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Local versus long-distance bound implicit arguments of inalienable relational nouns in Chinese.
- Source :
- Journal of Linguistics; Apr2022, Vol. 58 Issue 2, p269-305, 37p
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- This paper argues that inalienable relational nouns in Mandarin Chinese, specifically kinship nouns (KNs, e.g. father, sister) and body-part nouns (BPNs, e.g. head, face), have an implicit reflexive argument. Based on a syntactic comparison between KNs, BPNs, locally and long-distance bound reflexives, we argue that the implicit reflexive arguments of BPNs must be locally bound, whereas that of KNs can either be locally or long-distance bound. We conclude that these two types of implicit arguments in Mandarin Chinese correspond to locally and long-distance bound reflexives, respectively. We analyze this difference in connection with binding theory and a theory of logophoricity. We argue that the implicit argument of BPNs is a locally bound anaphor and cannot be used as a logophor, whereas that of KNs can, supporting a proposal that the logophoric property leads to long-distance binding, as argued by Huang & Liu's (2001) for reflexives in Mandarin Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- NOUNS
MANDARIN dialects
ARGUMENT
KINSHIP
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00222267
- Volume :
- 58
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Linguistics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 155860945
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226721000190