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This paper examines the conjoint/disjoint alternation in matrix verbs which take clausal complements in Zulu. It shows that the typical verbs which by default take the disjoint form with a clausal complement are factive verbs, though it is also clear that other attitude verbs can undergo the conjoint/disjoint alternation as well. The paper explores the connection between focus and the conjoint/disjoint alternation in Zulu utilising the Question Under Discussion (QUD) approach. This will help to understand the interpretations associated with the alternations in combination with clausal complements.

Although in many interface theories, the domains of phrasal phonological processes are defined in terms of prosodic constituents, D’Alessandro and Scheer (2015) argue that their proposed modification of phase theory, Modular PIC, renders prosodic constituents superfluous. Phrasal phonological domains can instead be defined directly in the syntax. In this response, we argue that Modular PIC does not provide a convincing new approach to the syntax-phonology interface, as it is both too powerful and too restrictive. We show that the analysis offered of raddoppiamento fonosintattico in Eastern Abruzzese does not justify the loss of restrictiveness Modular PIC brings to phase theory. We also show that Modular PIC is too restrictive to account for phenomena, from Bantu languages and others, that have received satisfactory analyses within interface theories that appeal to prosodic constituents. We conclude that Modular PIC does not successfully replace prosodic constituent approaches to the interface.

In their article published in this journal, Pan and Jiang (2015) challenge the claims and proposals made in Cheng and Huang (1996) concerning both the distributional patterns and interpretive strategies for donkey anaphora in Mandarin conditional. They claim that all three types of conditionals (rúguǒ-, dōu- and bare conditionals) allow either a wh-phrase or a pronoun in the consequent clause, and that both the wh-phrase and the pronoun may be either unselectively bound or interpreted by the E-type strategy. We show that, except for an observation already mentioned and accommodated in Cheng and Huang’s (1996) analysis of rúguǒ-conditionals, their distributional claims are incorrect. It is also shown that the interpretative flexibility they propose is untenable, as it leaves a number of otherwise well-predicted properties unaccounted for.

In this paper we compare new data from Dutch urban youth varieties to emerging varieties in other Germanic languages like German and Norwegian. We argue that, unlike previously thought, V3 word orders can be found in urban youth varieties of Dutch as well and present data from our new corpus. The V3 patterns in our dataset share most characteristics of the optional V3 innovations observed in other Germanic urban youth varieties: the sentence-initial constituent is a frame-setter of any category and the preverbal constituent is mainly the subject that functions as a familiar topic. We adopt Walkden’s (2017) analysis and extend it by adding an additional FrameP so that preverbal constituents that do not function as familiar topics could be accounted for as well. Following Wolfe’s cline of possible V2-languages, we argue that the Dutch urban youth varieties can best be analysed as “Force-V2 system 1” grammars with V-to-Force movement + an additional FrameP. They thus differ from Standard Dutch, which is argued to be a “Force-V2 system 2” based on the fact that only hanging or left-dislocated topics can be found in sentence-initial position of superficial V3 patterns. This data thus presents an interesting case of syntactic change in the opposite direction: from strict V2 to V2 with optional V3 orders. &nbsp

Mandarin wh-words can have question or non-question (e.g., existential, universal quantificational) interpretations. Their interpretations in a sentence are usually not ambiguous, as the distinct interpretations need to be licensed by particular items/contexts. The starting point of our study concerns a case which allows the wh-words to remain ambiguous in a sentence: wh-words such as shenme appearing with diǎnr. After empirically confirming that such sentences are indeed ambiguous (Study 1), we turn to the question of whether and how prosody helps disambiguate such sentences. Our production experiment (Study 2) shows that wh-declaratives differ from wh-questions in terms of prosodic properties already from the clause onset. Wh-declaratives are longer than wh-questions starting from the subject and the pattern reverses at the wh-word; wh-declaratives are lower in F0 and smaller in F0 range than wh-questions at the wh-word and there is a F0 range compression in the post-wh-word region in wh-questions; wh-declaratives show larger intensity range than wh-questions at the verb and the pattern reverses at the wh-word. An implication of this study concerns the focal status of wh-words in wh-questions and wh-declaratives: wh-words are foci in wh-questions but cannot be foci in wh-declaratives.

