A-not-A question

In linguistics, an A-not-A question is a polar question that offers two opposite possibilities for the answer. This disjunctive question is predominantly found in Sinitic languages that offers a choice between an affirmative predicate and its negative counterpart. They are functionally regarded as a type of "yes/no" question as they are very similar to a large extent. "A-not-A" questions are often interpreted as having a 'neutral' presupposition or is used in a neutral context.[1] This means that the person asking the A-not-A question does not assume the truth value of the proposition expressed by the question. The “A-not-A” question structure is commonly found in Chinese. The overarching principle is the contrasting of the positive and negative form of a premise side by side. A-not-A questions have a special interrogative type pattern of which YES/NO answers are not permitted, and instead requires an echo response. Therefore, to properly answer the query, the recipient must select the positive (affirmative form “A”) or negative (negative predicate form “not-A”) version and use it in the formation of their response.[2]

A-not-A questions in English

An example of an A-not-A question in English is in (1.a) "Are you happy or sad?". The response to this question must be an echo answer, stating either "I am happy," or the correct alternative, "I am sad". In other words, this sentence is a leading question, where the speaker has an expectation as to what the answer will be. In contrast, (1.b) "Are you happy or not?" is a neutral question where the answer to this can be yes or no in response to the first and more explicitly stated alternative.[3]

         (1.a) Q: Are you happy or sad?
               A: I am happy.
                  I am sad.

         (1.b) Q: Are you happy or not (happy)?
               A: Yes.
                  No.

A-not-A questions are not usually used in English, but the following example shows how A-not-A questions are answered.

         (2) Q: Did John eat beans or not?
             A: (Yes,) John ate beans.
                (No,) John didn't eat beans.
                *Yes.
                *No.[4]

As seen in this example, simply answering "Yes" or "No" does not suffice as a response to the question. This question must be answered in the "A" or "not A" form. If this question was asked in the A-not-A pattern, its direct form would be "Did John eat or not eat the beans?"

A-not-A questions in Mandarin

In forming A-not-A questions, "A" must remain the same on both sides. "A" is essentially a variable which can be replaced with a grammatical particle such as a modal, adverb, adjective, verb, or preposition.

Patterns of A-not-A question

In Chinese, there are 6 attested patterns of A-not-A: A-not-A, AB-not-AB, A-not-AB, AB-not-A, a-not-A, and a-not-AB of which "A" stands for the full form of the predicate, "B" stands for the complement, and "a" stands for the first syllable of a disyllabic predicate.[5]

A-not-A form[6]

         (3) 你  去  不  去？       
             ni  qu  bu  qu         
             you go  not go    
             Are you going?

AB-not-AB form[6]

         (4) 你 認得   這  個  人  不  認得  這  個 人 ？         
             ni rende zhe ge  ren bu rende zhe ge ren        
             you know this CL man not know this CL man      
             Do you know this man?

A-not-AB form[6]

         (5) 你 認得  不  認得  這  個 人 ？         
             ni rende bu rende zhe ge ren        
             you know not know this CL man      
             Do you know this man?

AB-not-A form[6]

         (6) 你 認得   這  個  人  不  認得 ?         
             ni rende zhe ge  ren bu rende  
             you know this CL man not know      
             Do you know this man?

a-not-A form[5]

         (7) 不  知道  你   方   不  方便？       
             bu zhidao ni  fang-bu-fangbian         
             not know  you convenient-not-convenient    
             Is that all right with you?

a-not-AB form[5]

         (8) 你  看  這裡  合不           合適      教       拳?       
             ni kan zheli he-bu          heshi    jiao     quan
             you see here suit(able)-not suitable teaching fist
             Is this suitable for your martial club?

Grammatical particles

A-not-A can be formed by a verb, an adjective, or an adverb,[7] as well as modals.[2]

Verb

In the interrogative clause, A-not-A occurs by repeating the first part in the verbal group (with the option of an auxiliary) and the negative form of the particle is placed in between. However, this clause does not apply when using perfective in aspect. Instead, 沒有 meiyou is used to replace the repeated verb used in A-not-A form.[8]

V-NEG-V type:[2]

Here, the verb go is "A", and there is no object.

