Syntax-pragmatics interface: Mandarin Chinese wh-the-hell and point-of-view operator

Based on previously unnoted data concerning wh-the-hell attitude-bearing questions in Mandarin Chinese, I argue that integrating the pragmatic notion "point of view" into the syntactic computation enables us to capture certain properties of wh-the-hell questions in Mandarin Chinese in a systematic and illuminating way. The two central phenomena analyzed are (1) causal zenme'how come' is not compatible with daodi'the-hell' in Chinese, and (2) in Chinese wh-the-hell questions, when daodi'the-hell' takes matrix scope while staying overtly in the embedded clause, the person feature of the matrix subject cannot be third person. I argue that explaining these phenomena depends on recognizing the logophoricity of the negative attitudes carried by daodi and causal zenme. The valuation relation that I postulate between the Point-of-View operator and an unvalued Point-of-View feature of daodi and causal zenme not only explains these data but also formally captures certain properties of the Chinese logophor ziji (cf. Huang & Liu 2001).