Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Low sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese and the Final-over-Final Constraint

  • Published:
Journal of East Asian Linguistics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mandarin Chinese clausal syntax can be described as strictly head-initial, with the exception of certain “particles” which are linearized at the end of the clause. Previous work on these sentence-final particles (SFPs) has assumed that all SFPs are very high, in the CP periphery. In this paper I show that a subset of SFPs are in a lower, clause-medial position, based on the scopal interaction of these SFPs with negation, modals, quantificational subjects, and alternative question disjunction. I identify this position as coinciding with the edge of the lower phase, traditionally identified as vP. As SFPs are head-final heads with head-initial complements, they have been discussed as an important apparent exception to the Final-over-Final Constraint (FOFC), a proposed universal on structure-building and linearization. The existence of exceptions to FOFC in a clause-medial position in addition to the CP edge motivates the view that FOFC holds only within individual Spell-Out domains.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abels, Klaus. 2003. Successive cyclicity, anti-locality, and adposition stranding. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Connecticut.

  • Aoun, Joseph, and Yen-hui Audrey Li. 1993. Wh-elements in situ: Syntax or LF? Linguistic Inquiry 24: 199–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, Laura R. 2010. Sentential word order and the syntax of question particles. In Newcastle working papers in linguistics 16, 23–43.

  • Biberauer, Theresa, Anders Holmberg, and Ian Roberts. 2008. Structure and linearization in disharmonic word orders. Proceedings of WCCFL 26: 96–104.

  • Biberauer, Theresa, Anders Holmberg, and Ian Roberts. 2014. A syntactic universal and its consequences. Linguistic Inquiry 45: 169–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biberauer, Theresa, Glenda Newton, and Michelle Sheehan. 2009. Limiting synchronic and diachronic variation and change: The Final-over-Final Constraint. Language and Linguistics 10: 701–743.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biberauer, Theresa, and Michelle Sheehan. 2012. Disharmony, antisymmetry, and the Final-over-Final Constraint. In Ways of structure building, ed. Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria and Vidal Valmala, 206–244. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Chan, Brian Hok-Shing. 2013. Sentence-final particles, complementizers, antisymmetry, and the Final-over-Final Constraint. In Theoretical approaches to disharmonic word orders, ed. Theresa Biberauer and Michelle Sheehan, 445–468. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Chao, Yuen Ren. 1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen. 1991. On the typology of wh-questions. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen. 1994. Wh-words as polarity items. Chinese Languages and Linguistics 2: 615–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen. 1995. On dou-quantification. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 4: 197–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam. 2000. Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik, ed. Roger Martin, David Michaels, and Juan Uriagereka, 89–156. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Chomsky, Noam. 2001. Derivation by phase. In Ken Hale: A life in language, ed. Michael Kenstowicz, 1–52. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and functional heads. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Constant, Noah. 2011. On the independence of Mandarin aspectual and contrastive sentence-final ne. In Proceedings of the 23rd North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-23), ed. Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, vol. 2, 15–29. Eugene: University of Oregon.

  • Constant, Noah. 2014. Contrastive topic: Meanings and realizations. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

  • Dikken, Den, and Marcel. 2007. Phase extension: Contours of a theory of the role of head movement in phrasal extraction. Theoretical Linguistics 33: 1–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2010. Sentence-final only and the interpretation of focus in Mandarin Chinese. In The Proceedings of the 22nd North American Conference of Chinese Linguistics (NACCL 22) and the 18th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL 18), 18–35.

  • Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2012. Structurally distant haplology. Snippets 26: 7–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2013. Sentence-final particles at the vP phase edge. Manuscript, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; to appear in the Proceedings of the 25th North American Conference of Chinese Linguistics (NACCL 25).

  • Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2014a. Alternative questions through focus alternatives in Mandarin Chinese. In Proceedings of the 48th Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 48), ed. Andrea Beltrama, Tasos Chatzikonstantinou, Jackson L. Lee, Mike Pham, and Diane Rak, 221–234. Chicago: CLS.

  • Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2014b. Movement out of focus. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. in progress. Focus-sensitive adverbs in Mandarin Chinese.

