Cover not available

In: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. 479–508

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Non-veridical kaN in Taiwanese Southern Min

 | National Sun Yat-sen University
 | Academia Sinica
Published online: 13 April 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.17shy
Abstract
In the study of kaN (敢gan3 in Mandarin Chinese written form) in Taiwanese Southern Min, previous studies have largely focused on the interrogative kám sentences. This paper, however, shows a comprehensive picture when taking into consideration of the allomorph kánn in declarative sentences, and the diachronic development of kaN. Specifically, we propose that kaN functions as a non-veridical operator, whose clause type feature needs to be valued in IntP, thus deriving either a [+Q] (kám) or [-Q] (kánn) sentence. Moreover, various kaN sentence types are derived contingent on the interface criteria: (i) syntax (clause type feature valuation), (ii) inquisitive semantics of kaN: the epistemic use of kánn and sī ‘be’, and (iii) speaker’s intentionality/supposition in the speech act domain.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.KaN
    • 2.1The development of kaN
    • 2.2KaN as a non-veridical operator
      • 2.2.1Island sensitivity
      • 2.2.2Intervention effect
  • 3.A modal analysis of sī
    • 3.1Assertion of a proposition vs. assertion of a proposition’s truth
    • 3.2Nonveridical equilibrium
  • 4.Syntax-pragmatics interface
  • 5.Summary
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (75)
References
Aoun, Joseph & Li, Yen-hui Audrey. 1993. Syntax of Scope. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Austin, John Langshaw. 1962. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beaver, David & Frazee, Joey. 2016. Semantics. In The Oxford Handbook of Computational Linguistics 2nd Edition, Ruslan Mitkov (ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid. 1996. Quantified structures as barriers for LF movement. Natural Language Semantics 4(1): 1–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid & Kim, Shin-Sook. 2006. Intervention effects in alternative questions. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 9(3): 165–208. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Chun-yin Doris & Shen, Shih-chung Henry. 1998. A Minimalist approach to the kam construction in Taiwanese. Journal of Taiwan Normal University: Humanities and Social Science 43(1): 15–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen. 1991. On the Typology of Wh-Questions. PhD dissertation, MIT.
Cheng, Robert Liang-Wei. 1997. Taiyu, Huayu de Jiegou ji Dongxiang III: Tai, Huayu de Shikong, Yiwen yu Fouding [Taiwanese and Mandarin structures and their Developmental Trends in Taiwan III: Temporal and spatial relations, questions and negatives in Taiwanese and Mandarin]. Taipei: Yuan-Liou Publishing Co., Ltd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheng, Ying. 2000. Shixi Minnanyu qingtaici kann he kam de yuyi yu cilei [Tentative analysis of semantics and categories of modal words kann and kam in Southern Min]. Journal of Taiwan Language Teaching and Research 2: 29–38.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. Cong fangyan bijiao kan qingtaici de lishi yanbian [A study on the diachronic development of Chinese modals from the perspective of the dialectal comparison]. Journal of Taiwanese Languages and Literature 1: 107–143.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciardelli, Ivano, Groenendijk, Jeroen & Roelofsen, Floris. 2013. Inquisitive semantics: a new notion of meaning. Language and Linguistics Compass 7(9): 459–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Inquisitive Semantics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coniglio, Marco & Zegrean, Iulia. 2012. Splitting up force: Evidence from discourse particles. In Main Clause Phenomena: New Horizons, Liliane Haegeman, Lobke Aelbrecht & Rachel Nye (eds), 229–255. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ernst, Thomas. 1994. Conditions on Chinese A-not-A questions. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 3(3): 241–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gasde, Horst-Dieter. 2004. Yes/No questions and A-not-A questions in Chinese revisited. Linguistics 42(2): 293–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia. 1998. Polarity Sensitivity as (Non)Veridical Dependency. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. The meaning of free choice. Linguistics and Philosophy 24(6): 659–735. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Inquisitive assertions and nonveridicality. In The Dynamic, Inquisitive, and Visionary Life of φ, ?φ and ◇φ, a Feestschrift for Jeroen Groenendijk, Martin Stokhof and Fran Vetmann, Maria Aloni, Michael Franke & Floris Roelofsen (eds), 115–126. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia & Mari, Alda. 2018. The semantic roots of positive polarity: Epistemic modal verbs and adverbs in English, Greek and Italian. Linguistics and Philosophy 41(6): 623–664. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, Mitchell. 2020. Speech acts. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed). Stanford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gutzmann, Daniel & Miró, Elena Castroviejo. 2011. The dimensions of verum. In Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics, Olivier Bonami & Patricia Cabredo Hofherr (eds), 143–165. Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane. 1984. Interjections and phrase structure. Linguistics 22(1): 41–50. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1993. The interpretation of the particle da in West Flemish. Lingua 90(1–2): 111–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane & Hill, Virginia. 2013. The syntacticization of discourse. In Syntax and Its Limits, Raffaella Folli, Christina Sevdali & Robert Truswell (eds), 370–390. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane, & Weir, Andrew. 2015. The cartography of yes and no in West Flemish. In Discourse-oriented Syntax, Josef Bayer, Roland Hinterholzl & Andreas Trotzke (eds), 175–210. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hagstrom, Paul. 2005. A-not-A questions. In The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Martin Everaert & Henk van Riemsdijk (eds), 173–213. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, Virginia. 2007. Romanian adverbs and the pragmatic field. The Linguistic Review 24(1): 61–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Höhle, Tilman N. 1992. Uber Verum-Fokus in Deutschen. In Informationsstruktur und Grammatik, Joachim Jacobs (ed), 112–141. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holmberg, Anders. 2015. The Syntax of Yes and No: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hsiao, Pei-Yi & Her, One-Soon. 2019. Justifying a two-way distinction of questions in Taiwanese Southern Min. Paper presented at the 12th International Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics, University of Macau.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hsieh, Miao-Ling. 2001. Form and Meaning: Negation and Question in Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Hsin, Ai-li & Tang, Ting-Chi. 2004. Minnanyu qingtai fuci zhi fenlei, cixu yu renke yuanze [The type, order, and licensing principle of modal adverbs in Taiwan Southern Min]. Journal of Taiwanese Languages and Literature 2, 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James. 1988. Shuo shi he you [On ‘be’ and ‘have’ in Chinese]. The Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 59: 43–64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991. Modularity and Chinese A-not-A questions. In Interdisciplinary Approaches to Linguistics: Essays in Honor of Yuki Kuroda, Carol Georgopoulos & Roberta Ishihara (eds), 305–332. Dordret: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James, Li, Y.-H. Audrey & Li, Yafei. 2009. The Syntax of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, Lu-Shan (N̂g, Lio̍k-san). 2016. A Study of Kám Questions in Taiwan Southern Min. MA thesis, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung.
Huang, Rui-heng Ray. 2014. Left periphery and Chinese yes-no questions. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1(2): 192–213. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kang, Arum & Yoon, Suwon. 2020). From inquisitive disjunction to nonveridical equilibrium: Modalized questions in Korean. Linguistics 58(1): 207–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
König, Ekkehard & Siemund, Peter. 2007. Speech act distinctions in grammar. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Timothy Shopen (ed), 276–324. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuo, Chin-Man. 1992. Guoyu zheng-fan Wenju de Jiegou yu Jufa Yunyong [A-not-A Questions in Mandarin Chinese]. MA thesis, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsin-Chu.
Lâu, Sêng-hiân. 2010a. Syntax of Kám Questions in Taiwanese. MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.
