Conditions on Chinese A-not-A questions

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to account for the ungrammaticality of adjuncts likeyiding ‘definitely’ orluan ‘chaotically’ in Chinese A-not-A questions. This restriction can be accounted for via the Isomorphic Principle, by which S-structure scope relationships must be preserved at LF. In A-not-A questions the question operator [+Qu] raises at LF; any adjunct which c-commands [+Qu] at SS must therefore also raise to c-command it at LF, in order to respect the Isomorphic Principle. Butyielding andluan, like most adjuncts, cannot modify [+Qu], so such sentences are semantically anomalous. Certain other adjuncts, such as time and locative expressions, do not show this effect, though they also cannot modify [+Qu]. It is argued that adjuncts of this class are argument-like and thus that their trace may count for scope at LF, following a version of Aoun and Li's (1989) Scope Principle making reference to chains. Thus they are not forced to modify the question operator and may co-occur with A-not-A questions. To the extent that this analysis is successful, it supports the validity of the Isomorphic Principle and the Scope Principle as important mechanisms for mapping S-structure to LF.