Cover not available
Part of
New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax: Studies in honor of Yen-Hui Audrey Li
Edited by Andrew Simpson
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 272] 2022
► pp. 17–76

Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture

| Harvard University

Although languages differ considerably in the way they encode finiteness syntactically or morphonology, the ‘finiteness distinction’ exists as a universal grammatical phenomenon. This chapter will re-affirm the claim that the distinction exists in Chinese, with robust clustered properties that diagnose the different clause types on several scales, with respect to temporal (in)dependence, clausal opacity/transparency, inter-clausal integration, etc. I address how finiteness is encoded, considering the hypothesis that finiteness is related to surface clause sizes (e.g., CP, IP, vP). As for the origin of the clause size differences it is suggested that they arise from the fundamental (in)ability of a clause to make deictic temporal reference. Under a pronominal theory of tense semantics, the nature of a syntactic T0 (being an anaphor, a pronominal or an r-expression) determines its binding properties as well as its possible clause size, with ensuing signature properties that mark the finiteness distinction.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Finiteness distinctions in Chinese and properties that diagnose them
    • 2.1Scale of independence
    • 2.2Scale of opacity
      • A.Aspect lowering
      • B. Before-collocation
      • C.Internal topicalization
      • D.Verb copying
      • E.Focus fronting
      • F.Clitic climbing of suo
      • G.Long distance passivization
      • H.Scope skipping of you ‘again’
    • 2.3Scale of integration
  • 3.Finiteness and clausal architecture
    • 3.1Finiteness as clause size
    • 3.2On C-selection and clause-size reduction
  • 4.Finiteness and syntactic coding
    • 4.1Finiteness in nominal complementation
    • 4.2Finiteness beyond complement types
    • 4.3Finiteness and syntactic encoding
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.02hua
References
Abusch, Dorit
1988 Sequence of tense, intensionality and scope. WCCFL 7:1–14. CSLI, Stanford University.Google Scholar
1991 The present under past as de re interpretation. WCCFL 10:1–12. CSLI, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Amritavalli, R.
2014 Separating tense and finiteness: anchoring in Dravidian. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 32:283–306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bartos, Huba
2019 The V-copy construction in Mandarin: A case temporarily reopened. In Interfaces in Grammar, Jianhua Hu and Haihua Pan (eds), 167–205. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bianchi, Valentina
2003 On finiteness as logophoric anchoring. In Temps et Point de Vue [tense and point of view], Jacqueline Gueron and L. Tasmovski (eds), 213–246. Nanterre: Université Paris X.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit
1989 Anaphoric Agr. In The Null Subject Parameter, Osvaldo Jaeggli & Kenneth Safir (eds), 69–110. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheng, Lisa
2007 Verb copying in Mandarin Chinese. In The Copy Theory of Movement, Jairo Nunes & Norbert Corver (eds), 151–174. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro
1989 Anaphora and attitudes de se. In Semantics and Contextual Expression, R. Bartsch, J. van Benthem, and P. van Emde Boas (eds), 1–31. Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chiu, Bonnie
1993 The Inflectional Structure of Mandarin Chinese. PhD dissertation, UCLA.
1995 An object clitic projection in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 4:77–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
1973 Conditions on transformations. In A Festschrift for Morris Halle, Stephen R. Anderson and Paul Kiparsky (eds), 232–286. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
1977 On wh-movement. In Formal Syntax , Peter Culicover, A. Akmajian, and T. Wasow (eds), 71–133. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Chomksy, Noam
1986 Knowledge of Language: Its nature, Origins and Use. New York: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
2001 Derivation by phase. In Ken Hale: a Life in Language, Michael Kenstowicz (ed), 1–52. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
2013 Problems of projection. Lingua 130: 33–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam and Howard Lasnik
1977 Filters and control. Linguistic Inquiry 8:425–504.Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo
2006 Restructuring and Functional Heads. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Costa, João
2004 Subjects in Spec,vP: locality and agree. In Romance Op. 47, A. Castro, M. Ferreira, V. Hacquard and A. Pablo Salanova (eds), 1–15. MITWPL.Google Scholar
Ernst, Thomas
1994 Functional categories and the Chinese Infl. Linguistics 32:191–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ernst, Thomas, and Chengchi Wang
1995 Object preposing in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 4:235–260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fu, Jingqi
1994 SOV word order in Chinese and IP specifier. Paper presented at the NACCL-6 conference, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Giorgi, Alessandra
2009 Toward a syntax of the subjunctive mood. Lingua 119, 1837–1858. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Givon, Talmy
1980 The binding hierarchy and the typology of complements. Studies in Language 4:333–377. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gouguet, Jules
2006 Adverbials in Mandarin argument structure. In Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics 6, Olivier Bonami and Patricia Cabredo-Hofherr (eds), 155–173.Google Scholar
Grano, Thomas
2012 Control and Restructuring at the Syntax-Semantics Interface. PhD dissertation, University of Chicago.
2014 Control without finiteness contrasts: Aspect and complement size in Mandarin Chinese. Ms., Indiana University.
2015 Control and Restructuring. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Finiteness contrasts without Tense? A view from Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 26: 259–299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gu, Yang
2008 Shitai, shizhi lilun yu Hanyu shijian canzhao yanjiu [Studies of tense, aspect and Chinese time reference], in Dangdai yuyanxue lilun he Hanyu yanjiu [Contemporary linguistic theories and Chinese language research], Yang Shen and Shengli Feng (eds), 97–119. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
He, Yuyin
2020 Time in Mandarin: the Fingerprints of Tense and Finiteness. PhD dissertation, Harvard University.
Henry, Alison
1992 Infinitives in a for-to dialect. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 10: 279–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995 Belfast English and Standard English: Dialect Variation and Parameter Setting. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hu, Jianhua, Haihua Pan & Liejiong Xu
2001 Is there a finite vs. nonfinite distinction in Chinese? Linguistics 39:1117–1148. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James
1982 [1998] Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar. PhD dissertation, MIT. [Published under the same title by Garland Publishers, 1998.]
1983 A note on the binding theory. Linguistic Inquiry 14:554–561.Google Scholar
1984 On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 15:531–574.Google Scholar
1989 Pro-drop in Chinese: A generalized control theory. In The Null Subject Parameter, Osvaldo A. Jaeggli and Kenneth J. Safir (eds), 185–214. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1999 Chinese passives in comparative perspective. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies 29:423–509.Google Scholar
2016 The syntax and semantics of pre-nominals: construction or composition? Language and Linguistics 17:431–475.Google Scholar
2017 On finiteness and the architecture of complements in verbal and nominal domains. Paper presented at the 11th Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics (TEAL-11), Academia Sinica.
2018 Argument structure, lexical decomposition, and light verb syntax. Studies in Prosodic Syntax 2:1–31.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James, Y.-H. Audrey Li and Yafei Li
2000 Relativization: order and structure. Paper presented at IACL-9, Singapore National University.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James and C.-S. Luther Liu
2001 Logophoricity, attitudes and ziji at the interface. In Long distance reflexives, Peter Cole, Gabriella Hermon & James Huang (eds), 141–195. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James, Y.-H. Audrey Li and Yafei Li
2009 The Syntax of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, Hsin-Lun
2018 The Head-Quarters of Mandarin Arguments. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Huang, Nick
2015 On syntactic tense in Mandarin Chinese. Proceedings of NACCL-27, 406–423.Google Scholar
2018 Control complements in Mandarin Chinese: implications for restructuring and the Chinese finiteness debate. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 27:347–376. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, X.-Y. Kevin
2009 Multiple-modal constructions in Mandarin Chinese: A view from cartography and MP. MA thesis, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan.
Huang, Yan
1994 The Syntax and Pragmatics of Anaphora: a Study with Special Reference to Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992 Review of: Li, Audrey Yen-hui. 1990. Order and constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Journal of Linguistics 28. 251–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, Li Julie
2009  Suo in Chinese and phase edges. Ms., Harvard University.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Aidan, Eliza Scruton & Jim Wood
2017  For-to infinitives. Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America . (Available online at [URL].)Google Scholar
Keine, Stefan
2019 Selective opacity. Linguistic Inquiry 50:13–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klein, Wolfgang
1994 Time in Language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Klein, Wolfgang, Ping Li & Hemriette Hendriks
2000 Aspect and assertion in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 18: 723–770. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kornfilt, Jaklin
2007 Verbal and nominalized finite clauses in Turkish. In Finiteness: Theoretical and empirical foundations, Irina Nikolaeva (ed), 305–332. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika
1998 More structural analogies between pronouns and tenses. SALT Proceedings 8:92–110. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lai, Yan Ki Jackie
2021 The Nature of the Postverbal Field in Mandarin Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Chicago.
Landau, Idan
2000 Elements of Control. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Charles N. & Sandra A. Thompson
1981 Mandarin Chinese. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Li, Y.-H. Audrey
1985 Abstract Case in Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California.
1990 Order and Constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Comments on the papers on finiteness. Presented at the 11th Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics (TEAL-11), Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Liao, W.-W. Roger and Y.-Y. Iris Wang
