High vs. Low ‘Again’: Mandarin You vs. Zai and Cantonese -Faan vs. -Gwo

This paper discusses the exceptional scopal behavior of Mandarin preverbal you ‘again’ and Cantonese postverbal -faan ‘again’ in comparison with other ‘again’-type elements in Mandarin and Cantonese, including zai and -gwo. It reveals that this exceptional scopal behavior is determined by the position of ‘again’ and the size of the embedded clause. The paper suggests that Mandarin and Cantonese ‘again’ has two positions: one associated with outer aspect above vP and one associated with inner aspect below vP. It also proposes that nonfinite clauses can be as small as vP and lack an outer aspect. It suggests that the exceptional scopal behavior is a result of the syntactic association with outer aspect across vP, which is only possible for high ‘again’