Niina Ning Zhang
Biographic Data
| ID | 1453372 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Niina Ning Zhang |
| GIVEN NAMES | Niina Ning |
| FAMILY NAME | Zhang |
| SIGNATURE | ZHANG N N |
| AFFILIATIONS | National Chung Cheng University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3872-666X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Contextually categorizing eventive polar questions
The syntax of nominal appositives
There are various types of nominal appositives. One is predicative, as in She invited Lulu Moppet, an old friend , to the party ; one is specificational, as in She invited an old friend, Lulu Moppet , to the party; and a further type is equative, as in She invited Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Elton John , to the party. This paper argues that each type of nominal appositive comes from a reduced copular clause of a certain kind. Such a copular clause i…
Light predicate raising in the Mandarin post-VP adverbial nominal constructions
In Mandarin, a nominal may follow a string that is composed of a monomorphemic verb and its monomorphemic object. The nominal exhibits the same constraints as a preverbal PP. Also, unlike a canonical or non-canonical object, such a nominal cannot be deleted. It is argued that such a nominal is the object of a preposition; the PP is base-generated as a left adverbial of a shortest transitive VP; and after the leftward raising of the light VP and d…
Unraveling syntactic puzzles of comparative correlatives
In a comparative correlative construction, such as The less you read, the stupider you are , the two clauses must both be finite, like a root clause; but neither can stand alone, like a subordinate clause. The construction shares significant formal properties with one type of coordinate construction, such as You drink another can of beer and I’m leaving . The paper argues that a comparative correlative construction and such a coordinate construct…
Defective incorporating verbs in Mandarin
This paper identifies a type of noun incorporation in which the verb and a nominal are combined as early saturation of the verb, in contrast to early restriction, which is seen in the familiar type of noun incorporation. Two types of V-V resultative constructions in Mandarin Chinese are compared: the agent-oriented one and the patient-oriented one. The semantic grouping effects of the first verb and the post-verbal nominal of an agent-oriented ty…
Agentless presupposition and implicit and non-canonical objects in Mandarin
Mandarin Chinese allows implicit, non-canonical, and quantity-objects. The first type is seen in Wǒ zhǎo-guò-le ‘Lit.: I looked for’, which means ‘I have looked for some entity that is known to the interlocutors’. The second type is seen in Lìlì qiē-le nà bǎ dà dāo ‘Lit.: Lili cut that big knife’, which means that Lili cut something with that big knife. The third type is seen in zǒu-le yī lǐ ‘walked one mile’. From the perspective of the interact…
Kind‐Level Predicates of Events Inside Another Predication☆
Kind level predicates of events such as three times, the third time , and occasionally can occur as a predicate of an independent predication, or appear as an adverbial, with an event kind‐denoting expression as their argument. The reduced forms of such predicates can surface inside a nominal of another predication, e.g., Four thousand ships passed through the lock last year; Susi bought a second guitar , and An occasional sailor strolled by . Th…
Two categorial issues of degree constructions in Mandarin
This squib argues against Yiwen Zhang’s (J East Asian Linguist 29:393–434, 2020) adjective analysis of the Mandarin word you ‘have’ to the left of a gradable noun, as in you yongqi ‘have courage’, showing that it is a verbal element. It also shows that for a gradable predicate of any category, if the question under discussion is about a comparison of individuals with respect to a gradable property, the degree word hen ‘very’ is banned; if the que…
External degree constructions in Mandarin
Low predicate inversion in Mandarin
Complex indefinites and the projection of DP in Mandarin Chinese
This paper argues for the projection of DP for indefinites initiated with yi ‘one’ and indefinites initiated with a classifier in Mandarin Chinese. First, a null numeral for ‘one’ is identified. Second, in yi -initial nominals, an indefinite article is also identified. Third, for classifier-initial indefinites, which have no overt numeral, a head movement of a classifier to D is argued for. Therefore, the head of DP in the language can be realize…
Sentence-final aspect particles as finite markers in Mandarin Chinese
In Mandarin Chinese, sentence-final aspect particlesne, le, andlaizhemay occur in some types of embedded clauses, but not in other types, such as the complement of a control verb, a raising verb,lai'come' andqu'go', a non-epistemic modal, and the prepositional complementizerdui'to'. These latter types of clauses systematically show properties of nonfinite clauses in other languages. They are intrinsically embedded, banpro-drop, their clause bound…
