Varieties of Alternatives

Focus Particles and wh-Expressions in Mandarin

Paperback Engels 2018 9789811348266
Verwachte levertijd ongeveer 9 werkdagen

Samenvatting

This book concerns two focus particles (jiu, dou) and wh-expressions (shenme = ‘what’, na geren = ‘which person’) in Mandarin Chinese. These items are systematically ‘ambiguous’ and have played important roles in various aspects of Mandarin grammar. An idea based on alternatives and varieties of alternatives in particular – following Chierchia’s 2013 analysis of the polarity system – is pursued to account for the systematic ambiguities. The unambiguous semantics of jiu, dou and wh-expressions are maintained and ‘ambiguity’ explained through varieties of alternatives interacting with other independently motivated aspects of the structure they occur in. By examining these aspects in detail, the book will help readers gain a better understanding of a broad range of phenomena that involve these items – including exhaustivity, distributivity, questions and conditionals.

Specificaties

ISBN13:9789811348266
Taal:Engels
Bindwijze:paperback
Uitgever:Springer Nature Singapore

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Inhoudsopgave

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Background.- Chapter 3. Varieties of Alternatives: Mandarin Focus Particles.- Chapter 4. More Exclusives.- Chapter 5. Mandarin Wh-conditionals: Challenges and Facts.- Chapter 6. Proposal-A: Wh-conditionals as Interrogative Conditionals.- Chapter 7. Proposal-B: Wh-conditionals as Interrogative Dependency.- Chapter 8. Concluding Remarks.

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        Varieties of Alternatives