Semantics of Chinese Questions

Semantics of Chinese Questions

Author: Hongyuan Dong

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-17

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1351021567

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Semantics of Chinese Questions is the first major study of Chinese questions, especially wh-questions, within the framework of Alternative Semantics. It takes an interface approach to study the syntax, semantics, and phonology of questions and proposes a phonological scope-marking strategy in Chinese questions, based upon experimental data. It also incorporates historical linguistic data regarding the grammaticalization of sentence-final particles such as –ne and –ma to study the formal diachronic semantics of questions. Primarily suitable for scholars in the field of Chinese linguistics, this book makes new theoretical contributions to the study of questions.


Book Synopsis Semantics of Chinese Questions by : Hongyuan Dong

Download or read book Semantics of Chinese Questions written by Hongyuan Dong and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-17 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Semantics of Chinese Questions is the first major study of Chinese questions, especially wh-questions, within the framework of Alternative Semantics. It takes an interface approach to study the syntax, semantics, and phonology of questions and proposes a phonological scope-marking strategy in Chinese questions, based upon experimental data. It also incorporates historical linguistic data regarding the grammaticalization of sentence-final particles such as –ne and –ma to study the formal diachronic semantics of questions. Primarily suitable for scholars in the field of Chinese linguistics, this book makes new theoretical contributions to the study of questions.


Issues In The Semantics Of Mandarin Questions

Issues In The Semantics Of Mandarin Questions

Author: Hongyuan Dong

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation strives to explain certain long-standing issues in Mandarin questions within a new framework, i.e. the Alternative Semantics theory, and also to bring in hitherto unnoticed new data. Part I of the dissertation examines argument wh-questions. Starting from Tsai's (1999) Lexical Courtesy Hypothesis, according to which wh-movement in general should be avoided if possible, I present an analysis of Mandarin wh-in-situ within the framework of Alternative Semantics (Rooth 1985, Shimoyama 2001) which does not resort to LF movement or unselective binding. Furthermore I propose that the scope marking of questions in this theory is achieved by focus intonation. Experimental phonetic data are provided to support this important new claim. I also apply this new theory to polarity, A-not-A and alternative questions in Mandarin, showing that they are formed by syntactic specification of a set of alternatives on different levels respectively. The Alternative Semantics analysis is further extended to wh-existential and wh-universal constructions. I show that existential closure can be applied either locally or non-locally as a consequence of the compositional semantics in the wh-existential constructions. In the universal construction "mei...dou" ("every...all"), the long-standing problem of double-distributivity is accounted for by universal concord in the sense of Kratzer (2006) Part II examines "how" and "why" questions using event semantics. Data from Mandarin show that there is an event singularity presupposition in manner "how" and causal "why" questions, and this presupposition leads to a singleton set when the true answers are considered. This explains such cross-linguistic puzzles as the distribution of the exhaustivity marker "all" in wh-questions and the lack of quantificational variability effect in embedded manner and causal questions. I also propose an analysis of verbal "how" questions in Mandarin (e.g. Yuehan zenme-le Mali? literally "John how-ed Mary?"). The verbal "how" is treated as a ditransitive verbal variable in the lexicon, and it can account for the three special constraints on the use of such verbal "how" questions, i.e. the malefactivity reading, incompatibility with negation, and lack of a ditransitive use. I also propose a new typology of wh-questions based on the parameters of the interpretational variability of wh-pronouns and scope marking strategies.