         (9.a) 你去不去？         A: 去/不去
               ni qu bu qu?         qu/bu qu
               you go not go        go/not go
               DP V-NEG-V           V/NEG V
               Are you going?       Yes/No
V-NEG-V-Object type:[2]

Here, the verb watch is "A", and while there is an object, the object is not included in "A", and is therefore not reduplicated.

         (9.b) 你看不看电影？                     A: 看/不看
               ni kan bu kan dianying?              kan/bu kan
               you watch not watch movie            watch/not watch
               N V-NEG-V-N                          V/NEG V
               Will you watch the movie?            Yes/No
V-Object-NEG type:[2]

Here, the verb watch is "A", and while the object is included before NEG, it is not included in "A", and is therefore not reduplicated. Reduplication is optional here.

         (9.c) 你看电影不？                     A: 看/不看
               ni kan dianying bu?                kan/bu kan
               you watch movie not                watch/not watch
               N  V-DP-NEG                        V/NEG V
               Will you watch the movie?          Yes/No
V-Object-NEG-V type[2](debatable):

Here, the verb watch is "A", and while the object is included before NEG, it is not included in "A", and is therefore not reduplicated. "A" is reduplicated here.

         (9.d) 你看电影不看？                  A: 看/不看
               ni kan dianying bu kan?           kan/bu kan
               you watch movie not watch         watch/not watch
               DP V-DP-NEG-V                     V/NEG V
               Will you watch the movie?         Yes/No
Answers to (9.a), (9.b), (9.c), (9.d) must be in the form “V” or “not-V”

There is some debate amongst speakers as to whether or not 3.d. is grammatical, and Gasde argues that it is.

Adjective or adverb

A-NEG-A type:[2]

Here, the adjective good is "A", and it is reduplicated. The word ben is a classifier, which means it is a counter word for the Noun book.

         (10.a) 这本书好不好？               A: 好/不好
                zhe ben shu hao bu hao?        hao/bu hao
                this CL book good not good     good/not good
                DP          A-NEG-A            A/NEG A
                Is this book good?             Yes/No
A-NEG type:[2]

Here, the adjective good is "A", but it is not reduplicated.

         (10.b) 这本书好不？                      A: 好/不好
                zhe ben shu hao bu?                 hao/bu hao
                this CL book good not               good/not good
                DP           A-NEG                  A/NEG A
                Is this book good?                  Yes/No
Answers to (10.a), (10.b) must be in the form “A” or “not-A”

Preposition

P-NEG-P type:[9]

Here, the preposition at is "A", and it is reduplicated.

         (11.a) 张三在不在图书馆？                  A: 在/不在
                Zhangsan zai bu zai tushuguan?        zai/bu zai
                Zhangsan at not at library            at/not at
                DP   P-NEG-P DP                       P/NEG P
                Is Zhangsan at the library?           Yes/No
P-NEG-P type:[9]

Here, the preposition at is "A", and it is not reduplicated.

         (11.b) 张三在图书馆不？                A: 在/不在
                Zhangsan zai tushuguan bu?        zai/bu zai
                Zhangsan at library not           at/not at
                DP  P-DP-NEG                      P/NEG P
                Is Zhangsan at the library?       Yes/No
Answers to (11.a), (11.b) must be in the form “P” or “not-P”
M-NEG-M-V-Object type:[2]

Here, the modal dare is "A" and it is reduplicated.

         (12.a) 你敢不敢杀鸡?                       A: 敢/不敢
                ni gan bu gan sha ji?                 gan/bu gan
                you dare not dare kill chicken        dare/not dare
                N M-NEG-M -V -DP                      M/NEG M
                Do you dare kill chicken?             Yes/No
The answer to (12.a) must be in the form “M” or “not-M”.

