Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 1:2 (2014) ► pp.192–213

Left periphery and Chinese yes-no questions

| National Taipei University of Business

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].

Keywords: yes-no question, topography, focus, left periphery, cartographic approach
Published online: 22 December 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.1.2.02hua
References
Adger, M., & Quer, J
(2001) The syntax and semantics of unselected embedded questions. Language, 77(1), 107–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheng, L.L.-S., Huang, C.-T.J, & Tang, C.-C.J
(1996) Negative particle questions: A dialectal comparison. In J.R. Black & V. Motapanyane (Eds.), Microparametric syntax and dialect variation (pp. 41–78). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N
(1981) Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
(1986) Knowledge of language: Its nature, origin, and use. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Cinque, G
(1999) Adverbs and functional heads. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ernst, T
(1994) Conditions on Chinese A-not-A questions. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 31, 241–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fu, J
(1994) SOV word order in Chinese and IP specifier. Paper presented at the 6th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. Los Angeles: University of Southern California.
Haegeman, L
(1994) Introduction to government and binding. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
He, Y
(2011) Xiandai Hanyu shengcheng yufa [A generative grammar of Mandarin Chinese]. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T.J
(1982) Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). MIT, Cambridge.
(1991) Modularity and Chinese A-not-A questions. In C. Georgopoulos & R. Ishihara (Eds.), Interdisciplinary approaches to language: Essays in honor of S.-Y. Kuroda (pp. 305–332). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kayne, R.S
(1991) Romance clitics, verb movement, and PRO. Linguistic Inquiry, 22(4), 647–686.Google Scholar
Lau, S
(2010) Syntax of kam questions in Taiwanese (Unpublished master thesis). National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.Google Scholar
Law, P
(2006) Adverbs in A-not-A questions in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 151, 97–136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, H
(2005) On Chinese focus and cleft constructions (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu.
Lin, T.J
(2011) Finiteness of clauses and raising of arguments in Mandarin Chinese. Syntax, 14(1), 48–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montague, R
(1970) Universal grammar. Theoria, 361, 373–398. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paul, W
(2002) Sentence-internal topics in Mandarin Chinese: The case of object preposing. Language and Linguistics, 3(4), 695–714.Google Scholar
Rizzi, L
(1997) The fine structure of the left periphery. In L. Haegeman (Ed.), Elements of grammar: Handbook in generative syntax (pp. 281–337). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004) Locality and left periphery. In A. Belletti (Ed.), Structures and beyond (pp. 223–251). Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Simpson, A., & Wu, Z
(2002) IP-raising, tone sandhi and the creation of S-final particles: Evidence for cyclic Spell-Out. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 11(1), 67–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tang, C.-C.J
(2001) Functional projections and adverbial expressions in Chinese. Language and Linguistics, 2(2), 203–241.Google Scholar
Tang, T.-C
(1988) Hanyu cifa jufa lunji [Studies on Chinese morphology and syntax]. Taipei: Student Book Co.Google Scholar
(1999) Hanyu de zhengfan wenju: Beijingyu yu Minnanyu de bijiao fenxi [A-not-A questions in Mandarin Chinese: A comparative analysis between Beijing Mandarin and Southern Min]. In Y. Yin, I. Yang, & H. Chan (Eds.), Chinese languages and linguistics, V, Interactions in language (pp. 27–71).Taipei: The Institute of History and Philosophy, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
(2000) Hanyu de xianding ziju yu feixianding ziju [Finite and nonfinite clauses in Chinese]. Language and Linguistics, 1(1), 191–214.Google Scholar
Tsai, W.D
(1994) On economizing the theory of A-bar dependencies (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). MIT, Cambridge.
(1999) On lexical courtesy. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 8(1), 39–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) Left periphery and how-why alternations. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 17(2), 83–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) Tan Hanyu motaici de fenbu yu quanshi zhi duiying guanxi [On the syntax-semantics correspondences of Chinese modals]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language], 2010(3), 208–221.Google Scholar
Wang, P., & Lien, C
(2001) A-not-A questions in Taiwanese Southern Min. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 29(2), 351–376.Google Scholar
Wei, P
(2007) Cong foudingci dao yiwen zhuci [From negators to question particles]. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics, 1(2), 23–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010)  Shifou-V(N)P jushi de youlai [The history of the interrogative structure shifou-V(N)P]. Language and Linguistics, 11(2), 335–392.Google Scholar
Zhang, M
(1990) A typological study of yes-no questions in Chinese dialects: A diachronic perspective (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Peking University, Beijing.
Zhang, N.N
(1997) Syntactic dependencies in Mandarin Chinese (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Toronto, Toronto.
Zhang, Z
(1997) Focus, presupposition and the formation of A-not-A questions in Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 25(2), 227–257.Google Scholar
Zhu, D
(1991) V-neg-VO yu VO-neg-V liang-zhong fanfu wenju zai Hanyu fangyan-li de fenbu [The distribution of V-neg-VO and VO-neg-V questions in Chinese dialects]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language], 19911, 321–332.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Jin, Dawei
2022. The intervention effect in suzhounese polar questions. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 58:4 ► pp. 775 ff. DOI logo
Shyu, Shu-ing & Lio̍k-san N̂g
2022. Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min. In New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 272], ► pp. 479 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.