ON THE BIG SILENT APPOSITIVE TIME IN DÀ NP DE CONSTRUCTION IN CHINESE: A COMPOSITIONAL APPROACH

Changsong Wang

doi:10.1353/jcl.2022.0014

ON THE BIG SILENT APPOSITIVE TIME IN DÀ NP DE CONSTRUCTION IN CHINESE: A COMPOSITIONAL APPROACH

Changsong Wang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article explores the compositionality of [dà NP de] construction in Chinese. The NP should be a direct time-denoting NP_TIME or an indirect time-denoting NP_ITIME. Following Kayne (2016), we assume there is a silent TIME following de. Meanwhile, a less-discussed use of de—that is, the equational/appositional use of de (Chao 1968), has been revived to link the silent TIME and NP_TIME/NP_ITIME. This analysis of de helps explain why the NP is preferably time-related, as it is easier for a time-denoting NP to establish an equational/appositional relation with the silent TIME. Dà ‘big’ is neither a size-denoting adjective, nor an evaluative morpheme. It is analyzed as an element like the restrictive adjective very (e.g., the very book) in English. Dà modifies the appositive conjunction phrase [NP de TIME], bringing emphasis to the construction, which in turn imposes certain semantic and pragmatic constraints on its subsequent clauses.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	348-384
Number of pages	37
Journal	Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Volume	50
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1353/jcl.2022.0014
Publication status	Published - Jun 2022
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Dà
Equational/Appositional de
Restrictive adjective very
TIME

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10.1353/jcl.2022.0014

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title = "ON THE BIG SILENT APPOSITIVE TIME IN D{\`A} NP DE CONSTRUCTION IN CHINESE: A COMPOSITIONAL APPROACH",

abstract = "This article explores the compositionality of [d{\`a} NP de] construction in Chinese. The NP should be a direct time-denoting NPTIME or an indirect time-denoting NPITIME. Following Kayne (2016), we assume there is a silent TIME following de. Meanwhile, a less-discussed use of de—that is, the equational/appositional use of de (Chao 1968), has been revived to link the silent TIME and NPTIME/NPITIME. This analysis of de helps explain why the NP is preferably time-related, as it is easier for a time-denoting NP to establish an equational/appositional relation with the silent TIME. D{\`a} {\textquoteleft}big{\textquoteright} is neither a size-denoting adjective, nor an evaluative morpheme. It is analyzed as an element like the restrictive adjective very (e.g., the very book) in English. D{\`a} modifies the appositive conjunction phrase [NP de TIME], bringing emphasis to the construction, which in turn imposes certain semantic and pragmatic constraints on its subsequent clauses.",

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author = "Changsong Wang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 by the Journal of Chinese Linguistics.",

year = "2022",

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doi = "10.1353/jcl.2022.0014",

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ON THE BIG SILENT APPOSITIVE TIME IN DÀ NP DE CONSTRUCTION IN CHINESE: A COMPOSITIONAL APPROACH

Abstract

Keywords

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