This paper discusses the proposals of Li and Thompson (1977), Yen (1986), and Feng (1993) in relation to the development of the Chinese copula and argues that Li and Thompson's suggestion of a topic mechanism, Yen's analogical change, and Feng's phonological pause are unsatisfactory in explaining the development of the copula. It is suggested that Katz's (1996) cognitive concept of existence in time and space between pronouns and copulas is what relates the demonstrative pronoun shi to a copula, while the verbal form shi occurring in the same syntactic context as the demonstrative pronoun shi is what triggers this demonstrative pronoun to turn into a copula.
{"title":"The Chinese Copula Shi and its Origin: A Cognitive-Based Approach","authors":"J. Chang","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2006.4(1).4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2006.4(1).4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the proposals of Li and Thompson (1977), Yen (1986), and Feng (1993) in relation to the development of the Chinese copula and argues that Li and Thompson's suggestion of a topic mechanism, Yen's analogical change, and Feng's phonological pause are unsatisfactory in explaining the development of the copula. It is suggested that Katz's (1996) cognitive concept of existence in time and space between pronouns and copulas is what relates the demonstrative pronoun shi to a copula, while the verbal form shi occurring in the same syntactic context as the demonstrative pronoun shi is what triggers this demonstrative pronoun to turn into a copula.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper aims to examine English- and Japanese-speaking adult learners' acquisition of Subjacency^1 and the Empty Category Principle^2 (ECP) (Chomsky 1981, 1986) in Chinese. The participants were forty intermediate foreign students of the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University: half were native English speakers and half Japanese. In addition, there were twenty native controls. Two tasks (i.e., a preference task and an ordering task) were designed on the basis of the following properties concerning Subjacency and the ECP: wh-island constraints, complex NP constraints, sentential subject constraints, that-trace effects and subject/object asymmetries, and superiority effects. The results show that, except for the superiority effect, neither group of L2 learners carried their L1 knowledge to acquire Subjacency and the ECP, suggesting that L1 influence is not significant. Furthermore, it was found that the Japanese speakers did not perform significantly better than the English speakers. This shows that Universal Grammar is still available, since our participants have reset their L1 parameters to proper L2 values. In addition, among these features our participants did less well on non-superiority, and the native controls rejected island violations more strongly than either group of L2 participants. Finally, Subjacency and the ECP were found equally easy for our participants to acquire.
{"title":"IS IT DIFFICULT TO ACQUIRE SUBJACENCY AND THE ECP","authors":"Chun-Yin Doris Chen, Hsin-Yi Candy Huang","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2006.4(1).3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2006.4(1).3","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to examine English- and Japanese-speaking adult learners' acquisition of Subjacency^1 and the Empty Category Principle^2 (ECP) (Chomsky 1981, 1986) in Chinese. The participants were forty intermediate foreign students of the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University: half were native English speakers and half Japanese. In addition, there were twenty native controls. Two tasks (i.e., a preference task and an ordering task) were designed on the basis of the following properties concerning Subjacency and the ECP: wh-island constraints, complex NP constraints, sentential subject constraints, that-trace effects and subject/object asymmetries, and superiority effects. The results show that, except for the superiority effect, neither group of L2 learners carried their L1 knowledge to acquire Subjacency and the ECP, suggesting that L1 influence is not significant. Furthermore, it was found that the Japanese speakers did not perform significantly better than the English speakers. This shows that Universal Grammar is still available, since our participants have reset their L1 parameters to proper L2 values. In addition, among these features our participants did less well on non-superiority, and the native controls rejected island violations more strongly than either group of L2 participants. Finally, Subjacency and the ECP were found equally easy for our participants to acquire.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigated adverbial clauses in spoken as well as written Chinese discourse. The adverbial clauses in the spoken data were categorized into (ⅰ) initial clauses that occur in the initial position with respect to their linked material across continuing intonation, (ⅱ) final clauses that occur in the final position with respect to their linked material across continuing intonation, and (ⅲ) final clauses that occur in the final position with respect to their linked material across final intonation. Those in the written data were classified into (ⅰ) initial and (ⅱ) final clauses that occur in the initial or final position, respectively, with respect to their main clauses. An analysis of the spoken and written data shows that the temporal, conditional, and concessive clauses tend to occur before their linked material/main clause, but that the causal clauses are quite different from the other adverbial clauses. Specifically, the causal clauses commonly appear in the final position with respect to their associated material in the spoken data, while the initial and final causal clauses are nearly evenly distributed in the written data. The data suggest that temporal, conditional, and concessive clauses, like topics, are presupposed parts of their sentences; i.e., all of them may be thought of as establishing frameworks for the interpretation of propositions that follow, which seem to be prototypically textual in their functioning. By contrast, causal clauses in Chinese are noticeably distinct from other adverbial clauses not only in spoken data, but also in written data; they play interactional as well as textual roles in discourse linking.