Book Synopsis Issues In The Semantics Of Mandarin Questions by : Hongyuan Dong

Download or read book Issues In The Semantics Of Mandarin Questions written by Hongyuan Dong and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation strives to explain certain long-standing issues in Mandarin questions within a new framework, i.e. the Alternative Semantics theory, and also to bring in hitherto unnoticed new data. Part I of the dissertation examines argument wh-questions. Starting from Tsai's (1999) Lexical Courtesy Hypothesis, according to which wh-movement in general should be avoided if possible, I present an analysis of Mandarin wh-in-situ within the framework of Alternative Semantics (Rooth 1985, Shimoyama 2001) which does not resort to LF movement or unselective binding. Furthermore I propose that the scope marking of questions in this theory is achieved by focus intonation. Experimental phonetic data are provided to support this important new claim. I also apply this new theory to polarity, A-not-A and alternative questions in Mandarin, showing that they are formed by syntactic specification of a set of alternatives on different levels respectively. The Alternative Semantics analysis is further extended to wh-existential and wh-universal constructions. I show that existential closure can be applied either locally or non-locally as a consequence of the compositional semantics in the wh-existential constructions. In the universal construction "mei...dou" ("every...all"), the long-standing problem of double-distributivity is accounted for by universal concord in the sense of Kratzer (2006) Part II examines "how" and "why" questions using event semantics. Data from Mandarin show that there is an event singularity presupposition in manner "how" and causal "why" questions, and this presupposition leads to a singleton set when the true answers are considered. This explains such cross-linguistic puzzles as the distribution of the exhaustivity marker "all" in wh-questions and the lack of quantificational variability effect in embedded manner and causal questions. I also propose an analysis of verbal "how" questions in Mandarin (e.g. Yuehan zenme-le Mali? literally "John how-ed Mary?"). The verbal "how" is treated as a ditransitive verbal variable in the lexicon, and it can account for the three special constraints on the use of such verbal "how" questions, i.e. the malefactivity reading, incompatibility with negation, and lack of a ditransitive use. I also propose a new typology of wh-questions based on the parameters of the interpretational variability of wh-pronouns and scope marking strategies.


Prominence and Locality in Grammar

Prominence and Locality in Grammar

Author: Jianhua Hu

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-06-06

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1000008665

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This book challenges the current consensus on the analysis of wh-questions and reflexives from the perspective of the syntax-semantics interface. An integrated approach incorporating analyses of the interaction between different levels of linguistic knowledge is proposed. It argues that the derivation and interpretation of wh-questions and reflexives are not purely syntactic in nature but are regulated by principles operating at the syntax-semantics interface. Two general principles underlying our knowledge of language and cognition are proposed in this work. One is the Principle of Locality, and the other is the Principle of Prominence. It shows that although wh-quantification and reflexivization belong to two different domains of study in generative grammar, their derivation and interpretation are basically constrained by the complex interaction between prominence and locality in grammar. The first part of the book discusses how wh-questions are formed and interpreted in Chinese and English and shows that the formation and interpretation of wh-questions are constrained by the interaction between prominence and locality. It is shown that in wh-interpretation prominence is used to define the set generators so as to licence other wh-words in the pair-list reading in multiple wh-questions. It also discusses wh-island effects in English and Chinese, and unlike previous claims made in the literature (cf. Huang 1982a, 1982b), it argues that the so-called wh-island effects in English are also observed in Chinese. The second part of the book investigates the role that prominence and locality play in reflexive binding. It is shown that in reflexive binding, the binding domain of the reflexive is defined by prominence. It proposes a unified account for both the noncontrastive compound reflexive and the bare reflexive in Chinese and shows that they are constrained by the same reflexive binding condition proposed in this work, though they employ different definitions of the most prominent NPs to determine their binding domains. Prominence and Locality in Grammar: The Syntax and Semantics of Wh-Quesitons and Reflexives is an important theoretical contribution to the syntax-semantics interface studies and can serve as a valuable text for graduate students and scholars in the field of Chinese, linguistics, and cognitive science.


Book Synopsis Prominence and Locality in Grammar by : Jianhua Hu

Download or read book Prominence and Locality in Grammar written by Jianhua Hu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-06 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges the current consensus on the analysis of wh-questions and reflexives from the perspective of the syntax-semantics interface. An integrated approach incorporating analyses of the interaction between different levels of linguistic knowledge is proposed. It argues that the derivation and interpretation of wh-questions and reflexives are not purely syntactic in nature but are regulated by principles operating at the syntax-semantics interface. Two general principles underlying our knowledge of language and cognition are proposed in this work. One is the Principle of Locality, and the other is the Principle of Prominence. It shows that although wh-quantification and reflexivization belong to two different domains of study in generative grammar, their derivation and interpretation are basically constrained by the complex interaction between prominence and locality in grammar. The first part of the book discusses how wh-questions are formed and interpreted in Chinese and English and shows that the formation and interpretation of wh-questions are constrained by the interaction between prominence and locality. It is shown that in wh-interpretation prominence is used to define the set generators so as to licence other wh-words in the pair-list reading in multiple wh-questions. It also discusses wh-island effects in English and Chinese, and unlike previous claims made in the literature (cf. Huang 1982a, 1982b), it argues that the so-called wh-island effects in English are also observed in Chinese. The second part of the book investigates the role that prominence and locality play in reflexive binding. It is shown that in reflexive binding, the binding domain of the reflexive is defined by prominence. It proposes a unified account for both the noncontrastive compound reflexive and the bare reflexive in Chinese and shows that they are constrained by the same reflexive binding condition proposed in this work, though they employ different definitions of the most prominent NPs to determine their binding domains. Prominence and Locality in Grammar: The Syntax and Semantics of Wh-Quesitons and Reflexives is an important theoretical contribution to the syntax-semantics interface studies and can serve as a valuable text for graduate students and scholars in the field of Chinese, linguistics, and cognitive science.


