The interfaces of chinese syntax with semantics and pragmatics

The Interfaces of Chinese Syntax with Semantics and Pragmatics The Interfaces of Chinese Syntax with Semantics and Pragmatics provides an in-depth exploration of a variety of interface phenomena in Chinese, a non- inflectional language, where to a large extent word order constrains its inter- pretation and defines its grammatical functions. Under the Dynamic Syntax approach, which takes the incremental left-to- right processing of linguistic forms to be a fundamental part of character- izing the relation between syntactic structure and semantic interpretation, a straightforward explanation is provided. The study features detailed analysis of a range of key grammatical constructions such as topic, passive, copular and cleft, where previous analyses were sought in pure syntactic, semantic or pragmatic terms. Clear and straightforward throughout, The Interfaces of Chinese Syntax with Semantics and Pragmatics will be of interest to graduate students and scholars of Chinese, linguistics and cognitive science.

Yicheng Wu is Professor of Linguistics at the Centre for the Study of Lan- guage and Cognition, and Department of Linguistics and Translation, Zhejiang University, P. Routledge Studies in Chinese Linguistics Series editor: Hongming Zhang Titles in the series: Modern Chinese Grammar: A Clause-Pivot Theoretical Approach Fuyi Xing, translated by Yong Wang and Fangfeng Dong Cognition-based Studies on Chinese Grammar (forthcoming) Yulin Yuan, translated by Guoxiang Wu Dimensions of Variation in Written Chinese (forthcoming) Zheng-Sheng Zhang Lexical Ontological Semantics (forthcoming) Yulin Yuan, translated by Guoxiang Wu Mandarin Chinese Words and Parts of Speech: Corpus-based Foundational Studies (forthcoming) Huang Chu-Ren, Keh-Jiann Chen and Shu-Kai Hsieh Partition and Quantity: Numeral Classifiers, Measurement, and Partitive Constructions in Mandarin Chinese (forthcoming) Jing Jin Syntax-Phonology Interface: Argumentation from Tone Sandhi in Chinese Dialects Hongming Zhang The Interfaces of Chinese Syntax with Semantics and Pragmatics Yicheng Wu First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor€& Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Taylor€& Francis The right of Yicheng Wu to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections€77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-24132-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-28065-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents Acknowledgementsviii Introductionix 1 Chinese syntax: A general description 1 1 Introduction╇ 1 2 Word-order flexibility╇ 1 3 Semantics in syntax╇ 4 4 Pragmatics in syntax╇ 6 5 Overview of the book╇ 8 2 The dynamics of language processing 11 1 A€preliminary introduction╇ 11 1.1 Compositionality and context-dependency╇ 11 1.2 Interpretation and representation╇ 13 1.3 Underspecification and resolution╇ 14 2 The tools of dynamic syntax╇ 16 2.1 Tree-logic and treenode decorations╇ 16 2.2 Requirements and tree growth╇ 19 3 The dynamics of the parsing process╇ 20 3.3 A€basic example╇ 29 3.4 Pragmatic actions╇ 33 4 Simple-clause structure in Chinese╇ 36 5 Summary╇ 40 3 The dynamics of verbal underspecification in Chinese 42 1 Introduction╇ 42 2 Previous analyses╇ 46 3 A€dynamic analysis╇ 51 4 Summary╇ 59 viâ•… Contents 4 Topic constructions 62 1 Introduction╇ 62 2 Previous analyses╇ 65 2.1 The variable analysis╇ 65 2.2 The pragmatic analysis╇ 68 2.3 The structural analysis╇ 71 3 A€preliminary analysis╇ 73 3.1 Single-topic structure╇ 74 3.2 Multiple-topic structure╇ 76 4 A€dynamic analysis╇ 78 4.1 English-style topic construction╇ 79 4.2 Chinese-style topic construction╇ 85 5 Summary╇ 90 5 Passive constructions 92 1 Introduction╇ 92 2 Previous analyses╇ 94 2.1 The preposition hypothesis╇ 94 2.2 The dual-function hypothesis╇ 96 2.3 The verb hypothesis╇ 99 3 A€preliminary analysis╇ 102 3.3 The characterization of the canonical patterns╇ 107 4 Problematic patterns╇ 111 4.1 Bei construction with a retained object (BCRO)╇ 111 4.2 Bei construction with an embedded ba construction (BCBC)╇119 4.3 Bei construction with a locative patient (BCLP)╇ 127 5 Summary╇ 130 6 Copular constructions 136 1 Introduction╇ 136 2 Previous analyses╇ 137 3 A€preliminary analysis╇ 142 4 A€dynamic analysis╇ 145 4.2 Emphatic construction╇ 148 5 Summary╇ 155 Contentsâ•…vii 7 The cleft construction 158 1 Introduction╇ 158 2 Previous analyses╇ 162 3 A€dynamic analysis╇ 168 4 Summary╇ 173 8 Semantic underspecification: Cases of personal pronouns 176 1 Introduction╇ 176 2 Previous analysis of expletive ta╇179 3 A€dynamic analysis╇ 182 3.1 A€dynamic analysis of the typical and non-typical referential construal of ta╇182 3.2 A€dynamic analysis of the expletive construal of ta╇186 3.3 Scope interpretation and expletive ta╇191 3.4 Some implications╇ 193 4 Summary╇ 194 9 Conclusion 198 1 Contributions to Chinese linguistics╇ 198 2 Reflections on linguistic theorizing╇ 200 Bibliography 204 Index 215 Acknowledgements The author and publishers would like to thank the following publishers for granting permission to reproduce material in this work: Elsevier for permission to reprint Y. Wu “The interpretation of copular constructions in Chinese: Semantic underspecifi- cation and pragmatic enrichment”, Lingua, 121:4 (2011), pp. Matthews “How different are expletive and referential pronouns? A€pars- ing perspective”, Lingua, 120:7 (2010), pp.

