Research topics

• structure of the extended VP in Mandarin Chinese
• the ba-construction
• focus cleft constructions in Mandarin ( shi…de )
• left periphery and low IP area (topic, outer vs. inner; topic marker, sentence-final particles); split CP
• adjective vs verb, adjectival modification, DP structure
• double object construction: Applicative Phrase
• syntax/semantics mismatch (cf. Paul 1988, chapters 3 & 6)
• verb-object compounds vs. verb-object phrases (cf. Paul 1988)
• serial verb constructions (SVC) 

Editorial responsabilities

• Glossa – A journal of general linguistics (http://www.glossa-journal.org)
  – associate editor since January 2016
  – interim co-editor- in-chief (with Guido Vanden Wyngaerd): Nov – Dec 2015
• Linguistic Inquiry (http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/ling)
  Member of the associate editorial board: since 2018
• Lingua
  Member of the editorial board: 2010 – October 2015
• Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie – Orientale
  Co-editor- in-chief (with Alain Lucas): 1992 – 2000 

Publications

► Publications (notices bibliographiques ou texte intégral) de Waltraud Paul sur HAL-Archives Ouvertes

Books

• Paul, W. 2015. New Perspectives on Chinese Syntax. Berlin: De Gruyter. xvi-358 p.
  [Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 271]
  Mandarin Chinese has become indispensable for crosslinguistic comparison and syntactic theorizing. It is nevertheless still difficult to obtain comprehensive answers to research questions, because Chinese is often presented as an exotic language defying the analytical tools standardly used for other languages. This book sets out to demystify Chinese. It places controversial issues in the context of current syntactic theories and offers precise analyses based on a large array of representative data.
  Reviewed by:
  (1) Yen-hui Audrey LI
  Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 1(1) (2016): 38.
  DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.233
  (2) Jingxia LIN
  Journal of Chinese Linguistics 44, 2 (2016): 451-457
  DOI: 10.1353/jcl.2016.0017
  (3) Jinglian LI and Fangjun MENG
  Language 92,4 (2016): 1006-1009
  (Review published here with the kind permission of the authors)
  (4) Han YAN
  International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 4, 2 (2017): 325-331
  http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/ijchl.00002.yan
  (5) Liexiang YANG
  北京第二外国语学院学报, 2018 年第1 期 (Journal of Beijing International Studies University): 120-128. DOI：10.12002/j.bisu.140
• Paul, W. 1988.  The Syntax of Verb-Object Phrases in Chinese: Constraints and Reanalysis. Paris: Editions Langages Croisés.

