Abstract
This paper analyzes the Mandarin counterpart of a German construction that is initiated with a [degree + determiner] cluster, such as total die Party ‘a total party’. It shows that the Deg-to-D head movement in German is also seen in the Mandarin hao + yi + ge construction. Moreover, it argues that in Mandarin, the head cluster moves further out of the DP, explaining why the construction rejects an overt copula and why it is used as a predicate exclusively. Furthermore, it identifies the null subject of the construction in Mandarin, which is exclamative, as a new type of obligatorily silent subject, parallel to the type of null subject that is found in imperatives and exhortatives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Abbreviations in the glosses: CL: classifier; DE: modification; EI: expressive intensifier; EXCL: exclamatory; FM: focus marker; PRF: perfective aspect; Q: question.
Our discussion is restricted to the constructions that are initiated with the cluster hao + yi + CL. (i) represents a more complex construction, where da ‘big’ precedes the classifier or unit word. We do not discuss it here.
(i)
Hao
yi
da
guan
mifeng
gai
zenme
chuli
a?
ei
one
big
jar
honey
should
how
deal.with
q
‘How should I deal with this big jar of honey?’
We also leave for future research the hao-ni-ge construction, as seen in (ii). Unlike EDCs, the construction is used to condemn or mock the hearer only: it cannot be used to address any other persons.
(ii)
Hao
ni
ge
pianzi!
ei
you
cl
cheater
‘EI you cheater!’
In G&T, their (67a) and (68a), which are our (11a) and (12a), respectively, are marked with *. But as pointed out by an anonymous reviewer, these examples can be acceptable given the right context. We thus marked them with #.
One reviewer asks why, if the adjective in the EDC in (ib) is gradable, can it not occur with hen ‘very’ in (ia).
(i)
a.
*hen
naohonghong
de
jiaoshi
b.
hao
yi
ge
naohonghong
de
jiaoshi.
very
chaotic.noisy
de
classroom
ei
one
cl
chaotic.noisy
de
classroom
‘EI a chaotic and noisy classroom’
A complex adjective such as naohonghong is indeed incompatible with a degree word (Lü 1980; Zhang 2015: 27). One account for the acceptability of (ib) is that the construction can be an N-EDC, instead of M-EDC. In other words, the EI hao is associated with the whole nominal naohonghong de jiaoshi, rather than naohonghong alone. But I leave the issue for future research.
The pro subject of an EDC in Mandarin may not be plural, as seen in (i). But this restriction comes from the yi-nominal itself. This restriction is seen in any nominal predicate that has yi, not restricted to EDCs.
(i)
Hao
yi
ge
xingshang
{ziji/*tamen-ziji}
de
ren!
ei
one
cl
admire
self/they-self
de
person
‘What a person that admires himself!’
The compound zi-wo ‘self-1st.sg’ is synonymous to ziji ‘self’, and thus it does not have a first person feature. In (63a) and (63b), ziji can be replaced with zi-wo.
Also, for some unknown reason, if a reflexive is intended to have a second or first person reading, only the bare ziji, but not ni-ziji ‘yourself’ or wo-ziji ‘myself’, is allowed in an EDC (I thank Hsuan-Hsiang Wang for noticing this fact):
(ii)
Hao
yi
ge
xingshang
{ziji/*ni-ziji}
de
ren!
ei
one
cl
admire
self/you-self
de
person
Intended: ‘You are an EI person that admires yourself!’
One reviewer asks whether, in the case where an EDC is an exclamative, rejection of a copula and the impossibility of functioning as an argument can be explained straightforwardly. Let us consider the contrast between (ia) and (ib):
(i)
a.
Mary knows how very cute he is.
(Zanuttini and Portner 2003: 46)
b.
*Mali
zhidao
hao
yi
duo
moli-hua.
Mali
know
ei
one
cl
jasmine-flower
If know c-selects either a DP or CP, (ia) satisfies the CP selection, since the wh-movement of the how-phrase lands in the C-domain. Assume that zhidao ‘know’ also c-selects either a DP or CP. The unacceptability of (ib) may suggest that the clause level of an EDC in Mandarin is lower than a CP and thus it cannot be selected by zhidao. Thus, an EDC in the language is still different from other kinds of exclamatives.
The rejection of a copula in an EDC is indeed compatible with the status of an exclamative clause, which never follows a copula. Thus, the restriction can be explained from different perspectives. Nevertheless, the head movement of a degree element is still necessary to derive an EDC, where hao is not in its canonical position (§3).
References
Adger, David. 2003. Core syntax: A minimalist approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Adger, David, and Gillian Ramchand. 2005. Merge and move: Wh-dependencies revisited. Linguistic Inquiry 36(2): 161–193.
Arche, María J., Antonio Fábregas, and Rafael Marín. 2020. Main questions in the study of copulas: Categories, structures and operations. In Grammar of copulas across languages, ed. María J. Arche, Antonio Fábregas, and Rafael Marín, 1–30. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Badan, Linda, and Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng. 2015. Exclamatives in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 24(4): 383–413.
Bolinger, Dwight. 1967. The imperative in English. In To honor Roman Jakobson: Essays on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, vol. 1, ed. Roman Jakobson, 335–362. The Hague: Mouton.
Carlson, Greg. 1977. Reference to kinds in English. Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Published in 1980. Garland Press, New York.
Castroviejo, Miró E. 2006. Wh-exclamatives in Catalan. Doctoral dissertation. University of Barcelona, Barcelona.
Castroviejo, Miró E. 2008. An expressive answer: Some considerations on the semantics and pragmatics of wh-exclamatives. Proceedings from the annual meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. 44(2): 3–17. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Cinque, Guglielmo. 2010. The syntax of adjectives: A comparative study. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Constantinescu, Camelia. 2011. Gradability in the nominal domain. Doctoral dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden.
