Rhetorical Questions and Polarity Licensing: On Cantonese Modal Sai2

This paper investigates the deontic modal sai2 in Cantonese. I argue that sai2 is an NPI and a negative operator is induced at the sentence-initial position by the SFPs me1 or aa4 in rhetorical questions. In SAI sentence, sai2 must syntactically agree with the negative operator for licensing, and minimality and locality effects are found in such agreement. This study may provide evidence of a syntactic approach to NPI licensing and rhetorical questions.

Sprache:: Englisch

Zeitrahmen der Veröffentlichung:: 2 Hefte pro Jahr
Fachgebiete der Zeitschrift:: Linguistik und Semiotik, Asiatische Sprachen, Sino-tibetische Sprachen, Chinesisch, Linguistische Beschreibungsebenen, Interfaces, Syntax, Theorien und Fachgebiete, Kontrastive Linguistik

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Rhetorical Questions and Polarity Licensing: On Cantonese Modal Sai2

Tsun Hei Choi

Online veröffentlicht: 07. Feb. 2023

Seitenbereich: 123 - 142

Eingereicht: 30. Juni 2022

Akzeptiert: 04. Nov. 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2022-0005

SchlüsselwörterCantonese modals, NPI licensing, minimality, rhetorical questions

© 2022 Tsun Hei Choi, published by Sciendo

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

Schlüsselwörter
Cantonese modals, NPI licensing, minimality, rhetorical questions