Published December 15, 2017 | Version v1
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Anaphoric object drop in Chinese

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Caritas Institute of Higher Education, Hong Kong

Description

This squib proposes a novel means of solving the problem of non-specific null object with an indefinite antecedent in Chinese whereas \citet{Huang1982,Huang1984,Huang1989} argued that a dropped object is bound by a topic which must be definite. This squib proposes a formal representation that develops \citegen{Holmberg2005} and \citegen{RobertsHolmberg2010} analysis of radical pro-drop as [uD] (unvalued determiner-feature). Null object arguments in Chinese are argued to have the same featural composition: [uD]. They can be valued from an antecedent, but it is with a referential index or a referential variable. It is hoped that this squib can make a valuable contribution to our understanding of anaphoric specific and non-specific object drop in Chinese, particularly in the simplicity of its theoretical machinery.

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