Essays on Writing and Language in Honor - Sino-Platonic Papers

S~h~ftfts~h?fhrift: Essay in Honor of John &Francis
YES-NO QUESTIONS IN TAIPEI AND PEKING MANDARIN
ROBERT M. SANDERS
I. DEFINITION OF A YES-NO QUESTION
This paper examines the manner in which yes-no questions are
expressed in the speech communities of Taipei and Peking. A yes-no
question here is defined in terms of how one would answer the
question in English. In other words, if the Chinese question were
translated into English with the intent of allowing the listener to
respond in English, the only two options available to that respondent
would be either "yes" or "no." In Mandarin, then, there exist three
sentence patterns which are seen to exemplify this type of question.
They are:
1. The A-not-A Question
a. Ni qu-bu-qu ta jia?
you-go-NEG-go-3rd person-home
Are you going to his house?
b. Ni qu ta jia bu qu?
you-go-3rd person-home-NEG-go
Are you going to his house?
2. Sentence Intonation + Particle MA
Ni qu ta jia ma?
you-go-3rd person-home-PARTICLE
Are you going to his house?
3. Sentence Intonation Alone
Ni qu ta jia?
you-go-3rd person-home
Are.you going to his house?
As one can see, in English the only possible response available to the
listener is either "yes" or "no." In Chinese, on the other hand, the
situation is not quite that simple. In fact, in two out of the three
patterns, the respondent has at his disposal more than one option in