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In this study, I first provide an in-depth study on the TSM ho-V construction with a monosyllabic V, especially on the morpho-syntactic function and the degree-introducing function of the morpheme ho 'hoVD'. Then, based on Liu's (2020) study on the TSM u-V construction, I comprehensively compare these two constructions, which reaches two major points. First, the ho-V sequence and the u-V sequence are intransitive compound verb. The V that u 'uVD' merges with can be a lexical verb or an aspectual verb; however, the V that ho 'hoVD' merges with must be a lexical verb. When forming a compound verb with a lexical verb, u 'uVD' has the same morpho-syntactic function as ho 'hoVD'. Second, these two morphemes differ in how to introduce the degree meaning for their corresponding construction. Namely, the dimension of measurement carried by the measure function introduced by u 'uVD' is determined by what is measured; however, the morpheme ho 'hoVD' intrinsically carries a dimension of measurement. Depending on what the morpheme ho 'hoVD' modifies is the entity denoted by the subject in question or the eventuality argument of V, the dimension of measurement carried by it can be interpreted as 'be good for one to V' or 'it is easy for one to V'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the duō event quantity construction, duō 'much' is a quantity adjective. What duō 'much' modifies is the root of the verb and the root has to move to the light verb position to be categorically defined. The quantity adjective duō 'much' functions to introduce a measure function which measures the event denoted by the verb along the dimension valued by the assignment function A, and the domain to which the measure function applies must be monotonic. So, the 'modification' relation between the quantity adjective duō 'much' and its modifyee essentially differs from that between a typical gradable adjective like tián 'sweat' and its modifyee. This explains how the quantity adjective duō 'much' differs from the typical adjective in syntax and semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TSM u N construction adopts the possessive morphosyntactic strategy of gradable predication to construct a gradable predicate headed by the possessive verb u 'have'. The possessive verb u 'have' inside, in addition to retaining its possessive meaning, introduces a functional projection (i.e., MeasP) headed by Meas, which denotes a measure function measuring the denotation of the N component along the dimension of cardinality or quantity. Depending on whether the N component is an abstract noun or a non-abstract noun, the measure scale associated with the gradable u N predicate can be an interval one or a ratio one. This study has the following implications. First, many languages might use the possessive or existential verb to construct a gradable possessive verbal predicate; however, they might differ from each other in the semantic function the possessive or existential verb plays. Second, a TSM PC nominal does not denote a scale resulting from the total preorder ≤. Third, a TSM gradable adjective is lexically specified with a scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows how what has been originally ascribed to the 'lexicon' is 'distributed' among different components of syntax and how degrees are compositionally introduced across categories by investigating the syntax and semantics of the Taiwanese Mandarin X hěn dà construction. In this construction, degrees are compositionally introduced by the literally vacuous adjective dà 'DA', which contributes a structure-preserving map from entities, events or states to their measures along various dimensions (Wellwood in Linguist Philos 38(1):67–101, 2015). Syntactically, the constituent hěn dà 'HEN DA' functions to be predicated of the root of the X component at the root-level, and the root later must move into the corresponding light head position to be categorically defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instead of classifying natural languages in terms of their answering systems for polar questions, this study investigates how languages construct the answering system for the polar questions with a special concentration on the answering system of the Chinese ma particle question and English polar questions. We argue that the primarily mechanism that natural languages adopt to construct an answering system is the focus mechanism which is based on the relationship between a focus sensitive marker and its association of focus. The different answering patterns to polar questions result from different scopes of focus. In a polar question, what is being focused by the focus sensitive marker or focus operator falls into question scope (focus association). The respondent answers the polar question based on the proposition in the question scope. Answering with a positive particle expresses agreement with that question proposition while answering with a negative particle conveys that the question proposition is not true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the syntax and semantics of the DS comparative in Chinese, which is an adjectival comparative in which the sequence gèng duō 'even-more much' occurs as the degree búyǔ complement clause of the matrix adjective. The element duō 'much' is a quantity-adjective that interacts with gèng 'even-more' to introduce an additional standard of comparison into the DS comparative in order to make the comparison denoted by the degree búyǔ complement clause possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese reduplicated adjectives denote a perceptible state realized from the property denoted by the adjectival base. The 'degree' conveyed by reduplicated adjectives is the by-product of state realization and can be interpreted as the positive degree. A gradable adjective denoting a property that is more perceptible to human sense is more amenable to reduplication, and the rhetorical style of parallelism can make the property denoted by adjectives more perceptible. The gradability requirement on adjectives amenable to reduplication results from the perceptibility