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Article published In:
Chinese Language and Discourse
Vol. 12:2 (2021) ► pp.181–214

Indefinite subjects in Mandarin Chinese

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| University of Arizona

Indefinite subjects in Mandarin Chinese are dis-preferred or restricted according to previous studies although they do exist in natural data. In this study we examine two issues: when they are used and why they are used. The first issue is best answered by looking at the information status of indefinite subjects. We adopt the framework of givenness and newness developed by Prince (1992) and revised by Birner’s (2004, 2006). We find that although indefinite subjects are new most of the time, most of them also carry some old information; the given-before-new principle is satisfied. For the second issue, we examine topic continuity of indefinite subjects in discourse. We find that they perform a discourse function different from that of the post-verbal NPs in existential sentences. Most of the time their referents are non-persistent, and they are not discourse topics, unlike post-verbal NPs in existential sentences.

Keywords: indefinite, subject, information status, topic continuity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Information status
    • 2.1Inferrables
    • 2.2Brand-new
    • 2.3Modifiers
  • 3.Corpus study
    • 3.1Types of indefinite subjects
      • 3.1.1Identity inferrables
      • 3.1.2Elaborating inferrable
      • 3.1.3Bridging inferrable
      • 3.1.4Anchored brand-new
      • 3.1.5Unanchored brand-new
    • 3.2Frequency of modifiers
  • 4.Indefinites in SVO and the yǒu construction
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Two issues
    • 5.2Indefinites in non-canonical positions
    • 5.3Persistence and word order
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.20024.nie
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