On the Distribution of Topics and Foci in Mandarin wh-question:A Cartographic Solution

doi:10.13438/j.cnki.jdxb.2018.01.019

Abstract

Abstract: The Cartographic Approach aims to study the functional phrase structures.The mandarin wh-questions distribute types of topics and foci.In left periphery,topics are classified as part-whole topic,hanging topic and left dislocated topic in which whole-part topic and hanging topic are defined as base-generated topic whereas left dislocated topic is considered as non-base-generated one.In mandarin wh-questions the foci are divided into two types:"SHI+ wh-in-situ phrase" and "SHI+ preposed wh-phrase".The type of "SHI+ wh-in-situ phrase" is base-generated focus where type of "SHI+ preposed wh-phrase" question is non-base-generated focus.More specifically,the syntactic position of topic is higher than focus,the base-generated topic is higher than non-base-generated topic and the position of non-base-generated focus is lower than base-generated focus.

Key words: cartographic approach, mandarin wh-questions, topic, focus

BAI Lan. On the Distribution of Topics and Foci in Mandarin wh-question:A Cartographic Solution[J]. Journal of Jishou University（Social Sciences）, DOI: 10.13438/j.cnki.jdxb.2018.01.019.

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