In this section, we shall argue that ye is an adverb instead of an adverbial conjunction by the following evidence (cf. Lu (1968), Liu (2001), Hole (2004)). First, Chinese coordinated structure can be expressed by a coordinator, such as bingqie ‘and’ in (52), er ‘and’ in (53) or a zero coordinator in (54)-(57).15 According to Chao (1968), the
14 Since ye plays a crucial role with respect to the pitch accent of the sentence, we shall suggest that ye be a focusing adverb in the following section (cf. Konig (1991)). Besides, the meaning of ‘additive’
in ‘additive particle’ actually derives from the presupposition of ye: asides from the sentence with ye is true, there is at least one additional expression P will be true (cf. Krifka (1999)).
15 According to Chao (1968), in addition to an overt coordinator or a zero coordinator, there are four extra markers of coordination: (i) pause; (ii) particle; (iii) falling ending; and (iv) correlative marker or repeated marker, as shown by examples in (i)-(iv), respectively.
(i) Zhangsan chi yi-wan fan, Lisi chi liang-wan mian.
Zhangsan eat one-CL rice Lisi eat two-CL noodles
‘Zhangsan ate one bowl of rice, and Lisi ate two bowls of noodles.’
(ii) Tamen tiantian daqiu lei, fushuei lei, tiaowu lei.
They everyday play ball Particle surf particle dance Particle
zero morpheme is the most frequent marker of coordinated structures.16 That is to say, coordinated expressions can occur in succession without conjunctions; sometimes even without pause, as shown by (54)-(57).17
(52) Dushuhui yiding yiao zhuzhi qi-lai bingqie zhichi Study group must want organize arise-come and insist xiaqu.
down-come
‘The study group must be organized and kept going on.’
(53) Bali shi Faguo de shoudu, er Luoma shi Yidali de shoudu.
Paris is France DE capital and Rome is Italy De capital
‘Paris is the capital of France, and Rome is the capital of Italy.’
(54) Zhangsan chi-le liang-wan fan, Lisi chi-le wu-wan mian.
Zhangsan eat-ASP two-CL rice Lisi eat-ASP five-CL noodles
‘Zhangsan ate two bowls of rice, and Lisi ate five bowls of noodles.’
‘He can draw birds, flowers, trees, houses, but not people.’
(iv) a. Zhangsan budan hui yingwen ye hui fawen.
Zhangsan not only know English also know French
‘Zhangsan can not only speak English but also French.’
b. Zhangsan you change you tiaowu.
Zhangsan also sing also dance
‘Zhangsan is singing and dancing.’
16 This does not entail that each coordinator can be substituted by a zero morpheme. For example, some sentences will alter their meanings, supposing that the original coordinator is deleted, as shown by the contrast between (i) and (ii).
(i) Ni yiao ziji qu huo gen bieren qu?
You want self go or with other people go
‘Do you want to go by yourself or with others?’
(ii) *Ni yiao ziji qu gen bie ren qu?
17 The conjuncts are prone to occur in succession without pause, when their conjuncts are short (cf.
Chao (1968)).
(55) Ni bu lai, wo bu qu.18 You not come I not go
‘Neither do you come, nor do I go.’
(56) Ta youshihou ku, youshihhou xiao.
He sometimes cry sometimes laugh
‘He sometimes cries and sometimes laughs.’
(57) Tamen mai zhuozi yizi.
They sold tables chairs
‘They sold tables and chairs.’
Given this, sentences with ye can be conjoined by a zero coordinator, and ye does not have to serve as a coordinator.
Second, ye, unlike a coordinator bingqie ‘and’, can occur in a single sentence, as illustrated by (58)-(61). Thus, ye can not be treated as a coordinator, since it has nothing to conjoin.19
(58) Lisi ye qu-guo Meiguo.
Lisi also go-ASP America
‘Lisi has also been to America.’
(59) *Bingqie Lisi qu-guo Meiguo.20, 21
18 Example (55) is structurally ambiguous. It can be analyzed as a coordinated structure or a conditional sentence. Since the conditional structure is beyond the scope of the thesis, we shall only focus on the first interpretation.
19 One may argue that when ye occurs in a single sentence, it is a macrosyntactic use of a conjunction, depending on something outside the sentence in which it occurs. This usage of ye is beyond the scope of this thesis, and we shall not discuss it in the remaining thesis.
20 According to Zhu (1968), Lu (1980), bingqie ‘and’ is a coordinator.
And Lisi go-ASP America
‘And Lisi has also been to America.’
(60) Zhe ye jiu shi laoshi chang shuo de: you zhi zhe shi This also then is teacher often say DE: you will person thing
jing cheng.
eventually success
‘This is what the teacher said: where there is a will there is a way.’
(61) * Bingqie zhe jiu shi laoshi chang shuo de: you zhi And this then is teacher often say DE: you will zhe shi jing cheng.
person thing eventually success
‘And this is what the teacher said: where there is a will there is a way.’
Third, a coordinator generally cannot co-occur with another coordinator or subordinator. This substantiates that ye, which can follow a coordinator qie ‘and’ or a subordinator yinwei ‘since’, is not a coordinator, as shown by (62)-(64).22
(62) Ta changchang bu tinghua, bingqie youshi ye hui He usually not obedient and sometimes also will shua-piqi.
lose temper
‘He is not usually obedient, and sometimes he also loses his temper.’
(63) *Ta changchang bu tinghua, qie bingqie youshi hui
21 In case that more information is provided in the discourse, this sentence can be grammatical in the conversation.
22 According to Zhu (1968), Lu (1980), qie ‘and’ is a coordinator.
He usually not obedient and and sometimes will shua-piqi.
lose temper
‘He is not usually obedient, and sometimes he also loses his temper.’
(64) (Yinwei) ta you yi-shuang da yianjing, suoyi ye/* bingqie Since she has one-CL big eyes so also/*and
geng xiyin ren.
more charming people
‘Since she has big eyes, she is more charming.’
Thus far, it is plausible for us to rule out the possibility that ye functions as a conjunction, or as an adverbial conjunction.
In sum, we have pointed out that ye should be an adverb by the following reasons:
(A) Chinese allows a zero coordinator, and thus ye does not need to function as an adverbial conjunction; (B) ye can occur in a single sentence; and (C) ye can co-occur with a coordinator or a subordinator. In the following, we shall first briefly introduce Rooth’s (1985, 1992, 1997) alternative semantics as a preliminary, and then the proposal that ye presupposes an alternative set will be suggested.