The Interfaces of Chinese Syntax with Semantics and Pragmatics

ISBN-13: 9780367596576 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 218 str.

Yicheng Wu

Opis

The Interfaces of Chinese Syntax with Semantics and Pragmatics provides an in-depth exploration of a variety of interface phenomena in Chinese, a non-inflectional language, where to a large extent word order constrains its interpretation and defines its grammatical functions. Under the Dynamic Syntax approach, which takes the incremental left-to

Spis treści

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Chinese Syntax: A General Description

1 Introduction

2 Word order flexibility

3 Semantics in syntax

4 Pragmatics in syntax

5 Overview of the book

2 The Dynamics of Language Processing

1 A preliminary introduction

1.1 Compositionality and context-dependency

1.2 Interpretation and representation

1.3 Underspecification and resolution

2 The tools of Dynamic Syntax

2.1 Tree logic and treenode decorations

2.2 Requirements and tree growth

3 The dynamics of the parsing process *

3.1 Computational rules

3.2 Lexical actions

3.3 A basic example

3.4 Pragmatic actions

4 Simple clause structure in Chinese

5 Summary

3 The Dynamics of Verbal Underspecification in Chinese

1 Introduction

2 Previous analyses

3 A dynamic analysis

4 Summary

4 Topic Constructions

1 Introduction

2 Previous analyses

2.1 The variable analysis

2.2 The pragmatic analysis

3 A preliminary analysis

3.1 Single topic structure

3.2 Multiple topic structure

4 A dynamic analysis

4.1 English-style topic construction

4.2 Chinese-style topic construction

5 Summary

5 Passive Constructions

1 Introduction

2 Previous analyses

2.1 The Preposition Hypothesis

2.2 The Dual Function Hypothesis

2.3 The Verb Hypothesis

3 A preliminary analysis

3.1 Pragmatic voice

3.2 Left dislocation

3.3 The characterization of the canonical patterns

4 Problematic patterns

4.1 Bei construction with a retained object (BCRO)

4.2 Bei construction with an embedded ba construction (BCBC)

4.3 Bei construction with a locative patient (BCLP)

5 Summary

6 Copular Constructions

1 Introduction

2 Previous analyses

3 A preliminary analysis

4 A dynamic analysis

4.1 Predicative construction

4.2 Emphatic construction

5 Summary

7 The Cleft Construction

1 Introduction

2 Previous analyses

3 A dynamic analysis

4 Summary

8 Semantic Underspecification: Cases of Personal Pronouns

1 Introduction

2 Previous analysis of expletive ta

3 A dynamic analysis

3.1. A dynamic analysis of the typical and non-typical referential construal of ta

3.2 A dynamic analysis of the expletive construal of ta

3.3 Scope interpretation and expletive ta

3.4 Some implications

4 Summary

9 Conclusion

1 Contributions to Chinese linguistics

2 Reflections on linguistic theorizing

References

O autorze

Yicheng Wu is Professor of Linguistics at the Centre for the Study of Language and Cognition, Zhejiang University, P. R. China.