A-not-A questions in Cantonese

Despite having the same negative marker as Standard Chinese, "不" bat1 is only used in fixed expressions or to give literacy quality.[10] And only "唔" m4 is used as a negative marker in A-not-A questions.[5]

One distinction in Cantonese when compared to Standard Chinese is that certain forms of A-not-A questions are not attested due to dialectal differences.[1]

Patterns of A-not-A question

A-not-A form

Like it's Standard Chinese counterpart, this form is attested in Cantonese as shown by the sentence pair in (13).[5]

         (13.a) 佢哋     嚟  唔   嚟 ？                  
                keoidei lai  m   lai?        
                they    come not come
                Are they coming?
         (13.b) 他們   來   不  來？                  
                tamen lai  bu  lai?        
                they  come not come
                Are they coming?

AB-not-AB form

As shown by (14.a), this is not an attested form in Cantonese, unlike the counterpart in Standard Chinese in (14.b).[1]

         (14.a) ??/*你   鐘意   音樂  唔  鐘意    音樂？                  
                ??/*nei zungji jamok m   zungji jamok?        
                ??/*you like   music not like   music
                Do you like music?
         (14.b) 你  喜歡   音樂    不  喜歡   音樂？                  
                ni  xihuan yinyue bu  xihuan yinyue?        
                you like   music  not like   music
                Do you like music?

A-not-AB form

This form is only attested in Cantonese if the predicate is a monosyllabic word as shown by (15.a), compared to the Standard Chinese counterpart in (15.b).[5]

         (15.a) 你   返    唔   返     屋企？                  
                nei faan   m   faan   ukkei?        
                you return not return home
                Are you going home?
         (15.b) 你   回    不   回     家？                  
                ni  hui    bu  hui    jia?        
                you return not return home
                Are you going home?

A-not-AB is not attested in Cantonese if the predicate is a bi-syllabic word as shown by (16.a), unlike it's Standard Chinese counterpart in (16.b).[1] In such cases, Cantonese speakers usually use the form a-not-AB, like (19).[5]

         (16.a) ??/*你   鐘意唔鐘意      音樂？                  
                ??/*nei zungji-m-zungji jamok?        
                ??/*you like-not-like   music
                Do you like music?
         (16.b) 你   喜歡不喜歡       音樂？                  
                ni  xihuan-bu-xihuan yinyue?        
                you like-not-like    music
                Do you like music?

AB-not-A form

This form is only attested if the predicate is a monosyllabic word ("A") with an object ("B") as shown by the sentence pair with its Standard Chinese counterpart in (17).[5]

         (17.a) ?你   返    屋企    唔  返？                  
                ?nei faan   ukkei   m  faan?        
                you  return home   not return
                Are you going home?
         (17.b) 你  回      家   不  回？                  
                ni  hui    jia  bu  hui?        
                you return home not return
                Are you going home?

Note that such forms of AB-not-A in monosyllabic word is used by the old generation.[11]

When the predicate is a bi-syllabic word, then AB-not-A form is not attested as shown in (18.a), unlike it's Standard Chinese counterpart in (18.b).[5]

         (18.a) *你   鐘意   佢   唔  鐘意?                  
                *nei zungji keoi  m  zungji?        
                 you  like  she  not like
                Do you like her?
         (18.b) 你  喜歡    她   不  喜歡  ？                  
                ni  xihuan ta   bu  xihuan?        
                you like   she  not like
                Do you like her?

a-not-A form

This form is attested in both Cantonese and its Standard Chinese counterpart as shown in the sentence pair in (18).[5]

         (18.a) 唔   知  你   方唔方便                  呢？                  
                m    zi  nei fong-m-fong-bin           ne?        
                not know you convenient-not-convenient SFP
                Is that all right with you?
         (18.b) 不  知道  你   方   不  方便？       
                bu zhidao ni  fang-bu-fangbian         
                not know  you convenient-not-convenient    
                Is that all right with you?

a-not-AB form

This form is attested in both Cantonese and its Standard Chinese as shown in the sentence pair in (19).[5]

         (19.a) 你   鐘唔鐘意      音樂？                  
                nei zung-m-zungji jamok?        
                you like-not-like music
                Do you like music?
         (19.b) 你   喜不喜歡       音樂？                  
                ni   xi-bu-xihuan  yinyue?        
                you  like-not-like music
                Do you like music?

