國立交通大學
外國語文學系
外國文學與語言學碩士班
碩士論文
台語 kha…ma 結構的量化分析
Taiwanese kha….ma Correlative Constructions:
A Quantificational Analysis
研究生: 劉美玲
指導教授: 劉辰生 博士
徐淑瑛 博士
台語 kha…ma 結構的量化分析
Taiwanese kha….ma Correlative Constructions:
A Quantificational Analysis
研究生: 劉美玲 Student : Mei-Ling Liu 指導教授: 劉辰生 Advisor : Chen-Sheng Liu
徐淑瑛 Shu-ing Shyu 國立交通大學 外國語文學系 外國文學與語言學碩士班 碩士論文 A Thesis
Submitted to Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures Graduate Institute of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics
National Chiao Tung University in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master
In
Graduate Institute of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics May 2010
Hsinchu, Taiwanese, Republic of China 中華民國九十九年 五月
i 台語kha…ma 結構的量化分析 研究生: 劉美玲 指導教授: 劉辰生 博士 徐淑瑛 博士 國立交通大學外國語文學系外國文學與語言學碩士班 摘要 本論文題旨在於探討台語的kha…ma關聯句式，並從句法、語意和語用等不 同的角度切入，進而提出一個量化的分析方式。在句法上，這個結構嚴格要求kha 和ma這兩個語素必須同時出現以符合關聯句式的意義。從結構上可以看出句法 移位策略並未運用到這個結構中，因為這兩個語素可以出現在句法孤島之中，而 不會造成句子的不合語法。此外，能夠被kha和ma所引介，並當作謂語的情狀語 (situation types)都必須要符合unboundedness的限制。 語意上，這個關聯句式中的程度副詞kha可以一方面選擇一個程度性的謂語， 另一方面也可以選擇一個非程度性的動態謂語做為它的補語。有鑑於此，個人提 出kha可以「非選擇性地約束」(unselectively bind)程度性變數或是量詞性變數的 看法。再者,這個關聯句式可被分析為一個量化性的三分結構，當中量化的動力 源自於一個(隱藏)量化副詞，核心範疇對應到ma所引介的部份,限制範疇則對應到 kha所修飾的部份。 這種關聯句式在語用上所顯現的「預期一違反語意」特性是 kha 和 ma 這個 兩個語素在語用上交互作用所產生的結果，這就類似於英文的 no matter wh 的句 型，且「預期一違反語意」是成對的關係，也就是說在 kha 句子中呈現正面的預 期在 ma 的句子就出現負面語意的違反；反之，若在 kha 句子中呈現反面的預期， 則在 ma 的句子就以正面的結果來違反。 關鍵詞：台語 kha，ma，關聯句式，量化三分結構，預期－違反語意 ，句法－語意介面
ii
Taiwanese kha….ma Correlative Constructions: A Quantificational Analysis
Student : Mei-Ling Liu Advisor : Dr. Chen-Sheng Liu
Dr. Shu-ing Shyu
Graduate Institute of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics National Chiao Tung University
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to study the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of Taiwanese kha…ma construction and a quantificational analysis is proposed. This study has demonstrated for the first time how the Taiwanese kha… ma construction exhibits its properties in linguistics. Syntactically, this construction behaves divergently from the Taiwanese canonical comparative construction. The predicate of comparison in the canonical kha comparative must involve a gradable element or a predicate contains gradable sense. As for the Taiwanese kha…ma correlative construction, the predicate can be a gradable or a non-gradable one. In addition, this construction obligatorily requires two morphemes “kha and ma”, which have to co-occur with each other to keep the correlative sense. This construction does not involve any syntactic movement.
Semantically, the situation type of predicate modified by kha and that of the predicated introduced by ma must obey the unboundedness condition. So, the predicate complement selected by the degree head kha can be a gradable or a non-gradable one. In other words, the degree kha unselectively binds degree variables as well as quantity variables depending on the predicates. Besides, the quantificational
iii
force in this construction comes from an (implicit) adverb of quantification and introduces the quantificational tripartite structure. The kha clause enters into the restrictive scope while the nuclear scope is provided by the ma clause. The syntactic and semantic mapping relation is in accordance with Liu‟s (2008) Revised Extended Mapping Hypothesis.
Pragmatically, the two morphemes kha and ma work together to contribute to expectation-contravention reading in line with English no matter wh- construction and represent a pair relation.
Keywords: Taiwanese, Taiwanese Southern Min, kha, ma, correlative construction, quantificational tripartite structure, expectation-contravention
iv 致謝 完成論文之際，一時竟無法用任何言語來形容這複雜的心情。回首來時路， 心中除了感激還是感激。 首先我要感謝交通大學外國文學及語言學研究所的全體老師，感謝你們在四 年前願意錄取一個大學念的是會計，又工作了十幾年的學生。因為你們的寬容讓 我有機會重新回到校園當個學生。我常開玩笑說交大語言所有「五大金剛」，因 為你們如金剛般的語言學知識，引領著我去探索語言學這座寶山，也讓我發現其 中的奧妙及樂趣，更讓我決定踏上語言學的不歸路繼續我博士學位的研究，沒有 你們的幫忙就沒今天的我，此刻我要逐一向我敬愛的老師們獻上我最深摯的感 激。 我最感謝也最尊敬的是我的指導教授劉辰生老師，當他的學生是幸福的，回 首這四年來，我上的最多的課程就是老師的句法學專題，老師在句法學上的洞察 力，在形容詞及比較句上的深入研究，每每讓我在課堂上獲益良多。此外老師為 人處事細膩的態度，做學問孜孜不倦的精神，教學認真不懈的方式，都令我非常 敬佩也值得我學習。更重要的是在整個論文寫作的過程中，從開始找題目到今天 完成之際，老師給我的幫忙更是不計其數。因為自己不是正統外文系出身，所以 一直以來英文寫作就是我最大的致命傷，從研究所一年級開始，老師就不斷地提 醒我，提升我的寫作能力是當務之計，可是我這魯鈍的學生竟讓老師指導我寫論 文也指導我寫作方式，更讓老師辛苦地為我修正文法上的錯誤，一次又一次不厭 其煩地幫我修改，和我討論，指正我的缺點，讓這篇論文從 unreadable 到 readable。 劉老師，您辛苦了，能當您的學生是幸福的。 另外，我也要感謝所上許慧娟老師、劉美君老師。謝謝許老師給我音韻學的 background，也讓我發現音韻學的趣味，許老師就像一座音韻寶山，懂得挖掘就
