Vol. 45:1 (2019) ► pp.24–43
On maximality in Mandarin possessives
The possessive construction in Mandarin is similar to English prenominal possessives except that maximality is presupposed only for cases involving inherently relational nouns. In this paper, I adopt the hypothesized split of argument and modifier genitives proposed by Partee & Borschev (2001, 2003) and argue that modifier-genitives can occur NP-internally in Mandarin possessives, whose appearance is restricted to cases with non-relational nouns. The discrepancy of the maximality presupposition observed in Mandarin can thus be captured since non-relational nouns can have a split of interpretations between argument and modifier genitives, resulting in a non-maximality reading.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Data and problems
- 3.The assumptions
- 4.The semantic analysis
- 4.1The semantics of high-possessor possessives
- 4.2Prenominal relative clauses
- 4.3Predicate possessives
- 4.4Comparison with English
- 5.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Notes
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References
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https://doi.org/10.1075/consl.00002.wan