Cover not available
Article published In:
Language and Linguistics
Vol. 23:2 (2022) ► pp.274–312

Remarks on the maximality approach to Mandarin dou and other related issues

| Fudan University
| The Chinese University of Hong Kong

In this paper we comment on the maximality approach to Mandarin Chinese dou initiated by Giannakidou & Cheng (2006) and modified by Xiang (2008), showing that the approach fails (1) to explain several linguistic phenomena (e.g. the interaction between na ‘which’-phrases and dou, the distributive effect of dou, and the exclusiveness of dou), (2) makes incorrect predictions concerning the interpretations of dou-sentences, and (3) suffers from various theoretical problems (e.g. compositional difficulty). After refuting the maximality approach, the paper argues that treating dou as a device for encoding universal quantification gives the above issues a more cogent explanation, has a wider coverage of language data, and also avoids the theoretical problems with the maximality approach.

Keywords: universal quantification, maximality, dou , FCI, exclusiveness, distributivity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Problems with the maximality approach in Giannakidou & Cheng (2006)
    • 2.1Against non-distributivity of dou
    • 2.2Against dou as a marker of definiteness
    • 2.3Nominal maximizer ≠ suggestion of existence/givenness
    • 2.4More compositional difficulty
  • 3.Problems with the maximality approach in Xiang (2008)
    • 3.1Two different maximality-related phenomena
    • 3.2 Dou ≠ maximization over covers
    • 3.3Theoretical difficulty of maximization over degrees
  • 4.Explanatory power of dou as a universal quantifier
    • 4.1Diverse quantificational mapping strategies of dou
    • 4.2Universal quantification and polarity item licensing
    • 4.3Universal quantification and the suggestion of existence/givenness
    • 4.4Connection to Lin (1996; 1998) and Hole (2004)
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 29 March 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00106.fen
References
Alonso-Ovalle, Luis & Menéndez-Benito, Paula
2010 Modal indefinites. Natural Language Semantics 18(1). 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brasoveanu, Adrian
2008 Donkey pluralities: Plural information states versus non-atomic individuals. Linguistics and Philosophy 31(2). 129–209. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brisson, Christine
2003 Plurals, all, and the nonuniformity of collective predication. Linguistics and Philosophy 26(2). 129–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Li
2013 Chinese polarity items. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen
1991 On the typology of wh-questions. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
2009 On every type of quantificational expression in Chinese. In Giannakidou, Anastasia & Rathert, Monika (eds.), Quantification, definiteness, and nominalization, 53–75. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen & Huang, James C.-T.
1996 Two types of donkey sentences. Natural Language Semantics 4(2). 121–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Constant, Noah & Gu, Chloe C.
2010 Mandarin ‘even’, ‘all’ and the trigger of focus movement. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 16(1). 21–30. (In the Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, Article 4.)Google Scholar
Dayal, Veneeta
1997 Free relatives and ever: Identity and free choice readings. In Lawson, Aaron (ed.), Proceedings of the 7th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 7), 99–116. Ithaca: Cornell University. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Feng, Yuli
2014 A semantic study on distributive effects in Mandarin Chinese. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong. (Doctoral dissertation.)
2018 Yuyan luoji yu yiyi–Lun yuyan shuliang biaoda de yuyi kehua [Language, logic and meaning–On the semantic interpretation of quantificational expressions in language]. Shanghai: Fudan University Press.Google Scholar
Feng, Yuli & Pan, Haihua
2017 Jigaishuo yiding biyao ma?–Tan jigaishuo zai yuyi yanjiu zhong de yingyong ji qi juxianxing [Is the notion of cover necessary: Another look at the application of cover in semantic studies and its potential problems]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 2017(3). 379–395.Google Scholar
2018 Zailun “dou” de yuyi – Cong qiongjinxing he paitaxing tanqi [Revisiting the semantics of dou–From the perspectives of exhaustivity and exclusiveness]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2018(2). 177–194.Google Scholar
Geurts, Bart
2007 Existential import. In Comorovski, Ileana & von Heusinger, Klaus (eds.), Existence: Semantics and syntax (Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 84), 253–271. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia
2001 The meaning of free choice. Linguistics and philosophy 24(6). 659–735. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia & Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen
2006 (In)Definiteness, polarity, and the role of wh-morpholgy in free choice. Journal of Semantics 23(2). 135–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hole, Daniel P.
2004  Focus and background marking in Mandarin Chinese: System and theory behind cái, jiù, dōu and yĕ. London: Routledge Curzon. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hole, Daniel
2011 The deconstruction of Chinese shì…de clefts revisited. Lingua 121(11). 1707–1733. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James
1982 Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Huang, Zanhui & Jiang, Yan