In Korean[12]

There are three salient morphological varieties of A-not-A question in Korean.[12] And like all A-not-A questions, the questions cannot be answered with Yes ("네" Ney) or No ("아니요" Anyo)

Pre-predicate negtation

Both "an" and "mos" can precede the predicate in A-not-A

An

"An", short form for "ani-", expresses simple negation

         (20)  Q: 지우-는    자-니      안  자-니?        A:  자-요    /안 자-요
                  ciwu-nun  ca-ni      an  ca-ni?           ca-yo    /an ca-yo
                  Jiwoo-TOP sleep-COMP not sleep-COMP       sleep-HON/not sleep-HON 
                  Is Jiwoo sleeping or not?                 (She) is sleeping/(She) isn’t sleeping

Mos

"Mos" expresses impossibility or inability

         (21)  Q: 민수  -는    학교  -에  갔-니          안     갔-니?        
                  Minsoo-nun  hakkuo-ey  ka-ss-ni      mos    ka-ss-ni?           
                  Minsoo-TOP  School-LOC go-PAST-COMP cannot  go-PAST-COMP       
                  Could Minsooo go to school or not?

Inherently-negative predicate

Korean has three negative predicates that can form A-not-A question, "molu-", "eps-", and "ani-"

Molu-

"Molu-" means "don't know"

         (22)  너-는   저    학생-을     아-니      모르-니?
               ne-nun  ce   haksayng-ul a-ni      molu-ni?    
               you-TOP that student-ACC know-COMP not.know-COMP       
               Do you know that student or not?

Eps-

"Esp-" means "do not have; do not exist"

         (23)  지우-는   집-에     있니     없니?
               ciwu-nun  cip-e    iss-ni  esp-ni?    
               Jiwoo-TOP home-LOC be-COMP not.be-COMP        
               Is Jiwoo at home or not?

Ani-

"Ani-" means "is not"

         (24)  이게 네   책-이-니     아니-니
               ike  ne  chayk-i-ni   ani-ni?    
               this you book-be-COMP not.be-COMP        
               IS this your book or not?

Negative modal auxiliary

Mal

Meaning "desist from", "mal" follows an affirmative polar question, and will occur instead of a reduplicated full verb that has a post predicate negation. This means that there is only one full verb in this type of A-not-A question.

         (25)  우리-는   잘-까            말-까?
               wili-nun ca-l-kka        mal-kka?    
               we-TOP   sleep-MOOD-COMP not.MOOD-COMP       
               Should or shouldn't we go to bed?

However, the modal auxiliary verb "mal" is restricted in that it does not co-occur in predicative adjectives or the factual complementizer "ni". Moreover, with "mal" being a bound form, it cannot be the echo negative answer. Instead, the full negative verb will be provided as the answer, taking "an-" negation, as illustrated in (26)

         (26)  너-는    콘서트-에     갈-래         말-래?               A: *말-래            안    갈-래
               ne-nun  khonsethu-ey  ka-l-ay      mal-lay?                *mal-lay       /  an  ka-l-ay
               you-TOP concert-LOC   go-MOOD-COMP not.MOOD-COMP            not-MOOD-COMP /  not go-MOOd-COMP
               Are (you) going to the concert or not?                                       (I) am not going

Analysis: the post-syntactic approach

One analysis of the formation of the A-not-A construction is the post-syntactic approach, through two stages of M-merger. First, the A-not-A operator targets the MWd which is the head that is closest to it and undergoes lowering. Then, reduplication occurs to yield the surface form of the A-not-A question.[9]

Syntactic distinctions between morphosyntactic words (MWd) and subwords (SWd)

Tseng suggests A-not-A occurs post-syntactically, at the morphological level. It is movement that occurs overtly at the phonetic form, after the syntactic movement has occurred. A-not-A is a feature of T that operates on the closest, c-commanded morphosyntactic words (MWd), and not subwords (SWd). The elements that undergo post-syntactic movement are morphosyntactic words (MWd). A node X is a MWd iff X is the highest segment and X is not contained in another X. A node X is a SWd if X is a terminal node and not an MWd.[9] The A-not-A operation is a MWd to MWd movement.

Conditional criteria for grammatical A-not-A question derivation

A-not-A operator lowering

The A-not-A operator is defined as an MWd. The A-not-A operator can only lower to a MWd which is immediately dominated by the maximal projection that is also immediately dominated by the maximal projection of the A-not-A operator. An SWd cannot be the target for the A-not-A operator. In addition, if there is an intervening MWd or SWd between the A-not-A operator and its target, the A-not-A operation fails.[9]

A-not-A operator lowering must satisfy four conditions:

  1. The A-not-A operator targets the closest MWd that is the X’-theoretic head that it c-commands.
  2. Closeness of the head is qualified by: (i) The closest head is a X’-theoretic head of the maximal which is immediately dominated by the maximal projection of the A-not-A operator. (ii) The target must have overt phonological realization.
  3. There is not any non-X’-theoretic head or SWd intervening between the A-not-A operator and its target.
  4. Intervention is defined by c-command relation.
Grammatical A-not-A operator lowering to adjacent MWd verb xihuan. Xihuan is the closest X’-theoretical head that the A-not-A operator c-commands, thus satisfies lowering conditions.
Ungrammatical A-not-A operator lowering to adjacent MWd hen. Even though hen is the closest adjacent MWd, it is not an X’-theoretical head, thus lowering to it violates A-not-A lowering conditions

After lowering, the A-not-A operator triggers reduplication on the target node. The reduplication domain can be the first syllable of the targeted element, the targeted element itself, and the maximal projection that contains the targeted element. Reduplication is linear and the A-not-A operator cannot skip the adjacent constituent to copy the next constituent.[9]

Reduplication of first syllable of adjacent MWd

In first syllable reduplication, the A-not-A operator copies the first syllable of the adjacent MWd and moves the reduplicant, the copied syllable, to the left of the base MWd. Then the negation is inserted between the reduplicant and base to form a grammatical sentence. In fig. (1.a) The A-not-A operator copies the first syllable tao of the MWd taoyan. The reduplicant tao is put at the left of the base taoyan and then the negative constituent bu is inserted in between. In fig. (1.b) *Zhangsan taoyan Lisi-bu-tao is ungrammatical because tao cannot be put to the right of the maximal projection VP, taoyan Lisi.

         (8.a) 张三     讨不讨厌       李斯
               Zhangsan tao-bu-taoyan Lisi
               Zhangsan hate-not-hate Lisi
               Does Zhangsan hate Lisi or not?[9]

         (8.b)*张三     讨厌    李斯不讨
              *Zhangsan taoyan Lisi-bu-tao
               Zhangsan hate   Lisi-not-hate[9]

Reduplication of adjacent MWd

In MWd reduplication, the A-not-A operator copies the adjacent MWd and moves the reduplicant MWd overtly to the left of the base MWd or to right of the base maximal projection containing the MWd. Otherwise, the reduplicant can move covertly, not spelled-out, to the right of the base maximal projection containing the MWd. The negation is then inserted between the reduplicant and base to form a grammatical sentence. In (9.a) the A-not-A operator copies the MWd taoyan. The reduplicant taoyan is overtly put at the left of the base taoyan and then the negative constituent bu is inserted in between. In (9.b) the A-not-A operator copies the MWd taoyan. The reduplicant taoyan is overtly put at the right of the base taoyan Lisi and then the negative constituent bu is inserted in between. In (9.c) the A-not-A operator copies the MWd taoyan. The reduplicant taoyan, not spelled-out here, is covertly put at the right of the base taoyan Lisi and then the negative constituent bu is inserted.