This article examines two so-far-understudied verb doubling constructions in Mandarin Chinese, viz., verb doubling clefts and verb doubling lian…dou. We show that these constructions have the same internal syntax as regular clefts and lian…dou sentences, the doubling effect being epiphenomenal; therefore, we classify them as subtypes of the general cleft and lian…dou constructions, respectively, rather than as independent constructions. Additionally, we also show that, as in many other languages with comparable constructions, the two instances of the verb are part of a single movement chain, which has the peculiarity of allowing Spell-Out of more than one link., Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe, 629

AThEME is a collaborative research project studying multilingualism in Europe. This 5-year research project was set up with funding from the European Commission, and it runs from March 2014 until March 2019. The main objectives of the project are: (1) to investigate cognitive, linguistic and sociological issues in multilingual Europe, (2) to assess existing public policies and practices within the areas of education and health as well as their impact on multilingualism and (3) to contribute to evidence-based policy making. AThEME uses a range of research methodology and aims to raise awareness of multilingualism among policy makers, health professionals, academics and educators.

Mandarin wh-words such as shénme are wh-indeterminates, which can have interrogative interpretations (‘what’) or non-interrogative interpretations (i.e., ‘something’), depending on the context and licensors. For example, when diǎnr (‘a little’) appears right in front of a wh-word, the string can have either a wh-question or a declarative interpretation (henceforth, wh-declarative). Yang (2018) carried out a production study and the results showed that wh-questions and wh-declaratives have different prosodic properties. To investigate whether and when listeners make use of prosody to anticipate the clause type (i.e., question vs. declarative), we conducted a sentence perception study and an audio-gating experiment. Results of the perception study and the gating experiment show that (1) Participants can make use of prosody to differentiate the two clause types; (2) Starting from the onset of the first word of the target sentence (wh-question/wh-declarative), participants already demonstrate a preference for the clause type that was intended by the speaker. The current study also sheds light on the clausal typing mechanism in Mandarin (e.g., how to mark a clause as a wh-question) by providing evidence of the role of prosody in marking clause types in Mandarin.

This Event-related Potential (ERP) study examines the licensing of NPIs in Dutch in a grammatical configuration where the NPI linearly precedes its licensor. It investigates how the addition of modifiers at two different structural positions in the sentence affects differently the process of actively searching for an upcoming licensor. We measured the ERPs elicited at the licensor position by comparing conditions with modifiers at two different structural positions, with a control condition where no modifier was added, where all the tested conditions were grammatical. In addition, we examined whether adding different number of modifiers at the two structural positions affects the processing of the licensor differently. Our results show that there is a central anterior negativity elicited at the licensor in conditions with modifiers at the structural position where a licensor could occur in comparison to the control condition without modifiers. Further, there is an amplitude difference shown for the central anterior negativity when these conditions differ in the number of modifiers. In comparison, an ERP component with a reduced amplitude was elicited at the licensor for conditions with modifiers at a structural position where the licensor cannot occur, when compared with the control condition. We suggest that our results show evidence that the parser is sensitive to structural relations in the on-line licensing of NPIs.

This paper deals with exclamatives in Mandarin and has two main objectives. The first is the application of the exclamativity tests proposed in the literature to identify “true” sentential exclamatives in Mandarin. The second goal is to establish the essential components of sentential exclamatives in Mandarin, in order to understand the necessary components in exclamatives cross-linguistically. Our starting point is Zanuttini and Portner’s (Language 76(1):123–132, 2000; Language 79(1):39–81, 2003) proposal, which argues that the two fundamental syntactic components that identify a clause as an exclamative are a factive operator and a wh-operator. They identify the force of exclamatives, with a semantic operation called widening, which is connected to the surprise reading generally considered to be associated with exclamatives. In this paper, we show that there are only two types of true exclamatives in Mandarin, both involving scalar degree adverbs. These two types of exclamatives reveal that, contra Zanuttini and Portner, neither wh-elements, nor surprise is an essential property of exclamatives. We argue that scalar focus, ego-evidentiality, as well as factivity, form an integral part of exclamatives.

This abstract was withdrawn by the authors. Citation Format: Huang C-S, Fann JC-Y, Chen H-H, Hsu G-C, Ho M-F, Chen S-C, Chen Y-J, Chen S-T, Chen C-Y, Sheen-Chen S-M, Chang H-T, Yeh D-C, Chao M, Yeh H-T, Cheng L, Chen D-R, Chang Y-C, Chang K-J. Withdrawn [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-02-13.