requirement on the state denoted by reduplicated adjectives. Depending on the means by which the property denoted by their adjectival base is realized as a state, reduplicated adjectives can be divided into two types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a synthetic geological study of drilling, well logging and seismic data, core observations and geochemical analysis, it is recognized that Triassic sedimentary facies in the Tahe area of Tarim Basin include braided river deposits filling erosional valleys, and sublacustrine fan, canyon and delta facies. Braided river deposits filling erosional valleys are dominated by coarse-grained lithic quartz sandstone with oblique bedding, and represent the most important sedimentation type of sandstone in the study area. Sublacustrine fan and canyon facies are mainly distributed in the Middle Oil Member. Most delta sediments are deposited in highstand system tract (HST). Because of frequent changes in base level, delta sediments are commonly eroded and rarely preserved. Sedimentary cycles are clearly reflected by lithology, sedimentary structures and well logging data, and are closely related to the changes in lacustrine level. In accordance with the basic principle of sequence subdivision, seven type-I boundaries can be recognized in Triassic strata and six type-I sequences are subdivided correspondingly. In general, lowstand system tract (LST) is well developed within stratigraphic sequences and forms the main body of reservoir sandstone in this area; highstand system tract (HST) and transgressive system tract (TST) are often eroded by upper sequences or missed. Although various factors have different influences on terrestrial sequence stratigraphy, the classical sequence stratigraphy theory proposed by VAIL can be applied to terrestrial strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a synthetic geological study of drilling, well logging and seismic data, core observations and geochemical analysis, it is recognized that Triassic sedimentary facies in the Tahe area of Tarim Basin include braided river deposits filling erosional valleys, and sublacustrine fan, canyon and delta facies. Braided river deposits filling erosional valleys are dominated by coarse-grained lithic quartz sandstone with oblique bedding, and represent the most important sedimentation type of sandstone in the study area. Sublacustrine fan and canyon facies are mainly distributed in the Middle Oil Member. Most delta sediments are deposited in highstand system tract (HST). Because of frequent changes in base level, delta sediments are commonly eroded and rarely preserved. Sedimentary cycles are clearly reflected by lithology, sedimentary structures and well logging data, and are closely related to the changes in lacustrine level. In accordance with the basic principle of sequence subdivision, seven type-I boundaries can be recognized in Triassic strata and six type-I sequences are subdivided correspondingly. In general, lowstand system tract (LST) is well developed within stratigraphic sequences and forms the main body of reservoir sandstone in this area; highstand system tract (HST) and transgressive system tract (TST) are often eroded by upper sequences or missed. Although various factors have different influences on terrestrial sequence stratigraphy, the classical sequence stratigraphy theory proposed by VAIL can be applied to terrestrial strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Taiwanese A-CL sequences as compound adjectives by treating the classifier inside such sequences as a dimension provider and the adjective as involving an ordering function. Combined with the assumption that classifiers occurring as the CL of A-CL compound adjectives should be divided into single-dimension denoting and multi-dimension denoting elements, the analysis provides a rationale for why the adjectives permitted in A-CL compound adjectives have the interesting and otherwise perplexing property of being so limited in number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The null object in examples which Xu (1986) provides to argue against the existence of the subject-object asymmetry of the kind observed in Huang (1982, 1984a, b) in fact is an empty antilogophor (henceforth EA) subject to Binding Condition B and the Empty Antilogophoric Condition. I believe that there are at least two types of null objects in Chinese, namely the EA and the variable. The former must occur in a pragmatically oriented environment where a pragmatically downgraded internal protagonisted antecedent is available while the latter may occur in a pragmatically neutral environment. Seen in this way, Xu's examples at first sight appear to be problematic for Huang's (1982, 1984a, b and 1987) Null Topic Analysis, but upon a closer scrutiny turn out not to apply. The Empty Antilogophoric Analysis of the Chinese null object in Xu's examples has two theoretical and empirical implications: first, the proposal is reminiscent of Dubinsky and Hamilton's (1998) Antilogophoric Analysis of English epithets; this further implies that Huang's (1991) Null Epithet Analysis of null objects, which suggests that the Chinese null object is the null counterpart of epithets subject to Binding Condition C, is inadequate. Second, the patterns observed may indicate that there are at least three types of antilogophors in Chinese; these are not independent of each other but represent different degrees of directness in which antilogophoric attitudes manifest themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sangzhi-Shimen synclinorium, which is in the western margin region of the Hunan-Hubei Province and as the southeast part of the middle Yangtze platform, is a second-level tectonics unit in the south of this region. Along the profile, it can be divided into 5 third-level structure belts. By the comprehensive interpretation of seismic data and magnetotelluric (MT) sounding data, it is found that the surface structure is not in accordance with that of the underground, and this un-coordination can be conducted by many decollement surfaces between the layers. There are three periods of deformation in its geo-history in this region: before