Refutatory na-sentences in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

Refutatory na-sentences possess several syntactic properties that are absent in their interrogative counterparts. First, they carry the assertive rather than interrogative force; second, they are mainly used to refute a claim made by another interlocutor. Given the fact that such a distinction is correlated with the position that na ‘where’ occupies in sentence, I propose that when na serves as an interrogative wh-phrase, it is nominal and consists of na and an indefinite morpheme concerning location; in contrast, when na is a refutatory marker, it is an adjunct, containing an additional negative operator that binds a location-associated variable encoded in the indefinite morpheme. The refutatory na further has to move to the Spec of ForceP at LF to acquire the illocutionary force. This analysis not only accounts for the syntactic and pragmatic properties of the refutatory na, but also supports the claim that Mandarin wh-arguments and wh-adjuncts are formed differently.