Browsing by Author "Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther"

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Dimension-denoting classifiers in Taiwanese compound adjectives
(2010-06-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
;
外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
This paper analyzes Taiwanese A-CL sequences as compound adjectives by treating the classifier inside such sequences as a dimension provider and the adjective as involving an ordering function. Combined with the assumption that classifiers occurring as the CL of A-CL compound adjectives should be divided into single-dimension denoting and multi-dimension denoting elements, the analysis provides a rationale for why the adjectives permitted in A-CL compound adjectives have the interesting and otherwise perplexing property of being so limited in number.
Projecting adjectives in Chinese
(2018-02-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
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外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Chinese has the comparative morpheme and the positive morpheme, both of which project in syntax. The covert comparative morpheme is the covert allomorph of the comparative morpheme bCjiA o 'more'. The covert bCjiA o 'more' can only occur in a comparative construction where an overt standard of comparison is syntactically available, but the overt one occurs in a comparative construction where an overt standard of comparison is syntactically unavailable. The positive morpheme also has two allomorphs. One is the unstressed hn 'HEN' and the other is its covert counterpart. The covert one can only occur in a focus sensitive domain where the bare gradable adjective is focus-anchored, but the overt one occurs elsewhere. The covert allomorph, regardless of whether it is the comparative or the positive morpheme, is used to avoid violating the Constraint on Multiple Foci. Accordingly, the proposal of the comparative morpheme and the proposal of the positive morpheme can reinforce each other by establishing a theoretical relationship through the Nonhead Stress rule and the Constraint on Multiple Foci.
Reduplication of adjectives in Chinese: a default state
(2013-05-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
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外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Chinese reduplicated adjectives denote a perceptible state realized from the property denoted by the adjectival base. The 'degree' conveyed by reduplicated adjectives is the by-product of state realization and can be interpreted as the positive degree. A gradable adjective denoting a property that is more perceptible to human sense is more amenable to reduplication, and the rhetorical style of parallelism can make the property denoted by adjectives more perceptible. The gradability requirement on adjectives amenable to reduplication results from the perceptibility requirement on the state denoted by reduplicated adjectives. Depending on the means by which the property denoted by their adjectival base is realized as a state, reduplicated adjectives can be divided into two types.
The adjective da in Taiwanese Mandarin: degree, measurement and roots
(1970-01-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
;
外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
This study shows how what has been originally ascribed to the 'lexicon' is 'distributed' among different components of syntax and how degrees are compositionally introduced across categories by investigating the syntax and semantics of the Taiwanese Mandarin X hen da construction. In this construction, degrees are compositionally introduced by the literally vacuous adjective da 'DA', which contributes a structure-preserving map from entities, events or states to their measures along various dimensions (Wellwood in Linguist Philos 38(1):67-101, 2015). Syntactically, the constituent hen da 'HEN DA' functions to be predicated of the root of the X component at the root-level, and the root later must move into the corresponding light head position to be categorically defined.
The adjective da in Taiwanese Mandarin: degree, measurement and roots
(2020-05-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
;
外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
This study shows how what has been originally ascribed to the 'lexicon' is 'distributed' among different components of syntax and how degrees are compositionally introduced across categories by investigating the syntax and semantics of the Taiwanese Mandarin X hen da construction. In this construction, degrees are compositionally introduced by the literally vacuous adjective da 'DA', which contributes a structure-preserving map from entities, events or states to their measures along various dimensions (Wellwood in Linguist Philos 38(1):67-101, 2015). Syntactically, the constituent hen da 'HEN DA' functions to be predicated of the root of the X component at the root-level, and the root later must move into the corresponding light head position to be categorically defined.
The chameleon in the Chinese individual exceed comparative
(2007-07-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
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外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
The X A-le D construction is an explicit individual exceed comparative, in which the aspectual suffix -le licenses the covert individual-denoting compared object pro. The reference of this compared object is chameleon-like, which makes it possible for this type of comparative to be ambiguous between the stative and the dynamic meaning. Since this compared object is not a degree term, the differential measure phrase inside becomes the only possible candidate that can indirectly bind the degree argument of the adjective by restricting the degree argument that represents the difference between the compared objects.
