Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 2:2 (2015) ► pp.227–272

Bi-clausal sluicing approach to dislocation copying in Cantonese

 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
This article discusses a variant of Cantonese dislocation structures known as “dislocation copying” wherein a (non-)constituent string of the host clause gets copied at the right edge. Unlike some previous proposals, it is argued that the relationship between the host clause and the dislocated string cannot be explained purely on pragmatic grounds. Rather, a syntactic account is necessary to explain the dislocated string’s sensitivity to structure. Adopting bi-clausal analysis, we propose that dislocation copying involves the fronting of a remnant containing an elided XP to the left periphery of the second clause, followed by the sluicing of the remainder of the clause. It is argued that the dislocation string gives rise to contrastive/emphasis interpretation. We have also compared similar dislocations in Dutch, German, Japanese and Korean with Cantonese. The findings suggest that sluicing in a bi-clausal structure is common to all of these dislocation structures. The typological variation arises mainly from the different types of phrasal fronting that feed sluicing.
Keywords: Cantonese, fragment, parallel structure, ellipsis, sluicing, dislocation
Published online: 31 December 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.2.2.03che
References (52)
Abe, J. (1999). On directionality of movement: A case of Japanese right dislocation. ms., Nagoya University.
Barton, E. (2006). Toward a nonsentential analysis in generative grammar. In L. Progovac, K. Paesani, E. Casielles, & E. Barton (Eds.), The syntax of nonsententials: Multidisciplinary perspectives (p. 11–31). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chao, Y.-R. (1968). A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cheung, Y.-L.L. (2005). Syntax and semantics of dislocation focus construction in Cantonese. MA thesis, UCLA.Google Scholar
. (2008). Obligatory XP-raising in Chinese. In S. Clarke, M. Hirayama, K. Kim, & E. Suh (Eds.), Toronto working papers in linguistics 28 (Proceedings of the International Conference on East Asian Linguistics), pp. 15–28.Google Scholar
. (2009). Dislocation focus construction in Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 18(3), 197–232. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2011). The syntactic manifestation of the nuclear stress rule in Cantonese. Proceedings of the 28th WCCFL 2010 .
Chomsky, N. (1971). Deep structure, surface structure and semantic interpretation. In D. Steinberg & L. Jakobovits (Eds.), Semantics: An interdisciplinary reader In Philosophy, Linguistics and Psychology (pp. 183–216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chung, D. (2009). An elliptical coordination analysis of the right dislocated construction in Korean. The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal, 17(4), 1–23.Google Scholar
Clark, H.H. (2004). Pragmatics of language performance. In L.R. Horn & G. Ward (Eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics (pp. 365–382). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ferreira, F., & Bailey, K. (2004). Disfluencies and human language comprehension. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(5), 231–237. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ford, C.A., Fox, B.A., & Thompson, S.A. (2002). Constituency and the grammar of turn increments. In C.A. Ford, B.A. Ford, & S.A. Thompson (Eds.), Language of turn sequence. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hsieh, F.-F., & Sybesma, R. (2008). Generative syntax and sentence-final particles in Chinese. In Y. Shen & S.-L. Feng (Eds.), Contemporary linguistic theories and related studies on Chinese (pp. 364–374). Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T.J. (1999). Chinese passives in comparative perspective. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 291, 423–509.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T.J., & Ochi, M. (2004). Syntax of the hell: Two types of dependencies. In K. Moulton & M. Wolf (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Conference of the North Eastern Linguistic Society (NELS) (pp. 279–293). Amherst: UMASS GLSA.Google Scholar
Ko, H. (2014). Remarks on Right Dislocation Construction in Korean: Challenges to bi-clausal analyses. Language Research, 501, 275–309.Google Scholar
Law, A. (2003). Right dislocation in Cantonese as a focus-marking device. In A. Neeleman & R. Vermeulen (Eds.), University College London Working Papers in Linguistics 15 (pp. 243–275).Google Scholar
Lee, W.-S. (2009). The role of case-marked noun phrases in clause structure building. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Li, H.-J.G. (2002). Ellipsis constructions in Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Lu, J.-M. (1980). Hanyu kouyu jufa li de yiwei xianxiang. [Dislocation in the syntax of colloquial Mandarin Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen, 11, 28–41.Google Scholar
Luke, K.-K. (2004). Shuo “yanshen ju” [On extension sentences]. In Collection of papers in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Zhongguo Yuwen (pp. 39–48). Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Matthews, S., & Yip, V. (2013). Cantonese: A comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meng, C. (1982). Kouyu li de yi zhong chongfu—jian tan “yiwei” [A kind of repetition in speech and “dislocation”]. Zhongguo Yuwen, (3), 174–178, 204.Google Scholar
Merchant, J. (2001). The syntax of silence: Sluicing, islands, and the theory of ellipsis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
. (2004). Fragments and ellipsis. Linguistics and Philosophy, 27(6), 661–738. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2013). Diagnosing ellipsis. In L.L.-S. Cheng & N. Corver (Eds.), Diagnosing syntax (pp. 537–542). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morgan, J. (1973). Sentence fragments and the notion “sentence”. In B. Kachru, R. Lees, Y. Malkiel, A. Pietrangeli, & S. Saporta (Eds.), Issues in linguistics: Papers in honor of Henry and Renée Kahane (pp. 719–751). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Nakagawa, N., Asao, Y., & Nagaya, N. (2008). Information structure and intonation of right-dislocation sentences in Japanese. Kyoto University Linguistic Research, 271, 1–22.Google Scholar