Articles

• 2024 (with Shanshan Yan). Making some progress on the progressive aspect zài in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics vol. 52, number 1 (January 2024), pp. 29-75.
  https://doi.org/10.1353/jcl.2024.a919398
• 2022 (with Shanshan Yan). Sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese. Syntax, semantics and acquisition. In: Xabier Artiagoitia, Arantzazu Elordieta and Sergio Monforte (eds.). 2022. Discourse Particles: Syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and historical aspects. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 179 – 206.
  https://doi.org/10.1075/la.276.07pau
• 2022  SVCs in disguise. The so-called “directional verb compounds” in Mandarin Chinese. In: Simpson, Andrew (ed.), New explorations in Chinese theoretical syntax. Studies in honor of Yen-Hui Audrey Li. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 133 – 166.
  https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.05pau
• 2021 Nobody there? On the non-existence of nobody in Mandarin Chinese and related issues. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique, vol. 66, issue 3 (September 2021), pp. 279 – 316. (Published online on August 16, 2021)
  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cnj.2021.21
• 2021 De-constructing small clauses: The case of Mandarin Chinese. Glossa: A Journal of
  General Linguistics 6 (1), 30. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1211
• 2021 (with Redouane Djamouri). Clitic pronouns in Archaic Chinese. Journal of Historical
  Linguistics 11,1: 60–101. https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.19024.dja
• 2020 (with Yaqiao Lu and Thomas Hun-tak Lee). Existential and locative constructions in
  Mandarin Chinese. The Linguistics Review 37, 2: 231-267 [Published Online: 07/10/.
  https://doi.org/10.1515/tlr-2019-2043.
• 2020 Les contraintes syntaxiques régissant le groupe verbal en chinois : l’importance de
  l’opposition traditionnelle zhuàngyǔ 状语 vs bīnyǔ 宾语 et bǔyǔ 补语. In : Yang-Drocourt,
  Zhitang et Arslangul, Arnaud (éds.) Actes du colloque « Enseignement du chinois langue
  étrangère aux francophones » – 对外汉语教学——法语国家和地区. Beijing : Beiyu
  chubanshe, pp. 188-201. ISBN : 978-7-5619-5423-2. http://blcup.com/pinfo/index/10318.
• 2019 (with Redouane Djamouri). Disharmony in harmony with diachronic stability: The case of Chinese. In: Anne Breitbarth, Miriam Bouzouita, Lieven Danckaert and Melissa Farasyn (eds.). The Determinants of Diachronic Stability. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 101-130.  https://doi.org/10.1075/la.254.05dja
• 2018 (with Victor Junnan Pan) Introduction to the Special Issue on Complex Sentences in Chinese. Linguistic Analysis (2018) 42, 1-2: 1-16
  
• 2018 (with Victor Junnan Pan) The syntax of complex sentences in Mandarin Chinese: A comprehensive overview and analyses. Linguistic Analysis (2018) 42, 1-2: 63-161
• 2018 (with Redouane Djamouri) A new approach to -zhe in Mandarin Chinese. In William McClure & Alexander Vovin (eds), Studies in Japanese and Korean Historical and Theoretical Linguistics and Beyond. Leiden: Brill, pp. 110-123.
• 2017 Null subject, null topics and topic prominence in Mandarin Chinese and beyond. In: Si Fuzhen 司富珍 (ed.) 2017. Studies on Syntactic Cartography, Volume 1, pp 134-162.
  Beijing: China Social Sciences Press 《句法制图理论研究 第一卷)》中国社会科学出版社
• 2017 (with John Whitman). Topic Prominence. In: The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, 2nd edition, Volume VII, pages 4473-4503, chapter 117. Martin Everaert and Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.). MA: Malden  (ISBN 9781118358726). Wiley Online Library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118358733
• 2017 Article on adverbs in Chinese and article on the double object construction in Chinese for the Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, Rint Sybesma et al. (eds.). Leiden: Brill. Vol. 1, pp. 122-127; Vol. 2, pp. 125-130. (ISBN13: 9789004186439)
• 2017 (with Victor Pan). What you see is what you get: Chinese sentence-final particles as head-final complementisers. In: Bayer, Josef & Struckmeier, Volker (eds.). 2017. Discourse particles. Formal approaches to their syntax and semantics. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 49-77. (ISBN 978-3-11-049715-1)
• 2017 The insubordinate subordinator de in Mandarin Chinese: Second take. In: Tang, Sze-Wing (ed.). 《汉 语“的”的研究》（Studies of the particle de in Chinese）[Frontiers in Chinese Linguistics Series]. Beijing: Peking University Press, pp. 3-30.
• 2016a Where “complex” sentences are not complex and “subordinate” clauses not subordinate: The case of Mandarin Chinese. In: S Pereira, C. Pinto, F. Pratas (eds.). Coordination and Subordination: form and meaning. Selected papers from CSI Lisbon 2014. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 201-224. (ISBN 978-1-4438-8950-6)
• 2016b (with Victor Pan) Why Chinese SFPs are neither optional nor disjunctors. Final version in Lingua, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2015.10.005 (available online since 30 November 2015).
• 2014 Why particles are not particular: Sentence-final particles in Chinese as heads of a split CP. Studia Linguistica 68,1: 77-115.
• 2013a (with Redouane Djamouri) Shanggu hanyu zhong de yu he zai zuo jieci de yongfa 上 古汉语中的“于”和“在”作 介词的用法 [The prepositions yu and zai in Archaic Chinese]. In: Wu, Fuxiang (ed.) Jingwai hanyu lishi jufaxue wencui [Research abroad on the diachronic syntax of Chinese]. Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe, pp. 193-210. 吳福祥編《境 外汉语历史句法学文萃》上海：上 海教 育出版社，2013年。 193-210页
• 2013b (with R. Djamouri and J. Whitman) Syntactic change in Chinese and the argument – adjunct asymmetry. In: Cao, Guangshun, H. Chappell, R. Djamouri, T. Wiebusch (eds.). Breaking down the barriers: Interdisciplinary studies in Chinese linguistics and beyond [Language and Linguistics monograph series]. Taipei: Academia Sinica, pp. 577-594.

