A-not-a questions in Mandarin Chinese : an HPSG account

Abstract

In this paper, I look at a-not-a questions in Mandarin Chinese, and create an account based on the framework of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) and Minimal Recursion Semantics (MRS). While the a-not-a structure has seen extensive research in the past decades, they have largely been movement-based. Thus, this paper attempts to provide a non-movement but constraint-based HPSG/MRS account, which has thus far not been performed. Secondly, I have also begun initial implementation of said account into the HPSG-based Zhong [|] computational grammar for Chinese. While the basic forms of the a-not-a structure were accounted for and implemented, it was found that limitations in the system and formalisation prevented VP-not-VP questions from being successfully implemented.