2,491 research outputs found
WH-INDEFINITES IN CHINESE AND THEIR STATUS
No full textWh-indefinites in Chinese have received great attention and discussion in the literature. This thesis investigates the status of Chinese wh-indefinites and their behaviors in the so-called donkey sentence. A typical example of wh-indefinite will be like the following:
(4) Ta bu xiang zai shuo shenme le
he not want again say what LE
\ue2He does not want to say anything again.\ue2
\ue4\ubb\ue4\ub8\ue6\ub3\ue5\ue8\uaa\uaa\ue4\ubb\ue9\uba\ubc\ue4\uba\ue3
In this thesis, accounts of wh-indefinites as variables, polarity items and quantifiers from Huang (1982), Li (1992), Cheng (1991, 1994) and Lin (1996, 1998) are provided and this thesis discusses the problems each account presents. Countering Li\ue2s (1992) work, this work argue that wh-indefinite like zenmeyang \ue2how\ue2 and weishenme \ue2why\ue2 cannot be directly treated as variables since they feature variables only if they appear after an auxiliary (under which situation they will express purpose or method) in a donkey sentence according to Tsai (1999, 2000), see the following examples:
(5) a. Akiu hui wei (le) shenme cizhi wo jiu hui wei (le) shenme cizhi\ue3
Akiu will for LE what resign I then will for LE what resign
\ue2If Akiu will resign for the purpose x, I will then also resign for the purpose x.\ue2
\ue9\ubfQ\ue6\ue7\uba\uef\ubc\ue4\uba\uef\ubc\ue4\ubb\ue9\uba\ubc\ue8\ube\uad\ue8\ub7\uef\ubc\ue6\ue5\ub0\ub1\ue6\ue7\uba\uef\ubc\ue4\uba\uef\ubc\ue4\ubb\ue9\uba\ubc\ue8\ube\uad\ue8\ub7\ue3
b. *Akiu wei (le) shenme hui cizhi wo jiu wei (le) shenme hui cizhi
Akiu for LE what will resign I then will LE what will resign
Intended \ue2If Akiu will resign because of the reason x, I will then also resign because of the reason x.
*\ue9\ubfQ\ue7\uba\ue4\uba\ue4\ubb\ue9\uba\ubc\ue6\ue8\ube\uad\ue8\ub7\uef\ubc\ue6\ue5\ub0\ub1\ue7\uba\ue4\uba\ue4\ubb\ue9\uba\ubc\ue6\ue8\ube\uad\ue8\ub7\ue3
(Tsai\ue2s 2000, 15 glossed and translated by the author)
Avoiding treating wh-indefinites as variables, we may treat them as quantifiers according to Huang\ue2s observation. But Huang\ue2s (1982) quantifier account of wh-indefinites is also rejected because I observe that wh-indefinites do not exhibit island sensitivity. Then we are led to another treatment: treating wh-indefinites as polarity items because they are sensitive to polarity environment. Aside from the sensitivity to polarity environment, Lin\ue2s (1996) work argues that wh-indefinites are licensed as polarity items if the sentence is subject to NEEC- non-entailment of existence condition. NEEC tells us that if (part of) a sentence does not have the existential import of object; wh-words can be licensed as wh-indefinites. This faces challenge because there are cases presupposing existential import yet the wh-indefinite is licensed.
In chapter 3, two types of donkey sentences are identified in Cheng and Huang\ue2s (1996) work and are accounted with different approaches-Unselective Binding and E-type analysis. Though accepting their viewpoint generally, Lin (1996) makes a distinction between one-case and multi-case reading and opens the possibility of universal interpretation in ruguo-conditionals. Later I introduce Indirect binding approach to account both types of donkey sentences. Indirect Binding argues that some quantified expression plays the role as associating the indefinite with the anaphoric element in donkey sentences:
(6) [Everyone who ti keeps a dogj]i like itj.
