{"id":4400,"date":"2026-10-31T17:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/?p=4400"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:48:10","slug":"dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On October 30, Professor Yimei Xiang gave an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ling.upenn.edu\/events\/2026\/10\/30\/speaker-series-yimei-xiang-semantics\">invited talk<\/a> at the Linguistics Speaker Series at the University of Pennsylvania. Her talk was titled\u00a0\u201cFrom \u2018also\u2019 to \u2018even\u2019: Function alternations of the Mandarin particle <em>ye,<\/em>\u201d and the abstract is copied below.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Abstract<\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Mandarin particle <em>ye<\/em>\u00a0exhibits both a simple additive use (\u2018also\u2019) and a scalar additive use (\u2018even\u2019). This alternation is unlikely to be accidental: across genetically and typologically diverse languages, additive markers frequently extend to scalar interpretations. Why does additivity so often give rise to scalarity, rather than to some other meaning component? Mandarin offers a particularly revealing testing ground for this question, as the \u2018even\u2019 use of <em>ye<\/em> overlaps with that of another multifunctional particle, <em>dou<\/em>, which displays a distributor\u2013\u2018even\u2019 alternation.<\/p>\n<p>I argue that the presuppositional properties of <em>ye<\/em>, including focus-sensitivity, additivity, and scalarity, derive from a single definedness condition, termed &#8216;Identity to Anti-Exclusion&#8217;. Parallel to the distributor-to-&#8216;even&#8217; alternation of <em>dou<\/em>, the &#8216;also&#8217;-to-&#8216;even&#8217; alternation of <em>ye<\/em>\u00a0arises when exclusivity is defined in terms of likelihood rather than logical strength.<\/p>\n<p>This account clarifies both the parallels and the contrasts between <em>ye<\/em>\u00a0and <em>dou<\/em>\u00a0across several scalar environments, such as minimizer-licensing constructions and evaluative statements. I argue that the distribution of these two particles in these constructions is shaped by their shared scalarity and their difference in additivity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 30, Professor Yimei Xiang gave an invited talk at the Linguistics Speaker Series at the University of Pennsylvania. Her talk was titled\u00a0\u201cFrom \u2018also\u2019 to \u2018even\u2019: Function alternations of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/\" class=\"\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,56,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty","category-invited-talk","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn - Linguistics Graduate Students Association<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn - Linguistics Graduate Students Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On October 30, Professor Yimei Xiang gave an invited talk at the Linguistics Speaker Series at the University of Pennsylvania. Her talk was titled\u00a0\u201cFrom \u2018also\u2019 to \u2018even\u2019: Function alternations of &hellip; Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Linguistics Graduate Students Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-31T17:48:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Quartz Colvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Quartz Colvin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn - Linguistics Graduate Students Association\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-31T17:48:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-31T17:48:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#\/schema\/person\/b15a6e8cd15d06df3d222be660832c5f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/\",\"name\":\"Linguistics Graduate Students Association\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#\/schema\/person\/b15a6e8cd15d06df3d222be660832c5f\",\"name\":\"Quartz Colvin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2f698756556323a9c37bbe8652227d77d6886d565fce11a0620b7bb951ceda1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2f698756556323a9c37bbe8652227d77d6886d565fce11a0620b7bb951ceda1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Quartz Colvin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/author\/cmc741\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn - Linguistics Graduate Students Association","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn - Linguistics Graduate Students Association","og_description":"On October 30, Professor Yimei Xiang gave an invited talk at the Linguistics Speaker Series at the University of Pennsylvania. Her talk was titled\u00a0\u201cFrom \u2018also\u2019 to \u2018even\u2019: Function alternations of &hellip; Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/","og_site_name":"Linguistics Graduate Students Association","article_published_time":"2026-10-31T17:48:10+00:00","author":"Quartz Colvin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Quartz Colvin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/","name":"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn - Linguistics Graduate Students Association","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-10-31T17:48:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-31T17:48:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#\/schema\/person\/b15a6e8cd15d06df3d222be660832c5f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/dr-yimei-xiang-gives-invited-talk-at-upenn\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dr. Yimei Xiang Gives Invited Talk at UPenn"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/","name":"Linguistics Graduate Students Association","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#\/schema\/person\/b15a6e8cd15d06df3d222be660832c5f","name":"Quartz Colvin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2f698756556323a9c37bbe8652227d77d6886d565fce11a0620b7bb951ceda1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2f698756556323a9c37bbe8652227d77d6886d565fce11a0620b7bb951ceda1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Quartz Colvin"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/author\/cmc741\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4401,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions\/4401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/lgsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}