Wu “Topic expression, information saliency and anaphora resolution”, Journal of Pragmatics, 41:9 (2009), pp. Soochow University for permission to reprint Y. Wu “Common verbs are uncommon: The dynamics of verbal underspecification in Chinese”, Language and Semiotic Studies, 1:4 (2015), pp. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material in this book.

The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here acknowledged and will undertake to rec- tify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book. Introduction The notion of ‘interface’ plays an increasingly central role in the development of grammatical theory. Linguists of all theoretical persuasions generally agree that a proper understanding of language-specific phenomena and the architec- ture of the human mind all require reference to the interfaces between com- ponents of the grammatical system of natural language, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, phonetics, phonology, etc. Thus there is a need to shift the perspec- tive of linguistic study from static (i., a characterization of a string of words and its fixed structure) to dynamic (i., a characterization of the incremental process of building up structures) so that the interfaces of syntax with seman- tics and pragmatics (or other areas) can be studied in a unified way.

This book provides an in-depth exploration of a variety of interface phenom- ena in Chinese, a non-inflectional language where to a large extent word order constrains its interpretation and defines its grammatical functions. Under the Dynamic Syntax approach, which takes the incremental left-to-right process- ing of linguistic forms to be a fundamental part of characterizing the relation between syntactic structure and semantic interpretation, and also makes prag- matic inference a part of linguistic formalism, a parsimonious, straightforward explanation is provided through detailed analysis for a range of key grammati- cal constructions such as topic, passive, copular and cleft. Previous analyses of these constructions are sought in pure syntactic, semantic or pragmatic terms. In chapter€ 1, I€ present a general picture of Chinese syntax and a sketch of how syntax interacts with semantics and pragmatics in the production and interpretation of the Chinese language.