Non-canonical objects as event kind-classifying elements
Unifying two general licensors of completive adverbials in syntax
It is well-known that an agent-oriented adverbial is syntactically licensed by a functional projection in which an agent is base generated. How is a completive adverbial, such as in three minutes, licensed? It has been noted that such an adverbial is licensed by either a resultative or an incremental theme in the form of a nominal that is quantified by a numeral (and a classifier in numeral classifier languages). Both licensing conditions encode …
Identifying Chinese dependent clauses in the forms of subjects
Nominal-internal phrasal movement in Mandarin Chinese
In Mandarin Chinese, the phrasal modifier or complement of a noun, usually followed by the functional element
The morphological expression of plurality and pluractionality in Mandarin
Functional head properties of the degree word Hen in Mandarin Chinese
Expressing number productively in Mandarin Chinese
It is generally believed that numeral classifier languages such as Chinese have no productive way to encode the contrast between plurality and singularity. This paper shows that although bare nouns in Mandarin Chinese encode general number, the language uses reduplicate unit words (including classifiers and measure words) to express unit plurality, and uses non-reduplicate form of unit words to express unit singularity. Neither way of number enco…
The syntax of same and ATB constructions
This paper presents a new approach to Across-the-Board (ATB) constructions without resorting to ATB movement. I first examine the syntactic properties of same constructions such as The same man Mary helped and John ruined , and propose a derivation for the constructions. I claim that the relational nominal that contains the adjective same is base-generated in the first conjunct, and moves out of the co-ordinate complex. The raised relational nomi…
The syntactic derivations of two paired dependency constructions
Representing specificity by the internal order of indefinites
This article presents two contrasts between two types of indefinites in Chinese: those with an internal modifier and those with a left-peripheral modifier. With respect to interpretation, the former are ambiguous in specificity, whereas the latter are exclusively specific; with respect to structural positions, the former can occur neither as preverbal subjects nor as shifted objects, whereas the latter do not have this constraint. We claim that t…
Empty verbs in Chinese predicatives and complex predicates
This paper investigates syntactic properties of verbless constructions in Chinese. Verbless constructions differ from constructions with overt verbs in three major respects. First, there is a VP-internal nominal raising in Chinese, which is optional if an overt verb shows up, and obligatory if there is no overt verb. Second, while an overt verb can select various kinds of argument, the internal argument of a verbless construction cannot be indefi…
Argument Interpretations in the Ditransitive Construction
An indirect object can be interpreted as a Provider or as a Recipient. The evidence considered in this article suggests that the two interpretations can be morphologically analytic in Chinese and typologically parametrized for certain natural classes of verbs in English and Chinese. Two VP projections are proposed for the ditransitive construction. The head of the lower VP can be phonologically realized or null. The content of the null verb is pa…
The Avoidance of the Third Tone Sandhi in Mandarin Chinese
Sentence-final aspect particles as finite markers in Mandarin Chinese
In Mandarin Chinese, sentence-final aspect particlesne, le, andlaizhemay occur in some types of embedded clauses, but not in other types, such as the complement of a control verb, a raising verb,lai'come' andqu'go', a non-epistemic modal, and the prepositional complementizerdui'to'. These latter types of clauses systematically show properties of nonfinite clauses in other languages. They are intrinsically embedded, banpro-drop, their clause bound…
The syntactic derivations of two paired dependency constructions
Representing specificity by the internal order of indefinites
This article presents two contrasts between two types of indefinites in Chinese: those with an internal modifier and those with a left-peripheral modifier. With respect to interpretation, the former are ambiguous in specificity, whereas the latter are exclusively specific; with respect to structural positions, the former can occur neither as preverbal subjects nor as shifted objects, whereas the latter do not have this constraint. We claim that t…
The morphological expression of plurality and pluractionality in Mandarin
