Deriving VP-NEG Questions in Modern Chinese: A Unified Analysis of A-Not-A Syntax

Abstract

本文提倡一致性分析（unified analysis）來衍生各種不同類型的正反問句（或稱反覆問句，A-not-A question），其中包含否定詞結尾問句（VP-neg question）。本文提議，所有類型的正反問句皆以同一個單一動詞組為基底，施以構詞重疊（morphological reduplication）而形成，惟某些類型之生成則必須再進行照應刪略（anaphoric ellipsis）。根據此一提案，否定詞結尾問句之衍生，乃透過刪略手段，將動詞組重疊結構（VP-not-VP）刪除後段動詞組而達成。本文同時論證，現代漢語否定詞結尾問句實屬正反問句之變體，而不屬助詞問句（particle question，鄭禮珊等人1996）。此論點可由語言事實加以佐證：否定詞結尾問句與其他類型正反問句在許多方面表現一致，但與典型的助詞問句（「嗎」）表現不同。

This paper advocates a unified analysis of various subtypes of A-not-A questions, including VP-neg questions. It is proposed that all A-not-A subtypes are derived from a simplex VP source via morphological reduplication, with certain subtypes undergoing a further process of anaphoric ellipsis. Under this proposal, VP-neg questions are formed by deleting the second VP of a reduplicated VP-not-VP structure. It is argued that the analysis of VP-neg as an A-not-A variant is more desirable than the analysis of VP-neg as being on a par with a particle question (Cheng et al. 1996), because a number of parallelisms are shown to exist between VP-neg and other subtypes of A-not-A questions, but not between VP-neg and typical particle questions.