Diagnosing modal clause structure with focus-sensitive operators in Mandarin Chinese
Keywords: modals, focus-sensitive operators, association with focus, clause structure, clause size, implicational complementation hierarchy
TL;DR: Three tests involving focus-sensitive operators show that deontic modals are clause(CP)-embedding verbs in Mandarin Chinese.
Abstract: There is a long debate on the nature of the clausal spine in modalized sentences in Mandarin: are modal verbs clause-embedding (i.e., forming bi-clausal structures), or are they just heads in the verbal projection of the same clause (i.e., forming mono-clausal structures)? This abstract provides three diagnostic tests based on focus-sensitive operators *dou* and *ye* that show that deontic modals are clause(CP)-embedding. Test 1 concerns the locality of association with focus. Test 2 concerns scopal possibilities of focus-sensitive operators. Test 3 concerns the ability of modals to reset the clausal functional sequence. The conclusion that deontic modals embed CPs speaks to the correctness of Wurmbrand & Lohninger (2020) in proposing that the Implicational Complementation Hierarchy refer to minimal structures: while the semantically defined clause-types (*Event*, *Situation*, *Proposition*) have increasing minimum sizes (*v*P, TP, CP), these are not upper bounds; the *Event*-type clauses commonly assumed for such deontic modals can still be CPs. In a brief discussion, the tests are also extended to epistemic modals.
Submission Number: 209
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