Chapter€2 introduces the technical tools used in the Dynamic Syntax model. In the following chapters, I€provide an in- depth exploration of prominent grammatical phenomena in Chinese, some of its major grammatical constructions in particular, within the theoretical frame- work of Dynamic Syntax. As a parsing-based model of grammar, Dynamic Syntax takes the incremental left-to-right processing of linguistic forms to be a fundamental part of characterizing the relation between syntactic structure and semantic interpretation and makes pragmatic inference a central part of linguistic formalism. I devote chapter€3 to addressing a prominent grammatical phenomenon – i., verbal underspecification in Chinese, which is manifested in the way verbs xâ•… Introduction are lexically underspecified as to the number and the type of complements (i., arguments and argument-like adjuncts) they can take.

I€show that (i) the representation of predicate-argument structure can be established dynamically at the level of propositional form, which is constructed incrementally, and (ii) just like semantically selected expressions, semantically unselected yet syntactically expressed expressions contribute to the enriched semantic com- position that no abstract syntactic mechanisms need to be invoked for. In chapters€4 and 5, I€investigate topic and passive constructions, �respectively, which are two major grammatical constructions, in the hope that their struc- tural properties will be characterized from a dynamic perspective. �Chapter€4 presents a comprehensive account of topic constructions, both English style and Chinese style, employing two strategies, linked structures and unfixed node. Chapter€5 provides a principled account of various patterns of the pas- sives formed by the morpheme bei, and argues that the morpheme is a gram- maticalized particle whose fundamental function is to signal that the pre-�bei argument functions as an affected argument of the event expressed by the fol- lowing clause, giving rise to a pragmatic type of passive interpretation.

Chapters€6, 7 and 8 explore cases of semantic underspecification. Chapter€6 proposes an analysis of copular constructions, with a particular focus on the copular morpheme shi, which is shown to share the characteristics of anaphoric expressions and is thus treated uniformly as a semantic placeholder – precisely, a predicate pro-form, which takes its value from context, either from the copu- lar clause itself or from the discourse context. Chapter€7 looks at cleft construc- tion formed by shi, which still treats the morpheme as a pro-predicate, which is semantically underspecified and pragmatically enriched from the local context. The dynamic analysis shows that the realization of focus in the construction is entirely through syntactic means – namely, by dislocating one of the arguments to the postcopular position.

Therefore, the construction in question is a purely syntactic-focusing construction. Chapter€8 demonstrates how a unitary account of anaphora as a pragmatic process can be given. It provides both structural and functional characterizations of the different uses of ta, assuming that there is only a single representation of the same pronominal form, while sustaining a unitary account of anaphora as a pragmatic process. Finally, I€ summarize the major findings of this study in chapter€ 9, where the theoretical implications of these findings for linguistic research are also discussed.

Although I€develop a parsing-based dynamic account of a variety of inter- face phenomena in Chinese, implicit in it are some findings about the general properties of this language. Looked at from a descriptive viewpoint, the major findings of the present study are as follows: (i) the extent to which syntax, semantics and pragmatics interact in the interpretation of grammatical struc- tures in Chinese is considerable; (ii) verbal underspecification, which is mani- fested in the way verbs are lexically underspecified as to the number and the type of complements, is a salient characteristic of the Chinese language; and Introduction╅xi (iii) a full account of linguistic structures in Chinese cannot be sought in only syntactic, semantic or pragmatic terms, but should be grounded in a dynamic perspective that combines all three. The present study demonstrates that with the dynamics of natural language encoded in linguistic formalisms, the grammatical machinery required to account for linguistic phenomena is massively simplified. The parsimonious, straight- forward nature of the proposed analyses is reflected in the economical use of technical entities throughout the present study.

The dynamic approach devel- oped in the book does not involve a multiplicity of abstract, static notions but only two dynamic notions: underspecification (both syntactic and semantic) and pragmatic enrichment. The study not only provides a novel analysis of a particular language from an interpretive viewpoint but also justifies the stance of Dynamic Syntax about linguistic knowledge.