{"title":"The Information Structure of Adverbial Clauses in Chinese Discourse","authors":"王萸芳, Yu-Fang Wang","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2006.4(1).2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2006.4(1).2","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigated adverbial clauses in spoken as well as written Chinese discourse. The adverbial clauses in the spoken data were categorized into (ⅰ) initial clauses that occur in the initial position with respect to their linked material across continuing intonation, (ⅱ) final clauses that occur in the final position with respect to their linked material across continuing intonation, and (ⅲ) final clauses that occur in the final position with respect to their linked material across final intonation. Those in the written data were classified into (ⅰ) initial and (ⅱ) final clauses that occur in the initial or final position, respectively, with respect to their main clauses. An analysis of the spoken and written data shows that the temporal, conditional, and concessive clauses tend to occur before their linked material/main clause, but that the causal clauses are quite different from the other adverbial clauses. Specifically, the causal clauses commonly appear in the final position with respect to their associated material in the spoken data, while the initial and final causal clauses are nearly evenly distributed in the written data. The data suggest that temporal, conditional, and concessive clauses, like topics, are presupposed parts of their sentences; i.e., all of them may be thought of as establishing frameworks for the interpretation of propositions that follow, which seem to be prototypically textual in their functioning. By contrast, causal clauses in Chinese are noticeably distinct from other adverbial clauses not only in spoken data, but also in written data; they play interactional as well as textual roles in discourse linking.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper we attempt to model variation in Taiwan Southern Min syllable contraction using the Gradual Learning Algorithm (GLA; Boersma and Hayes 2001), an Optimality-Theoretic model with variable constraint ranking. To explore the effectiveness of GLA, we look at three data sets of increasing complexity: non-variable fully contracted forms as analyzed by Hsu (2003), variable outputs as noted by Hsu and confirmed by other native speakers, and phonetically variable outputs collected in a speech production experiment by Li (2005). The results reveal that GLA is capable of providing plausible constraint ranking hierarchies that capture both major generalizations and variability. Stochastic constraint evaluation thus seems to be a promising mechanism in the construction of grammars.
本文尝试使用渐进式学习演算法(GLA;Boersma and Hayes 2001),一个具有可变约束排序的最优性理论模型。为了探索GLA的有效性,我们研究了三个日益复杂的数据集:Hsu(2003)分析的非变量完全收缩形式,Hsu注意到并得到其他母语人士证实的变量输出,以及Li(2005)在语音生成实验中收集的语音变量输出。结果表明,GLA能够提供合理的约束排序层次结构,同时捕获主要的泛化和可变性。因此,随机约束评价似乎是一种很有前途的语法构建机制。
{"title":"Modeling Variation in Taiwan Southern Min Syllable Contraction","authors":"Yingshing Li, J. Myers","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).3","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we attempt to model variation in Taiwan Southern Min syllable contraction using the Gradual Learning Algorithm (GLA; Boersma and Hayes 2001), an Optimality-Theoretic model with variable constraint ranking. To explore the effectiveness of GLA, we look at three data sets of increasing complexity: non-variable fully contracted forms as analyzed by Hsu (2003), variable outputs as noted by Hsu and confirmed by other native speakers, and phonetically variable outputs collected in a speech production experiment by Li (2005). The results reveal that GLA is capable of providing plausible constraint ranking hierarchies that capture both major generalizations and variability. Stochastic constraint evaluation thus seems to be a promising mechanism in the construction of grammars.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper aims to further examine two working constraints on tonal derivation proposed in some recent generative studies on Changting, namely One Step Principle (OSP) and Moving Window Constraint (MWC). Our extension of the scope of discussion to other Chinese dialects leads to the necessity of proposing the more general Domain Constraint (DC) which subsumes the MWC. The comparison and contrast between OSP and DC exhibits a see-saw battle at present. Both successfully account for Dongshi Hakka, Tianjin, and Yaoping. OSP wins in Changting (Hsu 1994, 1995) and Taiwanese secret languages, whereas DC wins in Changting (Chen 2003, Chen et al. 2004) and fast speeches in Xuzhou and Standard Mandarin. Different from the above-mentioned cases, Tianjin fast speech demonstrates a dual nature in regard to both constraints. Furthermore, DC receives non-Sinitic support from Hakha Lai; segmental derivation of fanqie languages reveals an OSP counterpart. How these two constraints behave in African tone languages awaits further study.
