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On dou-quantification

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Abstract

This paper examines the frequently discussed quantifierdou ‘all’ in Mandarin Chinese. I argue, following traditional grammarians as well as Lee (1986), thatdou ‘all’ is an adverb of quantification. I show that a floating quantifier analysis ofdou ‘all’ along the lines of Chiu (1990, 1993) falls short of accounting for the dual status ofdou, as a quantifier and a binder. As a quantifier,dou quantifies over regular NPs (plural). As a binder,dou provides quantificational force forwh-polarity items, which do not have inherent quantificational force. I argue that the locality restrictions associated withdou varies depending on the element it is associated with. With regular NPs, the locality is reflected by LF adjunction ofdou. Withwh-polarity items, the locality is restricted by licensing of polarity items as well as its ability as a binder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics, University of California, 92717, Irvine, CA

    Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng

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  1. Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng
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Additional information

Part of the material in this paper was presented in the Canadian Linguistic Association Annual meeting in 1992 at the University of Prince Edward Island and the First International Conference on Chinese Linguistics in 1992 at the National University of Singapore. I would like to thank José Bonneau, Hamida Demirdache, James Huang, Thomas Lee, Audrey Li, Kumiko Murasugi, Jane Tang, Lisa Travis, Dylan Tsai, as well as three reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

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Cheng, L.LS. On dou-quantification. J East Asian Linguis 4, 197–234 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01731509

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01731509

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