Cover not available

Article In: International Journal of Chinese Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Prosodic licensing and interpretive asymmetries of shenme in Mandarin Chinese

ORCiD logo with link | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Shanghai Jiao Tong University
ORCiD logo with link | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Shanghai Jiao Tong University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
In Mandarin Chinese, the interpretation of the wh-word shenme ‘what’ varies across surface-identical constructions, raising long-standing questions about the role of syntax and prosody in clause typing. While previous analyses have focused on syntactic ambiguity or global intonation patterns, they have not adequately accounted for the interpretive asymmetries observed in different shenme configurations. This paper asks: What prosodic conditions license shenme as an interrogative operator, and how do these conditions interact with syntactic structure? To investigate this, we conducted a controlled production experiment with native speakers, analyzing pitch contour and stress placement across V shenme NP, V shenme V, and shenme V NP constructions. The findings show that shenme receives interrogative interpretation only when it bears both nuclear stress and a rising intonation contour, whereas deviations from this prosodic profile yield directive or negative modal readings. We formalize this interaction as the Stress-Intonation Licensing Principle (SILP), arguing that prosody plays an active role in licensing interrogative force through the syntax-prosody interface. This approach highlights the need to integrate prosodic structure into formal syntactic models of clause typing, especially in languages where syntactic marking of illocutionary force is often underspecified.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous theories on NegDM shenme
  • 3.Empirical evidence for the prosodic patterns of NegDM shenme
    • 3.1Local pitch patterns in shenme
    • 3.2Stress distribution: V vs. NP
    • 3.3Summary of acoustic differences
  • 4.A new proposal: Stress-intonation licensing principle
    • 4.1Mapping intonation and stress to the left periphery
    • 4.2Prosodic licensing and interpretive variability
    • 4.3Implications
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Author queries
  • References
References (31)
References
Chao, Y.-R. (1968). A grammar of spoken Chinese. University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheng, L. L.-S. (1991). On the typology of wh-questions. Massachusetts Institute of Technology dissertation.
Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1972). Deep structure, surface structure and semantic interpretation. In Studies on Semantics in Generative Grammar, 62–119. De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1995). The minimalist program. MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chou, C.-T. T. (2012). Syntax-pragmatics interface: Mandarin Chinese wh-the-hell and point-of-view operator. Syntax, 151, 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
den Dikken, M., & Giannakidou, A. (2002). From hell to polarity: “Aggressively non-D-linked” wh-phrase as polarity items. Linguistic Inquiry, 33(1), 31–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, J. C.-T., Li, A. Y.-H., & Li, Y. (2009). The syntax of Chinese. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, J. C.-T., & Ochi, M. (2004). Syntax of the hell: Two types of dependencies. In Moulton, Keir & Wolf, Matthew (eds). Proceedings of NELS 341, 279–294. GLSA Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. S. (1972). Semantic interpretations in generative grammar. MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lü, S.-X. (1981). Xiandai hanyu babai ci [Eight Hundred Words in Modern Chinese]. Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, L. (1997). The fine structure of the left periphery. In Haegeman, Liliane (ed.), Elements of grammar, 281–337. Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Locality and left periphery. In Belletti, Adriana (ed.), Structures and beyond: The cartography of syntactic structures, 223–251. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Speas, M. (2004). Evidentiality, logophoricity and the syntactic representation of pragmatic features. Lingua, 114(3), 255–276. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tenny, C. L. (2006). Evidentiality, experiencers, and the syntax of sentience in Japanese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 151, 245–288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsai, W.-T. D. (2008). Left periphery and how-why alternations. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 17(2), 83–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Cong “zhehua ruhe shuoqi” shuoqi [From “where is this from”]. Yuyanxue Conglun [Essays on Linguistics]. Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Syntax-semantics mismatches, focus movement and light verb syntax. In Huang, James C.-T. & Liu, Feng-Hsi (eds.), Peaches and plums: Essay on language and linguistics in honor of Rudolph C. Troike, 203–226. Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015a). From microscopic view to cosmic perspective: Generative landscape of Chinese syntax. Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015b). Bare quantity construction in Mandarin Chinese and the typology of modals. Paper presented at the IACL-23 & ISSKL-1, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, August 26–28.
(2015c). On the topography of Chinese modals. In Shlonsky, Ur (ed.), Beyond Functional Sequence, 275–294. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Lun hanyu nei wai qing dongci de fenbu yu quanshi [On the distribution and interpretation of inner and outer light verbs in Chinese]. Yuyan Kexue [Linguistic Science], 15(04), 362–375.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, C.-S. (2017). Yunlü jufa jiaohu zuoyong xia de hanyu fei dianxing yiwenci yanjiu: yi ‘V shenme (V)/(NP)’ zhong de ‘shenme’ weili” [A study on noncanonical wh-particles from the prosody-syntax interface — A case study of “shenme” in “V ‘shenme’ (V) / (NP)” construction]. Yunlü yufa yanjiu [Studies on Prosody and Syntax], 21, 73–100.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, C.-S., & Chin, W. (2019). When focus stress meets nucleus stress: A case study of the negative deontic ‘V shenme NP’ construction in Mandarin. Journal of TsingHua University, 49(4), 721–763. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, B. C.-Y. (2014). When a question becomes unquestionable. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Formal Linguistics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, November 8–9.
(2024). Revisiting sentence-final Adjunct WHAT, Language and Linguistics, 25(1), 164–188. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Y., & Tsai, W.-T. D. (2019). Nianli zhuanyi de yunlü jüfa ji shiyan yanjiu [An experimental study of the prosodic syntax of force shift]. Shijie hanyu jiaoxue [Chinese teaching in the world], 33(01), 36–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yuan, B. (2014). ‘Wh-on-earth’ in Chinese speakers’ L2 English: Evidence of dormant features. Second Language Research, 30(4), 515–549. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). The effect of computational complexity on L1 transfer: Evidence from L2 Chinese attitude-bearing wh-questions. Lingua, 1671, 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhu, De-Xi. 1982. Yufa jiangyi [On Grammar]. Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue