Two Classes of Intensifiers in Mandarin Chinese: From Subjectivity to Evidentiality

This article investigates two distinct classes of intensifiers in Mandarin Chinese, ordinary intensifiers (Class I) and subjective intensifiers (Class II). Intensifiers from Class II, such as zhēn “really”, cannot be used in the following cases: (i) interrogatives, (ii) sentences containing epistemic modals, (iii) sentences with negation or as conditional antecedents, (iv) sentences containing attitude predicates, and (v) contexts lacking firsthand experience. This paper argues that evidentiality, as a conceptual framework concerning the source of knowledge, can account for these phenomena related to Class II intensifiers. Specifically, in this study, evidentiality constraints on both the subject and the manner of the information source. The subject must be the speaker, and the information must be acquired as firsthand experience.