v 會發現寶藏。也謝謝美君老師，如果不是我必須回高雄，我想我會一直在您的研 究計劃的團隊中。謝謝美君老師帶領我們從功能學派角度去分析句法學，去發現 不同面向的句法理論。更要謝謝這兩位老師在我面臨喪母的椎心之痛時，鼓勵我、 安慰我，給我力量讓我繼續往前完成我的學業。謝謝你們！還要謝謝林若望老師， 因為我的論文需要對比中文的wh…dou 的結構，您便將您在清華學報的這篇文章 直接送我，謝謝您。還有潘荷仙老師，是您讓我學會切音，讓我發現語音的奧妙。 當然，還有所上賴郁雯老師，謝謝您的拔刀相助，三天的時間請您看完我的論文， 當我的口試委員，給我 comments，辛苦你了。感謝您的鼎力相助，才能讓我的 論文口試順利進行。 另一位，一定要獻上我最深的感謝和敬意的是，中山大學徐淑瑛老師， 我的論文共同指導教授。研究所二年級下學期，我回到高雄，到中山大學修了徐 老師的句法專題，課堂上徐老師給我許多啓發與幫助。當我決定了論文題目時， 老師也給我許多寶貴想法和意見，我便請老師當我的論文共同指導教授，老師也 欣然答應。每次與老師討論時，她便會先沏上一壺好茶，準備一些茶點，再開始 討論，有時討論結束，還邀你一起吃飯，閒話家常，關心你的生活。有時老師也 會 e-mail 給你、鼓勵你、也叮嚀你照顧自己，徐老師對我的關懷與指導，讓我深 深感動。而我那雜亂無章的論文稿，著實也讓老師傷透腦筋，花了許多時間為我 修改，徐老師，謝謝您，您辛苦了。 還要感謝高師大的郭進屘老師，謝謝您在語意學這個領域給我的幫助， 在整個論文寫作的過程中，您給了我許多寶貴意見，每次上完您的課，您總是會 與我討論我的論文中的許多問題，並給我相關的 paper，讓我從中找到我要的答 案，郭老師，謝謝您。
vi 除了感謝我最敬愛的師長們，當然還要感謝我最親愛的家人、親戚、和 朋友們。感謝我的好友 Kessie，謝謝你這一年來每天幫我接學生、準備中餐、照 顧他們寫功課，讓我可以安心地去上課、去和教授討論、去考試，沒有你的幫忙 我沒辦法順利拿到學位。感謝我的好友 Steve，謝謝你花了好幾天的時間為我的 破英文校稿，我知道這是件大工程。也謝謝你，這一路走來給我的支持與鼓勵。 感謝我的阿姨、姨丈、舅舅，謝謝你們對我的疼愛和照顧，也謝謝你們不厭其煩 的一次又一次讓我測試台語的語感，提供我台語的語料。感謝我的大哥、二哥、 二嫂，謝謝你們對小妹的疼愛和關心，更要謝謝大哥為全家人及為我所做的一切。 感謝我最親愛的乾媽，謝謝你對我的疼愛和鼓勵，提供我台語的語料，關心我的 論文的進度，每次接到電話一定先問我「你的腳(kha)寫完了沒？」。 最後，當然要感謝我最鍾愛的母親，雖然您不在我身邊，但此刻相信您一定 比任何人都高興，因為您知道你的小女兒終於完成碩士學位了。四年前，我求你 讓我賣掉我們的補習班，讓我專心當個學生，你雖然不捨，但你知道這是我的夢 想，你也知道我不會放棄的。從我決定考研究所開始，您就一直陪在我身邊，陪 我讀書，為我準備水果，幫我熄燈。正當我順利通過考試，開始我的學生生活的 同時，病魔卻也同時無情地把你從我身邊搶走，沒有你日子很難過，很辛苦，這 一路跌跌撞撞卻抓不到您那雙長滿繭的手。 此刻，我願將這本碩士論文獻給我最鍾愛的母親，以慰她在天之靈，並 由衷地感謝所有幫助我的人，記得陳之藩說過，要感謝的人太多了，那就「謝天」 吧！
vii Table of contents
Chinese Abstract ...i
English Abstract ...ii
Acknowledge ...iv
Table of contents ...vii
Chapter1 Introduction ...1
Chapter2 The Syntactic and Semantic Properties of Canonical Taiwanese Comparative Construction ...5
2.1 The canonical comparative ...5
2.2 The specific kha… ma construction ...20
Chapter 3 The Syntactic and Semantic Properties of the kha…ma Comparative Correlative Construction ...23
3.1 The syntax and semantics of kha…ma comparative correlative construction ...23
3.2 The expectation-contravention reading in kha…ma constructions and the comparisons between no matter wh in English and (wulun) wh…dou in Mandarin ...27
3.2.1 The expectation-contravention reading ...27
3.2.2 English no matter wh constructions ... 32
3.2.3 Mandarin (wulun) wh…. dou constructions ... 34
3.2.4 The contrast between Taiwanese, Mandarin, and English in no matter wh constructions...36
3.3 The situation types of predicates in kha… ma constructions ... 42
viii
3.5 The island effects... 48
3.6 Adverb of quantification... 50
3.6.1 Quantificational force and tripartite structure ... 51
3.6.2 Operator-Variable relations ...54
3.7 Taiwanese kha v.s. Mandarin zai „again‟ and English again ...56
3.8 Some pending questions ... 61
Chapter 4 Preliminary ...63
Chapter 5 Proposal ...67
5.1 The quantificational analysis: the syntax-semantics mapping ...68
5.2. The empirical and theoretical consequences...72
Chapter 6 Conclusion ...75
1
CHAPTER 1
_____________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION
In Taiwanese, there exists a specific kha…ma construction that empirically and theoretically challenges the analysis of conventional comparative literature.1 Linguists usually pay attentions to gradable adjectives in forming comparatives; however, the examples below indicate that the Taiwanese comparative morpheme kha can be exploited to modify not only the gradable predicates but also the non-gradable active verbs.2 An extensive search of the literature has revealed few studies that have been carried out into the unique linguistic properties of this Taiwanese comparative construction. This study has demonstrated for the first time how the Taiwanese kha…
ma construction exhibits its properties in linguistics. Therefore, the purpose of this
thesis is to study the syntax and semantics of the Taiwanese kha…ma construction based on a quantificational analysis, and the examples below are the main structure which I am going to analyze in this thesis.
(1) a. Tsit-khan tsabo-kin-na kha sui ma be tshua tit. This kind girl kha beautiful (Pro) ma not marry SFP ‗This kind of girl even though is beautiful; one cannot marry (her).‘
b. Li kha tsao ma bo hao.
1
Taiwanese is a dialect of the Chinese language used in Taiwan.
2 The abbreviations used in this article as glossed as follows: ASP: aspect; CL: classifier; POSS:
2 You kha run ma not useful
‗No matter how fast you try to run, it is useless.‘
This construction exhibits divergent properties from the canonical comparative construction, as the contrast below shows.
