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Article published In: Asian Languages and Linguistics
Vol. 4:1 (2023) ► pp.1–21

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The semantic constraint on gapping in Mandarin Chinese

ORCiD logo with link | California State University at Long Beach
Published online: 6 July 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/alal.22013.ai
Abstract
I argue that gapping in Mandarin Chinese as a deletion operation (cf. Wei, Ting-Chi. (2011). Subordinate gaps in Mandarin Chinese. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics, 91, 51–87.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . (2014). Topic-comment structure, focus movement and gapping formation. Linguistic Inquiry, 451, 125–145. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) is administrated by some semantic constraints and the discourse in which they occur, in line with Kuno, Susumu. (1976). Gapping: a functional analysis. Linguistic Inquiry, 71, 300–318.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Tsao, Feng-Fu. (1979). A functional study of topic in Chinese: the first step towards discourse analysis. Student Book, Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Wei, Ting-Chi. (2011). Subordinate gaps in Mandarin Chinese. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics, 91, 51–87.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Specifically, I argue that the semantic combination of the VP (cf. Paul, Waltraud. (1996a). Verb raising in Chinese. In Chin-chuan Cheng et al. (Eds.) Proceedings of the eighth North America Conference on Chinese Linguistics 11 (pp. 260–276). Graduate Students in Linguistics, USC.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . (1996b). Verb raising in Mandarin Chinese. Studies in Linguistic Sciences, 261, 255–270.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . (1999). Verb gapping in Chinese: a case of verb raising. Lingua, 1071, 207–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and the object NP (cf. Li, Yen-hui Audrey. (1998). Argument determiner phrases and number phrases. Linguistic Inquiry, 291, 693–702. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) in gapped sentences cannot be [−generic, -definite]. That is, the VP in the gapped clause cannot have a [-generic] interpretation and simultaneously for the object to have a [−definite] interpretation. If so combined, gapping in Mandarin Chinese will be blocked.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Evidence for canonical gapping in Chinese
  • 3.Gapping in Chinese cannot be ATB-movement
  • 4.A semantic approach towards gapping in Mandarin Chinese
  • 5.Some speculations and future research
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • References
References (49)
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