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Lecture | CHiLL series

Approaching Mandarin wh-ex situ: D-linking effect

Date
Wednesday 27 November 2024
Time
Serie
Chinese Linguistics in Leiden (ChiLL)
Address
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden
Room
2.17

Abstract

Starting from the observation that Mandarin ex-situ wh-nominals are consistently D-linked (Pesetsky 1987; Dayal 2017), while all wh-nominals may remain in situ irrespective of their D-linking status, I argue in this presentation that D-linking is a prerequisite for wh-nominals to take up a left-peripheral position, not its result. This hypothesis is developed by distinguishing three types of wh-nominals and proposing that the wh-word within these nominals occupies distinct functional heads within the bi-phasal structure of a split determiner phrase (DP), in line with Roberts (2017). Crucially, the D-linking potential of wh-nominals depends on whether the wh-word can be exponed at the D head.

Additionally, leveraging insights from resumption-triggered weak crossover amnesty, I provide a novel criterion to differentiate Mandarin wh-focalization from wh-topicalization and the different syntactic derivations therein. Specifically, when an ex-situ wh-phrase leaves an unpronounced copy in the main clause, it creates a gapped A'-dependency due to focus movement, thus triggering WCO (Benincà and Poletto 2004). In contrast, the occurrence of a co-construing pronominal/epithet/resumptive phrase in the matrix clause signifies a shift in the interpretation of the ex-situ wh-nominal towards a hanging topic parse (Badan and Del Gobbo 2011). This interpretation aligns with constructions described as “as for” phrases. I further propose that this ‘resumptive’ A’-dependency involves a hidden prolepsis construction, where the base-generated proleptic wh-phrase predicates over a propositional complement containing a co-construing element, mediated by a Relator head (R), as described by Lohninger, Kovač and Wurmbrand (2022).

Biography

Fangning Ren is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, co-supervised by Ian Roberts and Theresa Biberauer. Fangning holds a BA in English Language and Literature and MA in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in Foreign Languages from Beijing Language and Culture University. She also holds an MA in Linguistics with distinction at the University College London. In 2024, Fangning exchanged at MIT for six months as a visiting student, hosted by David Pesetsky. Her research interests lie in the syntax-information structure interface, comparative syntax and morphosyntax.

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