(2) a. Ong-e pi Tan-e kha kuan Ong-e compare Tan-e kha tall ‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘
b. *Ong-e pi Tan-e kha tsao Ong-e compare Tan-e kha run ‗Ong-e runs faster than Tan-e.‘
The contrast above leads to the first question: do we need to assume that there are two different khas (i.e. the lexical ambiguity analysis): one is used to modify gradable predicates to form the basic comparatives and the other is for non-gradable ones to constitute specific kha…ma constructions. This problem will be solved in line with Doetjes‘ (1997) selectional restriction of quantifying expressions in different contexts in chapter three.
In addition, in this thesis, I examine the Taiwanese kha…ma construction in the light of the properties of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Syntactically, this construction obligatorily requires two morphemes -kha and ma- to exist simultaneously to keep the correlative sense. This is the reason why I named it as a Taiwanese kha… ma construction. This construction displays two different forms: one
3
exhibits two clauses in which the two markers are involved, as illustrated in example (1a), and the other is the kha clause which can be embedded into the ma clause functions as a sentential subject, as shown by example (1b). This also implies that syntactic movement is not applied within this construction, otherwise the island effect, like the complex NP constrain, will cause the example to be ungrammatical. Furthermore, the situation types when modified by kha or introduced by ma should obey the effect of unboundedness.
Semantically, the quantificational force in this construction comes from an (implicit) adverb of quantification which introduces the quantificational tripartite structure. The syntactic and semantic mapping relation is subject to a revised version of Tsai‘s (2001:132) Extended Mapping Hypothesis proposed by Liu (2008:14).
Pragmatically, the two morphemes kha and ma work together to contribute to an expectation-contravention reading which represents a pair relation; namely, if the expectation reading in the kha clause is positive, then the violation reading will be negative, and vice versa.
This thesis is organized as follow: in chapter two, the syntactic and semantic properties of canonical comparatives in Taiwanese will be introduced and a contrast will be made with English and Mandarin. Chapter three will mainly focus on the specific kha … ma construction in terms of syntax, semantics and pragmatics as well. In turn, I will apply Doetjes (1997)‘s selectional restriction of quantifying expressions in different contexts and the assumption of theta q-position to account for why the degree adverb can be used to modify a non-gradable verbal predicate, and this issue will be discussed in chapter four. In addition, we need to clarify the syntactic and semantic functions of the two morphemes kha and ma in this correlative construction.
4
Moreover, it is necessary to further examine the adverb of quantificational structure and its corresponding tripartite structure based on Tsai‘s (2001) Extended Mapping hypothesis which is revised by Liu (2008). These concepts will be proposed in chapter five. Finally, the conclusion will be stated in chapter six.
5 CHAPTER 2
___________________________________________________________________________________
THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC PROPERTIES OF CANONICAL TAIWANESE COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
In this section, I will briefly discuss the syntactic and semantic properties of the canonical Taiwanese comparative construction and explore the relations between Taiwanese kha, Mandarin geng ‗even more‘ and English –er/more in terms of presupposition and different types of comparison. In 2.2, I will introduce the specific
kha…ma construction that empirically and theoretically challenges the analysis of the
canonical Taiwanese comparative construction.
2.1 The Canonical Comparative
All languages have syntactic categories that express gradable concepts. In addition, all languages have designated comparative constructions to express orderings between two objects with respect to the degree or amount to which they possess some property (cf. (Sapir 1944)). In many languages, comparatives are based on specialized morphology and syntax. For example, English uses the morphemes
more/-er or less and as specifically to establish orderings of superiority, inferiority
and equality, respectively, in addition to taking the morphemes than and as to set the ‗standard (of comparison)‘ against which an object is compared.
6
b. John is less diligent than Bill (is). (inferiority) c. John is as diligent as Bill (is). (equality)
However, some languages, like Mandarin and Taiwanese, are meager in morphological markings; therefore, comparatives in this type of language are expressed by syntactic means rather than comparative markings. For instance, Chao (1968:680) states that ―Chinese adjectives do not have equality, comparative or superlative forms in a morphological sense and various degrees of comparison are expressed by adverbs.‖3
As H. F. Yang (1991: 211) points out, this delineation is also applied to Taiwanese adjectives, and the comparative constructions in Taiwanese follow the syntactic patterns below:4
(4) Equality
a. A+kap+B+piN+P
Ong-e kap Tan-e piN kuan Ong-e and Tan-e equal tall ‗Ong-e is as tall as tan-e.‘
3
According to Stassen (1985:27), it is possible to split up languages into two groups in terms of how they construct comparatives –some languages require an overt marking of predicate in their comparative constructions, while other languages do not. For example, some languages form comparative constructions by means of a special affix (e.g. –er, -ior, and –bb in English, Latin and Hungarian respectively), yet others apply a special adverb (e.g. more in English, and plus in French). Taiwanese and Mandarin also employ this method to construct comparisons, like kha in Taiwanese and geng in Mandarin.
4 In these patterns, A stands for comparee NP, while B is standard NP and P is a gradable property that
7 b. A+chiuN+B+hia+P
Ong-e chiuN Tan-e hia kuan Ong-e like Tan-e such tall ‗Ong-e is such tall like Tan-e.‘
c. A+u+B+hia+P (the negative form is: A+bo+B+hia+P) Ong-e u Tan-e hia kuan
Ong-e have Tan-e such tall ‗Ong-e has the same height as Tan-e
(5) Comparative
a. A+kha+P+(kue)+B
Ong-e kha kuan Tan-e. Ong-e kha tall Tan-e Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘
b. A+pi/phing+B+kha+P
Ong-e pi/phing Tan-e kha kuan. Ong-e compare Tan-e kha tall ‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘
c. A+kha+P
Ong-e kha kuan. Ong-e kha tall
8 (6) Superlative
a. A+siong+P5
Ong-e siong kuan. Ong-e the-most tall ‗Ong-e is the tallest.‘
Here, I will only focus on the comparative that is constructed by kha (henceforth the Taiwanese kha comparative) because this type of comparative is relevant to the Taiwanese kha… ma correlative construction and this construction is the main issue analyzed in this thesis.
According to the previous studies on the Taiwanese kha comparative, such as Lien and Li (1994), Yang (1991) and among others, this construction, generally, has the following syntactic and semantic properties: First, the morpheme kha is obligatorily required in this construction, as the contrast below shows. 6
(7) a. Ong-e kha kuan Tan-e Ong-e kha tall Tan-e
5
The meanings of the syntactic morphemes used in these examples that correspond to the English are :
kap is ‗and‘ , so A kap B means A and B, piN is ‗equal to‘, chiuN is ‗like or similar to‘, hia means
‗such or so‘, u is ‗have or the same as‘, bo is ‗not or less than‘, kue means ‗over‘ , pi/phing is ‗compare‘
and phing is the variant of pi and siong is ‗the most‘ used in superlative. 6
According to Lien and Li (1994), Taiwanese has the following four types of comparatives (i) A + pi/phing +B+ kha +P
(ii) A +P +ke/i+B (iii) A + kha +P+B (iv) A +P +B
9 ‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘
b. *Ong-e pi Tan-e kuan Ong-e compare Tan-e tall ‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘
As the contrast reflects, the absence of the morpheme kha will cause the sentence to become ungrammatical, as example (7b) shows; conversely, the absence of the compared morpheme pi does not affect the grammaticality of the sentence, as shown in example (7a). That is why I argue that kha is an obligatorily required element in the Taiwanese kha comparative rather than the morpheme pi, thus, kha is more remarkable than pi in building a Taiwanese comparative construction.
