The dative puzzle in Chinese revisited

Abstract

.This paper investigates Chinese dative constructions with respect to quantifierscope interpretation. Since Huang’s (1982) analysis, it has been widely assumedthat quantifier scope is basically determined by the surface word order. However,closer examination reveals that in Chinese dative constructions the [Theme-Goal]orders reveal scope ambiguity, whereas the [Goal-Theme] orders do not displaythis scope relation, indicating a scope asymmetry. This pattern is very similar toEnglish. Hence, in this paper, adopting Janke and Neeleman’s (2012) ascendingand descending VP structures, we would like to suggest that Chinese dativeconstructions can be divided into right-to-left scope in ascending structures andleft-to-right scope in descending structures.