Davidson, Donald Herbert. 1967. The logical form of action sentences. In The logic of decision and action, ed. N. Rescher, 81–120. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Elliott, Dale E. 1974. Toward a grammar of exclamations. Foundations of Language 11: 231–246.
Geist, Ljudmila. 2019. Predication over aspects of human individuals. Linguistics 57(6): 1305–1336.
Grano, Thomas. 2012. Mandarin hen and universal markedness in gradable adjectives. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 30(2): 513–565.
Gutzmann, Daniel, and Katharina Turgay. 2015. Expressive intensifiers and external degree modification. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 17(3): 185–228.
Haider, Hubert. 2003. V-clustering and clause union. In Verb constructions in German and Dutch, ed. Pieter A.M. Seuren and Gerard Kempen. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hohaus, Vera, and M. Ryan Bochnak. 2020. The grammar of degree: Gradability across languages. Annual Review of Linguistics 6: 235–259.
Kallulli, Dalina, and Antonia Rothmayr. 2008. The syntax and semantics of indefinite determiner doubling constructions in varieties of German. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 11(2): 95–136.
Kaplan, David. 1999. The meaning of ouch and oops. Explorations in the theory of meaning as use. Masss, LA: University of California.
Kennedy, Christopher, and Louise McNally. 2005. Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language 81: 345–381.
Lasersohn, Peter. 2000. Same, models and representation. Semantics and Linguistic Theory 10: 83–97.
Li, Xuping. 2019. Nominal gradability in Mandarin: The Deg-N construction. Talk given at the Conference on Degree Grammar, Nanjing, March 16–17.
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther. 2010. The positive morpheme in Chinese and the adjectival structure. Lingua 120(4): 1010–1056.
Lü, Shuxiang. 1980. Xiandai Hanyu Babai Ci [800 Words in Chinese]. Beijing: Shangwu Press.
Matushansky, Ora. 2002. Movement of degree/degree of movement. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.
Meinunger, André. 2009. Leftmost peripheral adverbs and adjectives in German. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 12(2): 115–135.
Milsark, Gary. 1974. Existential sentences in English. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.
Mittwoch, Anita. 2005. Do states have Davidsonian arguments? Some empirical considerations. In Event arguments: Foundations and applications, ed. C. Maienborn and A. Wöllstein, 69–88. Tübingen: Max Niemyer Verlag.
Morzycki, Marcin. 2009. Degree modification of gradable nouns: Size adjectives and adnominal degree morphemes. Natural Language Semantics 17(2): 175–203.
Morzycki, Marcin. 2012. The several faces of adnominal degree modification. Proceedings of WCCFL 29: 187–195.
Parsons, Terence. 1990. Events in the semantics of English, vol. 5. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Portner, Paul, and Raffaella Zanuttini. 2005. The semantics of nominal exclamatives. In Ellipsis and nonsentential speech, ed. Reinaldo Elugardo and Robert J. Stainton, 57–67. Dordrecht: Springer.
Potts, Christopher. 2007. The expressive dimension. Theoretical Linguistics 33(2): 165–197.
Rizzi, Luigi. 1990. Relativized minimality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Seuren, Pieter A.M. 1973. The comparative. In Generative grammar in Europe, ed. F. Kiefer and N. Ruwet, 528–564. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Sybesma, Rint. 1999. The Mandarin VP. Dordrecht: Springer.
Travis, Lisa. 1984. Parameters and effects of word order variation. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan. 2008. Object specificity in Chinese: A view from the vP periphery. The Linguistic Review 25(3–4): 479–502.
Williams, Edwin. 1985. PRO and subject of NP. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 3(3): 297–315.
Xie, Zhiguo, and Qiongpeng Luo. 2019. Degree intensifiers as expressives in Mandarin Chinese. Language and Linguistics 20(2): 256–281.
Yang, Ching-Yu Helen. 2017. Exclamatives in Mandarin Chinese: the syntax–semantics interface. Doctoral dissertation, National Tsing Hua University.
Zanuttini, Raffaella, and Paul Portner. 2003. Exclamative clauses: At the syntax-semantics interface. Language 79(1): 39–81.
Zanuttini, Raffaella, Miok Pak, and Paul Portner. 2012. A syntactic analysis of interpretive restrictions on imperative, promissive, and exhortative subjects. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 30(4): 1231–1274.
Zhang, Niina Ning. 2011. Semantic features of counting units in a syntagmatic perspective. In Language and cognition: Festschrift in honor of James H-Y. Tai on his 70th birthday, ed. Jung-hsing Chang, 363–393. Taipei: Crane Publishing.
Zhang, Niina Ning. 2013. Classifier structures in Mandarin Chinese. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Zhang, Niina Ning. 2015a. Functional head properties of the degree word Hen in Mandarin Chinese. Lingua 153: 14–41.
Zhang, Niina Ning. 2015b. Nominal-internal phrasal movement in Mandarin Chinese. The Linguistic Review 32(2): 375–425.
Zhang, Niina Ning. 2019. Complex indefinites and the projection of DP in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 28(2): 179–210.
Zhang, Qingwen. 2009. On the syntax of non-verbal predication in Mandarin Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and to James Huang for his continued support. I also thank Hsuan-Hsiang Wang, Wei Cheng Sung, Chiachen Chang, Jianhui Zhang, Chuyao Zhang, and Lixin Jin for their help with the examples. Remaining errors are mine. This research has been partially supported by the grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, N.N. External degree constructions in Mandarin. J East Asian Linguist 29, 365–392 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-020-09216-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-020-09216-6