The Syntax Of Chinese Yes-No Questions

Yes-no questions play an irreplaceable role in Questions. But the searching results from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (abbreviated as CNKI) and WanFang Data display that relevant studies on Chinese yes-no questions are rare, which induces this thesis. From phase perspective, which is a deeply researched aspect in Minimalist Program these years, this thesis provides a good platform to present the basic phrase structure of Chinese yes-no questions by making comparisons between English and Chinese yes-no questions.At the beginning of this study, about the classification of Chinese yes-no questions, this thesis points out a fact that to add shifou (yes/no) to a position in front of the main verb can transform a declarative sentence into a yes-no question. However, the significance of shi fou in interrogatives has not aroused much attention. Hence, this thesis postulates that shi fou question should be a kind of yes-no questions in Chinese on the basis of former studies.The content is based on the framework of Minimalist Program and attempts to present a deep up-to-date exploration on the syntactic derivational mechanism of Chinese yes-no questions-ma question, A-not-A question, and shifou (yes/no) question. Firstly, this thesis testifies the falsification of the Cheng's (1991) assumption about the complementary relationship between wh-movement and question particles, postulates that Chinese yes-no questions contain an interrogative operator, a null counterpart of shi fou in spec-CP, and illustrates [+Q] element's different presentations in Chinese yes-no questions:question particles ma, ba and the like, cp presented by sound reduplication and the adverb shifou, the three of which are in the adjunct position of I/T sharing the same configurational feature, but differ in the linear position. Then from the phase perspective, this thesis provides a detailed demonstration of the English and Chinese basic phrase structure, followed by the demonstration of individual Chinese yes-no questions. A/A' distinction in a sentence induces the analysis to non-argument adverbs. Shifou is a crucial adverb in Chinese yes-no questions for its existence makes a sentence become a yes-no question, the significance of which has not aroused much attention so far. What follows by is about the conditions on Chinese yes-no questions. Last but not least, the thesis proposes a contrast between core adjuncts and argument adjuncts on their different role in syntax and semantics.