Distinction Between Inflection and Derivation of Learning Reduplication in Mandarin

Reduplication as a word-formation process in Mandarin, which is one of the most difficult knowledge to comprehend for scholar and student. Theoretically this research offers an approach that is different from what has been made by previous researchers. Using the M.D.S Simatupang free context approach this research contrasts the reduplicative forms of all word classes and shows the relationships between them (AA, AABB, ABAB, ABB) and their basic forms (A, AB), then based on test of categorical word and test of lexical decomposition as proposed by J.W.M Verhaar, this study analyzes and explains reduplication and inflectional reduplication in Mandarin in order to students understand as their meaning vocabularies. As a result, this research examines the derivational and inflectional reduplication in Mandarin all at once can disseminate the use of morphological theory. In addition, this study discusses Mandarin reduplication based on various word classes that are contained as a basis for the relevant form of reduplication. Beginner research results will be presented in this study in order to stimulate more complete writing, it will be better if this research can be disseminated in order to add learning and reading material for future research

Nominal Lexemes Morphemes Reduplication of Mandarin

Morphologically, functions of Chinese reduplication may place categorically within the derivational domain of lexemes. In fact, whereas derivation typically forms new lexemes and can be category changing, reduplication often conveys values typically found in the inflectional domain. By using the test of categorical word and test of lexical decomposition, this research achieves shed new light on the reduplicative processes. As a result, in the nominal domain, reduplication gives as a result plural noun. In the derivational domain, nominal lexeme in reduplication has a flexible distribution of lexical items. In this case, the types of reduplication of noun in Mandarin show the process of AA, AAB, and AABB patterns

NOMINAL LEXEMES IN DERIVATIONAL REDUPLICATION OF MANDARIN

 Reduplication is a one of the creative ways in Mandarin. People usually reduplicate to express more deep lexical meaning or semantic meaning vividly. Reduplication is a process of forming new words by repeating an entire free morpheme (total reduplication) or part of it (partial reduplication). Morphologically, functions of Chinese reduplication may place categorically within the derivational domain of lexemes. In fact, whereas derivation typically forms new lexemes and can be category changing, reduplication often conveys values typically found in the inflectional domain. Using the M.D.S Simatupang context-free approach, this study clarifies various meanings of Chinese reduplication, then based on word membership tests and lexical decomposition tests as proposed by J.W.M Verhaar, this study analyzes derivational reduplication and inflectional reduplication in Mandarin. This research achieves shed new light on the reduplicative processes. As result, in nominal domain, reduplication gives as a result plural noun. In derivational domain, nominal lexeme in reduplication has flexible distribution of lexical items. ABSTRACTReduplication is a one of the creative ways in Mandarin. People usually reduplicate to express more deep lexical meaning or semantic meaning vividly. Reduplication is a process of forming new words by repeating an entire free morpheme (total reduplication) or part of it (partial reduplication). Morphologically, functions of Chinese reduplication may place categorically within the derivational domain of lexemes. In fact, whereas derivation typically forms new lexemes and can be category changing, reduplication often conveys values typically found in the inflectional domain. Using the M.D.S Simatupang context-free approach, this study clarifies various meanings of Chinese reduplication, then based on word membership tests and lexical decomposition tests as proposed by J.W.M Verhaar, this study analyzes derivational reduplication and inflectional reduplication in Mandarin. This research achieves shed new light on the reduplicative processes. As result, in nominal domain, reduplication gives as a result plural noun. In derivational domain, nominal lexeme in reduplication has flexible distribution of lexical items

The epistemic use of yào in Mandarin Chinese and its theoretical implications

The epistemic use of the Mandarin Chinese modal yào comes with typologically interesting properties. In this paper, the distribution and meaning of the epistemic use of yào will be described first. This use of yào is restricted to certain explicit strict comparative constructions, but forbidden in many other degree and non-degree constructions. Second, epistemic yào cannot appear above or below negation. Third, epistemic yào has a quantificational force stronger than that of existential modals, yet weaker than that of strong necessity modals. In the theoretical component of the paper, I argue that epistemic yào is a modifier for strict comparative morphemes, a syntactic/semantic function that sets it apart from many other epistemic modals that take propositions as direct argument. The weak necessity quantificational force of epistemic yào is encoded in its semantics by making recourse to alternative modal bases. Epistemic yào's inability to form scopal relation with negation arises from two factors: (i) its status as a strict comparative morpheme modifier, and (ii) competition between lexical items with identical semantics. Through investigating the epistemic use of yào, some hitherto unnoticed interesting modal properties in natural language are brought to the forefront, and new intra- and inter-linguistic variations in the distribution and meaning of modals are revealed

How to ask questions in Mandarin Chinese

This thesis re-examines the four main question-types in Mandarin Chinese, namely, particle questions, háishì questions, A-not-A questions and wh-questions, whose previous accounts are argued to be unsatisfactory due to various faulty assumptions about questions, particularly the stipulation of `Q\u27. Each of the four Mandarin Chinese question-types is re-accounted based on the view that questions are speech-acts, whose performance are done by way of speakers\u27 subconscious choice of sentence-types that mirror their ignorance-types, as proposed in Fiengo (2007). It is further demonstrated that viewing questions as speech-acts instead of a structurally marked sentence-type allows a simpler and more intuitive account for expressions that occur in them. Two expressions are re-evaluated for that matter: the sentential adverb dàodi in Mandarin Chinese and wh-the-hell in English

