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1 Degree Intensification and Sentential Functions in Chengdu - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Mar 15, 2024 •346 likes •585 views

1 Degree Intensification and Sentential Functions in Chengdu Chinese 1 Jiajuan Xiong and 2 Feng-fan Hsieh 1 Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, jiajuanx@gmail.com; 2 National Tsing Hua University, siahonghoan@faculty.hss.nthu.edu.tw

  1. 1 Degree Intensification and Sentential Functions in Chengdu Chinese 1 Jiajuan Xiong and 2 Feng-fan Hsieh 1 Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, jiajuanx@gmail.com; 2 National Tsing Hua University, siahonghoan@faculty.hss.nthu.edu.tw

  2. 2 The Diversities of Degree Intensifiers in Chengdu • In Chengdu Chinese, degree intensifiers vary in the following aspects: • (i) some require the presence of the particle DE, but some others do not: (1) vs. (2) - (5); • (ii) some precede the modified AP/VP, while some others follow AP/VP: (2) - (4) vs. (1) and (5); • (iii) some require the presence of a sentence final particle (SFP), as shown in (3) - (5), but some others do not, as in (1) - (2).

  3. 3 Data presentation ( t ɛ -x ə n; ts ɿ ; xau ) (1) a. Tsɛ pɚ su iəutɕʻy tɛ xən ( o/io )! this CL book interesting DE very SFP/SFP ‘This book is highly interesting. ’ b. Tʻa ɕixuan kʻan su tɛ xən ( o/io )! s/he like read book DE very SFP/SFP ‘S/he likes reading very much. ’ (2) a. Tsɛ pɚ su tsɿ/xau iəutɕʻy ( o/io )! this CL book very/very interesting SFP/SFP ‘This is book is highly interesting. ’ b. Tʻa tsɿ/xau ɕixuan kʻan su ( o/io )! s/he very/very like read book SFP/SFP ‘S/he likes reading very much. ’

  4. 4 Data presentation ( to … ni; ) (3) a. Tsɛ pɚ su to iəutɕʻy *( ni ). this CL book very interestingSFP ‘This book is highly interesting. ’ b. Tʻa to ɕixuan kʻan su *( ni ). s/he very like read book SFP ‘S/he likes reading very much. ’

  5. 5 Data presentation ( ts ɿ i ə u namo … no; x ə n no ) (4) a. Tsɛ pɚ su tsɿiəu namo iəutɕʻy *( no ). this CL book only so interesting SFP ‘This book is highly interesting.’ b. Tʻa tsɿiəu namo ɕixuan kʻan su *( no ). s/he only so like read book SFP ‘S/he likes reading very much. ’ (5) a. Tsɛ pɚ su kuei xən *( no ). this CL book expensive very SFP ‘This book is too expensive. ’ b. Tʻa kʻan su kʻan xən *( no ) . s/he read book read very SFP ‘S/he reads too much (e.g., for a long time at a stretch). ’

  6. 6 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs Table 1 . The features of degree intensifiers in Chengdu Chinese pre-AP/VP intensifiers post-AP/VP intensifiers [DEGREE + AP/VP] [AP/VP+DEGREE] [AP/VP + de + DEGREE] SFPs to X X ni no ts ɿ i ə u namo x ə n, tʻɚ X ∅ /o/io ts ɿ , xau X x ə n

  7. 7 A Sketch of SFPs in Chengdu • There is a rich repertoire of SFPs in Chengdu Chinese. Zhang, Zhang and Deng (2001: 372) identify 25 sentence final particles. • Some SFPs are considered as allophones of the same SFP; • Some SFPs are reported to be multi-functional, depending on contexts. • Following Tang’s (2015, 2020) cartographic analyses of Cantonese SFPs, we select several representative SFPs, which are of the focus, modality, interrogation and exclamation categories. • Delineate a cartographic sketch of Chengdu SFPs (Rizzi 1997; Cinque 1999); • Determine the syntactic positions of ni and no

  8. 8 The Cartographical Layout of Chengdu SFPs Table 2 . Different Types of Chengdu SFPs. FocP CP FinP modality assurance interrogation exclamation epistemic evidential t ɛ t ɛ ma no ni wa o, io; no

  9. 9 The SFP ni • The SFP ni : a focus type SFP • It brings about a focus reading on the whole proposition. • It is applicable to propositions anchored in the past, present or future time frame. • It bears similarity with the (shi) … de propositional assertion construction in Mandarin (Lee 2005; Xiong 2007; Paul and Whitman 2008; Mai 2013).

  10. 10 The SFP no • The SFP no : • interrogative SFP (Zhang, Zhang and Deng 2001) • imperative SFP (Zhang, Zhang and Deng 2001) • finite SFP • exclamatory SFP (a conflation between the finite no and the exclamatory o ) • The analysis is in line with Erlewine’s (2013) distinction between v P-domain SFPs and CP-domain SFPs as well as Zhang’s (2018) differentiation between sentence final aspect particles (SFAPs) and sentence final particles (SFPs).

  11. 11 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs (6) a. T ʻ akau ɕ in t ɛ x ə n (* no ) . s/he happy DE very SFP FIN ‘S/he is very happy.’ b. T ʻ a kau ɕ in t ɛ x ə n ni . s/he happy DE very SFP FOC ‘ It is the case that s /he is very happy.’ c. T ʻ a xai kau ɕ in t ɛ x ə n t ɛ . s/he out_of_expectation happy DE very SFP MOD ‘Out of my expectation, s/he is very happy.’ d. T ʻ a kau ɕ in t ɛ x ə n t ɛ ma . s/he happy DE very SFP MOD ‘It is evident that s/he is very happy.’ e. T ʻ a kau ɕ in t ɛ x ə n wa? s/he happy DE very SFP INTR ‘Is s/he very happy?’ f. T ʻ a kau ɕ in t ɛ x ə n o/io! s/he happy DE very SFP EXCL ‘S/he is very happy!’

