英语分离疑问句的句法生成机制及其论元量化特征研究

The syntactic derivation and the argument's quantifying features of split questions in English

英语分离疑问句一般由"特殊疑问句+是非疑问句的保留成分DP"构成。本文认为,从对其回答方式(Yes, DP./No, not DP.)来看,它是两种疑问句前后承接的句法结构,句中位于标志语、补足语或介词后的论元从准量化向存在量化过渡:Yes/No部分的回答表明保留成分DP代表是非疑问句,而DP/not DP仍是对特殊疑问句的回答。其句法生成机制是复制与删除的两次操作:1)在IP的基础上进行第一次复制与删除的操作,生成一个特殊疑问句;2)在特殊疑问句的基础上,再进行复制的操作,生成一个是非疑问句,其中wh-词过渡为DP;3)在是非疑问句的基础上,再使用删除的操作,删除与特殊疑问句重复部分的平行结构,保留不重复的DP。这三个步骤的句法生成机制完成论元从准量化向存在量化的过渡:英语分离疑问句中论元量化语义的过渡性与句法结构的承接性相对应。当保留成分DP从是非疑问句扩展到选择疑问句DP1 or DP2,或以附加语PP、从属句CP形式出现时,其量化及句法生成机制也可作同样的解释。

An English split question is usually composed of "a special question + the preserved constituent DP of a yes/no question." Based on answers to it(Yes, DP./No, not DP.), this paper claims that such a question is a syntactic structure with two kinds of questions in succession and that the arguments in Spec and Comp positions and after prepositions transit from quasi quantifiers to existential quantifiers. The answer Yes/No indicates that the preserved constituent DP functions as the yes/no question, while DP/not DP remains an answer to the special question. The syntactic generation results from the operations of copy and delete: 1) a special question is derived through the first-time copy and delete on the basis of an IP; 2) the second-time copy derives a yes/no question on the basis of the special question in which a wh-word transits to a DP; and 3) the second-time delete removes the structure parallel with the part in the special question while preserving the constituent DP. The three-step syntactic derivations complete the transition of the arguments from quasi quantification to existential quantification: the transitionality of the arguments' quantifications corresponds to the successionality of the syntactic structures in such a question. The same explanation applies to the English split question when the preserved constituent DP extends to the alternate DP1 or DP2, the adjunct PP and the subordinate CP.