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Article published In: International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 10:1 (2023) ► pp.1–43

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Six reconstruction effects in Mandarin Chinese

 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Published online: 30 June 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.23002.law
Abstract
The paper presents empirical evidence for six reconstruction effects in Mandarin Chinese. It includes data concerning the copula verb, epistemic modals, scope of aspectual sentence-final particle –le over indefinite wh-phrases, downward entailing quantifiers, predicates of creation, Binding Condition B, quantifier scope and dōu-quantification. The syntactic structures in which reconstruction applies can be derived either by A- or A-bar-movement. Our investigation brings empirical facts to bear on the syntax-semantics interface showing an essential property of natural language that semantic properties and syntactic structures do not vary freely.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Syntactic structures of the copula shì and epistemic modals
    • 2.1The copula shì
    • 2.2Epistemic modals
  • 3.Evidence of reconstruction
    • 3.1A-sfp –le, presupposition and change of state
      • 3.1.1Downward entailing quantifiers
      • 3.1.2Indefinite subject wh-phrases and a-sfp -le
      • 3.1.3Predicates of creation
    • 3.2Binding Condition B
    • 3.3Quantifier scope
    • 3.4Dōu-quantification
  • 4.Consequences of the biclausal structure
  • 5.The syntactic structures of subject raising and reconstruction
    • 5.1Empty expletives
    • 5.2Subject raising and A- vs A-bar-movement
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (75)
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