Abstract
Quantifier phrases (QP) can co-occur in a single sentence, which may cause ambiguity in terms of scope relation,
viz. wide scope and narrow scope interpretations. Aoun & Li (1993) claim that
quantifier scope ambiguity also exists in Chinese passive construction, such as yige nűren bei meige ren ma ‘a
woman was scolded by everyone’. Following Lee (1986)’s proposal, it is argued in this
paper that the scopal relations of Chinese QPs are not purely syntactic as in Aoun & Li’s analysis, but should be determined
by the interaction between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Based on naturalistic data, it is shown that (i) Chinese QPs can be
classified into whQP, distributive-universal QP and group-denoting QP, whose semantic properties determine the scope relations
between them; (ii) in general, a QP is devoid of referentiality, yet it can acquire referentiality depending on its co-occurrence
with other QPs or contextual factors; (iii) the subject definiteness constraint in Chinese, a language-specific constraint, would
affect the interpretation of subject QPs in Chinese passive construction.