The example here captures the very basic idea of Indirect Binding: the chunk of expression, which has the indefinite a dog in its scope, c-commands the pronoun it and hence relates it to the indefinite. I extend it to the analysis of Chinese donkey sentences and discover that although Indirect Binding does not target at a particular status, the condition that the indirect binder must c-command the indefinite seems to suggest that c-commanding is the way of licensing a wh-indefinite, which echoes Li\ue2s and Cheng\ue2s analyses.
In Chapter 4, I introduce wh-indefinites in Japanese and Korean respectively and conclude that quantificational force comes from the environment but not from wh-indefinites themselves, countering Huang (1982). Finally, I suggest that licensing a wh-word as a wh-indefinite is through being c-commanded by the relevant operators. It is so because of Li\ue2s and Cheng\ue2s observation of wh-indefinites licensing and also of a condition in Indirect Binding that indirect binders must c-command the indefinite in order to have it as in its scope, as I have mentioned. This thesis then provides a viewpoint that perhaps, wh-indefinites can be treated uniformly as polarity items considering that Indirect Binding approach explains their behavior in donkey sentences. This thesis also opens the door for analyzing wh-indefinites in donkey sentences under Indirect Binding in other languages.
Keywords\uef\ubc Wh-indefinite, polarity item, variable, quantifier, donkey phenomenon, Indirect Bindin
Wh-Islands: A View from Correspondence Theory
No full textThis paper discusses a family of restrictions on syntactic extraction, so-called wh-islands. The analysis will be based on the OT syntax model developed in Vogel (2004a,b) which focuses on the correspondence between semantic, syntactic and phonological representations, in the spirit of work by Jackendoff (1997), Williams (2003) and Culicover & Jackendoff (2005). I will argue that the wh-island restriction results from the impossibility to establish a perfect semantics-syntax mapping in the relevant structures. The resulting constraint violations add up to yield the wh-island effect. Exceptions to the wh-island restrictions in English are argued to be prosodically licensed.
Section 2 introduces the model I am using, and presents examples of some accounts of ineffability which I developed elsewhere. That section also introduces the basics of my treatment of wh-movement. Section 3 develops the account of wh-islands. Section 4 discusses the exceptions to the wh-island restriction that we see in English, and extends my account to handle these cases. The OT implementation of this account is presented in Section 5.The definitive version of this paper is published in Modeling Ungrammaticality in Optimality Theory. It is available at https://www.equinoxpub.com/equinox/books/showbook.asp?bkid=212Vogel, R. (2009). Wh-Islands: A View from Correspondence Theory. In C. Rice (Ed.), Ungrammaticality in Optimality Theory. Oakville, CT:Equinox Pub. Ltd, 2009ISBN-13 9781845532154 (published book
The interaction of syntax, prosody, and discourse in licensing French wh-in-situ questions
No full textThe current experiment addresses the proposal by Cheng & Rooryk (2000) that wh-in-situ questions in French are marked by an obligatory rising contour, which is the result of an intonation morpheme [Q: ] in C. Twelve native French speakers participated in a production study in which they produced the target interrogatives, along with a range of similar sentences. While most participants were perceived to assign wh-in-situ questions a sentence-final rise, a minority was not. Moreover, the rise associated with wh-in-situ was smaller than the rise exhibited in yes-no questions, which C&R claim to be licensed by the same morpheme. Given that these two results are unexpected under C&R’s account, we conducted a further acoustic analysis of the productions, which revealed that for sentences lacking a sentence-final rise, the the in situ wh-word had an elevated high pitch accent. A statistical analysis shows a negative correlation between the height of the pitch accent assigned to the wh-word and the presence and height of the sentence-final rise, indicating that instead of the sentence-final rise for wh-in-situ questions being optional, it may instead be variable and predictable by focus placed on the wh-word, for discourse reasons. We discuss three possibilities for the status of the intonation morpheme concerning yes-no and wh-questions and the role of information structure in French wh-in-situ questions.Peer reviewed
