Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mandarin hen and Universal Markedness in gradable adjectives

  • Published:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Under some conditions, gradable adjectives in Mandarin must co-occur with overt degree morphology (most neutrally, hen ‘very’) for positive interpretation; otherwise, a comparative interpretation results. This paper argues that this phenomenon is the consequence of two interacting factors: (1) Universally, whereas comparative semantics is provided by a (possibly covert) morpheme in syntax, positive semantics is provided by a type-shifting rule that does not project in syntax, and (2) The T[+V] constraint: in Mandarin, the direct complement to T(ense) must either be (an extended projection of) a verb or a functional morpheme that can in principle combine with (an extended projection of) a verb. Consequently, a superficially bare adjectival complement to T may project a null comparative morpheme in order to satisfy T[+V], but positive semantics is ruled out because it does not affect the AP categorial status of the predicate and hence does not satisfy T[+V]. The semantically bleached degree adverb hen can be used instead to approximate positive semantics in a way that satisfies T[+V]. This proposal makes the right predictions about the conditions under which bare adjectives do receive a positive interpretation, namely, when other functional elements intervene between T and AP, and when T is not projected. An important consequence of the proposal is that despite surface appearances, Mandarin does not counterexemplify the universal generalization that comparatives are the marked member of the positive/comparative opposition; on the contrary, its proper analysis actually depends on the idea that comparative-form adjectives involve extra structure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abney, Steven. 1987. The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Ph.D. Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge.

  • Abusch, Dorit. 2010. Presupposition triggering from alternatives. Journal of Semantics 27: 37–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aoun, Joseph, and Yen-Hui Audrey Li. 2003. Essays on the representational and derivational nature of grammar: The diversity of wh-constructions. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartsch, Renate, and Theo Vennemann. 1973. Semantic structures: A study in the relation between syntax and semantics. Frankfurt: Athaenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Sigrid, Toshiko Oda, and Koji Sugisaki. 2004. Parametric variation in the semantics of comparison: Japanese vs. English. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 13: 289–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benmamoun, Elabbas. 2000. The feature structure of functional categories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, M. 1977. A response to Karttunen. Linguistics and Philosophy 1: 279–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bobaljik, Jonathan David. 2002. A-chains at the PF-interface: Copies and ‘covert’ movement. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 20: 197–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bobaljik, Jonathan David. 2007. On comparative suppletion. Manuscript, University of Connecticut, Storrs.

  • Bogal-Allbritten, Elizabeth. 2008. Gradability and degree constructions in Navajo. BA thesis, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore.

  • Chao, Y. R. 1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, Lisa L. S., and Rint Sybesma. 1999. Bare and not-so-bare nouns and the structure of NP. Linguistic Inquiry 30: 509–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen. 1997. On the typology of wh-questions. New York: Garland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chierchia, Gennaro. 1984. Topics in the syntax and semantics of infinitives and gerunds. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

  • Chierchia, Gennaro. 1998. Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6: 339–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and functional heads: A cross-linguistic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corver, Norbert. 1990. The syntax of left branch extractions. Ph.D. Dissertation, Tilburg University, Tilburg.

  • Corver, Norbert. 1997. Much-support as a last resort. Linguistic Inquiry 28: 119–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cresswell, Max J. 1976. The semantics of degree. In Montague grammar, ed. Barbara Partee, 261–292. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doherty, Cathal. 1996. Clausal structure and the modern Irish copula. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 14: 1–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlewine, Michael. 2007. A new syntax-semantics for the Mandarin bi comparative. M.A. Thesis, University of Chicago, Chicago.

  • Ernst, Thomas. 1994. Functional categories and the Chinese Infl. Linguistics 32: 191–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gasde, Horst-Dieter, and Waltraud Paul. 1996. Functional categories, topic prominence, and complex sentences in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics 34: 263–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimshaw, Jane. 2005. Words and structure. Stanford: CSLI Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gu, Yang. 2008. Shitai, shizhi lilun yu hanyu shijian canzhao [Studies of tense, aspect and Chinese time reference]. In Dangdai yuyanxue lilun he hanyu yanjiu [Contemporary linguistic theories and related studies of Chinese], eds. Shen Yang and Feng Shengli, 97–119. Beijing: Commerce Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guerzoni, Elena. 2004. Even-NPIs in yes/no questions. Natural Language Semantics 12: 319–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higginbotham, James. 1993. Interrogatives. In The view from building 20, eds. Kenneth Hale and Samuel Keyser, 195–227. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C. T. James. 1991. Modularity and Chinese A-not-A questions. In Interdisciplinary approaches to language, eds. Carol Georgopolous and Robert Ishihara, 305–322. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C. T. James, Y. H. Audrey Li, and Yafei Li. 2009. The syntax of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Shi-Zhe. 2006. Property theory, adjectives, and modification in Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 15: 343–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Shi-Zhe, and Yanhui Li. 2008. A study of the syntax-semantics of adjectives. Paper presented at the 16th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, Peking University, China.