{"title":"Two Constraints on Tonal Derivation in Chinese","authors":"Hui-chuan Hsu","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to further examine two working constraints on tonal derivation proposed in some recent generative studies on Changting, namely One Step Principle (OSP) and Moving Window Constraint (MWC). Our extension of the scope of discussion to other Chinese dialects leads to the necessity of proposing the more general Domain Constraint (DC) which subsumes the MWC. The comparison and contrast between OSP and DC exhibits a see-saw battle at present. Both successfully account for Dongshi Hakka, Tianjin, and Yaoping. OSP wins in Changting (Hsu 1994, 1995) and Taiwanese secret languages, whereas DC wins in Changting (Chen 2003, Chen et al. 2004) and fast speeches in Xuzhou and Standard Mandarin. Different from the above-mentioned cases, Tianjin fast speech demonstrates a dual nature in regard to both constraints. Furthermore, DC receives non-Sinitic support from Hakha Lai; segmental derivation of fanqie languages reveals an OSP counterpart. How these two constraints behave in African tone languages awaits further study.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the tone sandhi phenomenon in the Tibeto-Berman language of Hakha-Lai, which is special for the complex interactions among its elementary rules. The rule interactions in Hakha-Lai lead to both left-to-right and right-to-left rule directionalities in sequences of three or more tones. The rule application directionalities, however, appear to be ungoverned, as none of the principles proposed to date that may contribute to determining directionalities can account for them. In this paper, I argue that the tone sandhi operation directionalities in Hakha-Lai are by no means ungoverned. Normally tone sandhi operates from right to left for identity reasons. This is forced by the IDENT-BOT constraint. The right-to-left direction is sacrificed only when such direction would result in output forms that contain marked sequences or tonal changes at the prominent position, which are forbidden by U[AGREE-t and IDENT-IO-T-L respectively. Thus, the directionalities of tone sandhi operation in Hakha-Lai are naturally predicted by the interaction of the IDENT-BOT constraint, the U[AGREE-t constraint, and the IDENT-IO-T-L constraint, where IDENT-BOT must be dominated by the latter two constraints.
{"title":"Identity Preservation in Hakha-Lai Tone Sandhi","authors":"Hui-Shan Lin","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).1","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the tone sandhi phenomenon in the Tibeto-Berman language of Hakha-Lai, which is special for the complex interactions among its elementary rules. The rule interactions in Hakha-Lai lead to both left-to-right and right-to-left rule directionalities in sequences of three or more tones. The rule application directionalities, however, appear to be ungoverned, as none of the principles proposed to date that may contribute to determining directionalities can account for them. In this paper, I argue that the tone sandhi operation directionalities in Hakha-Lai are by no means ungoverned. Normally tone sandhi operates from right to left for identity reasons. This is forced by the IDENT-BOT constraint. The right-to-left direction is sacrificed only when such direction would result in output forms that contain marked sequences or tonal changes at the prominent position, which are forbidden by U[AGREE-t and IDENT-IO-T-L respectively. Thus, the directionalities of tone sandhi operation in Hakha-Lai are naturally predicted by the interaction of the IDENT-BOT constraint, the U[AGREE-t constraint, and the IDENT-IO-T-L constraint, where IDENT-BOT must be dominated by the latter two constraints.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We use phonological variation to refer to alternative forms that are available in a language, such as different syllable structures or word stress patterns in English. We discuss several approaches to such variations and argue for a new approach, in which all alternative forms observe a set of inviolable constraints. In particular, we propose that all English words observe four constraints: (a) a foot must be disyllabic, (b) stressed syllables must be heavy, (c) heavy syllables must have stress, and (d) the maximal syllable is CVX. We discuss the implications of our proposal for Optimality Theory and for the analysis of linguistic variation in general.
