Asian Languages and Linguistics - Volume 2, Issue 2, 2021

Abstract

This article explores the issue of temporality and projectability regarding the production of enactments – stretches of talk designed as there-and-then verbal and/or non-verbal behaviors – in Japanese conversations. As word order is a practice that interactants employ for projecting the shape of an upcoming turn, the predicate-final structure of Japanese leads to “delayed projectability” (Fox, Hayashi & Jasperson 1996; Tanaka 1999, 2000). Japanese enactments are no exception. In English, “she said” is prototypically produced before enactment and projects a forthcoming utterance as enactment (Lerner & Takagi 1999; Schegloff 1987). In Japanese, however, syntactic markings of enactment appear after enactment and thus retrospectively indicate preceding enactment. Despite the syntactically delayed projectability, the Japanese interactants rarely exhibit difficulty in comprehending enactments. This article demonstrates that the projection of Japanese enactment is assisted by various linguistic and/or non-linguistic resources accumulated in preparation for the launch of enactment and deployed within the design of enactment.

Abstract

By combining the idea of property concepts and the kernel-based theory of subjectivity, this paper proposes an analysis of the otherwise mysterious behavior of the Mandarin “you” predicates, where subjectivity/evidentiality and possessive/attributive readings come and go in an intricate way. The paper presents a phenomenon of Mandarin called possessive Property Concept predicates, involving a possessive morpheme you “have” and a bare NP. Studying the subjectivity puzzle in Chinese advances our understanding of information source and information force in the following way. The Chinese fact, as a separate element, is part of the bigger picture about subjectivity. To explain how the subjectivity predicate as a natural class connects with evidentiality, this paper provides an approach to probe subjectivity through examining the information source change, which is derived from removing or adding evidential morpheme(s).

Abstract

This paper delineates an alternative analysis of the property concepts of ū ‘have’ in Taiwan Southern Min, claiming that the complements serve syntactically as the nominal gradabilities through three syntactic (constituency) tests, and supported by a crosslinguistic perspective. Additionally, in the vein of Distributed Morphology, the gradability functions as an nP (also as a nominalization), in contrast with NP/DP. From a typological perspective, it is not peculiar for ū to select a nominalization of property concept to signal a reading of property-denoting. Moreover, I illustrate the semantics of a possessive property concept construction in Taiwan Southern Min, according to Francez and Koontz-Garboden (2015, 2017). I further propose a modal aspectual semantics to interpret the various temporal readings of ū. Finally, I draw a conclusion to my alternative analyses.

Abstract

The research question posed in this article is whether the Altaic theory is possible, if it is discussed on the basis of chosen negative forms in Mongolian, Turkish, Manchu and its Sibe dialect. The supporters of the Altaic theory assume that these languages (and some include Japanese, Korean and Ainu to this list (Miller, 1967)) emerged from the same root. The opponents of this theory think that the similarities in these languages have resulted from historical contacts between their speakers (Doerfer, 1966, p. 122). This article consists of the analysis of negative forms in various stages of Mongolian, Manchu and Turkish languages carried out on the basis of literary monuments and contemporary resources. The conclusions concerning the possibility of the Altaic theory based on the described negative forms have been presented at the end, accompanied by the Index of negative particles and suffixes.

Abstract

Being different from previous researches which explore the possible multiple modal patterns in Mandarin Chinese basically with invented examples, this study examines the attested patterns of successive use of modals facilitated by two large Chinese corpora (Corpus of Center for Chinese Linguistics Peking University or CCL, and Beijing Language and Culture University Corpus Center or BCC) and the reasons underlying these patterns. The data reveal that combinations of Chinese modals of different types comply with the proximity to the predicate verb of the proposition. The exact sequential order is demonstrated as follows: dynamic modality precedes the predicate verb; deontic modality precedes dynamic modality; and epistemic modality precedes deontic and dynamic modalities. In addition, different modal auxiliaries of the same type also co-occur in a special sequence. From the perspective of subjectivity and objectivity, we argue that the underlying principle of this ordering is that the more subjective a modal auxiliary is, the more distant it will be from the predicate verb of the proposition and vice versa. For successive patterns of different modal auxiliaries within the same type, the concept of gradability is employed. Although modal auxiliaries of the same type might occur at the same distance to the predicate verb of the proposition, they could characterize different degrees of gradabilities. Modals with higher degree of gradability could precede those with lower degrees, whereas those with the same degree of gradability are capable of the successive co-occurrence in either way.

This article reviews Syntax Phonology Interface: Argumentation from Tone Sandhi in Chinese Dialects97811389348189781317389019