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A study on the correlation between outer negation and scale of modal auxiliary verbs in Mandarin Chinese

  • Journal of Chinese Language and Literature
  • 2024, (95), pp.177-203
  • DOI : 10.15792/clsyn..95.202404.177
  • Publisher : Chinese Literary Society Of Yeong Nam
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature
  • Received : March 20, 2024
  • Accepted : April 13, 2024
  • Published : April 30, 2024

Lee Myungjung 1

1한국외국어대학교 중국연구소

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the aspects of negative forms used according to the meaning of modal auxiliary verbs, and considers the conditions that allow negative forms and the reasons for the occurrence of asymmetry. It was observed that as modal verbs transition from dynamic modality to epistemic modality, the usage of external negation forms becomes less flexible. The entailment and scale rules of modal auxiliary verbs are used to determine the position of modal auxiliary verbs on the semantic scale. The position on the semantic scale was confirmed using the entailment and scale rules of modal auxiliary verbs. Epistemic and deontic modal verbs exhibit clear distinctions in expressions placed on the semantic scale, categorized into weak, moderate, and strong gradations. However, dynamic modality lacks such clear distinctions. Finally, in Mandarin Chinese, only modal verbs positioned in the weak-moderate- strong scale can take outer negation forms. According to the opposition and total negation, other modal verbs are unable to outer negation forms.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.