Abstract
The Mandarin functional morpheme dou appears to have been interpreted, among other things, as a distributor, focus marker even, or already. This paper aims at providing a unified semantic account for these different uses. I argue that the semantic core of these different usages is the same: dou is simply a maximality operator. It gives rise to different meanings by applying maximality to a contextually determined plural set. This could be a set of covers, a set of focus-induced alternatives, or a set of degrees ordered on a scale. This analysis also connects dou in these contexts with dou in environments that license polarity items, as discussed in Giannakidou and Cheng (J Semant 23: 135–183, 2006).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brisson, Christine. 1998. Distributivity, maximality, and floating quantifiers. PhD dissertation, Rutgers University.
Cheng Lisa Lai-Shen. (1995). On dou-quantification. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 4: 197–234
Giannakidou Anastasia, Cheng Lisa Lai-Shen. (2006). Definiteness, polarity, and the role of wh-morphology in free choice. Journal of Semantics 23: 135–183
Gillon Brendan. (1987). The readings of plural noun phrases in English. Linguistics and Philosophy 13: 477–485
Higginbotham James. (1981). Reciprocal interpretation. Journal of Linguistic Research 1: 97–117
Horn, Larry. 1969. A presuppositional analysis of only and even. In Proceedings of the 5th Chicago Linguistics Society, 98–107. Chicago University.
Huang, Shi-Zhe. 1996. Quantification and predication in Mandarin Chinese: A case study of Dou. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
Karttunen, Lauri, and Peters, Stanley. 1979. Conventional implicature. In Syntax and semantics 11: Presuppositions, ed. C. Oh and D. Dineen, 1–56. Academic Press, New York.
Lee, Thomas. 1986. Studies on quantification in Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
Lin Jo-Wang. (1998). Distributivity in Chinese and its implications. Natural Language Semantics 6: 201–243
Liu, Feng-his. 1990. Scope dependency in English and Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
Paris Marie-Claude. (1998). Focus operators and types of predication in Mandarin. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 27: 139–159
Portner Paul. (2002). Topicality and (non)specificity in Mandarin. Journal of Semantics 19: 275–287
Rooth, Mats. 1985. Association with focus. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Schwarzschild Roger. (1996). Pluralities. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht
Shyu Shu-Ing. (2004). (A)symmetries between Mandarin Chinese lian...dou and shenzhi. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 32: 81–128
von Stechow Arnim. (1984). Comparing semantic theories of comparison. Journal of Semantics 3: 1–77
Wu, Jianxin. 1999. Syntax and semantics of quantification in Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xiang, M. Plurality, maximality and scalar inferences: A case study of Mandarin Dou . J East Asian Linguist 17, 227–245 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-008-9025-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-008-9025-9