On Chinese Optativity - Jiun-Shiung Wu

This book examines four Chinese optative constructions - jiu hao le optative,imperative optative, commissive optative and exclamative optative constructions- none of which includes a lexical item denoting wish or hope. The last three constructions,but not the first, are ambiguous. The author analyses these constructions, asking where an optative reading comes from,since these constructions do not contain a word expressing optativity. Moreover, he explores what disambiguates the optative use and their original use for the latter three constructions. He then discusses the compositional and dynamic semantics of these constructions, comparing the Chinese optative constructions with English and German if-optatives and Japanese -to naa construction, in an attempt to propose a cross-linguistic semantics for optativity. This book will be of interest to readers with a background in Chinese linguistics and theoretical linguistics,especially semantics.