Research: Investigating strategies for ambiguity resolution: A corpus-based study on the negative forms of the Chinese necessity modal 应该 yīnggāi (Provvisorio)
Curriculum East Asia
Abstract
This research aims to identify, through a corpus-based study, the factors that contribute to disambiguate the modal readings acquired by the negative forms of the polysemous Chinese modal 应该 yīnggāi ‘should’.
The study is primarily intended to prove whether the contrast between external and internal negation (Neg+Mod vs Mod+Neg) effectively triggers a shift from deontic to epistemic necessity, as hypothesized by Tsang (1981), and to test the readings allowed by the interplay with the double negation (Neg+Mod+Neg). However, due attention will be attached to other syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic factors, in order to highlight all the environments which can provide an unambiguous reading for the negative forms of 应该 yīnggāi.
Research interests: the semantics of modal expressions in Modern Standard Chinese; The interaction between modal verbs and negative markers in Modern Standard Chinese.
CV
11/2025 – present: Ph.D. in Civilizations of Asia and Africa at ISO (Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali), Sapienza Università di Roma.
09/2021 – 03/2024: Master’s degree in Languages and Civilizations of Asia and Mediterranean Africa, Chinese language, Ca’Foscari University of Venice. Final mark: 110L
02/2023 – 06/2023: “Overseas” program (Chinese language courses) at Capital Normal University (Peking).
09/2017 – 06/2021: Bachelor’s Degree in Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa, Ca’Foscari University of Venice and Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Language, Capital Normal University (Double Degree).