On “Higher-than-expectation” Interpretation of Dou and Shenzhi

In current literature, one of the well-accepted interpretations of Dou is the even-like interpretation which in essence is the higher-than-expectation (HTE) interpretation. However, there are two problems to be solved. Firstly, the even-like dou can be used in the context in which there is seemingly no HTE; secondly, dou can be used in concordance with shenzhi (a Chinese counterpart of even). If both of them have the same HTE, it will be redundant. Based on the analysis of the alternative semantics, the paper proposes that there are three types of HTE: focused HTE, relevant HTE and compound HTE. It is the ignorance of the different types of HTE that leads to the first problem. Additionally, the paper argues that the HTE triggered by dou is a kind of implicature while that triggered by shenzhi is a kind of presupposition, and that the focus structure of dou is different from that of shenzhi. Therefore, the concordance of dou and shenzhi results in a complicated semantic relationship.