Adverbs in A-not-A Questions in Mandarin Chinese

Author: Law, Paul

Source: Journal of East Asian Linguistics, Volume 15, Number 2, April 2006 , pp. 97-136(40)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

This paper argues that the distribution of adverbs in A-not-A questions bears on the base-position of an abstract morpheme Q and is subject to the same general locality condition on variable binding. It claims that adverbs that have semantic relations with an element in the clause or the clause itself mostly allow inference and interact syntactically with the A-not-A operator, whereas those having no such relations do not. It shows that the lack of syntactic interaction between temporal and locative adverbs on the one hand and the A-not-A operator on the other follows directly from their being related to the world and time coordinates of the formal interpretive model.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10831-005-4916-5

Affiliations: 1: Email: law@zas.gwz-berlin.de

Publication date: 2006-04-01