On The Syntax And Semantics Of Strong And Weak NPs In Mandarin Chinese

Since Montague(1974) puts forward the concept of generalized quantifier, many linguists abroad have noticed that there exists difference between strong and weak NPs. The difference of these two kinds of NPs, not only lies in their syntactic distributions, but also reflects on their different semantic interpretations. In syntax, weak NPs can appear in there-be existential sentences, but strong NPs cannot; in semantics, strong NPs have a wider expressive scope, and have more definite denotations, but weak NPs have contingent readings.This research has introduced related theories and hypothesis of strong and weak NPs. On the basis of former studies, this research continues to explore the differences of strong and weak NPs in the interface of syntax and semantics. In order to explain the semantic differences of strong and weak NPs, we have raised the following three research questions:1. What are the differences between Chinese strong and weak NPs?2. What are the constraints on weak NPs appearing in different Chinese sentential structures?3. Is there a transformation between strong and weak NPs?In response to these questions, three proposals will be provided in this thesis. The first proposal concerns the existence of strong/weak NPs' distinction in Mandarin Chinese, and strong NPs can presuppose the existence of the referential objects, while weak NPs do not have presuppositional property, and can only introduce variables which should be constrained, so if weak NPs would appear in sentences properly, they should meet some certain requirements; the second proposal intends to explore the constraints of weak NPs appearing in different English and Chinese sentential structures, such as: there-be construction, you construction, Num+Cl+N/NPs, and indefinites; the third proposal concerns that the difference of strong and weak NPs is just a difference in extent, what is to say, a sequence in semantic extent, not a simple dichotomy.With the combination of the above three proposals, this thesis has made an attempt to distinguish strong and weak NPs in Chinese, and has made a reasonable analysis of their different syntactic distributions and relations.