Research
Exceptional scope out of finite complement clauses
While finite complement clauses are conventionally scope islands (1a) (Chomsky 1975; May 1977), it has been observed that finite complement clauses embedded under verbs like English ensure and make sure admit exceptionally wide scope of an embedded universal quantifier over a matrix indefinite (1b) (Farkas & Giannakidou 1996).
(1) a. Some student believed/said [that every speaker had a ride]. (some > every; *every > some)
b. Some student ensured [that every speaker had a ride]. (some > every; every > some)
Based on empirical evidence independent of scope-taking, I propose a new semantics for clausal complementation under ensure-verbs, which distinguishes it from clausal complementation under attitude reports, and then build a connection between semantics of complement clauses and their transparency to long-distance scope-taking.
Outputs:
Quantifier Raising out of Mandarin relative clauses
In this paper, I explore scope interaction across the boundary of Mandarin relative clauses. I propose an analysis that connects the empirical patterns of scope interaction to structural characteristics of the relative clauses. Three core claims are developed in this paper.
Mandarin relative clauses that admit exceptional scope are in a unique structural position such that an embedded QNP can covertly move out of the relative clause without violating the relevant syntactic and semantics conditions on QR.
The size of a Mandarin relative clause affects the availability of scope interaction across its boundary, directly following from the syntactic and semantics conditions on QR.
The presence of a focus-sensitive exhaustifier inside a Mandarin relative clause blocks exceptionally wide scope of an embedded QNP the exhaustifier is associated with, because a feature of this exhaustifier's semantics prohibits its associate from being interpreted non-locally.
Outputs:
Wang, Huilei. 2023. Quantifier Raising out of Mandarin relative clauses. Natural Language Semantics (31): 25--69. (link to the paper)
talk at WCCFL 40 (handout, proceeding paper coming soon)
Interaction of `dou' and scope effects in Mandarin relative clauses
Two recent analyses have been proposed for the focus-sensitive particle dou in Mandarin, aiming to provide a unified account for its different uses: Liao (2011) and Liu (2017, 2018) treat dou as an even-like operator, while Xiang (2020) proposes an analysis of dou in analogy to English only. I present novel evidence from the interaction between dou and scope-taking across relative clauses for the only-analysis of dou. The proposal in this paper further contributes new perspectives from Mandarin to the discussion of whether a focus-sensitive particle can be associated with an element that moves out of its scope (Kattunen and Peters 1979; Nakanishi 2012; Erlewine 2014, 2018; a.o.).
Outputs:
poster at SALT 32 (poster, proceeding paper)
section 4 & 5 in Wang 2023
A meta-analytic review of morphological priming in Semitic languages (with Lily Xu, Elizabeth Solá-Llonch, and Megha Sundara)
Two types of discontinuous morphemes are thought to be the basic building blocks of words in Semitic languages: roots and templates. However, the role of these morphemes in lexical access and representation is debated. Priming experiments, where reaction times to target words are predicted to be faster when preceded by morphologically-related primes compared to unrelated control primes, provide conflicting evidence bearing on this debate. We used meta-analysis to synthesise the findings from 229 priming experiments on 4710 unique Semitic speakers. With Bayesian modelling of the aggregate effect sizes, we found credible root and template priming in both nouns and verbs in Arabic and Hebrew. Our results show that root priming effects can be distinguished from the effects of overlap in form and meaning. However, more experiments are needed to determine if template priming effects can e distinguished from overlap in form and morphosyntactic function.
Outputs:
Xu, Lily, Elizabeth Solá-Llonch, Huilei Wang, and Megha Sundara. to appear. Mental Lexicon. (preprint)