Ott, D., & de Vries, M. (To appear). Right-dislocation as deletion. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory.
. (2012). Thinking in the right direction: An ellipsis analysis of right-dislocation. Linguistics in the Netherlands, 29(1), 123–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Packard, J., & Shi, Z.-Q. (1986). The grammaticalization of a ‘post-sentential’ slot in colloquial Peking Mandarin. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics , Ohio State University.
Park, M.-K., & Kim, S.-W. (2009). The syntax of afterthoughts in Korean: Move and delete. The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal, 171, 25–53.Google Scholar
Progovac, L. (1994). Negative and positive polarity: A binding approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reinhart, T. (1995). Interface strategies. UiL OTS Working Papers of Theoretical Linguistics 95-002 . Utrecht Institute of Linguistics.
Shi, Y.-W. (1992). Yizhong kouyu jizi moshi zai tantao—daozhuang, yiwei, chongfu, zhuibu heyi [Revisiting a kind of sentential pattern in speech—a study of inversion, dislocation, repetition and afterthought] (pp. 167–178). Fuhuan rouxing—Hanyu yufa tanyi . Hainan chubanshe.
Shriberg, E. (1996). Disfluencies in Switchboard. Proceedings of International Conference on Spoken Language Processing , Vol. 961, (Addendum, pp. 11–14). Philadelphia.
Simpson, A. (2014). Sentence‐final particles. In C.-T.J. Huang, Y.-H.A. Li, & A. Simpson (Eds.), The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 156–179). John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simpson, A., & Wu, Z. (2002). IP-raising, tone sandhi and the creation of sentence-final particles. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 111, 67–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stainton, R. (2006). Neither fragments nor ellipsis. In L. Progovac, K. Paesani, E. Casielles, & E. Barton, (Eds.), The syntax of nonsententials: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 93–116). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Takami, K.-I. (1995). Kinoteki Kobunron ni yoru Nitieigo Hikaku. [Comparison of English and Japanese within the framework of Functional Constructionism]. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar
Takita, K. (2011). Argument ellipsis in Japanese right dislocation. In W. McClure & M. den Dikken (Eds.), Japanese/Korean Linguistics 18 (pp. 380–391). Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Tanaka, H. (2001). Right-dislocation as scrambling. Journal of Linguistics, 37(03), 551–579. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tree, J. (2006). Disfluencies in spoken language. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cognitive science. Wiley. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tseng, S.-C. (2003). Repairs and repetitions in spontaneous Mandarin. In R. Eklund (Ed.), Proceedings of DiSS’03, Disfluency in Spontaneous Speech Workshop . Gothenburg Papers in Theoretical Linguistics 90. pp. 73–76.
. (2006). Repairs in Mandarin conversation. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 34(1), 80–120.Google Scholar
Huang, C.T.J. (1999). Chinese passives in comparative perspective. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 29(4), 423–509.Google Scholar
Wei, T.-C. (2010). A movement and resumption approach to VP-Ellipsis in Mandarin Chinese. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 40(1), 113–158.Google Scholar
. (2013). Fragment question and ellipsis in Chinese. Studies in Chinese Linguistics, 34(3), 151–198Google Scholar
Yim, C. (2012). Fragment answers containing –yo in Korean: New evidence for the PF deletion theory of ellipsis. Linguistic Inquiry, 43(3), 514–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2013). Bi-clausal Evidence for Right Dislocation in Korean. Studies in Generative Grammar, 23(1), 25–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, B.-P. (2014). ‘Wh-on-earth’ in Chinese speakers’ L2 English: Evidence of dormant features. Second Language Research, 30(4), 515–549. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zubizarreta, M. (1998). Prosody, focus, and word order. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cited by (9)

Cited by nine other publications

Koenders, Emily
2024. Doubling in Hong Kong Sign Language. Sign Language & Linguistics 27:2 ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo
Silva Garcés, José & Gonzalo Espinosa
2023. On the Nature of Verbal Non-Local Doubling in Patagonian Spanish. Languages 8:4 ► pp. 255 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming
2021. Asymmetries in doubling and Cyclic Linearization. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 30:2 ► pp. 109 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming
2023. Last but not least: a comparative perspective on right dislocation in Alasha Mongolian. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 32:4 ► pp. 459 ff. DOI logo
Tang, Sze-Wing
2020. Cartographic syntax of performative projections: evidence from Cantonese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 29:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Lai, Jackie Yan-Ki
2019. Parallel copying in dislocation copying: evidence from Cantonese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 28:3 ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo
Lai, Jackie Yan‐Ki
2024. Cantonese dislocation: Parallel chains or cyclic linearization?. Syntax DOI logo
Ge, Haoyan, Stephen Matthews, Lawrence Yam-leung Cheung & Virginia Yip
2017. Bidirectional cross-linguistic influence in Cantonese–English bilingual children: The case of right-dislocation. First Language 37:3 ► pp. 231 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2024. The Unity of Movement [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 283], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 january 2025. 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.