Abstract
It is well-known that an English sentence with a complex predicate modified by again displays a repetitive vs. restitutive ambiguity. Like English again, Chinese you ‘again’ modifying a resultative verb compound also exhibits a repetitive vs. restitutive ambiguity. However, Chinese differs from English in that the position of you ‘again’ is relatively fixed: it can only occur preverbally but not postverbally. This study examines how the ambiguity of Chinese you is derived. Investigating the scope interaction between you ‘again’ and an indefinite object, I argue that the ambiguity of you ‘again’ is structural but not lexical. I further propose that you ‘again’ moves overtly as a last resort to satisfy a PF requirement specific to Chinese.
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Xu, T. (2012). You Again: How Is Its Ambiguity Derived?. In: Aloni, M., Kimmelman, V., Roelofsen, F., Sassoon, G.W., Schulz, K., Westera, M. (eds) Logic, Language and Meaning. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7218. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31482-7_48
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31482-7_48
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