Dou License The Free-choice Meaning Of Wh-words

In this paper we study the structure of "Wh-words + dou + VP" and try to find out how dou license Wh-words to express free-choice meaning in non-interrogative contexts. Free-choice meaning is one of Wh-words’non-interrogative meanings. Compared with virtual meaning, free-choice meaning relies more on sentence structure. Wh-words mostly show free-choice meaning in the structure of "Wh-words + dou+VP", besides that they are occasionally used the echoic structure (i.e. Wh…… Wh……). We argue that in the structure of "Wh-words + dou + VP", the conversely distributive function of dou is the crucial factor that licenses Wh-words to show free-choice meaning in non-interrogative sentences. At first, this paper presents a basic semantic element and two characteristics of Wh-words. Then we discuss the semantic function of dou and its special meaning developed in some specific contexts. At last, we analyze how dou license Wh-words in non-interrogative contexts to express free-choice meaning, based on the two parts before.When Wh-words express non-interrogative meanings, they are similar to the typical free choice item renhe. They both have three typical characteristics:generic interpretations, donkey anaphora and dual quantification (universal/existential quantification). So Wh-words can be used as indefinite determiners and always show free-choice meaning. Wh-words have a basic semantic element which refers to one or some individual(s) in a certain scope. It contains two characteristics:indefinite and unknown. Wh-words are unfree indefinite determiners, which must be restricted by other factors in the same sentence. We assume that When the "indefinite" characteristic of Wh-words is restricted (i.e. the variables which Wh-words refer to are bound), and it does not conflict with the other characteristic of "unknown", Wh-words can be used in non-interrogative sentences legally. Dou is a converse distributor with implicit meaning of "identical". It distributes the predicate meaning exhaustively to every element in the set which Wh-words refer to, and then they form minimum events. In addition, the implicit "identical" meaning of dou emphasizes the similarity of all the minimum events. Thus every element in the set must establish a connection with the predicate (or every element has the same opportunity to connect with the predicate). No matter which element Wh-words refer to, the sentence will be legal. This restricts the "indefinite" characteristic of Wh-words from the aspect of scope. The restricted form scope does not conflict with "unknown" characteristic, because it does not assign a certain object to Wh-words. That means which element Wh-words refer to is still unknown. Therefore, under the effect of dou, Wh-words can exist in non-interrogative sentences with free-choice meaning, and these sentences express universal quantification meaning.Moreover, the converse distributor dou can develop scalar meaning as a result of domain expansion. It licenses the free-choice meaning of Wh-words in episodic or veridical contexts. Due to the function of dou, Wh-words’free-choice meaning becomes prone, with respect to some extreme cases. With the help of pragmatic scale, sentences have some additional pragmatic effects, such as some emotions of speakers, such as surprise, disbelief, or disdain.This paper makes up for the deficiencies of previous studies about the structure of "Wh-words + dou + VP" from 4 aspects. Firstly, we propose that dou is a converse distributor with implicit meaning of "identical". This point of view is a supplement of the "distributor" theory about dou. It is superior to previous theories, because it can unite the function of dou in different structures more uniformly. No matter which form the subject is (singular or plural) dou can act as a converse distributor. Secondly, we point out the fundamental reason for free-choice use of Wh-words. Wh-words have "indefinite" and "unknown" characteristics. When the "indefinite" feature is restricted and meanwhile it does not conflict with the feature of "unknown", Wh-words can show free-choice meaning in non-interrogative sentences. In order to explain the semantic extending paths of Wh-words more reasonably, we al explicate how two characteristics of Wh-words develop interrogative meaning and non-interrogative meanings. Then we can find a line throughout different meanings of Wh-words. Thirdly, we demonstrate the whole process of dou binding Wh-words. In traditional Chinese grammar description, this process was not discussed in detail, even though the case (Wh-words’free-choice meaning needs the co-occurrence of dou) was noticed for a long time. Lastly, Giannakidou & Cheng (2013) assumed that free-choice meaning of Wh-words can be licensed in episodic or veridical contexts while renhe can’t, but they didn’t give precise reasons. We utilize the scale function of dou (developed form its distributor function) to analyze the difference between Wh-words and renhe in episodic or veridical contexts.The structure of the paper is as follows.Chapter one introduces the language case we focused on, research approach, and theoretical methods.Chapter two reviews previous work summarizes some main research achievements about the topic.Chapter three presents the basic semantic element and characteristics of Wh-words, and discusses how these characteristics form different meanings with the help of different contexts or sentence structures.Chapter four analyzes semantic function of dou. We propose that dou is a converse distributor with implicit meaning of "identical", according to language facts. We also assume that this function of dou will develop scale function in the sense of domain extension, when it appears after singular subjects.Chapter five demonstrates how dou binds the "indefinite" characteristic of Wh-words, and licenses Wh-words express free-choice meaning in non-interrogative sentences. At last, we explain the reason of why dou licenses Wh-words in episodic or veridical contexts, as well as the additional pragmatic meanings of these sentences.