Treatment outcome and patterns of failure in breast cancer patients with locoregional recurrence after mastectomy
No full textWh-doublets in Cantonese
No full textM.Phil.This thesis examines grammatical features of the wh-reduplication (namely “whdoublets”) in Cantonese, which has not been well documented in existing literature on Cantonese grammar. From previous descriptive works on this phenomenon in Mandarin Chinese (e.g. Yu 1964; Bai 2008; Xu 2010), three major claims are reviewed through Cantonese data: (i) wh-doublets have non-interrogative use; (ii) wh-doublets are used in reported speech; and (iii) wh-doublets have plural interpretation. First, I show that the wh-doublet is different from other wh-interpretations in terms of distribution and interpretation. It cannot simply be treated as a resulting form of stuttering or self-repair, and it is important to study this phenomenon independently. Second, wh-doublets are licensed in quotative context. More precisely, they can appear inside a quotation, with the presence of quotative markers or within the scope of clause-taking predicates, which can be generalized as syntactic or pragmatic means to introduce quotative contexts. The necessary quotativity shows that the use of whdoublets always involves another context. Third, although many typological findings support the argument that reduplicative constructions tend to trigger plural interpretations, the grammaticality judgment survey conducted in this study provides evidence against the necessary plurality of wh-doublets. Native speakers generally accept both singular and plural interpretations for wh-doublets, which is different from the common descriptions in the past literature. From these observations on the Cantonese wh-doublet, the issue of iconicity regarding reduplicative constructions is also discussed.While the quotative use of wh-doublets poses challenge to the traditional view that quantification into quotations is impossible, I adopt the intensional semantic system in Heim and Kratzer (1998), together with Sudo’s (2013) metalinguistic quantification, to spell out the lexical meaning of the Cantonese wh-doublet and derive the semantic computation with other linguistic elements. This analysis captures two main properties: (i) the use of wh-doublets implies that the matrix subject being reported has access to a particular entity; and (ii) the wh-doublet itself is an indefinite that ranges over linguistic expressions.本文旨在探討廣東話重疊疑問詞的語法特徵。鑑於文獻並未有對此現象作出深究，本文評論過往對普通話同一現象的描述性研究（于細良1964、白雁2008、徐默凡2010 等）所持的三大主張：（一） 重疊疑問詞有非疑問用法，（二）重疊疑問詞一般用於複述句，（三）重疊疑問詞有複數意思。透過廣東話例子，本文表明重疊疑問詞在語法分佈及意思理解上都有別於其他疑問詞用法，亦非口吃或自我修正的結果，而是「疑問詞」另一非疑問用法。本文亦提出重疊疑問詞被允准出現於引述語境中，準確來說，它能出現在引述句子中、在引述標記的情況中或在補語子句的轄域中。這些允准條件都能被視為引入引述語境的句法或語用手段，而其引述的必要性顯示重疊疑問句經常涉及另一語境。雖然很多類型學研究支持重疊結構傾向獲得複數意思這個觀點，而過去文獻均表示重疊疑問詞有複數意思，但本研究語感調查則得到相反的證據，母語使用者一般允許重疊疑問詞單數和複數的理解。除以上對廣東話重疊疑問詞的觀察，本文探討重疊結構的象似性議題。此外，重疊疑問詞的引述用法對引述句不能進行量化的傳統論述引起難題。本文結合Heim 及Kratzer (1998) 的內涵語義系統與Sudo (2013) 的元語言量化理論，說明廣東話重疊疑問詞的詞義，並結合其他語言部分作語義運算。此分析嘗試解釋兩個特點：（一）使用重疊疑問詞暗示被引述的主語能擷取某個特定個體的資訊，（二）重疊疑問詞是只限於語言表達式的不定指詞。Wong, Hok Yuen.Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2018.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-123).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 11, August, 2020)
Modal existential wh-constructions
Full text linkThis dissertation is a thorough investigation of the syntax, semantics, and typology of modal existential wh-constructions – the last major type of wh-construction (next to questions and relative clauses) that is still relatively poorly understood. The author argues that their proper analysis enhances our understanding of a variety of richly discussed issues, including the syntax-semantics of argument structure, event structure, existential predicates, wh-movement, covert modality, and obligatory control.