2021 Attitude, control and finiteness distinction in Chinese. Ms., Academia Sinica and Ming Chuan University.
Lin, Jo-Wang
2003 Temporal reference in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 12:259–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 Time in a language without tense: The case of Chinese. Journal of Semantics 23:1–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 A tenseless analysis of Mandarin Chinese revisited: A response to Sybesma 2007. Linguistic Inquiry 41:305–329. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 Tenselessness. In The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect, Robert I. Binnick (ed), 669–695. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lin, T.-H. Jonah
2011 Finiteness of clauses and raising of arguments in Mandarin Chinese. Syntax 14:48–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 Multiple-modal constructions in Mandarin Chinese and their finiteness properties. Journal of Linguistics 48:151–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 QR and finiteness. In Deep Insights, Broad Perspectives: Essays in Honor of Mamoru Saito, Y. Miyamoto, D. Takahashi, H. Maki, M. Ochi, K. Sugisaki & A. Uchibori (eds), 275–291. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.Google Scholar
2015 Tense in Mandarin Chinese sentences. Syntax 18:320–342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Na and C.-T. James Huang
2016 Control and raising passives, and why Mandarin does not smuggle. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 25:385–404. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Yuyang
2020 ‘Again’ skipping in Mandarin Chinese. Ms. Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
McFadden, Thomas and Sandhya Sundaresan
2014 Finiteness in South Asian Languages: An Introduction. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 32:1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mei, Kuang
1978 Ba zi ju. [On ba-sentences.] Humanitas Taiwanica, Vol. 12.Google Scholar
2015  Shanggu Hanyu Yufa Gangyao [Outline of Archaic Chinese Grammar], Taipei: San Min Books.Google Scholar
Müller, Gereon
2020 Rethinking restructuring. In Syntactic architecture and its consequences II: Between syntax and morphology, András Bárány, Theresa Biberauer, Jamie Douglas & Sten Vikner (eds), 149–190. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Nikolaeva, Irina
2007 Introduction. In Finiteness, Irina Nikolaeva (ed), 1–19. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ogihara, Toshiyuki
1989 Temporal Reference in Japanese and English. PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Ogihara. Toshiyuki
1995 Double-access sentences and reference to states. Natural Language Semantics 3:177–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paul, Waltraud
2002 Sentence-internal topics in Mandarin Chinese: The case of object preposing. Language and Linguistics 3:695–714.Google Scholar
2005 Low IP area and left periphery in Mandarin Chinese. Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes 33:111–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 Why particles are not particular: Sentence-final particles in Chinese as heads of a split CP. Studia Linguistica 68:77–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paul, Waltraud & Victor Pan
2017 What you see is what you get: Chinese sentence-final particles as head-final complementisers. In Discourse particles: Formal approaches to their syntax and semantics, Josef Bayer & Volker Struckmeier (eds), 49–77. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Pesestsky, David
2017–2021 Exfoliation: Towards a derivational theory of clause size. Ms., MIT., available at Lingbuzz.Google Scholar
Polinsky, Maria & Eric Potsdam
2006 Expanding the scope of control and raising. Syntax 9:171–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pustejovsky, James
1995 The Generative lexicon. Cambridge, MA: the MIT Press.Google Scholar
Qu, Yanfeng
1994 Object Noun Phrase Dislocation in Mandarin Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Raposo, Eduardo
1987 Case Theory and Infl-to-Comp: the inflected infinitive in European Portuguese. Linguistic Inquiry 18: 85–109.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi
1997 The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of grammar, Liliane Haegeman (ed), 281–338. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rochette, Anne
1988 Semantic and Syntactic Aspects of Romance Sentential Complementation. PhD dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
1990 On the restructuring classes of verbs in Romance. In Binding in Romance: Essays in honour of Judith McA′Nulty, Anna Maria Di Sciullo and Anne Rochette (eds), 96–128. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Linguistic Association.Google Scholar
Satik, Deniz
2021 The maximal size of infinitives: a truncation theory of finiteness. Ms. Department of Linguistics, Harvard University. Available at Lingbuzz.Google Scholar
Sells, Peter
2007 Finiteness in non-transformational syntactic frameworks. In Finiteness, Irina Nikolaeva (ed), 59–89. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shen, Li
2004 Aspect agreement and light verbs in Chinese: A comparison with Japanese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 13:141–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shlonsky, Ur
1988 Complementizer-cliticization in Hebrew and the Empty Category Principle. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6:191–205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shyu, Shu-Ing