. 2010b. The Taiwanese kám and the cleft construction. Journal of Taiwanese Vernacular 2(2): 4–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Law, Paul. 2006. Adverbs in A-not-A questions in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 15(2): 97–136. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Yen-Hui Audrey. 1992. Indefinite wh in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 1: 125–155. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lien, Chinfa. 2009. The focus marker si7 是 and lexicalization of Si7 Mih8 是乜 into what wh-words in earlier Southern Min texts. Language and Linguistics 10(4): 745–764.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Exploring three kinds of the dare word in Southern Min: Sidelights on the hierarchical structure of functional categories. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 4(2): 271–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Hsiu-Hsueh. 2013. Quanzhou-qiang Minnanyu de zhongxing wenju [Neutral questions in Quanzhou-accented Southern Min]. Language and Linguistics 14(2): 277–314.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Jian, Jiang, Lansheng, Bai, Weiguo & Cao, Guangshun. 1992. Jindai Hanyu Xuci Yanjiu [Studies on Functional Words in Contemporary Chinese]. Yuwen Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nuyts, Jan. 2006. Modality: Overview and linguistic issues. In The Expression of Modality, William Frawley (ed), 1–26. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Palmer, Frank Robert. 1986. Mood and Modality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pan, Victor Junnan. 2015. Mandarin peripheral construals at the syntax-discourse interface. The Linguistic Review 32(4): 819–868. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Waltraud. 2015. New Perspectives on Chinese Syntax. Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Portner, Paul. 2009. Modality (Vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of Grammar: Handbook of Generative Syntax, Liliane Haegeman (ed), 281–337. Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. The Structure of CP and IP: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures (Vol. 2). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schaffer, Wolfram & Chen, Lansun. 2001. Yes-no questions in Mandarin and the theory of focus. Linguistics 39(5): 837–870.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1965. What is a speech act. In Philosophy in America, Maurice Black (ed), 221–239. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shen, Shih-Chung Henry. 1997. On Taiwanese kám constructions. MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.
Sher, Gila, & Wright, Cory D. 2007. Truth as a normative modality of cognitive acts. In Truth and Speech Acts: Studies in the Philosophy of Language, Dirk Greimann & Geo Siegwart (eds), 280–306. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shyu, Shu-ing. 1995. The Syntax of Focus and Topic. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California,
. 2014. Topic and focus. In The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics, C.-T. James Huang, Y. H. Audrey Li & Andrew Simpson (eds), 100–125. UK: Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. Shi…de. In Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, Rint Sybesma, Wolfgang Behr, Yueguo Gu, Zev Handel, C.-T. James Huang & James Myers (eds). Netherland: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shyu, Shu-ing & N̂g, Lio̍k-san (Huang, Lu-shan). 2018. Polarity question and focus: A case in Taiwanese Southern Min Kám. Paper presented at the 12th International Symposium on Taiwanese Languages and Teaching. National Sun Yat-sen University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Speas, Peggy & Tenny, Carol. 2003. Configurational properties of point of view roles. In Asymmetry in Grammar Volume 1: Syntax and Semantics, Anna Maria Di Sciullo (ed), 315–343. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tang, Ting-Chi. 1999. Hanyu de zhengfan wenju: Beijingyu yu Minnanyu de bijiao fenxi [A-not-A questions in Chinese: A comparison between Mandarin and Southern Min]. Language and Linguistics 5: 27–71.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsai, W.-T. Dylan. 1994. On nominal islands and LF extractions in Chinese. Natural Languages and Linguistic Theory 12(1): 121–175. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsao, Feng-fu. 1993. Taiwanhua dongci yanjiu [A study of verbs in Taiwan Southern Min]. National Science Council Research Report (No. NSC 81-0301-H-007-508).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Pen-Ying & Lien, Chinfa. 2001. A-not-A questions in Taiwanese Southern Min. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 351–376.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wei, Pei-chuan. 2010. Shi fou-V(NP) jushi de youlai [The history of the interrogative structure shi fou-V(NP)]. Language and Linguistics 11(2): 335–392.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Meng-Jung. 2015. The Syntax of Polar Questions and their Answers in Taiwanese. PhD dissertation, Newcastle University.
Yang, Barry Chung-Yu. 2012. Intervention effects and wh-construals. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 21: 43–87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Locating wh-intervention effects at CP. In The Cartography of Chinese Syntax, Wei-Tien Dylan Tsai (ed), 153–186. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yen, Hsiu-shan. 2012. Taiwan Minnanyu “Gan” de Duoyixing Ji Jieceng Jiegou Tantao [Exploration of the Polysemy of “KAM” in Taiwanese Southern Min and Its Hierarchical Structure]. PhD dissertation, National Hsinchu University of Education, Hsin-Chu.
Zhang, Min. 1990. Hanyu Fangyan Fanfu Wenju de Leixingxue Yanjiu: Gongshi Fenbu ji qi Lishi Yunhan [Typolotidal Studies of A-not-A Questions in Chinese Dialects: Chronological Distribution and Diachronic Implications]. PhD dissertation, Peking University, Beijing.
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue