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Published on: September 5, 2019
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An experimental investigation into scope rigidity in written Mandarin
1School of Modern Languages, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 26, 2023
Summary
Mandarin Chinese may allow inverse scope in quantified sentences, challenging the view of scope rigidity. This study found inverse scope readings are available, suggesting nuanced quantifier scope interpretations in the language.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Psycholinguistics
- Syntax
Background:
- Mandarin Chinese is often considered scope-rigid, with simple transitive sentences lacking inverse scope.
- Debate exists regarding inverse scope availability in other syntactic contexts within Mandarin.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate scope rigidity in Mandarin Chinese grammar across different syntactic environments.
- To determine factors influencing quantifier scope interpretations.
- To challenge the dichotomy of scope rigidity versus ambiguity in languages.
Main Methods:
- A Truth-Value Judgment task was employed.
- Judgments were collected from 98 native Mandarin Chinese speakers.
- Sentences tested were doubly-quantified transitives embedded under adverbial clauses.
Main Results:
- Inverse scope readings were found to be available for doubly-quantified transitives under adverbial clauses.
- Significant intra-participant variance in scope interpretation was observed.
- A bimodal distribution in acceptance of inverse scope readings suggests potential grammatical variations.
Conclusions:
- The findings challenge established theories of quantifier scope in Mandarin.
- The study calls for a reevaluation of the scope rigidity versus ambiguity dichotomy in language.
- Factors like clause type, aspect markers, verb type, and numbers may influence scope interpretation.
