This book delves deep into how the concepts of identity and similarity, which are fundamental to human beings, are expressed in the grammar of Mandarin Chinese. Here, we investigate a variety of constructions in Mandarin that can convey equivalence between entities, kinds, degrees and manners, which are generally referred to as equation constructions. It has been observed cross-linguistically that equation constructions (partially) share similar morphological structures, and the overarching question addressed in this book is to what extent these conceptually linked constructions can be formally subjected to a uniform analysis. The main target audience of this book includes linguistics researchers, graduate and advanced undergraduate students in Linguistics or Chinese, as well as researchers in related fields with an interest in the concepts of identity and similarity.

Provides the first comprehensive discussion of various equation constructions in Mandarin reviews the syntactic and semantic properties of various equation constructions in Mandarin demonstrates that human language can be sensitive to the distinction between identity and maximal similarity

Autorentext

Dr. Yenan Sun is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Sun holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Chicago and a BA in Chinese Language and Literature from Nanjing University. Her primary research interests are Semantics, Pragmatics, and their interaction with Syntax. She has worked on various topics including degree, tense and aspect, and discourse structure, and her work has appeared in reputable journals including Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Journal of East Asian Linguistics and Journal of Chinese Linguistics.

Klappentext

This book investigates in depth how the concepts of identity and similarity, which are very basic ones for human beings, are expressed in the grammar of Mandarin Chinese. Here, we are interested in a variety of constructions in Mandarin that are used to express equation between entities and kinds, degrees and manners, which generally refer to as “equation constructions.” It has been observed cross-linguistically that equation constructions (partially) share the morphological make-up, and the overarching question in this book is to what extent these conceptually related constructions can be formally subjected to a uniform analysis. The main target audience of this book includes linguistics researchers, graduate and advanced undergraduate students in Linguistics or Chinese, and researchers in related disciplines who are interested in the concepts of identity and similarity.

Inhalt

Introduction.- The empirical landscape of Mandarin equation constructions.- etc.