• 2013c (with R. Djamouri and J. Whitman). Postpositions vs. prepositions in Mandarin Chinese: The articulation of disharmony. In: Theoretical approaches to disharmonic word order, Theresa Biberauer and Michelle Sheehan (eds.), 74 – 105. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• 2012 Why Chinese de is not like French de: A critical analysis of the predicational approach to nominal modification. Studies in Chinese Linguistics [The Chinese University of Hong Kong] 33, 3: 183-210.
• 2010a Adjectives in Mandarin Chinese: The rehabilitation of a much ostracized category. Final version published in: Cabredo-Hofherr, P. & Matushansky, O. (eds.). Adjectives. Formal analyses in syntax and semantics. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 115–152.
• 2010b. Applicative structure and Mandarin ditransitives (with John Whitman). Final version published in: Maia Duguine, Susana Huidobro and Nerea Madariaga (eds.) (2010) Argument Structure and Syntactic Relations. A cross-linguistic perspective. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 261 – 282.
• 2009 (with Redouane Djamouri). Verb-to-preposition reanalysis in Chinese. In: Crisma, P. & Longobardi, G. (eds.). Historical syntax and linguistic theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 194 – 211.
• 2008a. Expletive and thematic applicatives (with Effi Georgala and John Whitman). In: Proceedings of the 26th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, ed. Charles B. Chang et Hannah J. Haynie, pp. 181-189. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project (http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wccfl/26/index.html)
• 2008b. The ‘serial verb construction’ in Chinese: A tenacious myth and a Gordian knot. The Linguistic Review 25, 3/4 : 367 – 411. 
• 2008c. Shi…de focus clefts in Mandarin Chinese (with John Whitman). The Linguistic Review 25, 3/4 : 413 – 451 
• 2006. Zhu Dexi’s two classes of adjectives revisited. In:  Christoph Anderl & Halvor Eifring (eds.). Studies in Chinese language and culture. Festschrift in honour of Christoph Harbsmeier on the occasion of his 60th birthday.  Oslo : Hermes Academic Publishing, pp. 303-315.
• 2005 a. Low IP area and left periphery in Mandarin Chinese. Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes 33 (2005) 111 -134.
• 2005 b. Reanalysis and conservancy of structure in Chinese (with John Whitman). [Ms.]. Final version in: Batllori, M. et al. (eds.). Grammaticalization and Parametric Variation. Oxford: OUP ; pp ; 82 – 94.
• 2005 c. Adjectival modification and related issues in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics vol. 43, 4 (2005) : 757 – 793.
• 2005 d. The “serial verb construction” in Chinese: A Gordian knot. In: Oyharçabal B. & Paul W. 2005. Proceedings of the workshop La notion de « construction verbale en série » est-elle opératoire ? December 9, 2004, Ehess, Paris.
• 2002 a. Sentence-internal topics in Mandarin Chinese: the case of object preposing. Language and Linguistics [Academia Sinica, Taiwan] 3, 4 : 695 – 714.
• 2002 b. Proxy Categories in Phrase Structure Theory and the Chinese VP. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 31, 2 : 137 – 174.
• 2000 Verb movement and the VP shell in Chinese: Some critical remarks. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 29, 2: 255-270.
• 1999 Verb gapping in Chinese: a case of verb raising. Lingua 107, 3/4 : 207 – 226.
• 1998 a. Verb raising in Chinese. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences (University of Illinois) 26, 1/2: 255 – 271 [dated 1996, published in spring 1998].
