1.2.1 Single vs. Multiple interpretations
When a sentence has only one reading, it is likely every element (such as the lexical nouns, pronominals, verbs and adjectives) in it only has single interpretation. For instance, the pronoun ta in (2) can only be interpreted as a discourse-bound, third-person pronoun whose identity is determined in the context. It can never refer to the matrix subject Zhangsan, according to Principle B of the Binding Theory (cf. Chomsky, 1981).
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(2) Zhangsani piping ta*i/k. Zhangsan criticize he
‘Zhangsani criticized him.*i/k’
When a sentence has more than one reading, it is likely that an element (such as the lexical nouns, pronominals, verbs and adjectives) has multiple interpretations1. For example, the pronoun ta ‘he’ as in (3) is ambiguous.
(3) Wo kanjian Zhangsani de shihau, tai/j zai dazi.
I see Zhangsan DE time he at type
‘When I saw Zhangsani, hei/j was typing.’ (Huang, 1982: 275)
In (3), the pronoun ta ‘he’ can refer to either Zhangsan or a discourse-bound, third-person pronoun not specified in the clause, without violating Principle B of the Binding Theory.
1.2.2 Specificity of NP
Generally speaking, a noun phrase (NP) can be specific and non-specific according to the notion of specificity. Based on von Heusinger (2002), specificity is defined as a NP which is ‘referentially anchored’ to another expression in the discourse. A specific NP is
‘functionally linked to the speaker of the sentence or to another referential expression in the sentence such as the subject or object’ (von Heusinger, 2002: 35).
(4) Lisi shi wo-de laoshi.
Lisi be my teacher
‘Lisi is my teacher.’
1 The main focus of the present study is on pronominal interpretations, so the ambiguous sentences caused by polysemies including lexical nouns, verbs, adjectives will not be discussed here.
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As can be seen in (4), the NP wo-de laoshi ‘my teacher’ is specific since it is linked to the subject Lisi in the sentence. The use of proper name Lisi also indicates that the NP wo-de laoshi is definite because the speaker assumes that the referent is known to the hearer (Givón,
1978).
However, a non-specific NP can be indefinite or generic (cf. Liu, 2001) since it is not functionally linked to another expression in the discourse, as in (5) and (6).
(5) You xie ren xihuan youyong, you xie ren xihuan paobu.
some_people like swim some_people like jog
‘Some like swimming and others like jogging.’
(6) Dajia juede shengbing yao duo xiuxi.
everybody feel sick want more rest
‘Everybody believes that a sick person should have a good rest.’
In (5), the indefinite NP you-xie-ren ‘some people’ is non-specific because the intended referents of the speaker are not specified in the context. In (6), the generic NP dajia
‘everybody’ is also non-specific on account that it just denotes a generic group of people in the world.
Therefore, a diagram regarding the classification of noun phrases can be represented in (7).
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A specific NP is definite since it is ‘referentially anchored’ to a particular referent. On the contrary, a non-specific NP can be indefinite or generic because it is not referentially specified in the discourse.
1.2.3 Directionality of pronominal coreference
There are two types of pronominal coreference, namely forward and backward, according to the referential direction involved in anaphoric interpretations. Forward coreference, as in (8a), refers to a sentence in which the pronominal follows the antecedent, while backward coreference, as shown in (8b), refers to a sentence in which the pronominal precedes the antecedent.
(8) a. When Sarahi listens to music, shei reads poetry.
b. When shei listens to music, Sarahi reads poetry. (Lust, 2006: 214)
As indicated by Lust (2006), in an English adverbial sentence, although both forward coreference and backward coreference are grammatical in adult grammar, children showed a stronger preference for forward than for backward coreference, indicating that children are sensitive to the head direction of their L1s in the acquisition of grammatical anaphora. Some
2 There is also another classification of NPs. Givón (1978) classified NPs into definite and indefinite according to the notion of definiteness. A definite noun refers to a referent that is ‘assumed by the speaker to be uniquely identifiable to the hearer,’ while an indefinite noun is used when the speaker is ‘not so assumed that the referent is uniquely identifiable to the hearer.’ However, according to von Heusinger (2002), it is quite hard to
understand the speaker’s attitudes toward the hearer’s the mental representation, so from the acquisitional perspective, this classification seems to be difficult to work with.
3 A specific NP can also be indefinite. A specific indefinite NP generally refers to a referent which is known to the speaker but unknown to the hearer. However, it is uncommon for a pronominal to be specific indefinite because the use of a pronominal often indicates that the speaker believes the referent is already known to the hearer.
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researchers have also found that children whose L1 is head-initial productively choose forward over backward coreference (e.g., C.S Chomsky, 1969; Goodluck, 1981; Lust et al., 1986; Solan, 1983). However, children whose L1 is head-final significantly perform better on sentences with backward coreference (e.g., Lust & Chien, 1984; Lust et al., 1982).
As for Chinese, both forward coreference as in (9) and backward coreference as in (10) are acceptable.
(9) Wo ma Lisii, yinwei tai zuo cuo shi le.
I scold Lisi because he do wrong thing Par
‘I scolded Lisii because hei did something wrong.’
(10) Wo ma tai, yinwei Lisii zuo cuo shi le.
I scold him because Lisi do wrong thing Par
‘I scolded himi because Lisii did something wrong.’ (Kao, 1993: 157)
As pointed out by Kao (1993), although some languages display precedence constraints on the direction of referential pronouns, there is no such general constraint against backward coreference in Mandarin Chinese.