4 ONfvERsrr'( O~ HhW6i! LI~RbR~ PREDICTION? PRESCRIPTION? AN ANALYSIS OF CHINESE AND ENGLISH MODALITIES: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES (CHINESE) MAY 2003 BY Shao-Iing Wang Dissertation Committee: Tao-chung (Ted) Yao, Chairperson Ying-che Li Robert. L. Cheng Chin-tang Lo Cynthia Ning © 2003, Shao-ling Wang All rights reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am not quite sure why my parents, You-min Chen and Yung-jang Wang. since my early years of schooling, have not cared too much about what is taught at school, but instead about what I have learned or sensed from the outside world, from the surroundings. However I know that from then on the passion for languages became what Shakespear's Leontes calls magic, "an artlLawful as eating" (Estrin, 1994). I remember that most ofthe days when other students were cramming for exams, I was sitting in my parents' language classes, becoming cultivated in the exquisite syntax and semantics of the tool for human communication. Most importantly, I was inspired by how to efficiently and effectively transmit a natural language to a non-native speaker of that language. In college, I was privileged to meet Dr. Chin-tang Lo who later supported my receipt of a Teaching Assistant Fellowship in the Ph.D program at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. For the past four and half years, I have been lucky to have my advisor, Dr. Tao-chung (Ted) Yao who has been so tolerant with all my questions in teaChing, studying and writing the disseration; Dr. Ying-che Li and Dr. Robert L. Cheng who gave me many valuable comments during the process ofcompleting my dissertation, and Dr. Cynthia Ning who served as one of the committee members, and who patiently assisted me with the correct usage of English expressions. I am also indebted to my husband, Irsham who has always been there with great support and encouragement; my dearest three and half-year-old son, Yi-wei (Zan) from whom I have observed how a trilingual environment can affect child iv language acquisition. I am very lucky in friends, too, particularly in the intelligence of Dr. Roderick Gammon who has generously shared his precious knowledge of computer technology with me. My dear sister who is also my best friend should be thanked for her efforts in finding useful materials for the dissertation. Numerous friends whose friendship and hospitality made my trip back to Hawai'l for the defense unforgettable. Last but not least, I am grateful for the exquisite University of Hawai'i. It is because of this unique academic environment that I have been able to be "somewhere" far beyond what I deserve. v ABSTRACT Modality, known as "Qing Tai Ci" in Mandarin, is one of the most important parts in a natural language. Failure to properly grasp the use of modality may cause unexpected misunderstandings. This paper, firstly, uses the definitions of the concept of modality proposed by western linguists, and then makes a syntactic and semantic comparison of modal expressions in both Mandarin and English. In view that modal expressions are a large inventory in these two languages, this paper, in Mandarin, selects and focuses on the analysis of modal auxiliaries hui, neng, keyi, yao, dei, and modal adverbs yiding, yinggai, kenengldagailyexu. In English, It includes WILL (BE GOING TO), CAN, MAY, MUST, and OUGHT TO with its variant, SHOULD. The negated modal expressions are discussed under the wide and the narrow scopes of the negation. The Klima (1964) tests, mainly used for Indo­ European languages, are applied to Mandarin modals in Chapter Five of this paper. Aside from the comparison of Mandarin and English modal expressions, Chapter Six, utilizing corpora linguistic study, compares the negated modal usages in Taiwan Mandarin and Beljng Mandarin. This paper only concentrates on the linguistic features of the selected modals. It is definitely necessary to have an integrated analysis on all the modal expressions in both Mandarin and English from the pedagogical prospective. It is the ambition of the author to continue studying modality with a symbiotic approach of Linguistics and Pedagogy. