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ChinfaLien
2.TeoreticalAssumptions
Tereisvastliteratureondegreeexpressions.Forasurveyoftheissuesrelevant
tothemainconcernofthispaperseevonStechow(1984),Kennedy(2006),
Schwarzschild(2008),andWellwood(2019).Terearetwoapproachesto
tacklingdegreeexpressions:(1)thedelineation-basedtheories,and(2)the
degree-basedtheories.Intheformerapproaches,thecomparativesinvolving
degreeexpressionsareconstruedasthedistinctionamongsetsofindividu-
als.Inthelatterapproaches,thereisamappingofindividualstodegrees.Te
firstapproachesarefoundtobeinadequateforthetreatmentofimplicitand
explicativecomparatives.Ithereforeoptforthesecondapproachwhichwill
beasoundtheoreticalbasistodealwiththeapparentlackofuniformityin
theexpressionofdegreeacrosssyntacticcategories.
Weassumethatdegreeisacommonfeaturethatservesastheunder-
pinningthatunifiesthetwounderspecifiedwords偌jua
7
and幾kui
2
.Tey
areunderspecifiedinthesensethattheyarenotinterpretablebythemselves
astherearemissinglinksawaitingrefurnishinginlargersyntacticcontexts,
inparticularwithrespecttotheirinteractionwithkindsofmoodorclause
types.Tohaveabetterunderstandingofhowthetwounderspecifiedwords
functioninsentencesIpostulatetwofunctionalcategories:theindeterminate
howelementandthepositivequantifier,whichwillcomposewithadjectives
ornouns.
Teinterpretationoftheunderspecified偌jua
7
hasaclosetiewiththe
clausetyping(Cheng,1991)ormoodintraditionalterms.Tisapproach
adoptedinthispaperisinkeepingwiththespiritofpinningdowntheunder-
specifiedfunctionalelementsintermofoperator-variablerelationship.
4
IassumewithPesetskyandTorrego(2007)andZeijltra(2012)thatthereis
featureagreementbetweenCofCPandtheindeterminatehowelementin
thefunctionalprojectionsaboveVP
.
5
Inparticular,acheckingrelationship
canbeestablishedbetweentheoperatorrepresentingaclausetypelikeinter-
rogatives,exclamativesorindicatives,andanunderspecifiedfunctionalword
4
Tereisalonglineofresearchtraditionrelatingtothenotionofunselectivebinding,asshownin
theworksofLewis(1975),Heim(1982),Li(1992),andTsai(1999),amongothers.Itboilsdown
totheclaimthatquantificationalelementswillbindallunboundvariablesinitsscope.
5
Inthecartographicapproachtoclausestructureaclauseisconstruedasahierarchicalstructure
inwhichtherearevariousfunctionalprojectionssuchasinnerandouteraspects,voice,modal-
ity,causativity,IPorTPandfocus,topic,andforceinCPbeyondthelexicallayerorVP(Rizzi,
1997;CinqueandRizzi,2010).Forceisaprojectionofclausetypesorvariouskindsofmood.In
thediscussionofderivingdegreequestions,Ihaveextractedawayfromsomefunctionalprojec-
tionslikeTPorIP
.