Second, syntactically, the sequence pi Tan-e is a constituent headed by the marker pi because it can be connected together with another similar sequence pi lim-e by a coordinator like ahsi ‗or‘.7
(8) a. Ong-e [[[pi [NP Tan-e]] ahsi [pi [NP Lim-e]]] [kha kuan]]?
Ong-e compare Tan-e or compare Lim-e kha tall ‗Is Ong-e taller than Tan-e or than Lim-e?‘
7
Although there exists a lot of debate on whether examples like (i) should be analyzed as a clausal comparative, this issue is not our concern.
(i) Ong-e kinniN pi Tan-e kuni kha kuan. Ong-e this year pi Tan-e last year kha tall ‗Ong-e this year is taller than last year.‘
So, I do not want to declare my position whether I agree with Taiwanese exists a clausal comparative or not, please see Heim (1985), Kennedy (2005, 2007), Beck et al. (2004), and Lin (2009) for more detail information about modes of comparison.
10 b. Ong-e (pi Tan-e) kha kuan
Ong-e (compare Tan-e) kha tall ‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘
I further suggest that this constituent is an adjunct adjoined to the left of the predicate of comparison because the optionality of this constituent, as (8b) shows. Hence, a Taiwanese comparative does not require its standard NP to exist within the sentence, so it can be absent in some contexts, in which the speaker and addressee both know who the comparee NP compares with. However, this condition is not allowed in both English and Mandarin, see the contrasts shown below.
(9) a. Taiwanese
Ong-e kha kuan Ong-e kha tall
‗Ong-e is taller than someone.‘ b. Mandarin
*Zangahang geng gao Zangshang Geng tall
‗Zangshang is taller than someone.‘
c. Zangahang bi Lisi geng gao Zangshang compare Lisi Gang Tall ‗‗Zangshang is taller than Lisi.‘
d. English
11 e. John is taller than Bill (is).
Third, in a comparative construction, gradable predicates map objects onto abstract representations of SCALES formalized as sets of DEGREES ordered along some dimension (height, length, weight, and so on). Thus, gradable predicates express relations between individuals and degrees which are termed by Kennedy (2007) as DEGREE MORPHOLOGY. In accordance with typological theory, comparative constructions are subdivided into clausal comparatives and phrasal comparatives with respect to the length of argument existing in the comparative clause. Take English as an example, clausal comparatives are those which have a clause after than while phrasal comparatives, on the other hand, are those only a single phase following than, see the English examples below.
(10) clausal comparatives
a. I always have more paperclips than I need. b. John is taller than Bill is.
c. The desk is higher than the door is wide.8
(11) phrasal comparatives
a. I care more for you than for that b. John is taller than Bill.
8
Clausal comparatives in English involve two variant constructions: comparative deletion vs. comparative sub-deletion. Please see Kennedy (2002) for comprehensive discussion of the issue in terms of optimality.
12
In addition, Beck et al. (2004) and Kennedy (2005, 2007), suggest that only a clausal comparative construction, for example the English comparative like (11), allows degree comparison.
(12) John is taller than [Opi [Bill is ti tall]
Conversely, if a language does not involve clausal comparatives, it does not allow degree comparison but individual comparison. The crucial difference is derived from having different standards of comparison, in the sense of Kennedy (2007:9) who makes a contrast between English and Japanese.
(13) a. Complex standards in Japanese are (only) type e. b. Complex standards in English are (potentially) type d
The comparative morpheme more, due to the distinctive types of standards, has one denotation in (14a), which expresses degree comparison and expects a syntactic standard that is already type d. Another denotation in (14b), which expresses individual comparison and derives a standard degree by applying the meaning of the gradable adjective to this individual, sees also Hoeksema (1983), Heim (1985, 2000), Kennedy (1999) and Bhatt & Takahashi (2007).
(14) a. [[MORE]] =λ dλ g ∈ D<d,et>λ x.max{d′ | g(d′)(x) = 1} ≻ d
13
Returning to Taiwanese, however, there is no compelling evidence for us to say that what the marker pi selects in the Taiwanese kha comparative like (8a-b) is a clause not an NP (i.e. Tan-e). So, following Heim (1985) and Kennedy (2005, 2007), I suggest that the Taiwanese kha comparative construction is an individual comparison construction, not a degree comparison construction.9 In other words, in an example like (7a), what are compared in syntax are two individuals rather than two degrees.
Fourth, the predicate of comparison in the Taiwanese kha comparative can be a gradable adjective, a gradable stative verb, a complex predicate either containing a gradable main verb or containing some gradable element if the main verb is not gradable, or a gradable event predicate, as shown by examples below.
(15) a. adjective
Ong-e pi Tan-e kha kuan. Ong-e compare Tan-e kha tall
‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘ b. gradable stative verb
9 Kennedy considers two potential parameters of comparative variation:
(i) Individual vs. degree comparison: Do comparatives express orderings between arbitrary individuals (individual comparison), or do they (also) express orderings between individuals and arbitrary degrees, the value of which may be conveyed syntactically by complex degree descriptions?
(ii) Explicit vs. implicit comparison: Does comparison involve specialized morphology
that expresses arbitrary ordering relations (explicit comparison), or does comparison involve taking advantage of the inherent context sensitivity of the positive (unmarked) form (implicit comparison)?
14
tsә laubu e kha liaukai kaki e gin-na be/as mother e kha understand self POSS kids
‗Usually, the mother knows her kids more than other people‘s kids.
‗Usually, the mother knows her kids more than other people know her kids. c. complex predicate
Ong-e pi Tan-e tsiah kha che Ong-e compare Tan-e eat kha much
‗Ong-e eats more than Tan-e.‘ d. complex predicate
Ong-e pi Tan-e kha tsia lai Ong-e compare Tan-e kha early come ‗Ong-e come here earlier than Tan-e.‘
e. event predicate
[li khi] pi [gua khi] kha sikhap you go compare I go kha suitable ‗Your attendance is better than my attendance.‘
The gradable adjective predicate ‗tall‘ in (15a) maps objects onto the scale of height and, semantically, denotes relations between individuals and degrees. The comparative degree adverb kha serves as a function requiring the degree of Ong-e is above the degree of Tan-e. In (15b), the stative verb ‗understand/ know‘ which is an individual-level predicate is employed here. An individual-level predicate refers to a permanent property or characteristic that an individual used to have, like tall and
intelligent. Thus, every mother is endowed with a property that is understanding her
15
reading to build comparative construction. In addition, example (15b) represents an ambiguous reading depending on whether its standard NP is subject-oriented or object-oriented. Hence, example (15b) can be paraphrased as below:
(16) a. Usually, the mother knows her kids more than other people‘s kids.
b. Usually, the mother knows her kids more than other people know her kids..
