University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics
Article Title
Abstract
The paper discusses two types of exclusive (dis)harmonies in Mandarin. Exclusive-(dis)harmony-A—only is compatible with few but not many, and exclusive-(dis)harmony-B—only is compatible with less than n but not more than n. We suggest Exclusive-(dis)harmony-A can be explained along the lines of Chen 2005. We further propose that Exclusive-disharmony-B can be ex- plained by Maximization failure (Fox 2007). But Maximization failure rules out Exclusive-harmony-B as well. We then propose to use a scalar presupposition of jiu/zhi/only to restrict the standard Rooth-style focus alternative set. This presupposition achieves two things: it captures the scalar meaning of only, and it allows maximization to work with less than n, by filtering out problematic alternatives.
Recommended Citation
Liu, Mingming
(2016)
"Exclusive (Dis)harmonies in Mandarin Chinese,"
University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 22:
Iss.
1, Article 23.
Available at:
https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol22/iss1/23