Temporally Underspecified Bare Clauses in Mandarin

Abstract This study shows that the temporal interpretation of Mandarin bare clauses is fully underspecified when these clauses describe scheduled, preprogrammed events. The paper defines the key syntactic properties of such bare clauses and their context of use. On the basis of this definition, the paper proposes that these clauses are copular constructions, which in all relevant respects behave like regular copular constructions. Bare clauses contain a subject and a predicate, related by the (sometimes covert) copula shì, expressing a paired relation between them. The fact that bare clauses have a simple predicative structure underlyingly is further supported by observations from the realm of gapping and negation. Crucially, it is proposed that there is no temporal projection immediately above the verb phrase in these sentences. The underspecification of the temporal interpretation is accordingly accounted for.