[parislinguists] Trois conférences du Prof. Dylan Wei-Tien Tsai

Mon Jan 5 18:29:14 UTC 2015

Chers collègues (et mes excuses pour lesdoublons), 

J’ai le plaisir de vous annoncer troisconférences du 

Prof. DylanWei-Tien Tsai 

(National Tsing HuaUniversity)

Professeur invité de l’UFRLinguistique, LLF-UMR 7110, l’UFR LCAO de l’Université Paris Diderot- Paris 7

Conférence1: BareQuantity Construction in Mandarin Chinese and the Typology of Modals

Le mercredi 21janvier, 15h-17h, Grands Moulins,aile C, salle 681C (GM)

Abstract

It has been proposed in theliterature that Chinese is a mood-prominent language, where there is nomorphological tense, and the mood/modal category is so prominent that it mayremain silent throughout linguistic computation. A suggestive analogy can befound in the correlation between the topic prominence and the presence ofpro-drop and null topic in Chinese (cf. Huang 1984, 1989). In this paper, wewould like to pursue this line of thinking further by investigating the barequantity construction, where there is no modal or aspect marker, and a certainnotion of quantity is in play (cf. Li 1998 and Lu 2004). Here we entertain thepossibility that there is an implicit modal involved in its syntacticarrangement and semantic interpretation, which is virtually identical to itsovert counterpart, expressing capacity modality (cf. Tsai 2001). Another pieceof argument comes from implicit modality construals in subjunctive complements,outer wh-adveribals, as well asnon-canonical interrogative constructions. What is expressed by those wh-elements is equivalent to negativeepistemic modality (cf. Shao 1996; Tsai 2011). 

Conférence 2: A Case of V2 inChinese

 Le mercredi 28 janvier, 15h-17h, GrandsMoulins, aile C, salle 681C(GM)

Abstract

In this paper, we put forth the claim that peripheralfeatures play an important role in this endeavor, which can be checked byeither external Merge or internal Merge (i.e., Move) according to theparameter-settings of individual languages. Along this line, topic prominencecan be regarded as the result of peripheral feature checking, and the nulltopic hypothesis à la Huang (1984) is reinvented as a null operator merger tofulfill interface economy in the left periphery. In this regard, Chineseprovides substantial evidence from obligatory topicalization in outer affective,evaluative, and refutory wh-constructions where aD(efiniteness)-operator plays the central role of licensing relevantconstruals, as well as pro-drop and bare nominal interpretation in general. Inthis light, we may well compare Chinese obligatory topicalization to Germanicverb-second (V2), as well as English negative inversion, all beingmanifestation of the strong uniformity. Topic prominence, is reinvented in thisnew light: The null topic operator can be regarded as the quantifier part of adefinite argument, and a Chinese topic is either an XP in the Spec-headrelation with Top, or a discontinuous DP consisting of a peripheral D-operatorand an in-situ nominal. This leads us to the conclusion that as far as the leftperiphery is concerned, there is a conspiracy between syntax, semantics, andpragmatics through either Agree or Move to ensure the success of sentenceformation. This is actually a welcome result from the viewpoint of thecartographic approach, because we can easily implement this insight by encodingrelevant restrictions with various functional projections in the complementizerlayer.

Conférence 3: Inner vs. Outer A-not-A Questions

 Le mercredi 11 février, 15h-17h, GrandsMoulins, aile C, salle 681C(GM)

Abstract

This paper distinguishes two types of A-not-A questionsin Mandarin according to their distributions and interpretations: One istriggered by an outer A-not-A morpheme hosted by an assertion projection in theleft periphery; the other is licensed by an inner A-not-A morpheme situated onthe edge of vP. This distinction is of particular interest in thecontext of the cartographic approach advocated by Rizzi (1997) and Cinque(1999), under which we propose a novel way to separate the two constructions interms of their relation to a variety of adverbials: For instance, inner A-not-Ais typically blocked by frequency/manner adverbials, while its outercounterpart, being much higher and discourse-oriented, is subject to no suchblocking. More specifically, we analyze outer A-not-A as the head of AstP(assertion phrase), which is sandwiched between IntP (interrogative phrase) andEviP (evidential phrase), whereas inner A-not-A is taken to be part of the vP periphery in the spirit of Ernst(1994) and Law (2006). Under this analysis, A-not-A questions are triggered bya cluster of a strong uninterpretable V feature and an interpretable Q feature:inner A-not-A is associated with the head of vP, whereas outer A-not-Ais associated with the head of AstP in the left periphery. More specifically,the strong [uV] feature is checkedoff by attracting the closest verbal head, thereby assuming the A-not-A form.At LF, the [iQ] feature is furtheradjoined to Int head to check off the weak uninterpretable Q feature in Int(Chomsky 2000, among others). One piece of evidence for thisminimalist/cartographic analysis comes from the fact that light verbs andcertain manner adverbs may optionally undergo inner A-not-A construals. We havebuilt a fine-grained cartographic analysis of the two types of A-not-Aquestions based on their correspondences with modals, adverbials and lightverbs, as well as their height of interpretation. This move in turn accountsfor the fact that only outer A-not-A is speaker-oriented and infelicitous in anout-of-blue context.

Les trois conférences seront données en anglais.

Accès : métro 14/bus 62 : BibliothèqueF.M.

           ou Tramway 3 : Avenue de France

           Université Paris Diderot- Paris 7,

           Bâtiment Grands Moulins, aile C

            5 rueThomas Mann 75013 Paris

 Venez nombreux!

VictorPan

 =============================

Victor PAN 

Maître de conférences 

L'adresse du courrier/Postal address: 
Université Paris Diderot- Paris 7 UFR Langues et Civilisations d’Asie Orientale (LCAO) Grands Moulins,Bâtiment C- 4e Etage- Case 7009 16 rue Marguerite Duras 75205 Paris Cedex 13  
Bureau : Grands moulins- Bâtiment C- 4e étage- salle 484 

Page personnelle/Personal website:
 http://www.llf.cnrs.fr/fr/Gens/Junnan_Pan

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