Corpus-Based Research on Chinese Language and Linguistics

This volume collects papers presenting corpus-based research on Chinese language and linguistics, from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. The contributions cover different fields of linguistics, including syntax and pragmatics, semantics, morphology and the lexicon, sociolinguistics, and corpus building. There is now considerable emphasis on the reliability of linguistic data: the studies presented here are all grounded in the tenet that corpora, intended as collections of naturally occurring texts produced by a variety of speakers/writers, provide a more robust, statistically significant foundation for linguistic analysis. The volume explores not only the potential of using corpora as tools allowing access to authentic language material, but also the challenges involved in corpus interrogation, analysis, and building

Applicative Structure in Wolof

This dissertation investigates applicative structures in Wolof, based on new data collected from native speakers in Saint Louis, Senegal. The dual purpose of this dissertation is to describe the applicative constructions available in Wolof and to identify their syntactic structure. Following previous work on applicatives, the description of these applicatives focuses on their object properties and the c-command configuration of the VP. The analysis falls within the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1993, 1995, 2000). I propose multiple function heads involved in applicative formation which account for the properties in Wolof. Four types of applicatives, benefactive, dative, instrumental, and locative in Wolof. They are classified into three groups based on their object properties, selectional restrictions, and c-command configuration. The groups are benefactive applicatives, dative applicatives, and oblique applicatives (including instrumental and locative). Object properties will show that benefactive and dative applicatives are symmetrical applicatives while instrumental and locative applicative, which have been previously identified as symmetrical (Dunigan 1994), show mixed symmetrical and asymmetrical behaviour. C-command tests will show that in benefactive and dative applicatives, the applied object asymmetrically c-commands the theme but in instrumental and locative applicatives, it is the theme that asymmetrically c-commands the applied object. The analysis proposed is based on the Thematic and Raising Applicative Hypothesis from Georgala (2012). I propose a third applicative head in addition to thematic and raising Appls, which I call Oblique Appl. The notion of Downward Merge from Phillips (2003) and McGinnis (2005) is incorporated in Oblique Appl to account for instrumental and locative applicatives which fall outside the explanatory power of the Raising and Thematic Hypothesis vis-à-vis c-command and verbal adjacency. In the spirit and Marantz (1993) and Georgala (2012), I argue that all three applicative heads merge in the same position, above the lexical VP. I maintain that instrumental and locative applied objects are uniformly merged as VP-external objects contrary to Marantz who assume they can merge within the lexical VP

The Head-Quarters of Mandarin Arguments

This dissertation looks at the syntactic distributions of various Mandarin arguments and develops an argument structure that takes into account the arguments’ semantic types. Theories of argument realization mostly build on a one-to-one correspondence between the syntactic positions of arguments and the thematic relations they bear to the verb in the underlying structure. And this correspondence is rooted in the assumption that the argument positions in the verb’s projection must be saturated before other semantic compositions can take place. This dissertation argues that the saturation requirement can be alleviated, depending on whether languages make a morphological distinction in their syntax. Making the distinction would then lead to the non-existence of the correspondence, resulting in arguments with a particular theta-role being able to base-generate in different positions inside the verb’s projection. Three general patterns of argument distribution are investigated, all in the presence of a post-verbal temporal adverbial modifying the verb’s duration/frequency. The first pattern, Pattern I, describes the positions of internal arguments relative to that of the post-verbal adverbial, regulated by the arguments’ semantic types. I argue that Pattern I is part of a widely known phenomenon, Pseudo-(Noun)-Incorporation (Massam, 2001), where the arguments in the form of bare NPs occur in the lowest syntactic position adjacent to the verb. I propose a separate syntactic head that encodes the internal theta-roles of the verb, mediating the realizations of arguments by their types. It is argued that once a language incorporates this head, whose scope is hypothesized to be a morphological domain, the language is pseudo-incorporating and is able to have non-argument-saturated VPs. Many pseudo-incorporating properties are consequently derivable. The second pattern, Pattern II, describes the preverbal displacement of internal arguments, accompanied by a bare copy of the verb or not. Further categorized as Type I and Type II, where the former lacks and the latter involves the bare verb copy, Pattern II is argued to be cases of sentence-internal topicalization. Arguing against many previous analyses, I show that Type I is not focalization but topicalization, siding with Paul (2002, 2005) and Badan (2008). And by comparing Type II to the VP-copying construction in Hebrew (Landau, 2006, 2007), I argue that Type II should also operate under the rules of topicalization. That is, a unified account of topicalization can be achieved for both Type I and II. The post-verbal temporal adverbial is shown to enable Pattern II in a way that it should be treated as a pragmatic trigger for the topicalization. Finally, the third pattern, Pattern III, describes an inversion between the internal and external argument in the obligatory presence of the post-verbal temporal adverbial. It is argued to involve causativization of the eventualities denoted by the verb. More specifically put, it is argued to be a causativization strategy Mandarin employs for the relation between the occurrence and the duration/frequency of the eventualities by means of a causative head in syntax. In other words, the inversion of the arguments is the manifestation of causativization, and is connected to the obligatory post-verbal temporal adverbial that is the resulting end of this causal relation