It is argued in this thesis that the syntactic notion of tense is correlated with distributivity. Empirical evidence suggests that a distributive reading is positively related to tense. If a language possesses tense markings, then a distributive reading of a preverbal NP is available even in the absence of an overt distributive marker. It is proposed that tense, incorporated in the inflectional head ;Consideration of an early stage of Chinese lends supports to the analysis. Early Mandarin differs from Modern Mandarin with respect to distributivity. In Early Mandarin, a distributive reading is obtainable in the absence of the distributive marker dou. It is argued that in Early Mandarin DistP is available because there is a covert V-to-I movement. Such a V-to-I movement is driven by tense in ;To derive a distributive reading of a preverbal NP in Chinese, an overt distributive element like dou must be used. It is suggested that dou instantiates the distributive projection by occupying the head position of DistP.;It is also argued that dou has undergone a process of grammaticalization. It started as a verb, a full lexical item. Then it became more functional, eventually ending up being the head of DistP.
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