As for the complex predicates in (15c), when two or more than two predicates are contained in one sentence without any conjunction, the primary predicate should be distinguished from the non-primary predicate which is the so-called secondary predicate. Therefore, tsiah ‗eat‘ is the primary predicate denoting the main event relation to the subject and the primary predicate while the depictive secondary predicate che ‗much‘ describes an accompanying state of its subject at the time when the action denoted by the primary predicate takes place.10 Besides, the secondary predicate che ‗much‘ is a gradable adjective, therefore the insertion of the comparative degree adverb kha serves as a modifier for the secondary predicate and denotes the comparison in relationship to the comparee NP and standard NP.
10 There are two types of V-de constructions In Mandarin Chinese (see Huang, 1988, Zhang, 2001 and
among others), as the two examples below. (i) depictive
Zhangsan pao-de hen-kuai Zhangsan run-DE very-fast ‘Zhangsan runs fast.’
(ii) resultative
Zhangsan pao-de hen-lei Zhangsan run-DE very-tired ‘Zhangsan has run and is tired.’
16
The complex predicates in (15d) are not a relation of primary and secondary predicates but a modifier and a modifiee relation. Tsia ‗early‘ is used to modify the predicate lai ‗come‘ to form a complex predicate. However, in Taiwanese, the adjectival predicates, when lacks contrastive reading, are not allowed to exist independently but modified by a degree adverb, such as kha ‗compare‘, chiok ‗enough‘, chin ‗really/very‘ and siong ‗the most‘. In other words, the degree adverbs are obligatory for adjectival predicates in Taiwanese as well as Mandarin, as the contrast between (17a) and (17b) in Taiwanese and (18a) and (18b) in Mandarin illustrates.11
(17) a. Taiwanese
*Ong-e tsia lai Ong-e early come ‗Ong-e is early to a place.‘
b. Ong-e kha/ chiok/ chin/ siong tsia lai Ong-e compare /enough/ really/ the most early come
(18) Mandarin
a. *Zhangsan pang Zhangsan fat
11 This issue is related to adjectival structures in Mandarin and Taiwanese. Mandarin requires
adjectives should be modifier by degree adverbs in yielding positive form except contrastive readings. Liu (2009) argues that Chinese has a positive morpheme that has two allomorphs: a covert one and an overt one (i.e., the degree word hen), see Liu (2009) for comprehensive discussion about ―The positive morpheme in Chinese and the adjectival structure‖.
17 ‗Zhangsan is fat.‘
d. Zhangsan hen pang Zhangsan very fat ‗Zhangsan is very fat.
English, however, does not follow this limitation; namely, the positive reading can be represented by a bare adjective form and degree adverbs are optional. Their existences just serve the example with an intensifier reading.
(19) a. John is tall.
b. John is very /so /too tall.
Turning to example (15e), this example contains two event predicates: li khi ‗you go‘ and gua khi ‗I go‘. Each of them contains an NP as a subject and a VP as a predicate. This construction might be treated as a clausal comparative. However, in the sense of Kennedy (2002), a clausal comparative must involve a comparative deletion which is an obligatory requirement used to distinguish CD from other deleted operations in English. Based on this constrain, example (15e) should be a phrasal comparative containing two event predicates rather than a clausal comparative.
Fifth, semantically the morpheme kha functions like the English comparative morpheme more/-er by denoting a relation between two degrees of the compared
18
individuals, as we have mentioned before, and requires one to be larger than the other.12
(20) a. Taiwanese
Ong-e kha kuan Tan-e Ong-e kha tall Tan-e ‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e.‘ b. English
John is taller than Bill (is).
Furthermore, in terms of presupposition, English and Taiwanese do not imply that the two individuals compared have to be tall. For example, (20a) is felicitous in the following scenario: there are two men: Ong-e is 165cm tall, while Tan-e is 160cm. As a man, they both are not tall, or rather they are short. A sentence like (21) can suitably be used to describe their height relation:
(21) Ong-e pi Tan-e kha kuan, mko hin nine long bo duahan Ong-e compare Tan-e kha tall however they two all not tall
‗Ong-e is taller than Tan-e, however, neither of them are tall.‘
12 In Taiwanese, however, there is not an exact word corresponding to English than. Some studies on
Chinese comparative, including Xiang (2005), Erlewine (2007), and Lin (2009), posits that bi ‗than‘ not only has the function of English than but also has the function of the English comparative morpheme more/–er. Nevertheless, this is not a felicitous function for Taiwanese pi, since the pi-NP is an adjunct constituent and sometimes is optional.
19
The same can also be applied in the English sentence (20b). Therefore, the Taiwanese
kha is similar to the English comparative morpheme more/-er in that neither have any
presupposition.
However, the Taiwanese kha is considerably different from the Chinese morpheme geng ‗even more‘ with respect to presupposition.13 Mandarin geng ‗even more‘ presupposes that the properties predicated of the compared objects are true in the absolute sense. In other words, the standard NP Lisi must be taller than the average height that is agreed by everyone, as the interpretation of (22), taken from Liu (2010), indicates.
(22) Mandarin
*Zhangshang bi Lisi geng gao ma? Dui a！ Zhangshang bi Lisi Zhangshang than Lisi GENG tall SPF Right SPF Zhangshang than Lisi geng gao, danshi liang-ge dou bu gao.
GENG tall but two-CL all not tall
*Is Zhangshang even taller than Lisi is? Yes！Zhangshang is even taller than Lisi is, but both of them are not tall.‘
In accordance with the properties of comparative construction discussed above, Taiwanese kha does not match up with Mandarin geng ‗even more‘, neither does the English more/-er, in terms of their functions.
13
20
Thus far, I have listed the major syntactic and semantic properties of the canonical Taiwanese comparative construction. In short, kha is more prominent than
pi, due to the optionality of pi, in forming comparatives and the sequence pi NP is
treated as a phrasal comparative which denotes that two individuals are compared. In addition, the predicate which is modified by kha must involve gradable sense. Furthermore, unlike Mandarin geng ‗even more‘, kha does not presuppose that the properties predicated of the compared objects are true in absolute sense.
In the next section, I will turn to introduce a specific comparative construction which has divergent features from the canonical comparatives.
2.2 The Specific kha… ma Construction
In Taiwanese, however, there exists another type of kha-containing construction like (23a-b), which empirically challenges the above description on the syntax and semantics of the marker kha comparative.