  • Ernst, Thomas. 2002. The syntax of adjuncts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Gallego, Ángel. 2007. Phase theory and parametric variation. Doctoral Dissertation, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona.

  • Gallego, Ángel. 2010. Phase theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

  • Grano, Thomas Angelo. 2012. Control and restructuring at the syntax–semantics interface. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Chicago.

  • Grimshaw, Jane. 2000. Locality and extended projection. In Lexical specification and insertion, ed. Peter Coopmans, Martin B.H. Everaert, and Jane Grimshaw, 115–134. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

  • Hacquard, Valentine. 2010. On the event relativity of modal auxiliaries. Natural Language Semantics 18: 79–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haegeman, Liliane. 2006. Conditionals, factives and the left periphery. Lingua 116: 1651–1669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagstrom, Paul. 2005. A-not-A questions. In The Blackwell companion to syntax, vol. 1, chap. 7. Amsterdam: Blackwell.

  • Holmberg, Anders. 2000. Deriving OV order in Finnish. In The derivation of VO and OV, ed. Peter Svenonius, Number 31 in Linguistic Aktuell, 123–152. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

  • Horn, Laurence Robert. 1969. A presuppositional analysis of only and even. In Papers from the Fifth Regional Meeting, ed. Robert I. Binnick, Alice Davison, Georgia M. Green, and J.L. Morgan, 98–107. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.

  • Hsieh, Feng-fan, and Rint P.E. Sybesma. 2011. On the linearization of Chinese sentence-final particles: Max spell out and why CP moves? Korea Journal of Chinese Language and Literature 49: 53–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh, Miao-Ling. 1996. On the functions of three forms of negation in Chinese. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 26: 161–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh, Miao-Ling. 2001. Form and meaning: Negation and question in Chinese. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Southern California.

  • Hu, Mingyang. 1981. Beijinghua de yuqi zhuci he tanci [Mood particles and interjections in the Beijing dialect]. Zhongguo Yuwen 347–350: 416–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Cheng-Teh James. 1982. Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Huang, Cheng-Teh James. 1988a. Shuo ‘shi’ he ‘you’ [On ‘be’ and ‘have’ in Chinese]. The Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academica Sinica 59: 43–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Cheng-Teh James. 1988b. Wo pao de kuai and Chinese phrase structure. Language 64: 274–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Cheng-Teh James. 1991. Modularity and Chinese A-not-A questions. In Interdisciplinary approaches to linguistics: essays in honor of Yuki Kuroda, 305–332. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

  • Huang, Rui-heng Ray. 2009. Delimiting three types of disjunctive scope in Mandarin Chinese. In University system of Taiwan working papers in linguistics.

  • Huang, Rui-heng Ray. 2010. Disjunction, coordination, and question: A comparative study. Doctoral Dissertation, National Taiwan Normal University.

  • Huang, Shi-Zhe. 1996. Quantification and predication in Mandarin Chinese: A case study of dou. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Jackendoff, Ray. 1972. Semantic interpretation in generative grammar. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Kayne, Richard. 1994. The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Lee, Hun-tak Thomas. 1986. Studies on quantification in Chinese. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles.

  • Li, Boya. 2006. Chinese sentence-final particles and the syntax of the periphery. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Leiden.

  • Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Li, Yen-hui Audrey. 1992. Indefinite wh in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 1: 125–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 1998a. Distributivity in Chinese and its implications. Natural Language Semantics 6: 201–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 1998b. On existential polarity wh-phrases in Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 7: 219–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Tzong-Hong Jonah. 2006. Complement-to-specifier movement in Mandarin Chinese. Manuscript, National Tsing Hua University.

  • Lin, Tzong-Hong Jonah. 2011. Finiteness of clauses and raising of arguments in Mandarin Chinese. Syntax 14: 48–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moro, Andrea. 2000. Dynamic antisymmetry. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Pan, Junnan Victor, and Waltraud Paul. 2014. Finiteness in Mandarin Chinese and the basic syntax of kěnéng. Manuscript, CNRS/Université Paris Diderot and CRLAO/CNRS.

  • Paul, Waltraud. 2009. Consistent disharmony: Sentence-final particles in Chinese. Manuscript, CRLAO/CNRS.

