On the Distributive Effect and the Differentiation Requirement of Mandarin Chinese ge

Yuli Feng

doi:10.29499/CrCL.202507_104(2).0017

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Current Research in Chinese Linguistics ›› 2025, Vol. 104 ›› Issue (2) : 565-584. DOI: 10.29499/CrCL.202507_104(2).0017

Chinese Language Studies

On the Distributive Effect and the Differentiation Requirement of Mandarin Chinese ge

Yuli Feng

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the restriction on the distributivity of Chinese adverbial ge. We propose that ge needs to satisfy the condition of differentiation, which requires that both its sorting key and distributed share contain multiple distinct members, and further delineate the syntactic, lexical, and contextual factors which facilitate differentiation. The paper also addresses ge’s meaning of “difference”, arguing that this meaning of “difference” targets the level of pragmatics and conveys the speaker’s expectation which derives from the condition of differentiation. The notion of differentiation proposed in this paper can give the licensing conditions and semantic properties of ge discussed in the literature a more systemic explanation and uncover more factors which affect the acceptability of ge-sentences.

Key words

ge / distributivity / differentiation / event / expectation

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Yuli Feng. On the Distributive Effect and the Differentiation Requirement of Mandarin Chinese ge[J]. Current Research in Chinese Linguistics. 2025, 104(2): 565-584 https://doi.org/10.29499/CrCL.202507_104(2).0017

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