An Event-based Analysis Of Dou-quantification

The study of dou-quantification in Mandarin Chinese has long been a heated topic both at home and abroad. With regard to the logical properties and semantic functions of dou, there are mainly four views:The first one is treating dou as a universal quantifier, such as Lee (1986), Cheng (1991, 1995), Jiang (1998), Pan (2006), among others. The second point is treating dou as a distributive operator, as discussed in Li (1997), Lin (1998) and Wu (1999). Mok & Rose (1996) and Zhang (1997) provide an analysis that dou is a focus article whereas Huang (1996) regards dou as a sum operator. In this thesis, I argue, following the spirit of Huang (1996), that dou is a sum operator. However, due to the inadequacy of the previous analysis of dou, the present thesis proposes an event-based analysis to verify the notion that some adverbs, such as dou in Chinese, are actually quantifiers that quantify over events.According to the event theory, verbs involve an implicit event argument. More precisely, they are to be analyzed as containing one more argument place than usually recognized, and this place is occupied by a hidden event ranging over actions. We argue that it is the event that provides the quantifying element for dou. Furthermore, adverbs predicate properties of the event argument of the verb they modify. This thesis is devoted to the investigation of the logical properties and semantic functions of dou and mainly focuses on those sentences involving'dou-VP'. Dou, as an event sum operator, whether the subject of'dou-VP'is plural or not is not important, what dou concerns is whether there is a plurality of events or not. Based on the above analysis, firstly, this paper makes an analysis to the various uses of dou of the so-called leftward quantification: (1) the distributor use of dou; (2) the even use of dou; (3) the already use of dou. It is argued that in all these cases, dou sums up a plurality of events which share certain basic uniformities in properties denoted by the predicate to form a general statement about certain facts.This thesis also deals with the seeming exceptions to the leftness constraint: (1) Dou appears associated with an indefinite DP to its right; (2) Dou appears associated with a pronoun to its right; (3) Dou appears associated with an interrogative wh-phrase to its right. It is argued that in all these cases, dou sums up a plurality of events which lie in the presupposition and thus the previous discussion of whether dou is associated with the leftward element or the rightward element is inconsequential according to the analysis. What matters is that: There is a plurality of events for dou to sum up. Furthermore, the issue of the obligatory occurrence between mei and dou is discussed in this thesis. Mei, as an inherent universal quantifier needs a well-defined domain for licensing and it is argued that dou provides exactly this function for mei. The consequence of the licensing is that dou is still associated with a plurality of events, so the'mei…dou'construction is a suitable environment for dou to occur in.The theoretical significance of this thesis is that following this line of assumption, this study offers a unified analysis of dou within an event-based framework. It is hoped that in terms of this approach, our investigation of the seemingly complex fact of dou can offer a model of comprehensive interpretation to adverbial quantification.