This article provides an overview of the issues and proposals surrounding wh-insitu since the 1980s. In particular, it discusses the question of whether or not in-situ wh-phrases undergo covert wh-movement. Aside from reviewing the basic arguments for and against covert wh-movement, it considers alternative proposals put forth, ranging from movement of elements other than wh-phrases themselves, interpreting in-situ wh-phrases using choice function, to disguised movements in various forms. The article concludes with a discussion of intervention effects, as well as a special kind of multiple wh-questions, illustrating that covert wh-movement is still much needed.

This paper presents an analysis of sentences with the postverbal modal element dak in Cantonese and Hakka. We argue that dak is a verb, though in Cantonese and Hakka it is partly defective. It acquires different meanings depending on the position it occupies, which is either the position for modal verbs in the matrix clause or a modal position in the result denoting small clause. The analysis, if on the right track, has the consequence that there is no long distance Agree. Furthermore, it means that there is evidence for an IP-like functional projection in Chinese.

This article examines the distribution and interpretational variability of bare nouns and [classifier+noun] phrases in Cantonese and Mandarin. We argue that bare nouns are never bare in structure and that [classifier+noun] phrases may have more structure than just Classifier Phrase. We show that the lack of articles and number morphology in Cantonese/Mandarin leads to many interesting differences between Chinese-type languages and English-/Italian-type languages.

1. The questions This paper starts out from the observation that, strikingly, the Chinese counter­ parts of virtually all intransitive verbs in English are transitive. This is not only the case with the intransitive or so-called unspecified object reading of verbs like eat, whose Mandarin counterpart is chi-fan 'eat-rice', but also with verbs such as yawn and walk which in Mandarin come out as da-haqian 'hit/do (a) yawn' and zou-lu 'walk-road' respectively. (All Chinese data in this paper are drawn from Mandarin.) The observational generalization is that in all these VO combinations, either the verbal part is "light" or "empty" in the sense that it does not seem to contribute very much to the meaning of the combination as a whole (like in the hit/do (a) yawn example), or the object does not contribute much to the meaning: zou and chi already mean 'walk' and 'eat' respectively, and semantically, lu 'road' and fan 'rice' do not add anything. So either the verb or the object is a syntactic dummy. In this paper, we concentrate on the latter group of VO combi­ nations, and explore some issues related to the dummy objects, both from a Chi­ nese and from a comparative angle, trying to explain some of the differences be­ tween Chinese and English. The VO combinations with dummy verbs will only be mentioned briefly in section 3.

Wh‐elements in Chinese (as in Japanese and Korean) can have non‐interrogative interpretations, i.e. they are the so‐called ‘wh‐indeterminates’ la Kuroda 1965. While the existential (non‐interrogative) and universal readings of wh‐indeterminates have received a lot of attention the free choice interpretation of wh‐elements, however, has been discussed only recently (Giannakidou and Cheng 2006). On the surface, there are three types of Free Choice Items (FCIs) in Mandarin Chinese, all of which involve a wh‐related element. Though all three types appear to express free choice, they are not equal in terms of distribution and interpretation. The contrasts that we observe do not follow from recent accounts of wh‐indeterminates as Hamblin indefinites that are routinely closed by sentential quantifiers at the top level (Kratzer and Shimoyama 2002; Kratzer 2006), since in these accounts the wh‐phrase merely forms the basis for creation of a Hamblin set of propositions, and polarity behaviour is not predicted. In this chapter, we discuss the non‐uniform distribution of Chinese wh‐indeterminates in their use as FCIs, and propose that the key to understanding the contrasts is intensionality: the three paradigms of wh‐indeterminates as FCIs vary depending on whether or not they contain a world variable that needs to be bound. In addition, we show that Chinese FCIs provide further evidence for Giannakidou and Cheng (2006), who propose that there are both definite and indefinite FCIs. Definite FCIs in Chinese will be shown to have the same composition as the Greek definite FCIs: maximality, core wh, and the intensional world variable.

