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Multiple-modal constructions in Mandarin Chinese and their finiteness properties1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2011

T.-H. JONAH LIN
T.-H. JONAH LIN*
Affiliation:
Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
*
Author's address: Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Section 2, Guangfu Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwanjonahlin@mx.nthu.edu.tw
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Abstract

This work examines multiple-modal constructions in Mandarin Chinese. It is shown that modals in Mandarin Chinese are ordered in specific ways, and, while a number of factors contribute to the determination of the hierarchical order of modals, the finiteness of the complement clauses that the modals take plays a particularly important role. A generalization proposed in this paper is that (i) if a modal takes a finite clause as complement, then the modal itself can only occur in a finite context; and (ii) if a modal takes a nonfinite clause as complement, then it can occur in a nonfinite context too. This generalization is shown to account for some ordering phenomena of modals in Mandarin Chinese that would otherwise remain mysterious.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 151 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

[1]

Parts of the material reported in this paper were presented in colloquia and seminars at Nanzan University, National Chung Cheng University, and National Tsing Hua University. I am grateful to the audiences, in particular Mamoru Saito, Keiko Murasugi, Yasuaki Abe, Ian Roberts, Yuji Takano, and Niina Zhang for helpful comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to the two anonymous JL referees for their comments and questions. Special thanks go to C.-T. James Huang; my interests in the phenomena reported in this paper were inspired in personal discussions with him. I alone am responsible for all errors. This research is supported, in part, by National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC 96-2411-H-007 -029).

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