Type shifting, Chinese hen+N structure, and implications for semantic parameters

Huang Shi-Zhe's (2006, 2008) type-theoretical analysis of hen in hen+N expressions in Chinese, though insightful, is based on controversial assumptions concerning the semantics of hen and the denotations of Chinese common nouns. This paper aims to lend substantial support to this type-theoretical analysis by: (1) maintaining that the modifier hen in this special structure has become a type-shifter of predicativization; (2) arguing that Chinese common nouns are e kind-denoting terms; and (3) proposing that there are two types of properties associated with a kind: extrinsic property and intrinsic property, which are mapped by two pred operators, hen and shi respectively.