         (9.a) 张三     讨厌不讨厌        李斯
               Zhangsan taoyan-bu-taoyan Lisi
               Zhangsan hate-not-hate Lisi
               Does Zhangsan hate Lisi or not?[9]

         (9.b) 张三     讨厌    李斯 不 讨厌
               Zhangsan taoyan Lisi bu taoyan
               Zhangsan hate Lisi not hate
               Does Zhangsan hate Lisi or not?[9] 

         (9.c) 张三     讨厌    李斯 不 (讨厌)
               Zhangsan taoyan Lisi bu (taoyan)
               Zhangsan hate Lisi not (hate)
               Does Zhangsan hate Lisi or not?[9]

Reduplication of the maximal projection containing adjacent MWd

In maximal projection reduplication, the A-not-A operator copies the maximal projection that contains the adjacent MWd and moves the reduplicant either to the left or to the right of the base. The base may be just the MWd or the maximal projection containing the MWd. The maximal projection may be any XP (VP, AP, PP etc.). The negation is then inserted between the reduplicant and base to form a grammatical sentence. In (10.a) the A-not-A operator copies the maximal projection VP taoyan Lisi. The reduplicant taoyan Lisi is put at the left of the base taoyan Lisi and then the negative constituent bu is inserted in between.

         (10.a) 张三      讨厌   李斯 不 讨厌    李斯
                Zhangsan taoyan Lisi bu taoyan Lisi
                Zhangsan hate Lisi not hate Lisi
                Does Zhangsan hate Lisi or not?[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Law, Ann (2001) A-not-A questions in Cantonese. UCLWPL 13, 295-318.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Gasde, H. (2004). Yes/no questions and A-not-A questions in Chinese revisited. Linguistics - Interdisciplinary Journal of the Language Sciences, 42(2), 293-326. Retrieved October 13, 2013, from the Communication & Mass Media Complete database
  3. ↑ Matthew S. Dryer. 2013. Position of Polar Question Particles. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  4. ↑ Han, Chung-Hye; Romero, Maribel (August 2004). "The Syntax of Whether/Q... or Questions: Ellipsis Combined with Movement". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 22 (3): 527–564. doi:10.1023/b:nala.0000027674.87552.71.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Clare, Li, (2017). "The syntactic and pragmatic properties of a-not-a question in Chinese".
  6. 1 2 3 4 Lü (1985). "疑文 否定 肯定 Yiwen, Fouding, Kending (Questioning, Negation, Affirmation)". 中國語文 Zhongguo Yuwen. 4: 241–250.
  7. ↑ Chen, Y., & Weiyun He, A. (2001). Dui bu dui as a pragmatic marker: Evidence from chinese classroom discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 33(9), 1441–1465
  8. ↑ Li, E. S. & Yan, F. (2007). Enacting Relationships: Clause as Exchange. Systemic Functional Grammar of Chinese. 116-197.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Tseng, W. H. K., & Lin, T. H. J. (2009). A Post-Syntactic Approach to the A-not-A Questions. UST Working Papers in Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, 107-139.
  10. ↑ Matthews, Stephen; Yip, Virginia (2011). Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar. London and New York: Routledge. p. 283. ISBN 0415471311.
  11. ↑ Shao, J. -M (2010). 漢語方疑問範疇比較研究 Hanyu fangyan yiwen fanchou bijiao yanjiu [Comparative Study of Chinese Dialect Interrogative Question Category]. Guangzhou: Jinan Daxue Database.
  12. 1 2 Ceong, Hailey Hyekyeong (2011). "The Syntax of Korean Polar Alternative Questions: A-not-A".
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