ABSTRACT
In this book, I examine the semantics of the yídìng family, i.e., yídìng, tiědìng, kěndìng, dǔdìng, bìrán, bìdìng, shìbì, wùbì, and bì. Thirteen semantic features are identified to distinguish the yídìng family: (i) semantic underspecification with respect to strong modal necessity and intensification, (ii) intra-sentential resolution only, (iii) default strong epistemic necessity reading, (iv) compatibility with deontic ordering, (v) literal meaning: certainty, (vi) Requirement of Alternatives, (vii) illocutionary force enhancement, (viii) cause, (ix) anti-cause, (x) denoting an addressee’s To-Do List, (xi) underspecified modal base and ordering, (xii) the explicitrealization of information for resolving underspecified modal base and ordering, and (xiii) archaic Chinese.
