A Syntactic Study On Chinese A-not-A Questions

A-not-A question is a subtype of interrogative questions, which can be found in some languages, especially in Chinese. According to the historical studies of A-not-A questions, Chinese A-not-A questions originate from classical Chinese. In recent years, the internal structure of Chinese A-not-A questions has been widely studied by many linguists from various perspectives. Although the number of previous researches is large, the systematic researches on the internal structures of Chinese A-not-A questions are relatively short.This thesis is about studies on Chinese A-not-A questions, which is more comprehensive in general view and systematic in different perspectives of the internal structure based on syntactic theories compared with previous researches.The role of A-not-A questions in Chinese interrogative questions is firstly considered in this thesis. The four-group division system is prevailing according to previous studies. In this thesis, a common interrogative question type shi-bu-shi question is attentively distinguished from the other four types of questions, thereby a five-group division system is adopted:yes/no questions, alternative questions, wh-questions, A-not-A questions and shi-bu-shi questions. As a result, A-not-A question plays an independent role in interrogative questions.With respect to the derivation process of Chinese A-not-A questions, this thesis points out the weaknesses of the previous researches and new theoretical frameworks are applied. DM is the mechanism in deriving V-not-VO pattern, which can also explain V--not-VO (in which the second syllable of the first predicate is deleted). As VO-not-V pattern is similar to VO-not question, it is treated as a derived form of VO-not questions, in this process Feature Checking Theory is utilized.The negative markers in Chinese A-not-A questions have also drawn attention of many researchers. In this thesis, the choice of negators bu’not’ and mei’not’ in Chinese A-not-A questions follows certain standards on the basis of previous researches.In terms of adjuncts in Chinese A-not-A questions, few researches have been done. Therefore, this thesis specifically studies the Intervention Effect of adjuncts from distribution, classification and features of adjuncts, resulting in a systematic analysis of adjuncts in Chinese A-not-A questions.