This book examines four Chinese optative constructions - jiu hao le optative,imperative optative, commissive optative and exclamative optative constructions- none of which includes a lexical item denoting wish or hope. The last three constructions,but not the first, are ambiguous. The author analyses these constructions, asking where an optative reading comes from,since these constructions do not contain a word expressing optativity.  Moreover, he explores what disambiguates the optative use and their original use for the latter threeconstructions. He then discusses the compositional and dynamic semantics of these constructions, comparing the Chinese optative constructions with English and German if-optatives and Japanese -to naa construction, in an attempt to propose a cross-linguistic semantics for optativity. This book will be of interest to readers with a background in Chinese linguistics and theoretical linguistics,especially semantics.

Jiun-Shiung Wu is Professor of Linguistics at Quanzhou Normal University in Fujian, China, where he is affiliated with the Silk Road Language and Culture Center and the School of Literature and Communication. He earned his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. His research specializes in formal semantics, dynamic semantics, formal pragmatics, the syntax-semantics interface, and natural language processing. Dr. Wu has authored two monographs—Intensification and Modal Necessity in Mandarin Chinese (2018) and Temporal and Atemporal Relations in Mandarin (2007)—alongside over two dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He has also delivered more than 50 presentations at international conferences and workshops.