1995 The Syntax of Focus and Topic in Mandarin Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California.
2001 Remarks on object movement in Mandarin SOV order. Language and Linguistics 2:93–124.Google Scholar
Stowell, Tim
1982 The tense of infinitives. Linguistic Inquiry 13:561–570.Google Scholar
2007 The syntactic expression of tense. Lingua 117:437–463. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sun, Hongyuan
2014 Temporal Construals of Bare Predicates in Mandarin Chinese. PhD dissertation, Universities of Leiden and Nantes, available at: [URL]
Sybesma, Rint
2007 Whether we tense-agree overtly or not. Linguistic Inquiry 38:580–587. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017a Finiteness. Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, Rint Sybesma, Wolfgang Behr, Yueguo Gu, Zev Handel, C.-T. James Huang & James Myers (eds), Leiden: Brill, Vol II, 233–237. Online at [URL].Google Scholar
2017b Tense. Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, Brill. Online at [URL].Google Scholar
2019 Xiandingxing he hanyu zhuju ‘[Finiteness and Chinese main clauses]’. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 6:325–344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sybesma, Rint and Boya Li
2007 The dissection and structural mapping of Cantonese sentence final particles. Lingua 117:1739–1783. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tang, C.-C. Jane
1990 Chinese Phrase Structure and the Extended X’-Theory. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.
Tang, Ting-Chi
1977  Guoyu bianxing yufa diyiji: yiwei bianxing. [Chinese transformational grammar, V1: movement transformations.] Taipei: Student book Co.Google Scholar
Tang, Ting-chi
2000 Finite and nonfinite clauses in Chinese. Language and Linguistics 1:191–214.Google Scholar
Ting, Jen
1998 Deriving the bei construction in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 7:319–354. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 On the climbing of the particle suo in Mandarin Chinese and its implications for the theory of clitic placement. The Linguistic Review 27:449–483. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Truswell, Robert
2011 Events, Phrases and Questions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
2008 Tense-anchoring in Chinese. Lingua 118:675–686. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 Hanyu de yuqi xianzhuxing he yinxing motai fanchou [Mood prominence in Chinese and covert modalities]. Yuyankexue 18 (1):1–12.Google Scholar
Ussery, Cherlon, Lydia Ding & Yining Rebecca Liu
2016 The typology of Mandarin infinitives. Processings of Linguistic Society of America, Vol 1, Article 28:1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wei, Wei Haley and H.-Y. Audrey Li
2018 Adverbial clauses in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistic Analysis 42:163–330.Google Scholar
Wurmbrand, Susi
2001 Infinitives: Restructuring and Clause Structure. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2014 Tense and aspect in English infinitives. Linguistic Inquiry 45:403–447. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 Restructuring cross-linguistically. NELS Proceedings 45:227–240.Google Scholar
Wurmbrand, Susi, and Maddalena Lohninger
2020 An implicational universal in complementation: theoretical insights and empirical progress. Ms., to appear in Propositionale Argumente im Sprachvergleich: Theorie und Empirie [Propositional Arguments in Cross-Linguistic Research: Theoretical and Empirical Issues], Jutta M. Hartmann & Angelika Wöllstein (eds). Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
Wurmbrand, Susi, Iva Kovač, Magdalena Lohninger, Caroline Pajančič, and Neda Todorović
2020 Finiteness in south Slavic complement clauses: Evidence for an implicational finiteness universal. Linguistica 60:119–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Liejong
2003 Choice between the overt and the covert. Transactions of the Philological Society 101:81–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Ting
2011  You again: How is its ambiguity derived? In Logic, language and meaning, Maria Aloni, Vadim Kimmelman, Floris Roelofsen, Galit Weidman Sassoon, Katrin Schulz, and Matthijs Westera (eds), 470–480. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
2016 Almost again: On the Semantics and Acquisition of Decomposition Adverbs. PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
Xue, Ping and Paul McFetridge
1996 Complement structure in Chinese. CLS Proceedings 32. Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Xue, Ping, and Paul McFetridge
1998 Verb complementation, null pronominals and binding. WCCFL Proceedings 17: 479–493.Google Scholar
Zhang, Niina Ning
2008 Gapless relative clauses as clausal licensers of relational nouns. Language and Linguistics 9:1005–1028.Google Scholar
2016 Identifying Chinese dependent clauses in the forms of subjects. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 25:275–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 Sentence-final aspect particles as finite markers in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics 57:967–1023. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Chen and Alain Rouveret
2019 Chinese objects and the labeling of symmetric structures. Ms., Université de Paris and Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Huang, Nick
2024. Finiteness in a language without finite morphology: An experimental study of Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory DOI logo
Huang, Rui-heng Ray
2023. The Syntax of Mandarin Long Gei Passives Revisited. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 44:1 ► pp. 51 ff. DOI logo
Tang, Sze-Wing
2022. On the syntax of rhetorical questions: evidence from Cantonese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 31:3 ► pp. 305 ff. DOI logo
Tang, Sze-Wing
2022. On the syntax of incompleteness. In New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 272], ► pp. 395 ff. DOI logo
Yip, Ka-Fai
2022. Converbs and Adverbial Clauses: A Case Study in Cantonese. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 43:2 ► pp. 143 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 20 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.