Negative Modal Elements in Late Archaic

Negative/Modal Elements in
Late Archaic Chinese and
Intervention Effect of Negation

Aiqing Wang
University of York
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Outline
  1. Introduction

—background on Late Archaic Chinese (LAC) syntax
  2. Medial domain for object preposing

—negative/modal elements and their relative order
  3. Pronoun fronting to negation
  4. Intervention Effect of negation
  5. Conclusion

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Introduction
  LAC of the Warring States period (5th-3rdc BC) as SVO

language
  Predominant SVO word order (Aldridge 2011, 2012,

Djamouri et al 2012, Meisterernst 2010)
  (S)OV patterns:
  NP objects
  Pronoun objects
  Wh-objects (obligatory fronting until 2ndc

BC)
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  Preposed nominal objects

(1) a. ling
zhi
bu [VP cong tling]

order ZHI not obey
“(people) do not obey orders”

(5thc BC; Guoyu)

  Preposed pronominal objects

b. shi
zhi
bu [VP wu tshi]
this ZHI
not conduct
“(you) does not conduct this”

(5thc BC; Zuozhuan)

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  Preposed wh-objects:
  bare wh-words

  complex wh-phrases

(2) a. He
bu [VP wei the] hu?
what not
do
Excl
“What do (I) not do?”

(4thc BC; Zhuangzi)

b. [He cheng] bu [VP ke the cheng]? (5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
what city
not conquer
“What city cannot (I) conquer?”
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Two landing sites of object preposing
 between TP and vP
 evidence: relative order between preposed objects

and negative/modal elements

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 Wh-elements
 fronted wh-elements > negative/modal constituents
 negative/modal constituents > fronted wh-elements

(3) a. Qi

shui neng [VP shi tshui] hu?

3.Subj who can
rely
“On whom can he rely?”

(5thc BC; Guoyu)

Excl

b. Guaren jiang shui [VP shu guo tshui]? (3rdc BC; Lvlan)
I
will who entrust state
“To whom will I entrust the state?”
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 Non-wh-elements
 fronted non-wh-elements > negative/modal constituents
 negative/modal constituents > fronted non-wh-elements

(4) a. Gan bu wei ming shi [VP ting tming]?  
              dare not WEI order SHI
listen
“How dare (I) not listen to orders only? (It is only
orders (I) must follow.)”
(5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
b. wei
zhi [VP you tzhi] ye
not.yet 3.Obj exist Decl

“there has not yet been one”

(5thc BC; Zuozhuan) 8

(5)

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Medial Elements
 Canonical order:
Between subject and verb
 Auxiliary
 Adverb
 Negative
 Modal
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Medial Elements
 Auxiliary: passive marker
(6) a. jin xiongdi bei

qin
now brother PASS attack
“now brothers are attacked”

(3rdc BC; Hanfeizi)

b. Wu chang jian xiao yu
dafang
zhi jia.
I often PASS laugh by enlightened GEN sage
“I am often teased by enlightened sages.”
(4thc BC; Zhuangzi)
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Medial Elements
 Marked order
Between two landing sites of object preposing
 Negative
 Modal

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Medial Elements
 Passive marker:
complementary distribution with object preposing
 Adverbial:
between subject and higher position

he
ke [VP wei the] hu?
(7) Qi
you
3.Subj then what can
do
Excl
“Then what can he do?”
(5thc BC; Guoyu)
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Relative Order between Medial Elements

 Clausal positions:

subject > high position > other modal > negative
> modal of ability > low position > vP

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Relative Order between Medial Elements
 Negative > modal of ability

(8) Shu
bu ke [VP ren tshu] ye!
what not can endure Nmlz
“What (he) cannot endure!”
(5thc BC; Analects)

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Relative Order between Medial Elements
 Negative > modal of ability

(8) Shu
bu ke [VP ren tshu] ye!
what not can endure Nmlz
“What (he) cannot endure!”
(5thc BC; Analects)

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(9)

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Relative Order between Medial Elements
 Other modal > negative

