LINGUIST List 8.959

Sun Jun 29 1997

Qs: Mandarin, Minimalist Program, even if

Editor for this issue: Ann Dizdar <annlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Jiun shiung Wu, Q:on Zhang1san1 zhui2lei4 le li3si4
2. sfisher, Diachrony and Minimalist Program
3. Hiroaki Tanaka, Query: even if

Dear all linguists:
Reading the materials on VV structure of Mandarin Chinese,
I found an interesting sentence:
zhang1san2 zhui1lei4 le li3si4
Zhangsan chase tired particle Lisi
Is there anyone who can tell me under what context one
can get a reading like: Lisi chased Zhangsan and Lisi
got tired in addition to the common reading: Zhangsan
chased Lisi and Zhangsan got tired and Zhangsan chased
Lisi and Lisi got tired?

Besides, can a similiar reading be got from the sentence
below:
xiao3hai2 qi2lei4 le ba4ba4
child ride tired particle Father
That is, can a reading like 'Father rode his child and
Father got tired.' be got?

Thanks for any answer. I will post a summary after getting
enough answers.

Jiun-Shiung Wu
hunteriis.sinica.edu.tw

Dear linguists,

I'm looking for diachronic studies carried out within the framework of
the Minimalist Program. Does anybody know of such studies or projects?

Please send your reply to my e-mail address, I will post a summary of
all the answers on the list.

Thanks a lot.

Susann Fischer

University of Potsdam
sfisherling.uni-potsdam.de

Dear Linguists,
 I have been working on some probelms of the meanings of "even if",
especially the following so-called consequent-entailment reading of
"even if". Please help me check the accptablities of the following
sentences.

 Are the following sentences acceptable or have natural flow of
interpretation? Please put OK, ? or * in each slot and comments, if
any. If the sentences you judge are unacceptable, what kind of context
would you consider to increase the acceptabilities?

 (1) ( ) (Context: My employer is so puritanical that he would fire
me if I behaved in what he considered a libertine manner. ) "Even if"
my wife smoked cigarettes, he would fire me, but, since she wouldn't
ever smoke, he won't fire me.

 (2) ( ) "Even if" you drink just a little, your boss will fire you,
but, since you sruely won't drink at all, he won't fire you.

 (3) ( ) "Even if" you drink just a little, your boss will fire you,
butsince you surely drink a lot, he won't fire you.

 (4) ( ) If it doesn' rain, the game will continue. "Even if" it
rains lightly, the game will continue; but if it rains heavily, the
rain will be cancelled.

 (5) ( ) If it doesn't rain, the game will continue. "Even if"it
rains lightly, the game will be cancelled; but if it rains heavily,
the game will continue.

 (6) ( ) "Even if" the president were to get ingestion tonight, the
cease-fire would end, but, if we resume negotiations with the enemy
for a treaty of peace, it will continue.

 (7) ( ) "Even if" my wife smoked cigarettes, I would not scold her,
but, if she ever broke my favorite dishes, I would scold her.

 (8) ( ) "Even if" my wife smokes cigarettes, I will not scold her,
but,if she breaks my favorite dishes, I will scold her.

 Thank a lot in advance. I will post a summary. Please give a reply
to me directly.

Best wishes,
 
Hiroaki Tanaka

Associate Professor
Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences
Tokushima University, Japan
 
1-1, Minamijousanjioma,
Tokushima, 770,
Japan

phone & fax: +81 886 56 7125
e-mail: hiro-tias.tokushima-u.ac.jp