Functional head properties of the degree word Hen in Mandarin Chinese
Unifying two general licensors of completive adverbials in syntax
It is well-known that an agent-oriented adverbial is syntactically licensed by a functional projection in which an agent is base generated. How is a completive adverbial, such as in three minutes, licensed? It has been noted that such an adverbial is licensed by either a resultative or an incremental theme in the form of a nominal that is quantified by a numeral (and a classifier in numeral classifier languages). Both licensing conditions encode …
Expressing number productively in Mandarin Chinese
It is generally believed that numeral classifier languages such as Chinese have no productive way to encode the contrast between plurality and singularity. This paper shows that although bare nouns in Mandarin Chinese encode general number, the language uses reduplicate unit words (including classifiers and measure words) to express unit plurality, and uses non-reduplicate form of unit words to express unit singularity. Neither way of number enco…
The Avoidance of the Third Tone Sandhi in Mandarin Chinese
Argument Interpretations in the Ditransitive Construction
An indirect object can be interpreted as a Provider or as a Recipient. The evidence considered in this article suggests that the two interpretations can be morphologically analytic in Chinese and typologically parametrized for certain natural classes of verbs in English and Chinese. Two VP projections are proposed for the ditransitive construction. The head of the lower VP can be phonologically realized or null. The content of the null verb is pa…
Empty verbs in Chinese predicatives and complex predicates
This paper investigates syntactic properties of verbless constructions in Chinese. Verbless constructions differ from constructions with overt verbs in three major respects. First, there is a VP-internal nominal raising in Chinese, which is optional if an overt verb shows up, and obligatory if there is no overt verb. Second, while an overt verb can select various kinds of argument, the internal argument of a verbless construction cannot be indefi…
Representing specificity by the internal order of indefinites
This article presents two contrasts between two types of indefinites in Chinese: those with an internal modifier and those with a left-peripheral modifier. With respect to interpretation, the former are ambiguous in specificity, whereas the latter are exclusively specific; with respect to structural positions, the former can occur neither as preverbal subjects nor as shifted objects, whereas the latter do not have this constraint. We claim that t…
The syntactic derivations of two paired dependency constructions
The syntax of same and ATB constructions
This paper presents a new approach to Across-the-Board (ATB) constructions without resorting to ATB movement. I first examine the syntactic properties of same constructions such as The same man Mary helped and John ruined , and propose a derivation for the constructions. I claim that the relational nominal that contains the adjective same is base-generated in the first conjunct, and moves out of the co-ordinate complex. The raised relational nomi…
Expressing number productively in Mandarin Chinese
It is generally believed that numeral classifier languages such as Chinese have no productive way to encode the contrast between plurality and singularity. This paper shows that although bare nouns in Mandarin Chinese encode general number, the language uses reduplicate unit words (including classifiers and measure words) to express unit plurality, and uses non-reduplicate form of unit words to express unit singularity. Neither way of number enco…
Nominal-internal phrasal movement in Mandarin Chinese
In Mandarin Chinese, the phrasal modifier or complement of a noun, usually followed by the functional element
The morphological expression of plurality and pluractionality in Mandarin
Functional head properties of the degree word Hen in Mandarin Chinese
Identifying Chinese dependent clauses in the forms of subjects
Unifying two general licensors of completive adverbials in syntax
It is well-known that an agent-oriented adverbial is syntactically licensed by a functional projection in which an agent is base generated. How is a completive adverbial, such as in three minutes, licensed? It has been noted that such an adverbial is licensed by either a resultative or an incremental theme in the form of a nominal that is quantified by a numeral (and a classifier in numeral classifier languages). Both licensing conditions encode …
Non-canonical objects as event kind-classifying elements
Complex indefinites and the projection of DP in Mandarin Chinese