Mandarin Chinese exhibits two paradigms of conditionals with indefinite wh-words that have the semantics of donkey sentences, represented by ‘bare conditionals’ on the one hand and ruguo- and dou-conditionals on the other. The bare conditionals require multiple occurrences of wh-words, disallowing the use of overt or covert anaphoric elements in the consequent clause, whereas the ruguo- and dou-conditionals present a completely opposite pattern. We argue that the bare conditionals are cases of unselective binding par excellence (Heim 1982, Kamp 1981) while the ruguo- and dou-conditionals are most naturally accounted for with the traditional E-type pronoun strategy of Evans (1980). We thus argue partly for a return to the E-type strategy (along with Heim 1990) but maintain the need for unselective binding in UG (cf. Kratzer 1989, Chierchia 1992). It is further shown that these two paradigms do not differ with respect to the proportion problem and the distribution of symmetric and asymmetric readings of Kadmon (1987), though they differ with respect to ∀ and ∃ readings (discussed in Chierchia 1992) in a non-trivial way that provides further support for the proposed approach. Finally, evidence is given that the bare conditionals should be kept apart from correlative constructions in languages like Hindi, and treated differently from the latter.

This paper examines the frequently discussed quantifierdou ‘all’ in Mandarin Chinese. I argue, following traditional grammarians as well as Lee (1986), thatdou ‘all’ is an adverb of quantification. I show that a floating quantifier analysis ofdou ‘all’ along the lines of Chiu (1990, 1993) falls short of accounting for the dual status ofdou, as a quantifier and a binder. As a quantifier,dou quantifies over regular NPs (plural). As a binder,dou provides quantificational force forwh-polarity items, which do not have inherent quantificational force. I argue that the locality restrictions associated withdou varies depending on the element it is associated with. With regular NPs, the locality is reflected by LF adjunction ofdou. Withwh-polarity items, the locality is restricted by licensing of polarity items as well as its ability as a binder.

Wu and Bodomo (2009) argue against claims made in Cheng and Sybesma 1999 . Gebhardt (2011) has contested their arguments related to the status of classifiers and the question whether all nouns in Chinese are mass. In this reply, we discuss some of the points Wu and Bodomo raise, arguing that (a) sortal classifiers are not lexical elements; (b) generic interpretation is not the same as kind interpretation; (c) demonstrative noun phrases do not have the same distribution and interpretation as definite noun phrases in Mandarin and Cantonese; and (d) the DP structure that Wu and Bodomo propose runs into serious problems with phrasal possessors. Finally, we discuss an alternative approach to the structure of the nominal domain in Chinese languages.

This paper discusses a pair-list reading which we call the trapped pair-list reading, arising in long distance questions with three wh-phrases, two of which are embedded within a subordinate clause. Under the trapped pair-list reading, all three whs are answered, but only the two whs trapped inside the embedded clause can be paired. Based on evidence from a language with (overt) multiple wh-movement (Romanian), we argue that (lists of) trapped pair-list readings in English involve covert multiple partial wh-movement. On this proposal, trapped pair-list readings raise, for multiple partial wh-movement, the same canonical scope paradox that single partial wh-movement raises, since on the relevant list reading, all three whs have semantically wide, matrix scope, though syntactically, the (only) two whs that can be paired are trapped at the periphery of the subordinate clause. We suggest that this paradox can be resolved by extending Sternefeld (2001) and Liptak and Zimmermann's (2007) Indirect Dependency Approach to single partial-movement to multiple partial-movement. The basic insight driving this proposal is that the subordinate whs can be paired independently of the matrix wh because the subordinate clause can be interpreted as a multiple question on its own.

This article provides a detailed investigation of the prosody and syntax of dislocation in Durban Zulu, an Nguni Bantu language spoken in South Africa. With focus elements obligatorily appearing in an immediately after the verb position, non-focused elements within a verb phrase have to be right- or left-dislocated. We discuss the asymmetries between right- and left-dislocation, showing that only left-dislocated elements can be topics. We argue that aside from a pre-subject Topic position, there is also a Topic position between the subject and the verb phrase. The prosodic phrasing cues in Zulu show that both the CP and the vP phases play a crucial role in determining the alignment with Intonational Phrases.