(23) a. Li kha tsao ma bo hao. You kha run ma not useful
‗It is useless no matter how hard you try to run.‘ b. li kha tsiah ma tsiah mei toakho/pui You kha eat ma eat not fat/heavy
21
More clearly, the predicate modified by the marker kha in this type of construction can be a non-gradable active verb, like tshao ‗run‘ and tsiah ‗eat‘. At this moment, the question of whether there are any differences between the marker kha in (23a-b) and that in the Taiwanese kha comparative like (24a-b) immediately comes out.
(24) non-gradable active predicate
a. *Ong-e pi Tan-e kha tshao/tsiah. Ong-e compare Tan-e kha run /eat
‗Ong-e can run faster/ eat more than Tan-e.‘ b. *Ong-e kha tshao/tsiah Tan-e Ong-e kha run /eat Tan-e ‗Ong-e can run faster/ eat more than Tan-e.‘
There are two possible ways of answering this question: one is to assume that there exists only one kha and the different properties are due to the divergent syntactic structures. The other is to assume that there are two different khas (i.e. the lexical ambiguity analysis): one is used to modify gradable predicates to form the basic comparatives and the other is for non-gradable ones to constitute specific kha…ma constructions.
(25) Tsit-khan tsabo-kin-na kha sui, ma be tshua tit This-kind girl kha beautiful ma not marry SFP
22
However, as example (25) indicates, in the kha …ma construction, the marker
kha can also be employed to modify the gradable predicates like sui ‗beautiful‘.
Therefore, the second possible analysis cannot be maintained.
In this chapter, I have examined the properties involved in kha comparison in terms of syntax and semantics, and then introduce a specific kha… ma construction that diverges greatly from the basic comparative. Hence, next chapter, in turn, I will canvass the properties of kha…ma construction in accordance with syntax, semantics and pragmatics as well.
23
CHAPTER 3
_____________________________________________________________________
THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC PROPERTIES OF THE KHA…MA COMPARATIVE CORRELATIVE CONSTRUCTION
In this chapter, I will mainly analyze the syntactic and semantic properties of the Taiwanese kha…ma comparative correlative construction from the following perspectives: the semantics and syntax properties of this construction, expectation-contravention reading, the different situation types, the quantificational analysis and the relationship among English again, Mandarin zai ‗again‘, and Taiwanese kha.
3.1 The Syntax and Semantics of kha…ma Comparative Correlative Construction
The syntactic and semantic properties of the Taiwanese kha…ma comparative correlative constructions are observed as: first, the markers kha and ma in this construction both are obligatorily required, as shown by the contrast between (26a) and (26b-c) in grammaticality.14
14
Examples (26b) and (26d) can be considered as grammatical forms; nevertheless, they have completely different meanings from (26a). For example: a situation where people have been challenged to change the thinking of an extremely stubborn old man but to no avail. Under this condition, somebody will utter the phrase ―Ong-e kong ma bo hao.” ‗It is useless for Ong-e to persuade him.‘
“Ni kong ma bo hao.” ‗It is useless for you to persuade him.‘ “Tagai kong ma long bo hao.” ‗It is also
useless for everyone to persuade him.‘ An alternative utterance may be ―ni kong bo hao. Gua kong ma
24
(26) a. li kha kong ma bo hao. You kha talk/ persuade ma not useful
‗No matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade somebody, it is useless.‘
b. *li kong ma bo hao. You talk/ persuade ma not useful
‗It is useless that no matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade somebody.‘
c. *li kha kong bo hao. You kha talk/ persuade not useful
‗It is useless that no matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade somebody.‘
d. *li kong bo hao. You talk/ persuade not useful
‗It is useless that no matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade somebody.‘
scenario, the reading of (26b) and (26d) is that the speaker wants to express many events of persuasion which are associated to distinctive individuals. It means that more than one individual has tried to persuade this person. Nevertheless, the consequences of the events are just the same. Specifically, it is useless for many people to persuade a stubborn man. Example (26a), however, reflects that the act of persuasion has been repeated many times, but they are all connected to the same individual and, uselessly, the same result is represented again and again.
25
Although the two markers kha and ma are not necessarily to be adjacent to each other, they must be closely related or depend on each other; otherwise the sentence will be unacceptable. For this reason, I analyze the Taiwanese kha…ma construction as a correlative construction (henceforth the Taiwanese kha…ma construction). Besides, the word order between these two markers is fixed; namely, the clause containing kha has to precede the clause involving ma, as the contrast below illustrates.
(27) a. li kha kong ma bo hao. You kha talk/ persuade ma not useful
‗It is useless that no matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade somebody.‘
b. *ma bo hao li kha kong Ma not useful you kha talk/ persuade
‗It is useless, no matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade somebody.‘
Second, syntactically the kha…ma correlative construction can occur either in a form that consists of two clauses: one containing the marker kha and the other the morpheme ma, or a form in which the part contains the marker kha serves as a sentential subject embedded into the part containing ma which appears as the main predicate, as illustrated by (28a-b), respectively.
(28) a. [[sentential subject Li kha tsao] [ma bo hao.]]
26
‗It is useless that no matter how fast you try to run.‘
b. [S Tsit-khan tsabo-kin-na kha sui], [S (Pro) ma be tshua tit].
This kind girl kha beautiful (Pro) ma not marry SFP ‗Even though this kind of girl is beautiful, one cannot marry (her).‘
The Pro as the subject in the second clause of (28b) can be either the addressee or an arbitrary reading within this context.
In addition, these correlative two clauses or sentential-subject and predicate constructions are felicitous to distinguish the canonical Taiwanese comparative construction from the kha …ma correlative construction. A canonical comparative only involves one clause introducing two individuals, sometimes one is an explicit individual and another is an implicit one which is determined by the context, and describes their degree relations. While the kha … ma construction must involve two clauses, one is introduced by the morpheme kha and the other is by the morpheme ma, to match so-called correlative structure. Besides, the predicates introduced by kha are not restricted to components containing gradable reading. Instead, they range over non-gradable active ones. This can be applied to account for the ungrammaticality of example (24), repeated here as (29).
(29) non-gradable active predicate
a. *Ong-e pi Tan-e kha tshao/tsiah. Ong-e compare Tan-e kha run /eat
‗Ong-e can run faster/ eat more than Tan-e.‘ b. *Ong-e kha tshao/tsiah Tan-e
27 Ong-e kha run /eat Tan-e ‗Ong-e can run faster/ eat more than Tan-e.‘
In the two examples, there is only one kha containing clause, so they should be treated as basic comparative structures. However, the predicate modified by kha is a non-gradable active one that is not allowed in a canonical comparative construction resulting in ungrammaticality of the example on the one hand. On the other hand, the non-gradable active predicate can occur only in the kha … ma construction. Nevertheless, one clause cannot suitably express the correlative structure and, surely, leads to the ungrammatical form. Furthermore, semantically, the kha … ma construction together contributes to the expectation-contravention reading, this will be analyzed in the next section. Thus, the kha clause bears the expectation reading while the ma clause provides the result, in effect, of the violation of someone‘s expectation. Lacking a violation result is also the reason why example (29) is not good.