(10) jiang bu wei
weiguo
zhi [ bai tweiguo]
will not WEI State.of.Wei ZHI ruin

“it is not only the State of Wei (he) will ruin”
(5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
VP

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(11)

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Fronting Markers
  Further evidence for two fronting positions
  Further evidence for functional projections
  之 ZHI

higher or lower position
  是 SHI

lower position
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Fronting Markers
  Further evidence for two fronting positions

(1) a. ling
zhi
bu [VP cong tling]
order ZHI not
obey
“(people) do not obey orders”

(5thc BC; Guoyu)

(9) jiang bu wei
weiguo
zhi [VP bai tweiguo]
will not WEI State.of.Wei ZHI ruin
“it is not only the State of Wei (he) will ruin”
(5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
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Fronting Markers
  Further evidence for functional projections
(1a)

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Pronoun Fronting to Negation
 

High position

(12) a. Shi bu ke [ bian tshi].
(5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
this not can whip
“(You) cannot whip this (person).”
VP

 

Low position
b. Gan bu wei zi shi [ cong tzi]?
dare not WEI you SHI
follow
“How dare (people) not follow you only? (It is only you
(people) must follow.)”
(5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
VP

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Pronoun Fronting to Negation
  Extra

position

(13) you wei
zhi neng [VP de tzhi]
still not.yet 3.Obj can
obtain
“(they) still have not managed to obtain it”
(3rdc BC; Lvlan)

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(14)

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Intervention Effect of Negation
 Previous research:

Kim (2002): focus phrases induce an Intervention Effect
in modern Mandarin
 My proposal:
 In LAC, negation displays an Intervention Effect
 Focus construction in LAC is the constituent undergoing

further movement
 The Intervention Effect of negation only applies to wh-DPs
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(15) Guaren jiang shui [VP shu guo tshui]? (3rdc BC; Lvlan)
I

will who entrust state

“To whom will I entrust the state?”

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Wh-DPs>Neg
(16) a. Ke shu [VP nian tshu] zai? (4th-5thc BC; Liezi)
can what care
Decl
“What can (one) care about?”
b. shu
bu ke [ ren tshu] ye! ”
what not can endure Decl
“what (he) cannot endure!”
(5thc BC; Analects)
VP

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Wh-DPs>Neg
  Bare

wh-words

(17) a. He
bu [VP wei the] hu?
what not
do
Excl
“What do (I) not do?”
  Internally

(4thc BC; Zhuangzi)

complex wh-phrases

b. [He cheng] bu [VP ke the cheng]? (5thc BC; Zuozhuan)
what city
not conquer
“What city cannot (I) conquer?”
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Conclusion
 1. Object preposing
subject > high position > other modal > negative >
modal of ability > low position > vP

 2. Pronoun fronting to negation
negative > extra position > modal of ability

 3. Intervention Effect of negation
wh-DP > negative
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References
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Aldridge, E. 2011. Survey of Chinese historical syntax. Ms., University of
Washington.
Aldridge, E. 2012. Focus and Archaic Chinese Word Order. In L. E. Clemens and CM. L. Liu (eds.), The Proceedings of the 22nd North American Conference of Chinese
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Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-18), vol. 2, 84-101.
Djamouri et al. 2012. Syntactic change in Chinese and the argument-adjunct
asymmetry. In G. Cao, H. Chappell, R. Djamouri, T. Wiebusch (eds.), Breaking down
the barriers: Interdisciplinary studies in Chinese linguistics and beyond. Taipei:
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Kim, S-S. 2002. “Intervention Effects Are Focus Effects”. In N. Akatsuka & S.
Strauss (eds.), Japanese/Korean Linguistics 10, 615–628. Stanford: CSLI.
Meisterernst, B. 2010. Object Preposing in Classical and pre-Medieval Chinese.
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10.1007/s10831-010-9056-x.
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Paul, W. 2005. Low IP area and left periphery in Mandarin Chinese. Recherches
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linguistiques de Vincennes 33, 111-134.

Thank you!
謝謝！
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