Association with Focus Phrases or with Focus alone

Different semantic frameworks have been proposed for the interpretation of focus.All are based on the assumption that focus-sensitive operators associate with focus.Based on a study on the restrictive focusing particle "only",Krifka (1997,2006) posits a hybrid framework of focus interpretation,which argues for association with focus phrases in the following way:association with focus phrases is via LF movement and association of focus within focus phrases via projection of alternatives.This paper examines focus association in Chinese,so as to answer the question "Do Chinese focus-sensitive operators associate with focus phrases or with focus alone?" It is argued that both are necessary in Chinese,which is governed by the following condition:In the case of negators or negative quantifiers,association would be with focus,and in the case of restrictive focusing particles and additive/scalar particles,with focus phrases;otherwise,it would lead to semantic misinterpretation or deviation.It is suggested that it is the lexical semantics of focus-sensitive operators that determines whether the relevant association is with focus or focus phrases.