Modal movement licensed by focus
This paper investigates the high position of root
modals (such as keyi ‘may’) in Chinese, and its
interaction with focus interpretations. We address a long-standing
puzzle concerning their position: A-not-A questions appear to
exceptionally license an otherwise unavailable high position of root
modals preceding subjects and/or topics. Upon closer examination, we
observe that (i) A-not-A questions do not always license the high
position of root modals and that (ii) the position of focus plays a
crucial role in licensing high modals. We propose that root modals
undergo head movement across a focused element to the high position,
and this movement is constrained by a focus version of output
economy.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.High root modals and focus
- 2.1Focus interpretations
- 2.2A-not-A questions and polarity questions
- 3.Previous approaches to high root modals
- 3.1Base generation approaches
- 3.2The interpretation of high root modals
- 4.A movement approach
- 4.1Modal movement and the calculation of the focus set
- 4.2A-not-A questions and focus reading
- 5.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgments
-
Abbreviations
-
Notes
-
References
References (57)
References
Beck, Sigrid. 2006. Intervention effects follow from focus
interpretation. Natural Language Semantics 14 (1): 1–56. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bhatt, Rajesh. 1998. Ability modals and their actuality
entailments. In Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal
Linguistics (WCCFL) 17, 74–87.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brennan, Virginia Mary. 1993. Root and Epistemic Modal Auxiliary
Verbs. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts.
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen & Luis Vicente. 2013. Verb doubling in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 22 (1): 1–37. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Lisa Lai Shen. 2008. Deconstructing the shì … de
construction. The Linguistic Review 25: 235–66.
. ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chomsky, Noam. 2000. Minimalist inquiries: the
framework. In Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honor of
Howard Lasnik, Roger Martin, David Michaels & Juan Uriagereka (eds), 89–156. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chomsky, Noam. 2001. Derivation by phase. In Ken Hale: A Life in Linguistics, Michael Kenstowicz (ed), 1–52. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Diesing, Molly. 1992. Indefinites. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dong, Hongyuan. 2009. Issues in the Semantics of Mandarin
Questions. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2015. In defense of closeness: focus-sensitive adverb
placement. Ms., McGill University. [URL].![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2019.
Wh-quantification in Alternative
Semantics. Paper presented at GLOW in Asia XII and SICOGG
XXII.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2020. Mandarin shì clefts and the
syntax of discourse congruence. Ms., National University of Singapore. [URL].![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Feldman, Harry. 1986. Doing the Best We Can: An Essay in Informal Deontic
Logic. Dordrecht: Reidel. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fox, Danny. 2000. Economy and Semantic Interpretation. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hacquard, Valentine. 2006. Aspects of Modality. PhD dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Homer, Vincent. 2015. Neg-raising and positive polarity: the view from
modals. Semantics and Pragmatics 8 (4): 1–88.
. ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hsu, Yu-yin. 2016. Sentence-initial modals as focus operators at CP
in Chinese. In Proceedings of the 51st Annual Meeting of Chicago
Linguistics Society (CLS), Ksenia Ershova, Joshua Falk & Jeffrey Geiger (eds), 257–68. Chicago IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang, C.-T. James. 1982. Move wh in a language without
wh movement. The Linguistic Review 1: 369–416. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang, C.-T. James, Audrey Yen-hui Li & Yafei Li. 2009. The Syntax of Chinese. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Iatridou, Sabine & Hedde Zeijlstra. 2013. Negation, polarity, and deontic
modals. Linguistic Inquiry 44 (4): 529–568. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jackendoff, Ray. 1972. Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kotek, Hadas. 2016. On the semantics of
wh-questions. In Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung 20, Nadine Bade, Polina Berezovskaya & Anthea Schöller (eds), 424–447.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kotek, Hadas. 2019. Composing Questions. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kratzer, Angelika. 1977. What ‘must’ and ‘can’ must and can
mean. Linguistics and Philosophy 1(3): 337–355. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kratzer, Angelika. 1991. Modality. In Semantics: An International Handbook of Contemporary
Research, Arnim von Stechow & Dieter Wunderlich (eds), 639–650. Berlin: de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lechner, Winfried. 2007. Interpretive effects of head
movement. Ms., University of Athens. [URL].![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming. 2019. Quantifier-raising a head. In Universal Grammar and Its Cross-linguistic
Instantiations (Proceedings of GLOW in Asia XII & SICOGG
XXI), Sae-Youn Cho (ed), 160–172. Seoul: The Korean Generative Grammar Circle.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming. 2021. Asymmetries in doubling and Cyclic
Linearization. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 30: 109139. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Li, Audrey Yen-hui. 1990. Order and Constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Li, Charles N. & Sandra A. Thompson. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference
Grammar. London: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lin, Jo-Wang & Chih-Chen Jane Tang. 1995. Modals as verbs in Chinese: a GB
perspective. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology,
Academia Sinica 66: 53–105.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lin, Tzong-Hong Jonah. 2011. Finiteness of clauses and raising of arguments in
Mandarin Chinese.” Syntax 14 (1): 48–73.
. ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lin, Tzong-Hong Jonah. 2012. Multiple-modal constructions in Mandarin Chinese
and their finiteness properties. Journal of Linguistics 48 (1): 151–186.
. ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matushansky, Ora. 2006. Head movement in linguistic
theory. Linguistic Inquiry 37 (1): 69–109. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Miyagawa, Shigeru. 2006. On the “undoing’’ property of scrambling: a
response to Bošković. Linguistic Inquiry 37 (4): 607–624. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Miyagawa, Shigeru. 2011. “Optionality.” In The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Minimalism, Cedric Boeckx (ed), 1–19. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Palmer, Frank R. 1990. Modality and the English Modals. New York & London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paris, Marie Claude. 1979. Some aspects of the syntax and semantics of the
‘lian…. ye/dou’ construction in
Mandarin. Cahiers de Linguistique d’Asie Orientale 5: 47–70.
.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Perlmutter, David. 1971. Deep and Surface Structure Constraints in
Syntax. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Portner, Paul. 2009. Modality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reinhart, Tanya. 1995. Interface Strategies. OTS Working Papers in
Linguistics. Utrecht: Utrecht University, Research Institute for Language and Speech.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rizzi, Luigi. 2015. Notes on labeling and subject
positions. In Structures, Strategies and beyond: Studies in Honour of
Adriana Belletti, Elisa Di Domenico, Cornelia Hamann & Simona Matteini (eds), 17–46. John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roberts, Craige. 1996. Information structure in discourse: towards an
integrated formal theory of pragmatics. OSU Working Papars in Linguistics 49: 91–136.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roberts, Craige. 2012. Information structure in discourse: towards an
integrated formal theory of pragmatics. Semantics and Pragmatics 5 (6): 1–69.
. ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rooth, Mats. 1985. Association with Focus. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Rooth, Mats. 1992. A theory of focus interpretation. Natural Language Semantics 1 (1): 117–121. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, John. 1969. Auxiliaries as main verbs. In Studies in Philosophical Linguistics, Series
One, William Todd (ed), 77–102. Evanston, Illinois: Great Expectations Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schaffar, Wolfram & Lansun Chen. 2001. Yes-no questions in Mandarin and the theory of
focus. Linguistics 39 (5): 837–870.
.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shlonsky, Ur & Luigi Rizzi. 2018. Criterial freezing in small clauses and the
cartography of copular constructions. In Freezing: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical
Domains, Jutta Hartmann, Marion Jäger, Andreas Kehl, Andreas Konietzko & Susanne Winkler (eds), 29–65. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shyu, Shu-ying. 1995. The Syntax of Focus and Topic in Mandarin
Chinese. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California.
Teng, Shou-hsin. 1979. Remarks on cleft sentences in
Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 7 (1): 101–114.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tsai, Cheng-yu Edwin. 2015. Toward a Theory of Mandarin
Quantification. PhD dissertation, Harvard University.
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan. 2015. On the topography of Chinese
modals. In Beyond Functional Sequence, Ur Shlonsky (ed), 275–294. New York: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tsai, Wei-tien Dylan & Ching-yu Helen Yang. 2015. Inner vs. outer A-not-A questions. Paper presented on International Workshop on Cartography
of Syntax, Beijing Language and Culture University.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan, Ching-Yu Helen Yang & Seng-hian Lau. 2017. Modal licensing and subject specificity in
Mandarin and Taiwan Southern Min: a cartographic
analysis. In Studies on Syntactic Cartography, Fuzhen Si (ed), 75–104. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wurmbrand, Susi. 1999. Modal verbs must be raising verbs. In Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal
Linguistics (WCCFL) 18, 599–612.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Tang, Sze-Wing
2022.
On the syntax of rhetorical questions: evidence from Cantonese.
Journal of East Asian Linguistics 31:3
► pp. 305 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.