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments "., " , iv Abstract , vi List of Tables ' x List of Graphs , xi List of Abbreviations xii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation 1 1.2Strueture of the dissertation 3 1.3Typographical conventions , 5 Chapter 2: Modals and Modality 6 2.1 Definitions and Qualification of Modality 9 2.2 Modal Expressions 11 2.3 Types of Modalities 13 2.3.1 Epistemic vs. Deontic , 13 2.3.2 Dynamic possibility and Dynamic necessity 23 2.3.3 Alethic Modality 24 2.3.4 Speech Event and Act '" 26 2.3.5 Mood Particles 32 Chapter 3: A Prescription Or A Prediction? 36 3.1 Epistemic 37 3.1.1 Possibility 39 3.1.2 Necessity .42 3,1.3 Conclusion .46 3.2 Deontic , 46 3.2.1 Possibility 46 3.2.1.1 Permission .47 3.2.1.2 Command 49 3.2.2 Necessity 50 3.3 Dynamic Possibility 55 3.3.1 WILL, CAN vs, Hui , 55 3.4 Dynamic Necessity 56 3.4.1 MUST vs. Yiding 56 3.4.2 Mandarin Yaoand Huivs. English-WILL & Be GOING TO 58 Chapter 4: HUi, Nang, Key; in Mandarin and ·Can" in English 61 4.1 The Meaning of Keyi 62 4.1.1 Epistemic Possibility ,,., 62 4.1.2 The Indication of Capability 66 4.1.3. Deontic: Personal-Promise: The Indication of Worthiness 68 4.1.4. Deontic: Personal-Authority: Indication of Permission 70 4.2 The Meaning of Neng 72 4.2.1. Indication of Capacity 74 vii 4.2.2. Indication of Epistemic Capability (Instrumental Usage) 76 4.2.3. Indication of Deontic Possibitity~PermisSion 77 4.2.4 Indication of Special Talent and Ability 78 4.2.5 Indication of Deontic Personal Promise-Worthiness 79 4.3 Conclusion For Neng and Keyi 81 4.4 Hui in Mandarin 82 4.4.1 Functions and Meanings of Hui 82 4.4.1.1 The Ability Hui 84 4.4.1.2 Epistemic Hui-Indication of Possibility 88 4.4.1.3 Epistemological Hui-Exclamative and Generic 96 4.4.1.3.1 Exclamative 96 4.4.1.3.2 Generic: Tendency-Indication of Frequency 97 4.4.1.4 Deontic·Personal Promise 101 4.4.2 Conclusion on the Functions and Meanings of Hui... 102 4.5 Comparison Concerning Hui with Neng and Keyi in Mandarin 104 4.5.1 Hui and Nang 104 4.5.2 Hui and Keyi 106 4.5.3 Conclusion 108 4.6 CAN in English 109 4.6.1 Non-Epistemic: Dynamic Possibility 116 4.6.1.1 Ability 116 4.6.1.2. Permission 118 4.6.1.3.lmplication 120 4.6.1.4 Command 122 4.6.2 Epistemic 123 4.7 Some Further Notes about Mandarin and English Modalities 127 4.7.1 Theoretical Accounts 127 4.7.2 PragmaticAccounts 131 Chapter 5: Modality and Negation '" 137 5.1 The History of Negation 140 5.1.1 The Klima Tests 145 5.1.2 The Interpretations of Negated Modals in the SO 146 5.2 The Epistemic Interpretations with MSS and NPS 151 5.3 The Deontic Interpretations with MSS and NPS 163 5.4 Conclusion , 169 Chapter 6. Contexts and Word Meaning 171 6.1 The Corpus Study: Corpus Linguistics 171 6.2 Concordance Programs for Mandarin 176 6.2.1 TIR 176 6.2.2 Sentence Searcher and Reading Room 176 6.3 Corpora 178 6.3.1 Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus (ASBC) 3.0 178 6.3.2 Taiwan Central Daily NEWS (CON) and Beijing Ren Min Ri Bao (RMRB)-People's Daily 180 viii 6.4 Utilization of the Corpora 182 6.4.1 ASBC Website 182 6.4.1.1 Main Page 182 6.4.1.2 Menu 183 6.4.1.3 Result Display 184 6.4.1.4 "Refine Results" Page 185 6.4.2 CON and RMRB 188 6.5 Findings 189 6.5.1 Keyiand Its Negation 189 6.5.1.1 The Wide Scope of the Negative Keyi 189 6.5.1.1.1 Epistemic Interpretation 189 6.5.1.1.2 Deontic Interpretation 192 6.5.1.2 The Narrow Scope of Negative Keyi.. 193 6.5.2 Neng and Its Negation 194 6.5.2.1 The Wide Scope of Negated Nang , 194 6.5.2.1.1 Deontic Interpretation 194 6.5.2.1.2 Indication of Ability, Epistemic Possibility, Capacity and Capability 195 6.5.2.2 The Narrow Scope of Negated Neng 196 6.5.2.2.1 Deontic Interpretation 196 6.5.2.2.2 Epistemic Interpretation 198 6.5.3 Hui and Its Negation 198 6.5.3.1 The Wide Scope of the Negation 198 6.5.3.2 The Narrow Scope of the Negation 200 6.6. Conclusion of Chapter Six 201 Chapter 7: Conclusion 202 7.1 Retrospect 202 7.2 Prospect 206 Bibliography , 207 ix LIST OF TABLES 4.3 The Distinction of Key; and Neng 81 4.4 Functions of Modal Verb Hui in Mandarin , 103 5.2 Use of Modals in AE and BE 159 6.3a ASeC Distribution of Contents , 179 6.3b ASBC Distribution of Modes 179 6.3c ASBC Distribution of Media 179 6.3d ASBC Distribution of Language Style '" ,. '" .180 6.3e ASeC Distribution of Literary Style 180 6.3f CON and PO Corpus Composition p' '" ••• 180 7.1 a Contrast List of Positive Mandarin and English Modals 204 7.1 b Negative Mandarin and English Modals - Narrow Scope of the Negation '" ,.