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“No AA, No BB, still VP (AA 没有, BB没有, 还VP)” Unmarked Causal Sentence Analysis
- Authors: Yujing Dong
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Information:
Center for Language and Language Education Research, Central China Normal University, Wuhan
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Keywords:
Causal Compound Sentence; Unmarked; Inferential
- Abstract: This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese “No AA, No BB, still VP” construction, characterizing it as an unmarked causal compound sentence. This sentence pattern exhibits distinct syntactic and semantic features: First, the cause clause employs a topic-copying construction to indicate emphasis and pervasiveness; Second, the result clause utilizes the interrogative adverb “ 还” to express a rhetorical question to introduce a counter-expectation outcome. Conjunctions do not overtly mark the causal logic but are instead inferentially derived from the semantic interplay between the clauses: the negation of a necessary condition in the cause clause leads to the negation of a result. We thus argue that this structure constitutes a specific type of negative causal-inferential sentence. Typically, the cause is presented as a predetermined, uncontestable fact, while the result either denotes an impossible outcome or serves to refute a presupposition. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of topic-prominence and implicit logical relations in Chinese complex sentences.
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.35534/lin.0703021
- Cite: Dong, Y. J. (2025). “No AA, No BB, still VP (AA 没有, BB 没有, 还VP)” Unmarked Causal Sentence Analysis. Linguistics, 7(3), 203-211.
