come in the initial positions. More frequent deletion of consonants in final CCC clusters than in CC clusters can be identically explained.

This study examines the pragmatic and discourse properties of Chinese existential-presentative constructions in written narrative discourse. It demonstrates how the constructions are used in real communicative context. Two sub-types are distinguished: existential constructions and presentative constructions, which differ in verb types, situation types, pragmatic functions, and topic chain patterns they contribute to in discourse organization. Existential constructions designate stative situations; they are topic-comment in nature. In narrative discourse, they actively participate in various types of background descriptions. Presentative constructions introduce new entities into discourse; they designate bounded dynamic events. Some presentative sentences play a foregrounding role by introducing thematically important participants into discourse.

Humor is a common and effective rhetoric strategy for conveying ideas. This paper examines scripts from Celebrity Imitation Show, a Taiwanese TV program, and investigates characteristics of humorous expressions via the Asymmetry Approach (Viana 2010). More specifically, we examined: (1) how humorous expressions are identified through humor criteria in the show; and, (2) how ridicule is integrated into humorous expressions to convey criticism toward political or social issues. Results indicate that asymmetrical attributes exist in humorous expressions, in which sarcasm and nonsense in the foreground script ridicule the targets in the background script. In this manner, linguistic absurdity attracts the audience by adding linguistic diversity to humorous expressions. Furthermore, shifting targets between two scripts is another strategy to satirize incidents. In sum, the asymmetrical attributes in scripts produce humor, while ironic effects can be elicited from counterfactual assumptions within.

It is widely believed that the order of morphosyntactic elements in Modern Chinese is to a large extent constrained by the Principle of Temporal Sequence (PTS) proposed by Tai (1985, 2002, 2007). However, there are indeed some constructions in this language apparently deviating from PTS, e.g. 蹲到 dūn-dào ‘squat-to; go to squat’, with the two elements reverse-chronological. In the present paper I provide instead a new diachronic perspective, in the framework of Linguistic Inventory Mightiness (LIM) developed recently by Liu (2011, 2012), to account for constructions of this kind. I argue that it is the diachronic extension of the directional resultative-verb-compound (DRVC) pattern, since it shows the property of LIM that motivates the emergence of reverse-chronological constructions. It is argued that the LIM approach can also explain other related diachronic changes in the history of Chinese, e.g. 摸进 mō-jìn ‘touch-enter; enter accompanied by action of touching’, with the first verb being an static action verb originally but now having a manner-of-motion meaning in the construction, as well as the constructions of 回到 huí-dào ‘return-to’ and 进来 jìn-lái ‘enter-come’ which do not exist before Pre-Modern Chinese but emerge to be in use thereafter. The approach proposed in the present paper favors a two-fold standpoint, i.e. the organization of linguistic structure on the one hand follows cognitive principles, but on the other impact and constrain related conceptual organization in discourse as well.