The author argues for a radically new approach to modal existential wh-constructions. His core idea is that they are not ordinary objects of the verb which they are selected by (a predicate expressing the state of existence or availability, or a complex predicate leading to such a state), as previously assumed, but rather constitute an additional independent argument. This argument is an integral part of the complex event structure of the matrix verb – its “event extension” – and as such characterizes possible developments of the state or event denoted by the matrix predicate. The proposed analysis accounts for many apparently unmotivated properties of these constructions, including their highly restricted scope, modality, and syntactic distribution on the one hand, and a relative freedom of their internal syntactic shape on the other. The analysis also reveals a previously unobserved but remarkably tight relationship between modal existential wh-constructions and English purpose clauses.
This dissertation is of interest to theoretically and typologically oriented linguists working on wh-constructions, purpose clauses, existential sentences, event structure, and modality. On a more general level, it deals with issues at the syntax-semantics and syntax-pragmatics interface.
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Dit proefschrift is een grondige studie van de syntaxis, semantiek en typologie van modale existentiële wh-constructies – het laatste hoofdtype van wh-constructies (naast vraagzinnen en relatiefzinnen) dat tot nu toe onderbelicht is gebleven. De auteur beargumenteert dat een goede analyse van deze constructies ook tot een beter begrip leidt van een veelheid aan vraagstukken die gerelateerd zijn aan de syntaxis en semantiek van argumentstructuur, event-structuur, existentiële predicaten, wh-verplaatsing, coverte modaliteit en verplichte controle.
De auteur bepleit een radicaal nieuwe analyse van modale existentiële wh-constructies. Het kernidee is dat ze niet, zoals eerder werd aangenomen, een gewoon object zijn van het werkwoord waardoor ze geselecteerd worden (een predicaat dat een bestaanstoestand uitdrukt of een toestand van beschikbaarheid, of een complex predicaat dat tot zo’n toestand leidt), maar juist een toegevoegd onafhankelijk argument. Zo’n argument is een integraal onderdeel van de complexe event-structuur van het matrixwerkwoord – de “event-extensie” – en als zodanig karakteriseert het de mogelijke ontwikkelingen van de toestand of gebeurtenis zoals gedenoteerd door dat werkwoord. De voorgestelde analyse verklaart verscheidene ogenschijnlijk ongemotiveerde eigenschappen van modale existentiële wh-constructies, inclusief hun beperkte bereik, modaliteit en syntactische distributie aan de ene kant, en hun relatieve vrijheid wat betreft de interne syntactisch opbouw aan de andere kant. De analyse onthult ook een tot nu toe onbekende maar opmerkelijk nauwe relatie tussen modale existentiële wh-constructies en “purpose clauses” zoals in het Engels.
Dit proefschrift is van belang voor theoretisch en typologisch georiënteerde taalkundigen die geïnteresseerd zijn in wh-constructies, purpose clauses, existentiële zinnen, event-structuur en modaliteit. Op een meer algemeen niveau behandelt het kwesties die betrekking hebben op de interfaces tussen de syntaxis, semantiek en pragmatiek.
Prediction of breast cancer and lymph node metastatics status with tumour markers using logistic regression models
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Clinical and histological changes of a free radial forearm flap transplanted into the oral cavity- a case report
No full textIncidence and risk factors associated with bilateral breast cancer in area with early age diagnosis but low incidence of primary breast cancer: analysis of 10-year longitudinal cohort in Taiwan.
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