Fragment answers in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

The derivational differences of the fragment answers in Mandarin Chinese lie in whether a fragment moves or not. Under the movement and ellipsis analysis (Merchant 2004), fragment answer towh-question moves to SpecFocP, followed by TP ellipsis. In contrast, fragment answer to yes-no question or for correction is a base-generated structure, [procopula fragment]. The analysis is supported not only by the existence of the copular verb and the fragment answers to questions involving the passive constructions and preposition stranding but also by cross-linguistic evidence.

Fragment questions in Mandarin Chinese

“…The TopP analysis is strengthened by a significant difference between FQ and FA in the language (Wei 2016). Fragment answer to wh-question (FAW) in Chinese differs from FQ in the fact that an indefinite DP can be a legitimate fragment answer as shown in (21).…”

“…(Wh-Q) you top you ask-le who q ' And you (whom have you asked)?' Third, as argued by Wei (2016), since no corresponding emphatic marker can be identified in the antecedent clause, fragment for correction is analyzed as an independent base-generated structure, [pro copula fragment]. That is, no movement and deletion is involved in (i).…”

“…First of all, their interpretations are different from corrections. As depicted in Wei (2016), a typical fragment answer for correction is used to correct the proposition of the previous correlate. For example, in (i), speaker A states that he saw Zhangsan, whereas speaker B corrects the statement by negating the previous proposition first in the form of bushi 'no' and by providing an alternative answer with an emphatic marker shi 'be' to retort that what he saw is not Zhangsan but Lisi.…”

The Structure of Split Questions in Mandarin Chinese

“…We agree with the reviewer that the ability for deletion to repair islands varies from one language to another and even from one construction to another within a language. In the original manuscript, we cited Wei's (2016) work on fragment answer (FA) in Chinese, which suggests that FA in Chinese involves focus movement and deletion. FA in Chinese is "insensitive" to islands as in (i).…”

“…FA in Chinese is "insensitive" to islands as in (i). Given Merchant's (2004) analysis, Wei (2016) proposes that the FA Lisi in (i) undergoes focus raising to the SpecFocP to check with the [E [uFoc*]] feature on Foc. TP ellipsis erases the offensive *-traces induced by the focus raising from embedded CP to the SpecFocP.…”