  • Kamp, Hans. 1975. Two theories of adjectives. In Formal semantics of natural language, ed. Edward Keenan, 123–155. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher. 1999. Projecting the adjective: The syntax and semantics of gradability and comparison. New York: Garland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher. 2007. Vagueness and grammar: the semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy 30: 1–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher. 2009. Modes of comparison. In Proceedings of CLS 43, eds. Malcolm Elliott, James Kirby, Osamu Sawada, Eleni Staraki, and Suwon Yoon, 141–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher. 2011. Vagueness and comparison. In Vagueness and language use, eds. Paul Egré and Nathan Klinedinst, 73–97. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher, and Beth Levin. 2008. Measure of change: The adjectival core of degree achievements. In Adjectives and adverbs: Syntax, semantics and discourse, eds. Louise McNally and Christopher Kennedy, 156–182. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Christopher, and Louise McNally. 2005. Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language 81: 345–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Ewan. 1980. A semantics for positive and comparative adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy 4: 1–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kratzer, Angelika. 1986. Conditionals. Chicago Linguistic Society 22(2): 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krifka, Manfred. 1995. Common nouns: A contrastive analysis of Chinese and English. In The generic book, eds. Gregory N. Carlson and Francis Jeffry Pelletier, 398–411. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laka, Miren Itziar. 1990. Negation in syntax: On the nature of functional categories and projections. Ph.D. Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge.

  • Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jimmy. 2004. Even structure and the encoding of arguments: The syntax of the Mandarin and English verb phrase. Ph.D. Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge.

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 2003a. Selectional restrictions of tenses and temporal reference of Chinese bare sentences. Lingua 112: 271–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 2003b. Temporal reference in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 12: 259–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 2006. Time in a language without tense: The case of Chinese. Journal of Semantics 23: 1–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 2009. Chinese comparatives and their implicational parameters. Natural Language Semantics 17: 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Jo-Wang. 2010. A tenseless analysis of Mandarin Chinese revisited: A response to Sybesma 2007. Linguistic Inquiry 41: 305–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther. 2007. The weak comparative morpheme in Mandarin Chinese. Concentric: Studies in Linguistics 33: 53–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther. 2010a. The Chinese geng clausal comparative. Lingua 120: 1579–1606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther. 2010b. The positive morpheme in Chinese and the adjectival structure. Lingua 120: 1010–1056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, Waltraud. 2005a. Adjective modification in Mandarin Chinese and related issues. Linguistics 43: 757–793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, Waltraud. 2005b. Low IP area and left periphery in Mandarin Chinese. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes 33: 111–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, Waltraud, and John Whitman. 2008. Shi … de focus clefts in Mandarin Chinese. The Linguistic Review 25: 413–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritter, Elizabeth, and Martina Wiltschko. 2009. Varieties of INFL: TENSE, LOCATION and PERSON. In Alternatives to cartography, ed. Jeroen van Cranenbroeck, 153–201. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzschild, Roger. 2008. The semantics of comparatives and other degree constructions. Language and Linguistics Compass 2: 308–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seuren, Pieter A. M. 1973. The comparative. In Generative grammar in Europe, eds. Ferenc Kiefer and Nicolas Ruwet, 528–564. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, Andrew, and Zoe Wu. 2002. From D to T—determiner incorporation and the creation of tense. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 11: 169–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sproat, Richard, and Chilin Shih. 1988. Prenominal adjectival ordering in English and Mandarin. In NELS 18, eds. James Blevins and Juli Carter, 465–489. Amherst: GLSA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stassen, Leon. 1985. Comparison and universal grammar. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sybesma, Rint. 1997. Why Chinese verb-le is a resultative predicate. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 6: 215–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sybesma, Rint. 1999. The Mandarin VP. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sybesma, Rint. 2007. Whether we tense-agree overtly or not. Linguistic Inquiry 38: 580–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang, Sze-Wing. 1998. Parametrization of features in syntax. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Irvine.

  • Tang, Sze-Wing. 2001. Nominal predication and focus anchoring. In ZAS papers in linguistics 22, eds. Gerhard Jager, Anatoli Strigin, Chris Wilder, and Niina Zhang, 159–172. Berlin: ZAS.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Stechow, Arnim. 1984. Comparing semantic theories of comparison. Journal of Semantics 3: 1–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiang, Ming. 2005. Some topics in comparative constructions. Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University.

  • Yip, Po-Ching, and Don Rimmington. 2004. Chinese: a comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Lan. 2007. The two positions of Chinese relative clauses. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

  • Zhang, Niina. 2008. Existential coda constructions as internally headed relative clause constructions. The Linguistics Journal 3 (3): 8–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, De-Xi. 1980. Xiandai hanyu yufa yanjiu [Studies on syntax of Modern Chinese]. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, 1010 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Thomas Grano

Authors
  1. Thomas Grano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Grano.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Grano, T. Mandarin hen and Universal Markedness in gradable adjectives. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 30, 513–565 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-011-9161-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-011-9161-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation