Chinese adverbial Quan as a dual-function operator

A domain restrictor and a universal quantifier

Authors

  • Peppina Po-lun Lee City University of Hong Kong
  • Pan Haihua City University of Hong Kong
  • Zhang Lei Northeast Normal University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v8i2.169

Keywords:

quan, dual function operator, domain restrictor, universal quantifier

Abstract

Although Tomioka and Tsai (2005) claim that unlike dou, quan is a domain restrictor without any quantificational or distributive force, in this paper, we will argue that in addition to being a domain restrictor, quan has to be analysed as a universal quantifier, hence a dual-function operator, when (a) there is an appropriate quantificational domain, contributed by either a set of individuals denoted by plural NPs or a set of degree triggered by the predicate, and there exist no other adverbial quantifiers or distributive operators occurring to the right of quan; (b) when quan follows dou; and (c) there exists a focus in the sentence with which quan associates. Ambiguity would arise when quan functions as both a domain restrictor and a universal quantifier. Our analysis can account for not only the similarities between quan and dou, but also, more importantly, their differences in semantic properties and sentence distributions.

Author Biographies

  • Peppina Po-lun Lee, City University of Hong Kong

    Peppina Po-lun Lee, is Associate Professor at the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong. She received her Ph.D in linguistics from the City University of Hong Kong in 2004, with her PhD dissertation having won two outstanding thesis awards. Before joining CityU as Assistant Professor in August 2006, she was Associate Professor teaching linguistics in the Macao Polytechnic Institute (2003 2006). Her research interests lie primarily in Chinese and Cantonese syntax and semantics, with a special focus on Cantonese particles and how these particles work within contemporary theoretical frameworks. She has worked on a variety of research topics such as focus and information structure, negation, aspect and eventuality, quantification and modality. In recent years, she has published or co edited 2 books --- the recent one Cantonese Particles and Affixal Quantification (Springer, published under the series “Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory”, 2012) – and about 60 research papers in edited books, conference proceedings and (international) journals such as Lingua, Journal of Pragmatics, Linguistics, Language and Linguistics, Studies of the Chinese Language, Contemporary Linguistics, Chinese Linguistics, Studies in Language and Linguistics, Linguistic Sciences. She has completed 4 and is currently working on 2 important projects as Principal Investigator.

  • Pan Haihua, City University of Hong Kong

    Haihua Pan, Ph.D in linguistics (Texas), is Professor of Linguistics at the Dept. of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong. He is also a Changjiang Scholar – Chair Professor at Beijing Language and Culture University, appointed by the Ministry of Education, China. His areas of teaching are syntax and semantics. His research interests include syntactic theory, formal semantics, and computational linguistics. He has worked on a variety of research topics such as argument structure, aspect, focus and negation, topic, Cantonese particles, reflexive binding, noun phrase extraction, subject identification, etc. He is a reviewer of many prestigious linguistics journals such as Language, Linguistic Inquiry, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Lingua, Linguistics, Journal of Pragmatics, Journal of Linguistics, etc. His recent publications: (with Peppina Lee) The landscape of additive particles – with special reference to the Cantonese sentence final particle tim, Lingua 120 (12) 2010; (with Jianhua Hu) Decomposing the aboutness condition for Chinese topic constructions, The Linguistic Review 2 (2-3) 2009, A semantic–pragmatic interface account of (dangling) topics in Mandarin Chinese, Journal of Pragmatics 40(11) 2008; (with Yan Jiang) Introduction to Formal Semantics (China Social Sciences Publishing House, 2005); and (with Xu Liejiong (eds)) The Structure and Semantics of Focus (Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2005).

  • Zhang Lei, Northeast Normal University

    Zhang Lei is now teaching at School of Overseas Education, Northeast Normal University. She received her PhD degree in linguistics from City University of Hong Kong in 2013. Her study interests are in semantics, syntax semantics interface and semantics-pragmatics interface.

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Published

2013-11-26

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Lee, P. P.- lun, Haihua, P., & Lei, Z. (2013). Chinese adverbial Quan as a dual-function operator: A domain restrictor and a universal quantifier. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 8(2), 169-205. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v8i2.169

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