{"title":"STRESS AND SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN ENGLISH: APPROACHES TO PHONOLOGICAL VARIATIONS ∗","authors":"San Duanmu, Hyo-young Kim, Nathan Stiennon","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(2).2","url":null,"abstract":"We use phonological variation to refer to alternative forms that are available in a language, such as different syllable structures or word stress patterns in English. We discuss several approaches to such variations and argue for a new approach, in which all alternative forms observe a set of inviolable constraints. In particular, we propose that all English words observe four constraints: (a) a foot must be disyllabic, (b) stressed syllables must be heavy, (c) heavy syllables must have stress, and (d) the maximal syllable is CVX. We discuss the implications of our proposal for Optimality Theory and for the analysis of linguistic variation in general.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates three master tropes (viz, simile, metaphor, and metonymy) in English magazine ads, taking a semiotic topic-vehicle approach to identify and analyze the three tropes. The purpose of the investigation is twofold: to see (ⅰ) if the topic-vehicle approach can account for the three tropes in English magazine ads and (ⅱ) if the three tropes occur in independent phrases the same as they occur in complete clauses. It is concluded that the semiotic topic-vehicle approach, including the concept of complex tropes derived from it, is generally applicable to the three tropes in English magazine ads and that every type and subtype of a trope assuming the form of a complete clause can also take the form of an independent phrase.
{"title":"Master Tropes in English Magazine Advertisements: A Semiotic Topic-Vehicle Approach","authors":"Jian-Shiung Shie","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(1).2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(1).2","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates three master tropes (viz, simile, metaphor, and metonymy) in English magazine ads, taking a semiotic topic-vehicle approach to identify and analyze the three tropes. The purpose of the investigation is twofold: to see (ⅰ) if the topic-vehicle approach can account for the three tropes in English magazine ads and (ⅱ) if the three tropes occur in independent phrases the same as they occur in complete clauses. It is concluded that the semiotic topic-vehicle approach, including the concept of complex tropes derived from it, is generally applicable to the three tropes in English magazine ads and that every type and subtype of a trope assuming the form of a complete clause can also take the form of an independent phrase.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper proposes a syntactic account for the licensing conditions and interpretations of indefinite subjects in Mandarin Chinese. Three dimensions are explored: subject specificity, predicate distributivity, and scope interpretation. We suggest that the indefinite subject be best treated as a variable, which has to be bound by certain operator, to account for its various readings. The property of its corresponding operator in turn determines the specificity of the indefinite subject: The specific/presuppositional reading is licensed by the existential predicate you 'have/exist' serving as an existential quantifier YOU, while the nonspecific/cardinal reading is licensed by either the implicit existential closure (Diesing 1992) at Mod' (Tsai 2001) or you serving as the overt realization of the existential closure. Furthermore, the predicate distributivity plays a nontrivial role in licensing indefinite subjects. I propose a hierarchical account to clarify the two confusing notions, i.e. specificity and distributivity, on the interpretation of indefinite subjects. The distributive reading of indefinite subjects is licensed at a higher position than the collective reading. Finally, the wide-scope indefinite phenomenon is attributed to the scope-independent reading (Liu 1997) which in turn is licensed by specificity and distributivity. In a word, each of the three dimensions mentioned above contributes to the interpretation of the indefinite subject in Mandarin Chinese.
