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An experimental approach to the reconstruction of the head quantifier phrase in Chinese relative clauses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2024

Yunchuan Chen Open the ORCID record for Yunchuan Chen [Opens in a new window]
Yunchuan Chen*
Affiliation:
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
*
yunchuan.chen@duke.edu
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Abstract

Aoun and Li (2003) argued that whether the head of Chinese relative clauses can reconstruct at Logical Form is determined by its phrasal category. When the head is a noun phrase, it can reconstruct; but when it is a quantifier phrase, it cannot. This paper uses a sentence-picture matching experiment to investigate this claim. The results showed that a quantifier phrase can reconstruct. Thus, we do not need to stipulate a noun phrase/quantifier phrase distinction for the reconstruction of heads in Chinese relative clauses. Both types of phrases can reconstruct, predicted by the head-raising analysis of relative clauses.

Résumé

Résumé

Aoun et Li (2003) soutiennent que la catégorie phrastique détermine si la tête des clauses relatives chinoises peut être reconstruite à la Forme Logique (LF). Lorsque la tête est un syntagme nominal, elle peut se reconstruire, mais lorsqu'il s'agit d'un syntagme quantificateur, elle ne le peut pas. Cet article étudie cette assertion à travers une expérience d'appariement de phrases et d'images. Les résultats montrent qu'un syntagme quantifieur peut se reconstruire. Il n'est donc pas nécessaire d’établir une distinction entre syntagme nominal et syntagme quantifieur pour la reconstruction des têtes dans les clauses relatives chinoises. Les deux types de phrases peuvent reconstruire, comme le prévoit l'analyse des têtes dans les clauses relatives.

Keywords

Chinesequantifier phrasereconstructionrelative clausescopeChinoissyntagme quantifieurreconstructionclause relativeportée
Type
Short/En bref
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 118 - 128
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Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2024

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Footnotes

Many thanks to Shin Fukuda, Nianpo Su, and the audience at the 32th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-32) for their helpful comments. I am also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback, which greatly improved this article. All remaining errors are my own.

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