Ye as Manifested on Three Discourse
Planes: Polysemy or Abstraction
Yung-O Biq
0159023 郭懿萱
A. Introduction
 Wang(1947): lexical items that pertain to logical
reasonings illustrate multiple uses in diverse
contexts. Ex: 才、就、又、也、都
 Wang and Chao(1968): occur at the pre-verbal,
post –subject/topic position → adverbs
A. Introduction
 Question from linguists:
What are the semantics within each case and
across all cases ?
A. Introduction
 Paris(1979) and Paris&Tamba-Mecz(1984): ye is
examined as the latter part of some correlative
conjunction construction.
 Ma(1982): ye signifies various uses is not merely a
juxtaposition of items but rather the similarity
between items.
A. Introduction
 Aim:
To examine the lexical structure of ye, and to use it
as base to discuss the abstraction vs. polysemy
debate.
A. Introduction
 Three types of use of ye:
Symmetric
juxtaposition
2) Scalar inclusiveness
1)
3) Evaluative
downtoning
 Triple use of ye applies on
three discourse planes:
1) The propositional content
of an utterance
2) The epistemic world from
which the speaker draws
his/her hypotheses,
inference, and speculation
3) The speech situation in
which the speaker involved
Three Discourse Planes
Sweetser(1982, 1986)
Schiffrin(1987)
Propositional content
Ideational structure(fact-based)
Epistemic world
Informational state(knowledge-based)
Speech-act situation
Action structure(action-based)
 Examples:
12. a. If John goes, Mary will go. (propositional)
b. If John went, Mary (probably) did,
too.(epistemic)
c. If you’re headed for the cafeteria, there’s better
food at the deli.(speech-act)
B. Symmetric Juxtaposition
 Ye points to the similarity between two or more
values that are juxtaposed with one another in a
sentence.
1. 小孩睡覺，大人也睡覺 (subject)
2. 他們會說中國話，也會說英文 (object)
3. 這個人昨天來了，今天也來了 (temporal adverb)
 Juxtaposition can involve more than one
category (or rather, semantic type).
4a. 小孩大了，房屋也舊了 (subject and verb)
4b. 雨停了，太陽也出來了(subject and verb)
B. Symmetric Juxtaposition
 Ye can be used not only with the later members
of a juxtaposition, but also with the first member.
5. 碗也洗了，桌子也擦了，還有什麼沒做的？
 Chinese vs. English: “also” only occurs with the
latter members. The juxtaposition is asymmetric.
 All members of juxtaposition in Chinese are
ordered as equals.
 The first type of ye projects similarity in a
symmetric juxtaposition of two values all drawn
from the propositional content.
C. Scalar Inclusiveness
 Ye conveys implicatures with the respect to
certain values designated in the sentence in
terms of a scale where this value and alternate
value are ordered according to extra- linguistic
standards.
 This type of ye continues to mark a similarity
between the members of juxtaposition.
 Since the juxtaposed members are differently
ranked values on a pragmatically ordered scale,
this juxtaposition is an asymmetric one.
C1. With Expression Denoting Extremity
6. 就算你請我坐汽車去，我也不去
7. 我寧可自己去，也不要讓你代表我去
8. 甚至隔壁的老王也買了新房子
9. 連他的敵人也不得不配合他
10. 沒有人在家，你再敲也沒有用
 The constituent headed by boldfaced adverbial
expressions represents an extreme value.
 The extreme value is juxtaposed with alternate
values which ranked “more typical” on the scale.
C1. With Expression Denoting Extremity
 Example (6):
More typical value:
坐公車
走路
騎腳踏車
Extremity:
坐汽車
不去
C1. With Expression Denoting Extremity
 Discourse planes:
a. The first type of ye operates on entities drawn
from propositional content.
b. The scalar ye can not only operate on entities
draw from the propositional content, but can also
project juxtaposition in the epistemic world.
C2. With Expressions Denoting Universality
 The several kinds of universal quantifiers is another
group occurs with scalar ye.
13. 他坐在那兒，一句話也不說。(negation)
14. a. 這種地方，誰也不要去。(negation)
b. 誰也都知道哥倫布發現了美洲。(affirmative)
 Universal quantifier can occur in both affirmative
and negative sentences.
 Ye occurs more often in negative sentences
D. Evaluative Downtoning
 The third type of ye quantifies the whole sentence
and juxtaposes it with the expectation in the
discourse.
 This type of juxtaposition operates on the speechact situation.
 23. “這個年紀的小孩”，他向老米建議，”不必
管的太緊，美國的小孩十幾歲時都無法無天，長
大了也就懂事了。“
→There is the connotation of “downtoning” the
asserted value as if it does not measure up with the
expected value.
E. Downtoning and Universality
 Universal negation goes hand in hand with
downtowning because the latter focuses on the
low/negative end of the scale.
 Universal affirmative occupies the highest/positive
end of a scale, contrasted with downtoning, so the
universal affirmations cannot occur with ye.
F. Summary of Analysis
Propositional content
Epistemic world
Speech-act
Symmetric juxtaposition ExtremityUniversal negation Downtoning effect
Scalar inclusiveness
 From symmetric to asymmetric, negative-end
oriented.
 From a focus on ‘what is said’ to ‘how it is said’,
with increasing involvement of the speaker’s
judgment and evaluation.
G. Abstraction or Polysemy
 Abstraction approach: ye marks the same
property/properties shared by juxtaposed entities.
 It fails to explain that how the semantic connection
among the diverse uses in each case have come to
being.
G. Abstraction or Polysemy
 Sweetser (1986):
Abstraction analysis→the difference among
diverse uses can be accounted for by independent
pragmatic principles.
Polysemous analysis→one of the uses of a lexical
item is considered the basic meaning, and other
uses are metaphoric extensions.
G. Abstraction or Polysemy
 Although there is a regularity in the triple
application of these Chinese logic-oriented adverbs
on three discourse planes, it is not a universal
regularity across languages. Ex: English
 When the pragmatic parameters are set, the
diverse uses are not necessarily predictable
derivations from the core meaning.
 The connection among these diverse uses are
probably characterized as semantic extensions
motivated by the relatedness derived from
metaphoric schema or cognitive prototype.