本文对汉语不确定主语的许可条件和解释提出了一种句法解释。探讨了三个维度:主题特异性、谓词分布性和范围解释。我们建议最好将不定主题视为一个变量,它必须由某个运算符约束,以解释其不同的读数。其对应运算符的属性反过来决定了不确定主语的特殊性:特定/预设解读是由作为存在量词you的存在谓词you 'have/exist'授权的,而非特定/基数解读是由隐含的存在闭包(Diesing 1992) at Mod' (Tsai 2001)或你作为存在闭包的公开实现授权的。此外,谓词分布性在不定主词许可中起着重要的作用。我提出了一个层次的解释,以澄清两个令人困惑的概念,即特异性和分配性,对不确定主体的解释。不确定主题的分布阅读比集体阅读被赋予了更高的地位。最后,大范围的不确定现象归因于范围独立的阅读(Liu 1997),而这种阅读又被特殊性和分布性所许可。总之,上述三个维度都有助于对汉语普通话不定主语的解释。
{"title":"SUBJECT SPECIFICITY, PREDICATE DISTRIBUTIVITY, AND SCOPE INTERPRETATION","authors":"B. Yang","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(1).5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(1).5","url":null,"abstract":"This paper proposes a syntactic account for the licensing conditions and interpretations of indefinite subjects in Mandarin Chinese. Three dimensions are explored: subject specificity, predicate distributivity, and scope interpretation. We suggest that the indefinite subject be best treated as a variable, which has to be bound by certain operator, to account for its various readings. The property of its corresponding operator in turn determines the specificity of the indefinite subject: The specific/presuppositional reading is licensed by the existential predicate you 'have/exist' serving as an existential quantifier YOU, while the nonspecific/cardinal reading is licensed by either the implicit existential closure (Diesing 1992) at Mod' (Tsai 2001) or you serving as the overt realization of the existential closure. Furthermore, the predicate distributivity plays a nontrivial role in licensing indefinite subjects. I propose a hierarchical account to clarify the two confusing notions, i.e. specificity and distributivity, on the interpretation of indefinite subjects. The distributive reading of indefinite subjects is licensed at a higher position than the collective reading. Finally, the wide-scope indefinite phenomenon is attributed to the scope-independent reading (Liu 1997) which in turn is licensed by specificity and distributivity. In a word, each of the three dimensions mentioned above contributes to the interpretation of the indefinite subject in Mandarin Chinese.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study explores in what way the breath-group theory and the declination theory manifest themselves in Chinese aphasic speech and detects the extent to which aphasics exert control over sentential F0 contours concerning different sentence lengths and tones. Four Broca's aphasics, four Wernicke's aphasics and four age-matched normal controls are tested. The results indicate that aphasic subjects have impairments in processing these sentential F0 patterns. Yet, neither the declination nor the breath-group pattern can serve as the criterion in differentiating these two aphasic populations. The breath-group pattern is the better option than the declination pattern in delineating sentential F0 contour in Mandarin Chinese speech, from which we note that the predictive power of the declination theory deserves reconsideration.
{"title":"Breath-Group Theory vs. Declination Theory: Evidence from Chinese Aphasics","authors":"薩文蕙","doi":"10.6519/TJL.2005.3(1).4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6519/TJL.2005.3(1).4","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores in what way the breath-group theory and the declination theory manifest themselves in Chinese aphasic speech and detects the extent to which aphasics exert control over sentential F0 contours concerning different sentence lengths and tones. Four Broca's aphasics, four Wernicke's aphasics and four age-matched normal controls are tested. The results indicate that aphasic subjects have impairments in processing these sentential F0 patterns. Yet, neither the declination nor the breath-group pattern can serve as the criterion in differentiating these two aphasic populations. The breath-group pattern is the better option than the declination pattern in delineating sentential F0 contour in Mandarin Chinese speech, from which we note that the predictive power of the declination theory deserves reconsideration.","PeriodicalId":41000,"journal":{"name":"Taiwan Journal of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2005-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71325812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}