Negation and Aspect: a Comparative Study of Mandarin and Cantonese Varieties
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Negation and Aspect: A comparative study of Mandarin and Cantonese varieties Chit Yu Lam Section of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics Hughes Hall University of Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2018 Negation and Aspect: A comparative study of Mandarin and Cantonese varieties Chit Yu LAM This dissertation examines the interaction between standard negation and aspect in Chinese under two conditions: bare negation showing negation-situation type compatibility, and negation with overt aspectual marKing. The comparative study of Beijing Mandarin, Taiwan Mandarin, Hong Kong Cantonese, and the previously unstudied Gaozhou Cantonese demonstrates that the aspectual sensitivity of negation is governed by more general structural properties than idiosyncratic aspectual selection requirements of the negators. In negative declaratives without aspectual marKing (bare negatives), Chapter 2 shows that where a variety has more than one standard negator, the distribution of the negators mostly creates systematic semantic contrast instead of any grammaticality consequence: Mandarin méiyǒu, Hong Kong Cantonese mou5 and Gaozhou Cantonese mau5 consistently offer a situation non-existent reading, while Mandarin bù and Hong Kong Cantonese m4 always involve a modality reading (habitual or volitional). Based on the relative distribution of negation and different types of adverbs, Chapter 4 suggests that all standard negators in the four Chinese varieties are generated in the outermost specifier of vP. The uniformity in negator position challenges previous accounts that méiyǒu and mou5 are higher in Asp, and urges a rethinKing of the nature of these negators. Following Croft’s (1991) Negative-Existential Cycle and supported by corpus data from Taiwan Mandarin, the chapter demonstrates that méiyǒu, mou5 and mau5 are standard negators developed from the negative existential predicate (non-existence of entities) and have now extended their function to verbal negation (non- existence of situations). Therefore, méiyǒu and mou5 as negative-existential-cum-verbal- negators consist of negation and the existential quantifier, whereas, bù and m4 receive their modality interpretation by being the negative form of the generic operator (Gen) (Chierchia 1995). The compatibility between these two classes of negators and different situation types is accounted for by the presence/absence of a habituality feature ([Hab]) on V: the presence of [Hab] licenses Neg-Gen (i.e. bù or m4), and its absence licenses Neg-$ (i.e. méiyǒu or mou5). When overt aspectual marKing is present, Chapter 3 shows that bù and m4 are incompatible with aspectual marKing across the board, while méiyǒu, mou5 and mau5 are only compatible with experiential aspect; the incompatibility is found weaKer with imperfective aspects. With a review of existing proposals for the negation-aspect compatibility, Chapter 5 argues that the sensitivity to aspect is stemmed from the exceptionally low position of the aspectual marKers in V, hence the featural composition of the aspectual marKers will determine their compatibility with negation. Precisely, the aspectual marKers are argued to encode definiteness (a la Ramchand 2008a, b) and only indefinite aspects are compatible with negation involving méiyǒu, mou5 or mau5 since definite aspects impose existential presupposition on the predicates which clashes with the non-existence semantics of the negators. Bù and m4, on the other hand, are not compatible with any aspectual marKing in standard negation, as the aspectual marKer on V prohibits the presence of [Hab] feature which the generic operator in bù and m4 probes for. Therefore, the Chinese varieties display a typologically distinct type of definiteness encoding, where definiteness is not encoded by articles or case morphology in the nominal system, but realised in the verbal domain as aspectual distinctions. The dissertation therefore resolves the well-known Chinese negation puzzle with novel generalisations based on systematic, original comparative synchronic and diachronic data, which contribute important empirical and theoretical implications to Chinese linguistics and beyond, particularly regarding the clausal-nominal parallel. Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own worK and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. Word count: 79989 Cherry Lam, September 2018 i AcKnowledgements The whole idea of this project started with a telephone conversation I overheard several years back. The conversation was between my friend (my mother’s student) and her mother in their home variety of Cantonese, which (surprisingly) I failed to decipher. Curiosity brought me to explore the syntactic workings of that variety which ultimately marKed the birth of this project on negation in Mandarin and Cantonese varieties. I am truly grateful to my supervisors, Ian Roberts and David Willis. They have been the perfect and the kindest pair of supervisors that anyone could asK for. Ian has always allowed me with the greatest independence to probe into topics that puzzles me, while also carefully guides me through the maze so that I won’t lose tracK to my ultimate targets. His patience and openness, and his wealth of knowledge have provided me with constant support in this journey. David has been most thoughtful and supportive in the entire process of the project, from the design of the methodology, to the interpretation of the data, to the shaping of my analysis. I am fortunate to have David here to discipline me to ‘just start writing(!)’ when I so wanted to procrastinate about it, and to encourage me whenever my self-confidence wavers. Thank you so much, Ian and David! Your understanding and tireless guidance have made this journey bump-free and full of joy. There are two teachers from the University of Hong Kong to thanK for maKing this Cambridge experience possible, Adams Bodomo and Janny Leung. Adams is my first syntax teacher bacK in my undergraduate times. He patiently ‘directed’ me to see the wonders of the abstract structure of sentences, and firmly encouraged me to apply for graduate school in Cambridge. Janny, my BA thesis supervisor and a Cambridge alumnus herself, has provided me with great support and confidence in maKing that important application. I am grateful to both for their trust in my ability and their sensible advice. I also wish to thank other linguists who have generously shared their ideas with me and enriched my work at various stages. In Cambridge, I would like to thanK my advisor, Theresa ii Biberauer for her constant enthusiasm in my research and perceptive feedback on my worK (even very sketchy ones); her endless energy, her passion for the subject, and her kindness and generosity, have given me a great motivation to move forward. I have also been greatly indebted to the inspiring academic discussions with Freddy Xuhui Hu, Alison Biggs, Jamie Douglas, Tam Blaxer (who also helped me a lot with statistics), Julio Song, Jim BaKer, Oliver Mayeux, Yingjie Lan, Alice Corr, and Kari Kinn. Abroad, I thanK Stephen Matthews (my teacher from HKU), Meichun Liu, Elly van Gelderen, and Ljuba Veselinova for their great interest in and useful feedbacK on my worK on negative cycle in Chinese. Last but not least, I am truly grateful to my examiners, Adam Ledgeway and Lisa Cheng (from Leiden), for their patient reading, thorough understanding and inspiring discussion of my thesis. This dissertation would remain a wild idea without the contribution of my participants, most of them are good friends of mine and their connections. Though I cannot name them all, I would liKe to thanK the following groups of friends for being so helpful in my pilot studies and/or in recruiting speaKers for my questionnaires. For Mandarin data, I thanK Wenlei Shi, Alim Tusan, Mengying Chris Xia, Wenzhe Yang, and Yanyu Guo for their contributions to the Beijing variety; and Margaret Lee, Jiaqi Yu, Amy Hsieh, and Natasha Huang for their help with the Taiwan Mandarin data. For Cantonese, Irene Lam, Phoebe Lee, Carrie So, Selina Ng, Polly Ching, RicKy Chan, Stephanie Ho, and Helen To have helped me a lot with the Hong Kong Cantonese data; and my friend Zhu Lin and her parents who have worked selflessly in facilitating my data collection for Gaozhou Cantonese and Junshao Zhang for sharing his pioneer worK on language documentation in Gaozhou. The Lins have not only been wonderfully hospitable during my field trip in Gaozhou but have also devoted so much effort in contacting their friends and relatives for my questionnaire. 叔叔、阿姨，謝謝你們這四年 來不辭勞苦地為我的論文奔波，多次為我的問卷花了不少時間精力。你們的支持和信 任我畢生感激！ Life in Cambridge has been so much more than writing a dissertation. I am lucKy to have an amazing bunch of friends who have Kept me company through