The Chinese bi comparative
(2011-09-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
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外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Chinese bi comparatives should be divided into two types: phrasal and clausal. In the former, the prepositional subordinator bi introduces as standard of comparison one syntactic constituent that does not involve comparative deletion; in the latter, however, a clause with more than one standard constituent is introduced and this clause obligatorily involves comparative deletion and a degree operator-variable binding relation in syntax. Among the conditions to which building a Chinese bi comparative is subject, two conditions interact to disallow comparative subdeletion: (A) the bi phrase occurs as an adjunct phrase adjoined to the left of the predicate of comparison and (B) the standard constituent must be minimally c-commanded by its corresponding main clause correlate. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The Chinese geng clausal comparative
(2010-06-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
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外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Based on the syntax and semantics of the Chinese geng 'GENG' clausal comparative, I first argue that Chinese does have degree comparison in syntax, contra the claim made by Kennedy (2005, 2007), and Lin (2009). I then discuss two further issues raised by the geng 'GENG' clausal comparative: first, to show how the geng 'GENG' clausal comparative fits into a larger system of Chinese comparatives, I dichotomize Chinese comparatives into presupposition and non-presupposition comparatives. Second, I argued that the Degree Abstraction Parameter proposed by Beck et al. (2004), though being empirically challenged by the Chinese geng 'GENG' clausal comparative, can be maintained if languages involving degree comparison in syntax are further divided into two types depending on how the degree variable is bound (Kennedy, 2007). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The light verb lai in the chinese comparative correlative
(2008-01-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
;
外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
The Chinese yue lai yue 'more come more' construction is a subtype of the Chinese comparative correlative rather than an analogue of the English more and more (or -er and -er) construction. The verb lai 'come' inside is the overt realization of the light verb BECOME, which selects as complement a state. Through an internet search of large Chinese corpora, we further argue that the yue lai yue 'more come more' sequence is on the way to being lexicalized as a degree adverb with some properties that provide indirect evidence for the light verb analysis made here.
The positive morpheme in Chinese and the adjectival structure
(2010-04-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
;
外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Chinese has a positive morpheme that has two allomorphs: a covert one and an overt one (i.e., the degree word hen). The former, behaving like a polarity item, only occurs in a predicate-accessible operator([-wh]) domain with a structure like [Op([-wh]) ... X([-wh-operator])(0) [(Deg P) ... Deg(0)[(AP) ... ]]], where the head X(0), carrying the predicate-accessible operator([-wh]) feature, not only introduces a predicate-accessible operator([-wh]) but also licenses the occurrence of a degree phrase headed by the covert positive morpheme (i.e., Deg(0)), while the latter in other contexts. Having this as basis, I propose a condition on saturating Chinese gradable adjectives through which the bifurcated use of the 'unmarked' form of Chinese gradable adjectives can be well captured. Besides, the obligatory overt realization of a covert positive morpheme occurring in a predicate-accessible operator([-wh]) domain, when the predicative adjective is substituted for by a pro-form, further implies that Chinese has an adjectival structure simpler than English. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The view from yue: Chinese comparative correlatives
(2008-08-01)
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
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外國語文學系
;
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
The Chinese comparative correlative involves a quantificational tripartite structure. The mapping between its syntactic tree structure and the corresponding quantificational tripartite structure is subject to the Revised Extended Mapping Hypothesis. Semantically, the correlative degree adverb yue 'more' functions to regulate a relationship between a pair of degree/quantity variables and a comparison relation. The relationship between these two variables is subject to the condition: For every x(1), there must exist an x(2); the degree value of x(2) on the scale denoted by the predicate modified by the adverb yue 'more' must be larger than that of x(1) on the same scale, and vice versa. These two degree/quantity variables 'directly' compared with each other along the scale denoted by the predicate modified by the adverb yue 'more' must be associated with two 'corresponding' variables (syntactically or semantically) predicated by the same predicate, respectively. These two 'corresponding' variables are those that are 'indirectly' compared with each other along the scale denoted by the predicate modified by the adverb yue 'more'. The type of predicate modified by the adverb yue 'more' provides further information to help identify the nature of the 'indirect' variables (i.e. individuals, times or worlds). (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.