Chinese Non-Local Reflexivization: A Competition-Based Approach

• Main Authors: Yu-Rui Liu, 劉聿睿
• Other Authors: Miao-Ling Hsieh
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84551001418648986076

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 95 === The present study investigates the conditions for licensing the use of the Chinese non-local reflexive pronoun ziji in a competition-based framework. We review some current analyses in the literature and argue that none of them can tackle the phenomena associated with ziji, i.e. binding to sub-commanding NPs, subject orientation, and the blocking effect, satisfactorily. We then propose an approach primarily based on the insights of Hu and Pan (2002) and demonstrate that it achieves greater empirical coverage than previous accounts. It is shown that the syntactic notions of c-command, containment, dominance, and the path, aided by the animacy hierarchy, can provide a uniform treatment for the phenomena of our interest. More precisely, binding to sub-commanding NPs and the presence of subject orientation and the absence thereof follow from the interaction of the prominence factors [+subject] and [+dominating, +animate]. The binding behavior in the ba/bei constructions and psych-sentences is also amenable to the approach. Furthermore, the blocking effect also lends credence to the competition-based approach: a prominence hierarchy similar to the one devised for the reference resolution of non-local antecedents and two variants of the animacy hierarchy explain the idiolectal/dialectal variation concerning whether the blocking effect arises between an intervening third person NP subject and a first person matrix subject. Other issues, such as the weakening of the blocking effect, are also addressed in this work.