This paper discusses the multiple meanings of the Mandarin Chinese verb
xiang and focuses on the different clause-embedding properties of each
reading. I propose three semantic entries for xiang: The NPselecting/
intransitive xiang1, which expresses a general mental eventuality, the attitudinal xiang2, which is built on xiang1 and has an additional modal component that allows for the ‘think’-‘desire’ alternation, and the modal xiang3, which only denotes a modal function with the meaning ‘may be about to’. Moreover, the paper presents various factors that can influence the interpretation of xiang2. These factors relate not only to the complement clause but also to the matrix clause and show hierarchical interactions, whereby the effect of a factor may be overridden by some others. I propose that the ultimate interpretation of
xiang2 is specified after the semantic composition of the whole sentence according to the hierarchy of the relevant factors, which can be
represented via the modeling of Optimality Theory.