Interpreting Mandarin positive polar questions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2019/10/0053/000415Keywords:
non-truth-conditional meaning, polar question, ending particle, boundary tone, discourse configurationAbstract
This study examined the non-truth-conditional meaning encoded by sentence-final particles and boundary tones in four Mandarin positive polar question (PPQ) patterns. Two short experiments were conducted to test (a) the role of epistemic and evidential biases (Experiment I) and (b) the antecedent and answer requirements, as well as the (non-)acceptance of the antecedent (Experiment II) in constraining the interpretation of PPQs. In each experiment, a series of situational judgment tasks (27 in Experiment I and 36 in Experiment II) were designed to elicit data from 60 native speakers. The findings suggest that the four patterns are not simple biased questions but are complex non-canonical questions whose interpretations are sensitive to the discourse configuration established by the five abovementioned contextual factors.
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