The Doubly Marked Reflexive in Chinese

We discuss an unusual reflexive construction in which the Chinese reflexive ziji appears twice, once before the verb and once after. We demonstrate that this is a distinct construct with its own rules of construal and interpretation; it is not, for example, a combination of a simple ziji reflexive and an adverbial intensifier. Notably, their locality properties are also different: Double ziji does not tolerate non-local readings. We argue that while ziji is (or can be) a logophor [1], double ziji is an ordinary Principle A anaphor with all the properties and restrictions that this implies. Key words: Reflexives, Chinese, Binding theory

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: DAARC
• Authors: Alexis Dimitriadis, Min Que
• Keywords: Algorithms, Chinese Reflexive Ziji, DAARC 2009, Double Ziji, Simple Ziji Reflexive