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Article published In: Language and Linguistics
Vol. 26:1 (2025) ► pp.78–122

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Pseudo matrix sluicing constructions in Mandarin Chinese

ORCiD logo with link | National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 9 August 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00175.liu
Abstract
Speakers of Mandarin Chinese have a variety of ways to respond to others, one of which is the employment of a single wh-phrase to form a follow-up question. However, using a short wh-phrase to ask a question is not without any restrictions. Sometimes, the antecedent sentence needs to contain an indefinite NP, while at other times it does not. I first consider the possibility of applying the movement and ellipsis approach and the base-generation approach to these Mandarin short wh-phrase questions. Given the fact that neither of these analyses captures the syntactic properties of this type of question in Mandarin Chinese, I propose to deal with it in terms of an analysis that is based on LF-copying. More specifically, I propose that the wh-phrase in a short wh-phrase question is base-generated in the Spec of CP, which is followed by an empty IP in the underlying and surface structure. When this structure is processed at LF, it becomes interpretable after the antecedent IP is copied into the empty IP position. Since the wh-phrase remains in its original position throughout the derivation, I call this type of question a pseudo matrix sluicing construction. This analysis not only successfully accounts for the derivation of Mandarin short wh-questions, but also respects the fact that Mandarin Chinese is a wh-in-situ as well as a non-preposition-stranding language.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Japanese matrix sluicing constructions
    • 2.1Hasegawa (2008)
    • 2.2Fujiwara (2020)
  • 3.Mandarin pseudo matrix sluicing constructions
    • 3.1Potential analyses
      • 3.1.1The movement and ellipsis analysis
      • 3.1.2The base-generation approach
    • 3.2Proposal
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
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