2009 The function of měi in měi-NPs. In Xiao, Yun (ed.), Proceedings of the 21st North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-21), vol. 21, 304–322. Smithfield: Bryant University.Google Scholar
Jiang, Jingzhong & Pan, Haihua
2013 “Dou” de yuyi fenhe ji jieshi guize [Categorization and interpretational rules of the meanings of dou ]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 2013(1). 38–50.Google Scholar
Jiang, Yan
1998 Yuyongtuiliyu “dou” de jufa/yuyitezheng [Pragmatic inference and the syntactic/semantic features of dou ]. Xiandai Waiyu [Modern Foreign Languages] 1998(1). 10–24.Google Scholar
2009 Tijimoxing yu dou de yuyi kehua [Scalar model and the semantics of dou]. In Cheng, Gong & Liu, Danqing (eds.), Hanyu de xingshi yu gongneng yanjiu [Formal and functional studies in Chinese], 123–132. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
2011 “Dou” de xingshi yuyongxue [Formal pragmatics of dou ] In Jiang, Yan (ed.), Zoujin xingshi yuyongxue [Approaching formal pragmatics], 432–456. Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Publishing House.Google Scholar
Kay, Paul
1990 Even. Linguistics and Philosophy 13(1). 59–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krifka, Manfred
1992 Definite NPs aren’t quantifiers. Linguistic Inquiry 23(1). 156–163.Google Scholar
Ladusaw, William A.
1980 Polarity sensitivity as inherent scope relations (Outstanding dissertations in linguistics). New York: Garland.
Landman, Fred
1989 Groups, I. Linguistics and Philosophy 12(5). 559–605. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lasersohn, Peter N.
1995 Plurality, conjunction and events. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Thomas Hun-Tak
1986 Studies on quantification in Chinese. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Lin, Jo-wang
1996 Polarity licensing and wh-phrase quantification in Chinese. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
1998 Distributivity in Chinese and its implications. Natural Language Semantics 6(2). 201–243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Danqing & Xu, Liejiong
1998 Jiaodian yu beijing, huati ji Hanyu “lian” ziju [Focus, background, topic and Chinese lian sentences]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language] 1998(4). 243–252.Google Scholar
Liu, Feng-Hsi
1990 Scope dependency in English and Chinese. Los Angeles: UCLA. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Milsark, Gary
1977 Toward an explanation of certain peculiarities of the existential construction in English. Linguistic Analysis 31. 1–29.Google Scholar
Pan, Haihua
2005 On mei and dou . (Paper presented at the 2005 Annual Research Forum (ARF) of the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 10–11 December 2005.)
2006 Jiaodian, sanfen jiegou yu Hanyu “dou” de yuyi jieshi [Focus, tri-partite structure and the semantic interpretation of Mandarin dou ]. Yufa yanjiu he tansuo [Grammatical research and exploration], vol. 131, 163–184. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Pan, Haihua & Jiang, Yan
1997 NP interpretation and Chinese donkey sentences. (Paper presented at the Workshop on Interface Strategies in Chinese, Cornell University, Ithaca, 23 June–1 August 1997.)
2015 The bound variable hierarchy and donkey anaphora in Mandarin Chinese. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 2(2). 159–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pan, Haihua & Feng, Yuli
2017 Quantification. In Sybesma, Rint & et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese language and linguistics, 530–535. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Panagiotidis, Phoevos
2000 Demonstrative determiners and operators: The case of Greek. Lingua 110(10). 717–742. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pesetsky, David
1987 Wh-in-situ: Movement and unselective binding. In Reuland, Eric & ter Meulen, Alice G. B. (eds.), The representation of (in)definiteness, 98–129. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Portner, Paul
2002 Topicality and (non-)specificity in Mandarin. Journal of Semantics 19(3). 275–287. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rullmann, Hotze
1995 Maximality in the semantics of wh-constructions. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Schwarzschild, Roger
1996 Pluralities (Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 61). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Strawson, Peter F.
1950 On referring. Mind 59(235). 320–344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Szabolcsi, Anna
2010 Quantification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
1999 On lexical courtesy. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 8(1). 39–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Winter, Yoad
2002 Atoms and sets: A characterization of semantic number. Linguistic Inquiry 33(3). 493–505. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolter, Lynsey Kay
2006 That’s that: The semantics and pragmatics of demonstrative noun phrases. Santa Cruz: University of California, Santa Cruz. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Xiang, Ming
2008 Plurality, maximality and scalar inferences: A case study of Mandarin dou . Journal of East Asian Linguistics 17(3). 227–245. (Article no. 227.) DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, Yulin
2005 “Dou” de jiahexing yuyi gongneng ji qi fenpeixing xiaoying [The summative function of dou and its distributive effect]. Dangdai Yuyanxue [Contemporary Linguistics] 2005(4). 289–304.Google Scholar
Zhang, Niina Ning
1997 Syntactic dependencies in Mandarin Chinese. Toronto: University of Toronto. (Doctoral dissertation.)
2008 Encoding exhaustivity. UST Working Papers in Linguistics 41. 133–143.Google Scholar