This paper argues for the projection of DP for indefinites initiated with yi ‘one’ and indefinites initiated with a classifier in Mandarin Chinese. First, a null numeral for ‘one’ is identified. Second, in yi -initial nominals, an indefinite article is also identified. Third, for classifier-initial indefinites, which have no overt numeral, a head movement of a classifier to D is argued for. Therefore, the head of DP in the language can be realize…
Sentence-final aspect particles as finite markers in Mandarin Chinese
In Mandarin Chinese, sentence-final aspect particlesne, le, andlaizhemay occur in some types of embedded clauses, but not in other types, such as the complement of a control verb, a raising verb,lai'come' andqu'go', a non-epistemic modal, and the prepositional complementizerdui'to'. These latter types of clauses systematically show properties of nonfinite clauses in other languages. They are intrinsically embedded, banpro-drop, their clause bound…
External degree constructions in Mandarin
Low predicate inversion in Mandarin
Two categorial issues of degree constructions in Mandarin
This squib argues against Yiwen Zhang’s (J East Asian Linguist 29:393–434, 2020) adjective analysis of the Mandarin word you ‘have’ to the left of a gradable noun, as in you yongqi ‘have courage’, showing that it is a verbal element. It also shows that for a gradable predicate of any category, if the question under discussion is about a comparison of individuals with respect to a gradable property, the degree word hen ‘very’ is banned; if the que…
Defective incorporating verbs in Mandarin
This paper identifies a type of noun incorporation in which the verb and a nominal are combined as early saturation of the verb, in contrast to early restriction, which is seen in the familiar type of noun incorporation. Two types of V-V resultative constructions in Mandarin Chinese are compared: the agent-oriented one and the patient-oriented one. The semantic grouping effects of the first verb and the post-verbal nominal of an agent-oriented ty…
Agentless presupposition and implicit and non-canonical objects in Mandarin
Mandarin Chinese allows implicit, non-canonical, and quantity-objects. The first type is seen in Wǒ zhǎo-guò-le ‘Lit.: I looked for’, which means ‘I have looked for some entity that is known to the interlocutors’. The second type is seen in Lìlì qiē-le nà bǎ dà dāo ‘Lit.: Lili cut that big knife’, which means that Lili cut something with that big knife. The third type is seen in zǒu-le yī lǐ ‘walked one mile’. From the perspective of the interact…
Kind‐Level Predicates of Events Inside Another Predication☆
Kind level predicates of events such as three times, the third time , and occasionally can occur as a predicate of an independent predication, or appear as an adverbial, with an event kind‐denoting expression as their argument. The reduced forms of such predicates can surface inside a nominal of another predication, e.g., Four thousand ships passed through the lock last year; Susi bought a second guitar , and An occasional sailor strolled by . Th…
Unraveling syntactic puzzles of comparative correlatives
In a comparative correlative construction, such as The less you read, the stupider you are , the two clauses must both be finite, like a root clause; but neither can stand alone, like a subordinate clause. The construction shares significant formal properties with one type of coordinate construction, such as You drink another can of beer and I’m leaving . The paper argues that a comparative correlative construction and such a coordinate construct…
Light predicate raising in the Mandarin post-VP adverbial nominal constructions
In Mandarin, a nominal may follow a string that is composed of a monomorphemic verb and its monomorphemic object. The nominal exhibits the same constraints as a preverbal PP. Also, unlike a canonical or non-canonical object, such a nominal cannot be deleted. It is argued that such a nominal is the object of a preposition; the PP is base-generated as a left adverbial of a shortest transitive VP; and after the leftward raising of the light VP and d…
Contextually categorizing eventive polar questions
The syntax of nominal appositives
There are various types of nominal appositives. One is predicative, as in She invited Lulu Moppet, an old friend , to the party ; one is specificational, as in She invited an old friend, Lulu Moppet , to the party; and a further type is equative, as in She invited Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Elton John , to the party. This paper argues that each type of nominal appositive comes from a reduced copular clause of a certain kind. Such a copular clause i…
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (25 works) · Linguistics (23 works) · Philosophy (23 works) · Computer Science (20 works) · Mathematics (18 works) · Mandarin Chinese (13 works) · Natural Language Processing Techniques (12 works) · Artificial Intelligence (10 works) · Natural language processing (9 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (8 works)