<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article proposes a <italic>pro</italic> analysis for split questions (SQs) in Chinese, dissimilar to the biclausal account employing focus movement and deletion in Arregi 2010 and the one employing the silent head in Kayne 2015 and Tang 2015. SQ consists of a <italic>wh</italic>-clause and a tag clause. We argue that the entire SQ is an information/confirmation-seeking question, represented by a Speech Act Phrase (SAP)-shell structure (Speas and Tenny 2003; Oguro 2017, etc.) with <italic>wh</italic>-clause in its specifier and the tag in its complement. The tag of Chinese SQ is a base-generated clause, [<italic>pro</italic> (copula) tag <italic>ma/ne</italic>], composed of an empty subject <italic>pro</italic>, an optional copula, a tag, and a final particle, instead of being derived from a fully-fledged structure parallel to the <italic>wh</italic>-part akin to those of English and Spanish SQs. Such a <italic>pro</italic> analysis overcomes difficulties encountered in the other accounts regarding the distribution of the final particles and their clause-typing, the optionality of the copula, the ubiquitous uses of tag, the connectivity effects, and the island-insensitivity. Analytically, two seeming variants of SQ imply that the derivation of an SQ depends on whether its tag moves and whether a copula exists.</p></abstract>

This article proposes a pro analysis for split questions (SQs) in Chinese, dissimilar to the biclausal account employing focus movement and deletion in Arregi 2010 and the one employing the silent head in Kayne 2015 and Tang 2015. SQ consists of a wh-clause and a tag clause. We argue that the entire SQ is an information/confirmation-seeking question, represented by a Speech Act Phrase (SAP)-shell structure (Speas and Tenny 2003; Oguro 2017, etc.) with wh-clause in its specifier and the tag in its complement. The tag of Chinese SQ is a base-generated clause, [pro (copula) tag ma/ne], composed of an empty subject pro, an optional copula, a tag, and a final particle, instead of being derived from a fully-fledged structure parallel to the wh-part akin to those of English and Spanish SQs. Such a pro analysis overcomes difficulties encountered in the other accounts regarding the distribution of the final particles and their clause-typing, the optionality of the copula, the ubiquitous uses of tag, the connectivity effects, and the island-insensitivity. Analytically, two seeming variants of SQ imply that the derivation of an SQ depends on whether its tag moves and whether a copula exists.

The Structure of Split Questions in Mandarin Chinese

Studies in Chinese Linguistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Structure of Split Questions in Mandarin Chinese"}

This article proposes a pro analysis for split questions (SQs) in Chinese, dissimilar to the biclausal account employing focus movement and deletion in Arregi...

The Structure of Split Questions in Mandarin Chinese

Published Online: Jun 30, 2020

Page range: 1 - 32

Received: Feb 28, 2019

Accepted: Mar 27, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2020-0001

Keywords
deletion, movement, speech act phrase, island effects, connectivity effects

© 2020 Ting-Chi Wei, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The Structure of Split Questions in Mandarin Chinese

Published Online: Jun 30, 2020

Page range: 1 - 32

Received: Feb 28, 2019

Accepted: Mar 27, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2020-0001

Keywordsdeletion, movement, speech act phrase, island effects, connectivity effects

© 2020 Ting-Chi Wei, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
deletion, movement, speech act phrase, island effects, connectivity effects