MANDARIN EXISTENTIAL CONSTRUCTIONS AND THE PREDICATE RESTRICTION

Abstract

In this paper I raise questions about the predicate restriction, which claims that only stage-level predicates may appear in the coda of an existential sentence. I present novel data from Mandarin to show that the predicate restriction is not universal: It is systematically absent in Mandarin. I propose that the reason behind its absence is syntactic. Specifically, I show that the English existential coda cannot be as large as a TP, while the Mandarin existential coda contains a full TP. This, in combination with Diesing’s (1992) Mapping Hypothesis, which says individual-level predicates need to be in TPs, naturally derives the difference between existentials of the English-type and those of the Mandarin-type. Finally, I show that the Mandarin existential coda is not a relative clause, despite being a full clause. Thus, this paper seeks to attain two purposes: (i) to bring attention to the possibility of violations of the predicate restriction, which has largely been thought to be universal; and (ii) to make a first attempt at explaining why the predicate restriction is absent in Mandarin.