ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the interpretive and syntactic properties of [Num-A-Cl-N] in Chinese. It is shown that at the semantic level, pre-classifier adjectives uniformly take classifiers as the modifiees. At the discourse level, it is observed that the [Num-A-Cl-N] construction necessarily conveys a speaker-oriented, vision-based evaluation in terms of some extensive physical property of the partition unit denoted by the classifier. To capture this interpretative characteristic formally, a novel syntactic analysis is proposed for [Num-A-Cl-N], in accordance with which [Num-A-Cl-N] underlyingly correlates with the discourse-related functional projection EvalP in the sense of Doetjes and Rooryck (2003).
It is a well-noted fact that Chinese classifiers can be preceded by adjectival elements, which gives rise to a [Num-A-Cl-N] sequence. This chapter will examine the licensing of adjective modification of Chinese classifiers and the discourse factor bearing on the appropriateness of [Num-A-Cl-N]. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 5.1 will address the semantic properties of pre-classifier adjectives. Section 5.2 will explore the discourse-related factor associated with the appropriate use of [Num-A-Cl-N]. A syntax-discourse interface account will be proposed to account for the underlying structure of [Num-A-Cl-N] in Section 5.3. Section 5.4 is a summary of the chapter.
