| Summary: | 博士 === 國立清華大學 === 語言學研究所 === 99 === This thesis has two aims: (1) to argue for a DP analysis of Mandarin Chinese based on the properties of the ordinal phrase in that language; and (2) to demonstrate that a split-DP hypothesis can be extended to nominal expressions in Mandarin Chinese.
From the syntactic and semantic characteristics of the Mandarin Chinese ordinal phrase (in the form [di+ Num + Cl + N]), I argue that the morpheme di heads a DP, and an ordering reading is denoted by a Num head. Moreover, I attribute the inherent ambiguity of the ordinal expression in question to the dual status of di. In certain contexts, di is a [+strong] determiner, and gives rise to a definite reading; in other contexts, di is a [-strong] determiner with an additive function, and yields a quantity reading. This analysis helps to explain not only the distinctions between ordinal and number expressions but also how certain elements within sentences, such as aspectual markers, predicate types, and measure words, interact with the morpheme di to derive correct interpretations.
Unlike English, in Mandarin Chinese an ordinal number cannot be followed directly by a cardinal number. To express the counterpart of the English phrase the first three prime ministers, Mandarin Chinese utilizes the morpheme qian ‘front’ in the [qian + Num + Cl + N] sequence (henceforth the qian phrase). The qian phrase is a deictic expression which may assume two different readings expressing ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ points of view. In the former, the denotation will not change when the qian phrase is used by different speakers; in the latter, the denotation of the qian phrase is contingent on the temporal/spatial axis of the speaker. I therefore argue that qian possesses a [Perspective] feature which introduces a Point-of-View variable (henceforth POV), which may be bound by the speaker or by an internal protagonist. If the POV variable is bound by the speaker, it results in a relative reading; if it is bound by an internal protagonist, it returns an absolute reading (cf. Nishigauchi (1999); Huang and Liu (2000)). This analysis suggests that nominal phrases are parallel to clauses in having a syntactic projection with pragmatically relevant features (i.e., the Perspective Phrase) (cf. Speas (2004); Cinque (1999); Liu (2007)). Finally, I propose that the syntax-semantics mapping of the qian phrase can be captured by the following spectrogram: DP > PresepctiveP > NumP > ClP > NP.
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