Tone as a distinctive feature used to differentiate not only words but also clause types, is a characteristic feature of Bantu languages. In this paper we show that Bemba relatives can be marked with a low tone in place of a segmental relative marker. We treat this low tone as a morpheme rather than as just triggering a change in tone pattern that can then be related to relativization. The low tone strategy of relativization, which imposes a restrictive reading of relatives, manifests a phonological phrasing that requires the head noun to be phrased together with the relative clause that it modifies as opposed to non-restrictives where this is not the case. The paper shows that the resultant phonological phrasing favours a head-raising analysis of relativization where the head noun is considered to be inside CP. Despite the syntactic use of the relative tonal morpheme we see that it is also subject to purely phonological constraints that results in its being unable to be used to mark headless relatives. This paper therefore highlights the phonology-syntax connection and shows that phonology can directly inform syntactic analyses. © Walter de Gruyter.

Dilemmas, fundamental controversies, basic oppositions between methods and approaches, occur in all fields of science and scholarship. Often dilemmas arise at the interface where science and society meet, or whenever several sciences or disciplines clash.The paradox of dilemmas is that although one might prefer to do without them, they are nevertheless indispensable.Without dilemmas progress in science and scholarship would be unthinkable. New paradigms come into existence and compete with the old for acceptance.Thus, by inciting researchers to make new efforts and pose new questions, dilemmas reveal new insights and sustain the ferment of knowledge.

In this paper we reconsider the issue of free choice and the role of the whmorphology employed in it. We show that the property of being an interrogative whword alone is not sufficient for free choice, and that semantic and sometimes even morphological definiteness is a pre-requisite for some free choice items (FCIs) in certain languages, e.g. in Greek and Mandarin Chinese. We propose a theory that explains the polarity behaviour of FCIs cross-linguistically, and allows indefinite (Giannakidou 2001) as well as definite-like FCIs. The difference is manifested as a lexical distinction in English between any (indefinite) and wh-ever (definite); in Greek it appears as a choice between a FCI nominal modifier (taking an NP argument), which illustrates the indefinite option, and a FC free relative illustrating the definite one. We provide a compositional analysis of Greek FCIs in both incarnations, and derive in a parallel manner the Chinese FCIs. Here the definite versus indefinite alternation is manifested in the presence or absence of d�, which we take to express the maximality operator. It is thus shown that what we see in the morphology of FCIs in Greek is reflected in syntax in Chinese. Our analysis has important consequences for the class of so-called whindeterminates. In the context of current proposals, free choiceness is taken to come routinely from interrogative semantics, and wh-indeterminates are treated as question words which can freely become FCIs (Kratzer and Shimoyama 2002). Our results from Mandarin and Greek emphasize that wh-indeterminates do not form a uniform class in this respect, and that interrogative semantics alone cannot predict either sensitivity of free choice to definiteness, or the polarity behaviour of FCIs.

The Glot International State-of-the-Article books constitute the ideal solution for everyone who wants to have a good idea of what the others are doing but does not have time to follow the developments in all other parts of the field on a day to day basis. All articles were previously published in Glot International and have been revised and updated, and special attention was given to the extensive bibliography, which constitutes an important part of each overview article. Among the essays in the first volume are overview articles dealing with VP ellipsis (by Kyle Johnson), Ergativity (by Alana Johns), tone (by San Duanmu), acquisition of phonology (by Paula Fikkert), and semantic change (by Elizabeth Closs Traugott). The second volume offers articles on subjects ranging from the development of grammars (by David Lightfoot) and markedness in phonology (by Keren Rice) to the syntactic representation of linguistic events (by Sara Thomas Rosen), optionality in Optimality syntax (by Gereon Muller) and the nature of coordination (by Ljiljana Progovac).

In Mandarin, there is an element de which has for years been the subject of analysis. Li and Thompson (1981) and Ross (1983 and 1984) have tried, with little success, to provide a unified treatment of this element. Li and Thompson (1981) claim that there are several de’s in Mandarin: a possessive marker, an adjectival marker and a nominalization marker. But the structural properties of these de’s and the similarities among them are ignored.Using the Government and Binding framework (Chomsky 1981), I will provide an analysis which accounts for the structural and functional similarities and differences among the various de’s in Mandarin. First, I will state the theoretical assumptions relevant to the discussion of de. Second, I will present the non-controversial evidence showing that de is a head-final complementizer in relative clauses. Third, I will present further data exemplifying a head-final de in other constructions. Fourth, I will demonstrate the impossibility of having a head-final de complementizer in resultative clauses. Finally, I will propose that there are two de complementizers in Mandarin, one head-final, the other head-initial.

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