Studies On Interrogative Sentences Of "Q+Alternatives" In English

In English, as one of the most extensively-used sentence types, the interrogative sentence has been paid enormous attention to by scholars at home and abroad, who have been doing numerous researches in every type of interrogative sentences (Q). However, not so many scholars have made enough attempts to dig into the relationship between different types of interrogative sentences, which is both the starting point and one of the goals of this paper. Therefore, for the purpose of finding out1) why inserting alternatives can eliminate the differences between Yn-Q and Wh-Q and2) how " Yn-Q+alternatives"and "Wh-Q+alternatives " gain the function of " alternation ", this paper makes the analysis and comparison of four types of interrogative sentences-Yn-Q," Yn-Q+alternatives ", Wh-Q and " Wh-Q+alternatives "-in terms of their structure, semantic relations, the effects of semantic transmission and generative ways.Based on synchronic studies, the author in this paper combines deduction with induction under the guidance of the general principles and methodologies in linguistics. First, at the structural level, this paper finds out the requirements of inserting alternatives into Yn-Q and Wh-Q and meanwhile, analyzes and compares the structures of Yn-Q,"Yn-Q+alternatives", Wh-Q and "Wh-Q+alternatives" in order to find out structural features of each type of interrogative sentences and moreover, whether the insertion of alternatives changes the structures of sentences or not. Then, at the level of semantics, it pursues the semantic relations the four types of interrogative sentences illustrate and the effects of semantic transmission on the answers to correspondent questions. Through the analysis and comparison in these two chapters, the author draw a conclusion that the insertion of satisfying alternatives into Yn-Q and Wh-Q changes the structures, semantic relations and the effects of semantic transmission of the original sentences and as a result, although the structures of " Yn-Q+alternatives " and " Wh-Q+alternatives " are quite different, yet semantic relations they indicate and the effects of semantic transmission on the answers are exactly the same. It means that the insertion of alternatives can eliminate the differences between Yn-Q and Wh-Q.In order to give a relatively deep explanation to the conclusions Chapter Three and Four make, this paper attempts to dig into the generative processes and the ways alternatives receive salience in the process of generation. Through making some hypotheses and analysis, Chapter Five induces that1)the differences of structures between "Yn-Q+alternatives" and "Wh-Q+alternatives" result from the distinguishable ways they are generated:ways lexical items are combined or merged in base part and ways alternatives become salient;2) the insertion of satisfactory alternatives into Yn-Q and Wh-Q alters the structures, semantic relations sentences manifest, the effects of semantic transmission on the answers and ways they are generated and what’s more, alternatives receive salience in the process of generation. Hence, both Yn-Q and Wh-Q gain the function of "alternation" as Yn-Q loses the function of "judgment" and Wh-Q loses the function of "interpretation".