Ka-Fai Yip 葉家煇

linguistics & cats

Focus

Exclusive doubling

My dissertation project in progress proposes a novel view on the mapping between morphosyntax and semantics to provide a principled explanation for quantifier doubling, with a special focus on doubling of exclusive focus particles (literally “John only bought lamb only”, meaning ‘John only bought lamb’). Quantifier doubling refers to cases where two quantifier expressions occur in a sentence, but apparently only one is interpreted as logical quantification. I hypothesize that quantifier doubling is a syntactic manifestation (“syntacticization”) of quantification structures that are otherwise lexicalized as a whole in languages without doubling. Specifically, I pursue the proposal that exclusive doubling involves a scalar exclusive meaning, which is mapped onto two syntactically linked exclusive focus particles: one denotes an exclusive operator on the at-issue semantic dimension, and the other encodes a scalar reading on the not-at-issue dimension. These two meaning pieces are realized together on one lexical item in non-doubling languages.

The doubling languages that I plan to work on in the dissertation: Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese; Akan, Yoruba; Japanese; Dutch, German.

My current committee members are: Veneeta Dayal (chair), Zoltán Gendler Szabó, Raffaella Zanuttini, and Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine (external).

Below is some work I’ve done in the past (and ongoing):

Exclusive doubling syntax-semantics

  • I argue that exclusive sentence-final particles (SFP) establish an Agree relation with exclusive operators, unlike adfocal particles which undergo covert movement.
  • I provide a compositional account of exclusive doubling in Cantonese (with an appendix on the cross-linguistic landscape of exclusive doubling)
  • with Olabode Adedeji We argue for a quantifier-particle analysis of exclusive doubling in Yorùbá, where the adfocal particle is an exclusive quantifier rather than a concord marker as often proposed in the operator-particle approach.

While it is not the main focus of my dissertation, my “first love” in quantifier doubling is universal concord. Below is some earlier work from my bachelor/MPhil research.

Universal concord syntax-semantics

  • I show that universal elements also have concord, on a par with negative concord. Focusing on the suffix -can ‘whenever’ in Cantonese and mei…dou ‘every’ in Mandarin, I argue for a syntactic agreement analysis of universal concord. I also discuss the relevance of minimality effects.
  • A related discussion on the scopal behaviour of the verbal suffix -can ‘whenever’ in Cantonese.

Defocus and prosody

Right dislocation (RD) syntax-prosody

  • I argue for a biclausal approach to RD in Chinese that unifies gapped and gapless/copying variants.
  • with Xuetong Yuan We propose a novel defocus rephrasing view where the prosodic role of defocus is distinguished from focus. We motivate this view with a case study on syntax-prosody mismatches in RD in Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as cross-linguistic variations in the prosodic phrasing of RD.

Focus and modal

Modal movement licensed by focus syntax

  • with Tommy Tsz-Ming Lee We propose that root modals in Chinese can undergo movement when crossing a focused element, and the movement is constrained by output economy regarding focus set calculation.

Syntax & semantics

Hyperraising

Hyperraising, evidentiality and phase deactivation syntax

  • with Tommy Tsz-Ming Lee We show that raising out of a finite clause (i.e. hyperraising) is correlated with indirect evidence cross-linguistically, and how the correlation may be accounted for under a phase-deactivation approach.

(In)dependence of features on composite probes syntax

  • with Magdalena Lohninger We argue that features on Composite Probes may be dependent or independent of each other, which is supported by a typological correlation between semantic restrictions in cross-clausal A-dependencies and blockage of additional A’-movement.

Adverbial clauses

Internal syntax syntax

  • with Zhuo Chen We argue that adverbial clauses may be derived by either operator movement or merging an in-situ operator at the highest CP. These two strategies are attested in both central and peripheral adverbial clauses, calling for a finer typology of adverbial clauses.
    • Mandarin and other Asian languages｜(please email me for the handout)
  • A related discussion on reducing the external syntax to the internal syntax in terms of operator merging sites.

Converbs syntax

  • I investigate 11 Cantonese converbs (i.e. affixes that only occur in adverbial clauses) and show that converbal clauses conform with the central-peripheral distinction just as regular adverbial clauses.

Copy Deletion

Discontinuous predicates syntax

  • with Tommy Tsz-Ming Lee & Sheila Shu-Laam Chan Focusing on discontinuous predicates, we propose that Copy Deletion may interact with syllable deletion and apply partially. Micro-variations between Cantonese and Mandarin are also addressed.

Non-agreeing resumptive pronouns (NRPs) syntax

  • with Comfort Ahenkorah Drawing evidence from NRPs, we argue that Copy Deletion can apply in a partial fashion and spell out the lower copy of a movement chain as default pronouns.
  • with Xuetong Yuan We argue that NRPs in Mandarin establish an Agree relation with an imperative/jussive head, and partial Copy Deletion arises from the interaction between the Agree and movement dependencies.

Typology of definiteness

Quasi-names semantics

  • with Ushasi Banerjee & Margaret Chui Yi Lee We motivate a new view on the typology of definiteness that integrates (quasi-)names. We argue that unique bare nominals in bare classifier languages are name-like expressions rather than definite descriptions. We propose that quasi-names, as well as proper names, are derived by a definite determiner that encodes a functional relation between the discourse participants and the referent.

Variations with corpus

Heritage Cantonese (HLVC)

Sibilant palatalization in Hong Kong and Toronto Cantonese variations & corpus

  • with Yanting Li, Xiao Dong & Gareth Junjie Yang Using HLVC, we study the variations in sibilant palatalization, an ongoing sound change in Cantonese, in Hong Kong and Toronto.

Metaphorization (LIVAC)

Differential metaphorization and grammaticalization variations & corpus

  • with Benjamin K. Tsou With a case study on Chinese light verbs, we explore different dimensions involving gradation of metaphorization process and provide a general schema of metaphorization.
  • We offer a novel dynamic perspective to language variations with a process-based approach. Drawing data from LIVAC, we discuss parallel and differential developments of metaphorization process in varieties of Modern Standard Chinese.

Other

Cantonese intonation prosody

  • with Mei-ying Ki We show that interjections, just like sentence-final particles (SFPs), also carry a Rising-Falling boundary tone HL%, and suggest a decomposition analysis of interjections.
  • with Jonathan Him Nok Lee We show that only some SFPs, but not all, carry boundary tones, by presenting acoustic results on the phonetic realization SFP ge2 in Cantonese that varies with its pragmatic functions.

Cantonese learning: CanTONEse with Mei-ying Ki & Yik-Po Lai