Patient-Subject Constructions in Mandarin Chinese

Patient-Subject Constructions in Mandarin Chinese

Author: Xiaoling He

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2019-06-15

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9027262349

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As a distinctive syntactic structure in Mandarin Chinese, the Patient-Subject Construction (PSC) is one of the most interesting but least well-understood structures in the language. This book offers a comprehensive account of the history, structure, meaning and use of the PSC. Unlike previous descriptions which were framed in terms of pre-existing grammatical notions such as ‘topicalization’, ‘passivization’ and ‘ergativization’, this book offers a fresh look at the PSC, in which its syntactic and semantic as well as its discourse functions are examined within the system of major construction-types of the language as a whole. The PSC, being low in transitivity, serves primarily the function of backgrounding in discourse. Typologically, the PSC bears a resemblance to middle constructions in Indo-European and other languages, raising interesting questions about ways to understand congruent and divergent syntactic structures across the world’s languages. This book will be of interest to students of Chinese Linguistics as well as Language Typology.


Book Synopsis Patient-Subject Constructions in Mandarin Chinese by : Xiaoling He

Download or read book Patient-Subject Constructions in Mandarin Chinese written by Xiaoling He and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2019-06-15 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a distinctive syntactic structure in Mandarin Chinese, the Patient-Subject Construction (PSC) is one of the most interesting but least well-understood structures in the language. This book offers a comprehensive account of the history, structure, meaning and use of the PSC. Unlike previous descriptions which were framed in terms of pre-existing grammatical notions such as ‘topicalization’, ‘passivization’ and ‘ergativization’, this book offers a fresh look at the PSC, in which its syntactic and semantic as well as its discourse functions are examined within the system of major construction-types of the language as a whole. The PSC, being low in transitivity, serves primarily the function of backgrounding in discourse. Typologically, the PSC bears a resemblance to middle constructions in Indo-European and other languages, raising interesting questions about ways to understand congruent and divergent syntactic structures across the world’s languages. This book will be of interest to students of Chinese Linguistics as well as Language Typology.


Chinese Lexical Semantics

Chinese Lexical Semantics

Author: Meichun Liu

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-07-25

Total Pages: 913

ISBN-13: 3030811972

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This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 21st Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2020, held in Hong Kong, China in May 2020.Due to COVID-19, the conference was held virtually. The 76 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 233 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: Lexical semantics and general linguistics, AI, Big Data, and NLP, Cognitive Science and experimental studies.


Book Synopsis Chinese Lexical Semantics by : Meichun Liu

Download or read book Chinese Lexical Semantics written by Meichun Liu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-07-25 with total page 913 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 21st Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2020, held in Hong Kong, China in May 2020.Due to COVID-19, the conference was held virtually. The 76 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 233 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: Lexical semantics and general linguistics, AI, Big Data, and NLP, Cognitive Science and experimental studies.


Chinese Lexical Semantics

Chinese Lexical Semantics

Author: Jia-Fei Hong

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-01-03

Total Pages: 873

ISBN-13: 3030381897

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This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019, held in Chiayi, Taiwan, in June 2019. The 39 full papers and 46 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 254 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: lexical semantics; applications of natural language processing; lexical resources; corpus linguistics.


Book Synopsis Chinese Lexical Semantics by : Jia-Fei Hong

Download or read book Chinese Lexical Semantics written by Jia-Fei Hong and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-03 with total page 873 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 20th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2019, held in Chiayi, Taiwan, in June 2019. The 39 full papers and 46 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 254 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: lexical semantics; applications of natural language processing; lexical resources; corpus linguistics.