3.2 The Expectation-Contravention Reading in kha…ma Constructions and the Comparisons between no matter wh in English and (wulun) wh…dou in Mandarin
3.2.1 The Expectation-Contravention Reading
The predicate introduced by the conjunctive adverb ma is usually in a negative form rather than an affirmative, and all the negative morphemes in Taiwanese can
28
occur in the predicate introduced by ma, as the contrast between (30a-e) and (31) in grammaticality shows (cf. Li (1971), Lin (1974) and Teng (1992)).15
(30) a. Li kha tsao, ma bo hao. You kha run ma not useful
‗It is useless, no matter how fast you try to run.‘ b. Li ko kha kin, ma be -hu. You even kha fast/hurry ma not-on-time
‗Even if you are in a hurry, you cannot get there on time or catch the bus.‘ c. Yi kha kong, ma m-tiaN.
He kha persuade ma not accept/ listen
‗He doesn‘t accept it, no matter how much effort you spend trying to persuade him.‘
e. Yi toh-si ko kha ka li yaokiu, li ma mai tshap yi. He even-if even kha for you ask you ma not respond he
15
Taiwanese negative words are in fact a combination involving a negative and an affirmative. This is shown below in their compositional relations.
(i) a. Neg + u → bo b. Neg + e → be c. Neg + beh →m1
29
‗No matter how much effort he spend trying to ask you, you do not make any response.‘
e. Li kha kong, yi ma buai tiaN. You kha persuade he ma not accept
‗No matter how much effort you spent trying to persuade him, he does not accept it.‘
(31) *Li kha kong, ma u hao. You kha talk/persuade ma have useful
‗No matter how much effort you spent trying to persuade him, it is useful.‘
The property that the part introduced by the conjunctive adverb ma must contain a negation marker immediately raises the following two questions: Why does this correlative construction usually require the occurrence of a negative marker inside? How does this negative marker function in syntax and semantics?
Pragmatically, the Taiwanese kha …ma correlative construction is designed to express the meaning: no matter how hard a person has tried, the painstaking effort that she/he offers is unwanted. More clearly, the morphemes kha and ma are similar to the English no matter how and together contribute to an expectation-contravention reading. The first clause involving kha denotes the expectation reading of the comparee NP while the clause involving ma denotes the expectation-violation reading by introducing a negative consequence of the comparison in the kha clause. This is a felicitous way to account for the ungrammaticality of example (31). Besides, in any competition, usually, the competitor is eager for the victory. Therefore, the
30
expectation-contravention reading should be precisely represented in a negative form to express the violation of a comparee NP‘s expectation, as example (32b).
(32) a. English
No matter how hard he may try, he will not succeed. b. Taiwanese
Li kha tsao ma bo hao. You kha run ma not useful
‗It is useless, no matter how fast you try to run.‘ c. Taiwanese
Tsit-khan tsabo-kin-na kha sui ma be tshua tit This kind girl kha beautiful ma not marry SFP ‗This kind of girl even though is beautiful, one cannot marry (her).
Likewise, example (32c) states that every man hopes to marry a very beautiful woman and make his friend jealous. However, if the woman has a vicious and brutal temper, you cannot marry a woman like this regardless of her beauty. Therefore, the predicate introduced by the conjunctive adverb ma ‗also‘ semantically denotes the negative effect and usually occurs in a negative form to convey the expectation-contravention reading. Thus, the part containing the conjunctive adverb
ma is understood as the consequent part that denotes a meaning with negative sense.
This is the reason why the predicate introduced by the conjunctive adverb ma ‗also‘ usually occurs in a negative form.
31
However, the example below challenges my analysis above on the expectation-contravention reading of kha…ma construction.16
(33) He-gia-lang e tsabo-kiaN kha bai ma u lang tshua Rich man POSS daughter kha ugly ma have man marry
‗Richman‘s daughter will marry someone no matter how ugly she is.‘
In order to violate the expectation reading of the comparee NP, as we have mentioned, the negative consequence of the comparison should be introduced by a negative morpheme within the ma clause. Example (33), however, indicates that an affirmative proposition can also occur in the ma clause and this forces me to revise the concept of expectation-contravention. The affirmative consequence is derived from the expectation reading which is conveyed in the kha clause is negative.
Usually, we expect that few men want to marry a woman who is really ugly, or sometimes a little fat; nevertheless, if, luckily, she has a father who is the rich. Then, this condition will be converted and, of course, there must be some men who will risk marrying her regardless of her ugliness. Given this, the expectation-violation reading works as a pair relation, namely, if the expectation reading introduced by kha is a positive reading, then, a negative morpheme should be involved to violate the positive one and vice versa.17 The pairing relation is, therefore, shown as a table below:
16 I am grateful to Chin-Man Kuo for putting forward the counter example that makes me to rethink
the concept of expectation-contravention.
17 The expectation-contravention reading in the Mandarin lian… dou/ye ‗even…all/also' constructions
32
(34) The pairing relation between the expectation and violation
The expectation reading in the kha clause
The violation result in the
ma clause
The involving predicate in
ma clause
Positive (+) Negative (-) Negative morpheme Negative (-) Positive (+) Affirmative morpheme
3.2.2 English no matter wh Constructions
This pairing relation between the expectation and violation can also be applied to the English ―no matter wh construction‖ since this construction also involves two uniquely, the expectation reading implicitly exists in both the speaker‘s and the addressee‘s mind, see the examples below.
(i) Ta lian sheng-cai dou ch He even leftover dou eat ‗He eats even the leftover.‘
(ii) Di-di lian zhe-men jian-dan de shu- xue dou bu-hui Brother even such easy de math dou cannot ‗Brother cannot understand even such an easy math question.‘
In example (i), the speaker and addressee both think that it is impossible for him to eat that kind of food –leftover; however, he is against everyone‘s expectation that he ate it. Thus, the positive reading involved in the contravention clause is in order to violate the implicitly negative expectation. While in example (ii), the speaker expects that everyone knows this kind of easy math questions, but, unluckily, the younger brother does not understand them. Conversely, the negative morpheme serves to violate the implicitly positive expectation. This is the reason why I argue that the expectation-contravention works as a pair relation in both Taiwanese kha…ma constructions as well as Mandarin lian …dou /ye ‗even…all/also‘ constructions.
33
clauses -the main clause and the subordinate clause introduced by no matter and wh- expression respectively. In line with Taiwanese, the subordinate no matter clause denotes the expectation reading while the main clause implies the violation reading. Unlike kha…ma construction, the negative expectation reading in English no matter clause is sometimes implicitly involved; namely, we may get two clauses which are both positive readings represented in the surface structure, but, internally, one is positive and the other is a negative reading involved respectively, as illustrated in the examples below.18
(35) a. No matter what he says, don‘t believe him. b. No matter what you say, I believe.
c. No matter how hard I work, there is always more to do. d. I won‘t desert you, no matter when or where.
e. No matter whom you invite, I will welcome him.
