Anshun Zheng
2023
Dynamic Questions: Evidence from Mandarin Think–”Xiang”
Anshun Zheng
Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Inquisitiveness Below and Beyond the Sentence Boundary
This paper investigates the clausal embedding pattern of the Mandarin verb “xiang” (think) and reveals its internal anti-interrogative nature, with the possibility of “xiang Q” in certain cases. Through various stativity tests, I establish that the results are consistent with the generalization proposed by Özyıldız(2021), with “minor” deviations observed in the stativity of “xiang P” and the correlation with neg-raising. Additionally, I employ a semantic shift perspective to explain instances of neg-raising failure. Overall, this study sheds light on the unique characteristics of the verb “xiang” and contributes to a better cross-linguistic understanding of CP selection.