  12. 12 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs (7) T ʻ a ts ɿ /xau kau ɕ in (* no )/ (* ni )/ (* t ɛ )/ (* t ɛ ma )/ (* wa )/( o/io ). SFP FIN / SFP FOC /SFP MOD /SFP MOD /SFP INTR /SFP EXCL s/he very/very happy ‘S/he is very happy!’

  13. 13 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs (8) a. T ʻ a nuei x ə n no. s/he tired very SFP FIN ‘S/he is too tired.’ b. T ʻ a nuei x ə n no ni. s/he tired very SFP FIN SFP FOC ‘It is the case that s/he is too tired.’ c. T ʻ a xai nuei x ə n no t ɛ . s/he out_of_expectation tired very SFP FIN SFP MOD ‘(Y o u may not be aware of the fact that) s/he is too tired.’ d. T ʻ a nuei x ə n no t ɛ ma . s/he tired very SFP FIN SFP MOD ‘It is evident that s/he is too tired.’ e. T ʻ a nuei x ə n no wa ? s/he tired very SFP FIN SFP INTR ‘Is s/he too tired?’ f. T ʻ a nuei x ə n no io ! s/he tired very SFP FIN SFP EXCL ‘S/he is too tired! (a reminder)’

  14. 14 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs (9) a. T ʻ a to kau ɕ in (* no) *( ni ). SFP FIN SFP FOC s/he very happy ‘ It is the case that s/he is very happy. ’ b. T ʻ a xai to kau ɕ in ni t ɛ . s/he out_of_expectation very happy SFP FOC SFP MOD ‘ Out of my expectation, s/he is very happy. ’ c. Tʻa to kau ɕ in ni t ɛ ma . s/he very happy SFP FOC SFP MOD ‘ It is evident that s/he is very happy. ’ d. Tʻa to kau ɕ in ni wa ? s/he very happy SFP FOC SFP INTR ‘ Is it the case that s/he is very happy? ’ e. Tʻa to kau ɕ in ni o/io ! s/he very happy SFP FOC SFP EXCL ‘ It is indeed the case that s/he is very happy! ’

  15. 15 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs (10) a. T ʻ a ts ɿ i ə u namo kau ɕ in *( no ) (* ni )/(* t ɛ )/ (* t ɛ ma )/ (* wa? )/( o/io ). s/he only so happy SFP FIN SFP FOC /SFP MOD /SFP MOD /SFP INTR /SFP EXCL ‘S/he is very happy.’ b. T ʻ a ts ɿ i ə u namo kau ɕ in (* ni ) *( no ) ( o/io ). s/he only so happy SFP FOC SFP EXCL SFP EXCL /SFP EXCL ‘S/he is very happy!’

  16. 16 The Interactions between intensifiers and SFPs Table 3 . The Interactions between degree expressions and SFPs. FocP CP modality FinP assurance interrogation exclamation ∅ epistemic evidential t ɛ t ɛ ma no ni wa no o, io ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ t ɛ x ə n X ✓ ✓ ts ɿ /xau X X X X X X ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ x ə n X ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ to X X X ts ɿ i ə u ✓ ✓ X X X X X X namo

  17. 17 Our Analysis • Degree intensifiers in Chengdu Chinese are paired with various SFPs. Function-wise, intensifiers can be divided into the following types: • Exclamation-type degree intensifiers: tsɿ, xau , tsɿiəu namo … no • Focus-type degree intensifiers: to … ni • Finite-type degree intensifiers: xən no; tə xən • Morphologically speaking, intensifiers can be categorized into two types: • Single morpheme intensifiers: tsɿ, xau • Double morpheme intensifiers: to … ni; tsɿiəu namo … no; xən no; tə xən • Syntactically, degree intensification and sentential marking are encoded by double layers of DegP, with the lower layer taking care of intensification (Deg I P) and the higher one realizing the sentential function (Deg S P). 0 [ DegIP [Deg I 0 [ AP/VP … ]]]] • [ DegSP Deg S

  18. 18 Justifications • First, the obligatory pairing of two functions (i.e., two syntactic projections) is not a novel idea. For example, the shi … de cleft is analyzed to involve two syntactic projections, i.e., a FocP headed by shi and an AspP headed by de (Mai 2013). Similarly, degree intensifiers in Chengdu involve both Deg I P for degree intensification and Deg S P for sentential functions, such as marking finiteness, encoding focus and expressing exclamation.

  19. 19 Justifications • Second, this analysis captures the contrastive syntactic behaviors of degree intensifiers, in terms of their (non-)occurrence in relative clauses. Specifically, to … ni , xən no and tə xən can occur in relative clauses, whereas tsɿ , xau , tsɿiəu namo … no cannot. This contrast follows from the fact that some intensifiers involve sentential functions at the CP layer and thus defy relativization (see Kayne 1994; Bianchi 2000; Aoun & Li 2003; Dikken & Singhapreecha 2004).

  20. 20 Justifications • Third, our analysis can provide an explanation for the semantically bleached degree word hen ‘very’ (see Sybesma 1999; Huang 2006; Gu 2008; Grano 2010, among others). We analyze hen as the head of the higher Deg S P, with the lower Deg I P being null. Thus, it mainly fulfill the sentential function but weak in intensification. This analysis echoes Gu’s (2008) proposal that the function of hen is to satisfy tense requirement of a clause.

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