A Syntactic Study Of The Structure Of "XP+quantifier" In English And Chinese From The Perspective Of Cartographic Theory

In English and Chinese,the structure of“（number）+quantifier+NP”is often used to express the concept of quantity.Yige is one of the most frequently used quantifiers in Mandarin Chinese.It is often combined with a noun phrase（NP）to form the structure of“yige+NP”.There also exists another version of“yige+NP”as the structure of“NP+yige”in the reverse word sequence.In addition,it can be found that“yige”can also appear after adjective phrases（AP）to form the structure of“AP+yige”which is located at the root of the clause in the linear order.The syntactic distribution of“yige”has aroused extensive attention and discussion among linguists.Similar structures of“yige”appear to exist in the Jiujiang dialect.“Yige”can not only be used to form“NP+yige”and“AP+yige”,but also can be used to form“VP+yige”.There also exist similar structures in English as the quantifier each can not only be positioned after NP,forming“NP+each”but also be positioned at the root of the clause,forming“clause+each”.Based on the special syntactic representation of yige and each in Jiujiang dialect and English,this thesis discusses the syntactic functions of yige and each and the derivational mechanism of the relevant structures against the theoretical framework of the cartographic theory to find out the commonality and differences between yige and each in the structure of“XP+quantifier”.This thesis is not only conducive to the studies of the usage of each and yige,the studies of Chinese functional categories,and the studies of the syntax in Jiujiang dialect,but in a better way to the improvement of the syntactic cartography theory and universal grammar based on the comparison between English and Chinses dialects.This thesis mainly focuses on the three research questions:（1）What are the syntactic distributions of each in English and yige in the Jiujiang dialect?（2）What is the syntactic function of each in the structure of“XP+each”and what is the syntactic function of yige in the structure of“XP+yige”?（3）What are the derivational mechanisms of“XP+each”and“XP+yige”?Through illustration,this thesis argues that:（1）In English,‘XP’in“XP+each”can be filled by an NP,serving as subject,or filled by a clause to form a finite clause;In Jiujiang dialect,‘XP’in“XP+yige”can be filled by NP,VP or AP to form a finite clause.（2）In English,each serves as a modifier that owns the features of appositive and adverb in“XP+each”;yige is usually located at the root of a clause,which functions as the clausal final particle to type the force of sentences in the structure of“XP+yige”in Jiujiang dialect.（3）The derivational mechanism of“XP+each”is as follows:each is generated in VP or TP.The Comp V is merged with V-bar to form the VP constituent,and it is merged with the subject in[Spec TP]to form the TP constituent,then it is formed with the complementizer‘?’that denotes the type of sentences to form the CP constituent.The syntactic representation can be shown as[_CP[_C’?[_TP Subject each₁[_T’T[_VP each₂[_V’V[Comp]]each₃]]]]];The derivational mechanism of this structure is as follows:“XP”is generated in lexical layer and merges with TP,then merges with Topic to form Topic P,and finally,Topic P merges with yige which is based-generated in CP layer to form Force P.The syntactic representation can be shown as[_{Force P}[_{Top P}[_TP[_XP XP]]Topic]yige].Based on the comparative syntactic analysis of“XP+quantifier”exemplified by each in English and yige in Jiujiang dialect,this thesis finds that each owns a more flexible position than yige;the two quantifiers each and yige function differently in the syntactic representation;and the derivational mechanism of“XP+each”is more concise.