In example (35a), the speaker expects that the addressee will accept a specific person‘s, which is a pronoun noun ―he‖ represented in no matter clause, ideas or opinions that might not be useful or even cause some negative effect. In order to remove those ideas, the negative morpheme ―don‘t‖ here separates the addressee from taking those bad ideas. Hence, the pairing relation of expectation-violation reading – the positive reading contained in the no matter clause and the negative morpheme involved in the main clause – represents an obvious meaning. As for (35b), which is
18 This conception is in line with the Mandarin lian..dou/ye ‗even…all/also‘ constructions; namely
34
similar to (35a) in structure but distinctive meanings from the violation clauses since there is no negative morpheme contained in (35b). This is derived from the expectations in the two clauses are different. For (35b), the addressee thinks that the speaker might not take his/her opinions or suggestions, so this sentence conveys the conversational negative implication reading and the violation in the main clause must be a positive one to form the pairing relation. In addition, syntactically, all English
wh-expressions, ranging over arguments and adjuncts, can be licensed by no matter
and interpreted as an non-interrogative reading.19 Therefore, no matter is an operator unselectively binding argument wh-variables on the one hand and adjunct
wh-variables on the other.
3.2.3 Mandarin (wulun) wh…. dou Constructions
In Mandarin, there is a construction which is similar to no matter wh structure in English and this is worthwhile to mention. Mandarin wh…dou construction can be optionally prefixed by words like buguan, wulun, or bulun, which are all associated with the English no matter, see the examples below first.
(36) a. (wulun/ buguan) ni zuo sheme, wo dou mei yijian
19
Chinese wh-phrases such as shei ‗who‘, shenme ‗what‘, etc., may sometimes be interpreted as non-interrogative existential indefinites meaning like somebody, something, etc. In Lin (1998), he treats this kind of wh-expressions as existential polarity wh-phrases (cf. Huang (1982), Lü (1985), and Li (1992)).
35
No-matter you do what I all not opinion ‗ No matter what you do, I won‘t have an opinion.‘ b. (wulun/ buguan) shei dou keyi lai
no-matter who all can come ‗No matter who can come.‘
According to Lin (1997), he argues that there is always an implicit wulun ‗no matter‘ contained in this construction since it does not change the meaning of the sentence no matter whether adding wulun ‗no matter‘ or not. Thus, the implicit wulun ‗no matter‘ can be deleted at PF but present at LF, so which can overtly or covertly license the existential polarity wh-phrases in its clausal domain. However, this construction does not always imply the expectation-violation reading but sometimes a free choice reading is yielded. For example (36b) can be paraphrased as Anybody can come, it involves the word ―any‖ to represent the free choice reading. Consequently, Mandarin
wh… dou constructions do not have unified conceptions of expectation-violation or a
free choice readings but are determined by their structures. In addition, this construction requires that dou must exist in the main clause which functions as a distribution operator, distributing a property over every atomic part of the plural referent in the sense of Lin (1996, 1997), yet this issue is beyond the scope of this thesis.20
20 Dou is an intricate issue in Mandarin and different linguists have distinctive points of view on it,
such as, Lee(1986) assumes that dou is a universal quantifier while Cheng (1991, 1995), in her analysis is in line with Lee‘s and adds more assumptions which are:
(i) Chinese wh-phrases are free variables lacking inherent quantificational force just like indefinites in the sense of Heim (1982).
36
3.2.4 The Contrast between Taiwanese, Mandarin, and English in no matter
wh constructions
Interestingly, in Taiwanese and Mandarin, they both have a structure whose meaning is similar to the English no matter wh but diverge in syntax, semantics, as well as pragmatics. This section I will mainly analyze the similarities and divergences among them.
First, Taiwanese kha… ma and Mandarin wh…dou constructions allow the deletion of mkuan and wulun ‗no matter‘ and do not affect the meaning of the sentence while the English no matter cannot be omitted, as the contrast below shows.
(37) a. Taiwanese
(mkuan) ni ko? kha (antsua) tsiah ma tsiah bei toakho/pui no-matter you even kha how eat ma eat not fat/heavy
‗No matter how much food you eat you cannot become fatter than now you are.‘
b. Mandarin
(wulun/ buguan) ni zuo *(sheme), wo dou mei yijian No-matter you do what I all not opinion
(ii) Chinese wh-phrases are also polarity items which need to be licensed by a licensor
m-commanding it at S-structure
(iii) Dou is both a polarity licensor and a binder
37
‗ No matter what you do, I won‘t have an opinion.‘ c. English
*(No matter) *(how hard) I work, there is always more to do.
In the light of Lin (1997), the implicit wulun ‗no matter‘ can be deleted at PF but present at LF, so which can overtly or covertly license the existential polarity wh-phrases in its clausal domain. This conception can also be applied to Taiwanese
ka…ma construction rather than English. English requires the no matter operator
overtly license the existential polarity wh-phrases at PF. Thus, lacking the existence of no matter at PF can not exactly reflect the no matter meaning of the sentence. In addition, English and Mandarin require that the existential polarity wh-phrases should be involved in this construction regardless of argument or adjunct wh-words whereas Taiwanese does not. In kha…ma constructions, only the manner adverb antsua ‗how‘ is legitimate to be a modification for a VP which is dominated by the degree head kha in the DegP domain, the structure is illustrated below.21
(38) DegP Deg VP Kha AdvP V
anstua tsiah
21 The tree diagram here may perplex readers that why a degree modification can select a VP as its
38
There is no reason for an existential polarity wh-phrase to be a modifier for a VP midifiee, hence the kha…ma construction only allows the occurrence of the manner adverb antsua ‗how‘ rather than other wh-phrases and it obviously is not licensed by
mkuan ‗no matter‘ in the PF but by the degree adverb kha to express the manner
reading of the VP. As for the rest two structures, wh-expressions are obligatorily required, as the grammaticality indicates in examples (37b) and (37c), since they are existential polarity items which typically occur in negative sentences but not in affirmative ones. Therefore, wulun and no matter covertly or overtly license and require their existences. However, the function of no matter in Taiwanese is absorbed by the degree head kha which does not license an existential polarity item but a manner adverb to modify the VP.
Furthermore, English wh-expression how in no matter constructions is a degree adverb on the one hand which interprets the degree of gradable adjectives and a manner adverb on the other to represent the manner of a VP which is modified by it. However, Taiwanese manner adverb antsua ‗how‘ does not have the same characteristics; instead, the co-occurrence with a gradable adjective is somehow disallowed here, as shown by the contrast between (39) and (40) in grammaticality.
(39) English
a. No matter how hard he may try, he will not succeed. b. No matter how difficult English is, I will keep on learning. c. No matter how they slander us, we will never give in.