the early Yanshan stage, during the early Yanshan stage and after the early Yanshan stage, while the main deformation period is during the early Yanshan stage. And the mechanism of deformation is the thrust faults in basement, which are controlled by many decollements, in addition to the decollement of the cap-rock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese anaphors can be divided into two semantic types: One (the X-benshen 'X-self' anaphor, in which X is either ziji 'self' or pronoun-ziji 'pronoun-self') requires pure identity with its antecedent; the other (the non-X-benshen 'non-X-self' anaphor) allows near identity with its antecedent. Pure identity shown by the anaphor ziji-benshen 'self-self' can be derivable from the semantic composition of the near reflexive function of the morpheme ziji 'self', the focus function of the morpheme benshen 'self' and the operator status of ziji-benshen 'self-self' while near identity (or near reflexivity) shown by the non-X-benshen 'non-X-self' anaphor is due to its being "a pronoun in coreference." In other words, in Chinese pure identity is near reflexivity plus a focus marker which picks out the best representation of the antecedent that happens to be the actual person. Thus, the X-benshen 'X-self' anaphor should not be considered a pure anaphor without content. Typologically, there are two ways for human languages to get pure identity: One is by using an anaphor without content; the other is by using a focus marker that picks out the best representation of the antecedent which happens to be the actual person. The typological difference in establishing pure identity provides an answer for the long standing question of why the notion of coargumenthood is often adopted by linguists in defining binding conditions in languages which show an antilocality effect but seldom in Chinese. The distribution and coindexation of all Chinese anaphors, either the X-benshen 'X-self' or the non-X-benshen 'non-X-self' anaphor, are determined by one single syntactic condition, namely, the traditional binding theory, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the coargument domain. In contrast, in languages which show an antilocality effect, the binding theory allows both pure and near anaphors within the coargument domain but Condition R filters out one of them in the absence of lexical/morphological reflexivity; however, outside the coargument domain, the binding theory itself governs the distribution and coindexation of all anaphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The specific referential renjia 'people-home' cannot be analyzed simply as a contra-reference code in contrast with a co-reference code, namely, the Mandarin Chinese reflexive ziji 'self', as suggested in R. Cheng (1989, 1993). We believe that all the phenomena shown by the specific referential renjia 'people-home' fall under the notion of sympathetic antilogophoricity. That is, whenever the speaker attempts to appeal to the addressee's sympathy (or agreement) in his (or her) thoughts or feeling, he/she usually uses the specific referential renjia 'people-home' and has it take as reference some identifiable or unidentifiable external protagonist(s) other than the speaker or the addressee, or someone who plays a pragmatically downgraded logophoric role in the discourse, namely the downgraded speaker or addressee. Cases involving either a speaker-reference or an addressee-reference can be regarded as an extension of core sympathetic antilogophoricity, which is limited to cases of reference to an external protagonist other than the speaker or the addressee. Only in a non-core case of sympathetic antilogophoricity is it a necessary property of the sympathetic antilogophor renjia 'people-home' that its antecedent denotes an individual conscious of the relevant event being reported. The differences between the specific referential renjia 'people-home' and English epithets (i.e., antilogophors) lead to our claim: There exist at least two types of antilogophors and the notion of sympathy plays an important role in interpreting some type of antilogophors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From structural analysis on genetically abnormal and chemically modified human antithrombin III [Koide, T., Odani, S., Takahashi, K., Ono, T. and Sakuragawa, N. (1984) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 81, 289 -293; Chang, J.-Y. and Tran, T. H., (1986) J. Blot Chem. 261, 1174-1176; Blackburn, M. N., Smith, R. L., Carson, J. and Sibley, C. C. (1984) J. Blot Chem. 259, 939 - 941], the heparin-binding site of antithrombin III has been suggested to be in the region of Pro-41, Arg-47 and Trp-49. In this study the heparin-binding site was probed by preferential cleavage of V8 protease on heparin-treated and non-treated native antithrombin III. The study has been based on the presumption that the heparin-binding site of antithrombin III is situated at exposed surface domain and may be preferentially attacked during limited proteolytic digestion. Partially digested antithrombin III samples were monitored by quantitative amino-terminal analysis and amino acid sequencing to identify the preferential cleavage sites. 1-h-digested antithrombin III was separated on HPLC and peptide fragments were isolated and characterized both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results reveal that Glu-Gly (residues 34- 35), Glu-Ala (residues 42-43) and Glu-Leu (residues 50- 51) are three preferential cleavage sites for V8 protease and their cleavage, especially the Glu-Ala and the Glu-Leu sites, was drastically inhibited when antithrombin III was preincubated with heparin. Both high-affinity and low-affinity antithrombin-II1-binding heparins were shown to inhibit the V8 protease digestion of native antithrombin 111, but the high-affinity sample exhibited a higher inhibition activity than the low-affinity heparin. These findings (a) imply that the segment containing residues 34-51 is among the most exposed region of native antithrombin Ill and (b) support the previous conclusions that this region may play a pivotal role in the heparin binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]