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Focus, Presupposition, and the Formation of A-NOT-A Questions in Chinese.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Focus, Presupposition, and the Formation of A-NOT-A Questions in Chinese.
Language: English
Authors: Zhang, Zheng-sheng
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 49
Publication Date: 1996
Document Type: Reports - Research
Descriptors: Case (Grammar), Chinese, Discourse Analysis, Language Research, Linguistic Theory, Sentence Structure, Structural Grammar
Abstract: This paper aims to account for what at first appears to be a unique constraint in the formation of A-not-A questions. Most previous analyses employ the pragmatic notion of focus. This paper argues in favor of a presuppositional account, which has wide empirical coverage and is independently motivated and more theoretically coherent than the notion of focus. The first section of the paper introduces the question types in Chinese and two constraints on the formation of A-not-A questions. In section 2, previous analyses are critically surveyed. Section 3 elucidates the problems with the notion of focus both in general and in these specific analyses. Section 4 puts forward a presuppositional account. In section 5, independent motivations for the proposal are given. Section 6 provides a summary of the paper. (Contains 23 references.) (NAV)
Entry Date: 1996
Accession Number: ED395448
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:This paper aims to account for what at first appears to be a unique constraint in the formation of A-not-A questions. Most previous analyses employ the pragmatic notion of focus. This paper argues in favor of a presuppositional account, which has wide empirical coverage and is independently motivated and more theoretically coherent than the notion of focus. The first section of the paper introduces the question types in Chinese and two constraints on the formation of A-not-A questions. In section 2, previous analyses are critically surveyed. Section 3 elucidates the problems with the notion of focus both in general and in these specific analyses. Section 4 puts forward a presuppositional account. In section 5, independent motivations for the proposal are given. Section 6 provides a summary of the paper. (Contains 23 references.) (NAV)