A Note on Sazi: The Anti-Indefiniteness Wh-Phrase in the Sichuan Dialect of Mandarin Chinese

Authors

  • Tao Xie

    Department of English Language Studies, Mejiro University, Tokyo 161-8539, Japan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i7.9741
Received: 28 April 2025 | Revised: 11 June 2025 | Accepted: 17 June 2025 | Published Online: 11 July 2025

Abstract

This paper focuses on one of the wh-phrases in Sichuan Dialect of Mandarin Chinese, namely sazi ‘what’ which corresponds to shenme in Standard Mandarin. In contrast to all its congeners, which are often argued to be inherent indefinites, bare sazi can only be interpreted as wh-construal. To generalize this eccentric property, I will propose two distinct approaches under the theoretically well-constructed Symmetrized Syntax. In each approach, I will explore the possibilities of forming Q-Equilibrium which is argued to be able to define a Transfer Output in association with the notions like Successive Feature Inheritance and Free Internal Merge. Additionally, sazi can have indefinite readings under specific conditions, namely, the appearance of some nominal affixes and existential you. Nonetheless, those conditions do not exclude the possibility of interrogative interpretation and I will provide an analysis to address this some arbitrary phenomenon. If the analysis of the present work is on the right track, one of the significant implications for the study on Sichuan dialect is that despite this dialect’s syntactic nature is often overlooked due to the fact it is just a dialect of Mandarin Chinese, there are some distinct linguistic traits to it that may call for attention. Eventually, it would be desirable if this study prompts the syntactic examination on Sichuan dialect.

Keywords:

Sichuan Dialect; Symmetrized Syntax; Wh-Phrases; Indefinites; Wh-Construal

References

[1] Li, L., 2009. Xinan Guanhua de Fenqu [The distribution of Southwestern Mandarin]. Fangyan [Dialect]. 2009(1), 72–87.

[2] Tsai, W.D., 1999. On Lexical Courtesy. Journal of East Asian Linguistics. 8, 39–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008354312243

[3] Cheng, L., 1991. On the Typology of Wh-Questions [Doctoral dissertation]. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Cambridge, MA, USA.

[4] Aoun, J.Y., Li, H., 2003. Essays on the Representational and Derivational Nature of Grammar: The Diversity of Wh-Constructions. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA.

[5] Huang, C.-T., 1988. Shuo Shi he You [On 'Be' and 'Have' in Chinese]. The Bulltin of the Institute of History and Pilology. 59, 43–64.

[6] Tsai, W., Tien, D., 2003. Three Types of Existential Quantification in Chinese. in Li, Audrey and Andrew Simpson (eds.) Functional Structure(s), Form and Interpretation: Perspectives from Asian Languages, Routledge Curzon: London, UK.

[7] Xia, Z., 2002. Jin Sishinian Chengduhua Yuyin Biandong Xianxiang Kaolun [A note on the shift of phonology of Chengdu dialect in last 40 years]. Chengdu Daxue Xuebao. 2002 (4).

[8] Zhai, S., 2003. “Sichuan hua de fenqu” [The internal distribution of Sichuan dialect]. Hanyu Fangyanxue [The dialectology of Chinese]. Southwest Normal University Press: Chongqing, China.

[9] Narita, H., Naoki, F., 2022. Symmetrizing Syntax: Merge, Minimality and Equilibria. Routledge: New York, NY, USA.

[10] Chomsky, N., 2001. Derivation by phase. In Ken Hale: A life in language. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA.

[11] Chomsky, N., 2013. Problems of projection. Lingua 130, 33–49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.003

[12] Chomsky, N., 2015. Problems of projection: Extensions. In: Domenico, E., Hamann, C., Matteini, S. (Eds.), Structures, strategies, and beyond: Studies in honour of Adriana Belletti. John Benjamins Publishing Company: Amsterdam, The Netherlands. pp. 3–16.

[13] Richards, M.D., 2007. On Feature Inheritance: An Argument from the Phase Impenetrability Condition. Linguistic Inquiry. 38(3), 563–572. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/ling.2007.38.3.563

[14] Chomsky, N., 2008. On phase. In: Robert, F., Carlos, O., Maria L.Z., (Eds.), Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA. pp. 133–166.

[15] Hayashi, N., 2020. Labeling without Weak Heads. Syntax. 23(3), 275–294. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/synt.12196

[16] Nomura, M., 2020. Labeling and Pair-Merge of Heads. Nanzan Linguistics. 15, 1–24.

[17] Mizuguchi, M., 2019. Ambiguous labeling and full interpretation. Studia Linguistica: A Journal of General Linguistics. 73, 563-603. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/stul.12109

[18] Chomsky, N., 1995. Minimalist Program. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA.

[19] Omune, J., 2020. Reformulating Pair-Merge, Inheritance and Valuation [Doctoral dissertation]. Osaka: Kansai Gaidai University.

[20] Chomsky, N., 2007. Approaching UG from Below. Interfaces + Recursion = Language? Chomsky's Minimalism and the View from Syntax-Semantics, Ed. by Uli Sauerland and Hans-Martin Gartner. Mouton de Gruyter: Berlin, Germany. pp. 1–29,

[21] Miyagawa, S., 2010. Why agree? Why move? Unifying Agreement-Based and Discourse-Configurational Languages. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA.

[22] Pesetsky, D., Esther T., 2007. The syntax of valuation and the interpretability of features. In: Karimi, S., Samiian, V., Wilkins, W. (Eds.), Phrasal and Clausal Architecture: Syntactic derivation and interpretation. Benjmains: Amsterdam, The Netherlands. pp. 262–294.

[23] Saito, M., 2024. On Minimal Yield and Form Copy: evidence from East Asian languages. The Linguistic Review.41(1), 59–84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/tlr-2024-2003

[24] Rizzi, L., 2016. Cartography, criteria and labeling. In: Ur, S. (Ed.), Beyond functional sequence. Oxford University Press: Oxford, NY, USA. pp. 314–338.

Downloads

How to Cite

Xie, T. (2025). A Note on Sazi: The Anti-Indefiniteness Wh-Phrase in the Sichuan Dialect of Mandarin Chinese. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(7), 208–220. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i7.9741

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 7 (July 2025): In progress

Article Type

Article

License

Copyright © 2025 Tao Xie

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.