• 1998 b. Subordinating Conjunctions as a Functional Category in Mandarin Chinese (with H.-D. Gasde). in : T’sou, Benjamin K. (éd.). Studia Linguistica Serica. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Chinese Linguistics, July 14 – 16, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong 1994. Hong Kong : City University of Hong Kong ; pp. 349 – 364.
• 1997 Les syntagmes prépositionnels en yu et zai en chinois archaïque (with R. Djamouri). Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 26, 2: 221 – 248.
• 1996 a. Verb Gapping and VP Ellipsis in Chinese. in : Pan-Asiatic Linguistics. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Language and Linguistics, Bangkok, January 8-10, 1996 . Mahidol University at Salaya, vol. 2, pp. 569 – 578.
• 1996 b. Review of: Tsai Mei-chih. 1995. Modification adverbiale et l’ordre des mots en chinois. GLOT International 2, 1/2 : 16 – 18.
• 1996 c. Functional Categories, Topic Prominence and Complex Sentences in Chinese (with H.-D. Gasde). Linguistics 34, 2 : 263 – 294.
• 1994 a. Adjunct Clauses and Topic Prominence in Mandarin Chinese (with H.-D. Gasde). in: HAFTKA, B. (éd.). Was determiniert die Wortstellungsvariation? – Annäherungen an ein Interaktionsfeld von Grammatik, Pragmatik und Sprachtypologie. Wiesbaden : Westdeutscher Verlag , pp. 113 – 122.
• 1994 b. L’omission du verbe existe-t-elle en chinois ? Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 23 : 255 – 264.
• 1993 a. Bi -zi ju de shanchufa de shangque [On the deletion approach in the comparative construction in Chinese]. Yuwen yanjiu [Linguistic Research] 1993, No. 1 : 29 – 36.
• 1993 b. A Non-Deletion Account of the Comparative Construction in Mandarin Chinese. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 22, 1 : 9 – 29.
• 1992 Bericht über das erste “Chinese Linguistics Institute”, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1991. Chinesischunterricht 9.
• 1990 Review of: Biq, Yung-O. 1987. The Semantics and Pragmatics of cai and jiu in Chinese. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 19, 2: 296 – 300.
• 1989 Vagabondages en syntaxe chinoise. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 18, 2: 269 – 292.
• 1988 a. Etude de dào introduisant les expressions temporelles. Journal of Humanities East/West (National Central University Chungli, Taiwan) 6: 177 – 196.
• 1988 b. The purposive gei clause in Chinese. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 17, 1: 25 -65
• 1987 Syntagme verbe-objet ou composé verbe-objet ? Un problème de la linguistique chinoise. Journal of Humanities East/West (National Central University Chungli, Taiwan) 5: 306 – 312
• 1985 Compte rendu de : Kautz, U. 1984. Chinese Equivalents of German and English Relative clauses. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 14, 1: 149 – 150
• 1984 Compte rendu de : Chu, C. C. 1983. A Reference Grammar of Mandarin Chinese for English speakers. Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 13, 2: 290 – 291.

Unpublished papers

• 2018 The encoding of finiteness in Chinese. Paper presented at the 10th Conference of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics, Università degli Studi di Milano & Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 28-29 septembre 2018.
• 2014  Squib on Finiteness in Mandarin Chinese and the basic syntax of kěnéng (with Victor Junnan Pan).
• 2009  Consistent disharmony: Sentence-final particles in Chinese