<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Both sentential final particles (SFPs) and high modals commonly convey the speakers’ knowledge of the world, their judgments, intentions, and subjective attitudes. This paper aims to explore the correlations between high modals and sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese (MC). Specifically, two high modals of MC show the behavior of being unable to precede the subject and eliminating their epistemic reading in the presence of SFPs. The phenomenon discussed in this paper is specifically exemplified with <italic>yinggai</italic> ‘should’ and <italic>keneng</italic> ‘be likely to’ in MC. We give an analysis about which modals and SFPs are interlaced in terms of their scope positions, so as to explain the phenomena.</p>
</abstract>

Both sentential final particles (SFPs) and high modals commonly convey the speakers’ knowledge of the world, their judgments, intentions, and subjective attitudes. This paper aims to explore the correlations between high modals and sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese (MC). Specifically, two high modals of MC show the behavior of being unable to precede the subject and eliminating their epistemic reading in the presence of SFPs. The phenomenon discussed in this paper is specifically exemplified with yinggai ‘should’ and keneng ‘be likely to’ in MC. We give an analysis about which modals and SFPs are interlaced in terms of their scope positions, so as to explain the phenomena.

The Interaction Between Modals and SFPs in Mandarin Chinese: A Cartographic Approach

Studies in Chinese Linguistics

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

Both sentential final particles (SFPs) and high modals commonly convey the speakers’ knowledge of the world, their judgments, intentions, and subjective...

The Interaction Between Modals and SFPs in Mandarin Chinese: A Cartographic Approach

Published Online: Jan 18, 2022

Page range: 183 - 204

Received: Nov 30, 2020

Accepted: Jun 04, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2021-0006

Keywords
modals, sentential final particles, force, cartography

© 2021 Liching Livy Chiu, published by Sciendo

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

The Interaction Between Modals and SFPs in Mandarin Chinese: A Cartographic Approach

Published Online: Jan 18, 2022

Page range: 183 - 204

Received: Nov 30, 2020

Accepted: Jun 04, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2021-0006

Keywordsmodals, sentential final particles, force, cartography

© 2021 Liching Livy Chiu, published by Sciendo

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

Keywords
modals, sentential final particles, force, cartography