  • Paul, Waltraud. 2014. Why particles are not particular: Sentence-final particles in Chinese as heads of a split CP. Studia Linguistica 68: 77–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, Waltraud. 2015. New perspectives on Chinese syntax. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

  • Philip, Joy. 2013. (Dis)harmony, the Head-Proximate filter, and linkers. Journal of Linguistics 49: 165–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, Norvin. 2016. Contiguity theory. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of grammar, ed. Liliane Haegeman, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

  • Rooth, Mats. 1985. Association with focus. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

  • Santana-LaBarge, Robert. 2016. The grammaticalization of yao and the future cycle from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin. In Cyclical change continued, ed. Elly van Gelderen, 395–418. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

  • Sheehan, Michelle. 2013a. Explaining the Final-over-Final Constraint: Formal and functional approaches. In Theoretical approaches to disharmonic word orders, ed. Theresa Biberauer and Michelle Sheehan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Sheehan, Michelle. 2013b. Some implications of a copy theory of labeling. Syntax 16: 362–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, Andrew. 2001. Focus, presupposition and light predicate raising in Southeast Asian languages and Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 10: 89–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, Andrew, and Wu Zoe. 2002. IP-raising, tone sandhi and creation of s-final particles: Evidence from cyclic spell-out. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 11: 67–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soh, Hooi Ling. 2009. Speaker presupposition and Mandarin Chinese sentence-final -le: A unified analysis of the “change of state” and the “contrary to expectation” reading. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 27: 623–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soh, Hooi Ling, and Meijia Gao. 2006. Perfective aspect and transition in Mandarin Chinese: An analysis of double -le sentences. In Proceedings of the 2004 Texas Linguistics Society conference, 107–122.

  • Tai, James Hau-Y. 1969. Conjunction reduction. Doctoral Dissertation, Indiana University.

  • Takita, Kensuke. 2009. If Chinese is head-initial, Japanese cannot be. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 18: 41–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tancredi, Chris. 1990. Not only EVEN, but even ONLY. Manuscript, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Tang, Sze-Wing. 1998. Parametrization of features in syntax. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Irvine.

  • Tang, Ting-Chi. 1988. Pubian yufa yu han-ying duibi fenzhi (Universal Grammar and a comparative analysis of Chinese and English). In Hanyu cifa jufa lunji (Studies on Chinese morphology and syntax), 213–256. Taipei: Student Book Company.

  • Teng, Shou-Hsin. 1979. Remarks on cleft sentences in Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 7: 101–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Travis, Lisa deMena. 1984. Parameters and effects of word order variation. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Trinh, Tue H. 2011. Edges and linearization. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan. 1994. On economizing the theory of A-bar dependencies. Doctoral Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan. 2004. Tan ‘zhi’ yu ‘lian’ de xingshi yuyi [On the formal semantics of only and even in Chinese]. Zhongguo Yuwen 2: 99–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan. 2015. On the topography of Chinese modals. In Beyond functional sequence, ed. Ur Shlonsky, 275–294. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Uriagereka, Juan. 1999. Multiple spell-out. In Working minimalism, ed. Samuel David Epstein and Norbert Hornstein, 251–282. Cambridge: MIT.

  • Wible, David, and Eva Chen. 2000. Linguistic limits on metalinguistic negation: Evidence from Mandarin and English. Language and Linguistics 1: 233–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiedenhof, Jeroen M. 1994. Standard Mandarin. In Typological studies in negation, ed. Peter Kahrel and René van den Berg, 94–124. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

  • Yeh, Ling-Hsia. 1992. On sentential negation in Chinese. Manuscript, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

  • Yeh, Ling-Hsia. 1995. Focus, metalinguistic negation and contrastive negation. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 23: 42–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Dexi. 1982. Yufa jiangyi [On grammar]. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English Language & Literature, National University of Singapore, 7 Arts Link Block AS5, Singapore, 117570, Singapore

    Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine

Authors
  1. Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Erlewine, M.Y. Low sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese and the Final-over-Final Constraint. J East Asian Linguist 26, 37–75 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-016-9150-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-016-9150-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation