ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss bìrán. I compare bìrán with yídìng, tiědìng, kěndìng, and dǔdìng. I show that bìrán shares, with the members of the yídìng family discussed in the previous chapters, the strong epistemic necessity and intensification readings. I demonstrate that the most significant semantic difference between bìrán and the yídìng family that has been examined lies in a discourse factor, cause, as defined in Asher and Lascarides (2003: 204–207). That is, the difference manifests itself in discourse, which is a unique property not shared by yídìng, tiědìng, kěndìng, and dǔdìng.
