漢語無定主語的語義允准分析

This paper discusses the licensing conditions of indefinite subjects in Mandarin Chinese. We find that most of the indefinite NPs in the subject (or topic) positions are licensed semantically by some quantificational operators. In general, there are three types of sentences that allow indefinite subjects: thetic judgment sentences, generic sentences and distributive sentences. The indefinite subjects in the first type are mapped into the nuclear scope together with the whole thetic judgment sentences, and bound by an existential operator, getting the existential reading. The indefinite subjects in the second type are mapped into the restrictor and bound by a generic operator, with the generic interpretation. The indefinite subjects in the third type are also mapped into the restrictor and a universal operator will give them the universal interpretation which is similar to the universal quantifier “mei (every)” in Chinese.