Varieties of Alternatives

Varieties of Alternatives

Author: Mingming Liu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-10-17

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 9811062080

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This book concerns two focus particles (jiu, dou) and wh-expressions (shenme = ‘what’, na geren = ‘which person’) in Mandarin Chinese. These items are systematically ‘ambiguous’ and have played important roles in various aspects of Mandarin grammar. An idea based on alternatives and varieties of alternatives in particular – following Chierchia’s 2013 analysis of the polarity system – is pursued to account for the systematic ambiguities. The unambiguous semantics of jiu, dou and wh-expressions are maintained and ‘ambiguity’ explained through varieties of alternatives interacting with other independently motivated aspects of the structure they occur in. By examining these aspects in detail, the book will help readers gain a better understanding of a broad range of phenomena that involve these items – including exhaustivity, distributivity, questions and conditionals.


Book Synopsis Varieties of Alternatives by : Mingming Liu

Download or read book Varieties of Alternatives written by Mingming Liu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book concerns two focus particles (jiu, dou) and wh-expressions (shenme = ‘what’, na geren = ‘which person’) in Mandarin Chinese. These items are systematically ‘ambiguous’ and have played important roles in various aspects of Mandarin grammar. An idea based on alternatives and varieties of alternatives in particular – following Chierchia’s 2013 analysis of the polarity system – is pursued to account for the systematic ambiguities. The unambiguous semantics of jiu, dou and wh-expressions are maintained and ‘ambiguity’ explained through varieties of alternatives interacting with other independently motivated aspects of the structure they occur in. By examining these aspects in detail, the book will help readers gain a better understanding of a broad range of phenomena that involve these items – including exhaustivity, distributivity, questions and conditionals.


Chinese Lexical Semantics

Chinese Lexical Semantics

Author: Minghui Dong

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-23

Total Pages: 785

ISBN-13: 3319495089

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This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 17th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2016, held in Singapore, Singapore, in May 2016. The 70 regular papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 182 submissions. They are organized in topical sections named: lexicon and morphology, the syntax-semantics interface, corpus and resource, natural language processing, case study of lexical semantics, extended study and application.


Book Synopsis Chinese Lexical Semantics by : Minghui Dong

Download or read book Chinese Lexical Semantics written by Minghui Dong and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-23 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 17th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2016, held in Singapore, Singapore, in May 2016. The 70 regular papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 182 submissions. They are organized in topical sections named: lexicon and morphology, the syntax-semantics interface, corpus and resource, natural language processing, case study of lexical semantics, extended study and application.


Chinese Lexical Semantics

Chinese Lexical Semantics

Author: Qi Su

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-04-24

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 3031289536

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The two-volume set LNAI 13495 and LNAI 13496, constitute the refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 23rd Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2022, held as a virtual event, during May 14-15, 2022. In total the two-volume set includes 39 full papers and 19 short papers which were carefully reviewed and selected from 214 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: lexical semantics; corpus linguistics; general linguistics, lexical resources; computational linguistics, applications of natural language processing.


Book Synopsis Chinese Lexical Semantics by : Qi Su

Download or read book Chinese Lexical Semantics written by Qi Su and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-04-24 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two-volume set LNAI 13495 and LNAI 13496, constitute the refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 23rd Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2022, held as a virtual event, during May 14-15, 2022. In total the two-volume set includes 39 full papers and 19 short papers which were carefully reviewed and selected from 214 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: lexical semantics; corpus linguistics; general linguistics, lexical resources; computational linguistics, applications of natural language processing.


Chinese Lexical Semantics

Chinese Lexical Semantics

Author: Jia-Fei Hong

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-11-25

Total Pages: 820

ISBN-13: 3030040151

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This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 19th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2018, held in Chiayi, Taiwan, in May 2018. The 50 full papers and 19 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 150 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: Lexical Semantics; Applications of Natural Language Processing; Lexical Resources; Corpus Linguistics.


Book Synopsis Chinese Lexical Semantics by : Jia-Fei Hong

Download or read book Chinese Lexical Semantics written by Jia-Fei Hong and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-25 with total page 820 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 19th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2018, held in Chiayi, Taiwan, in May 2018. The 50 full papers and 19 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 150 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: Lexical Semantics; Applications of Natural Language Processing; Lexical Resources; Corpus Linguistics.