Properties of Mandarin Reflexives

Abstract

Abstract There are some problems concerning the properties of Mandarin reflexives as claimed by former studies. The present study redefines Mandarin simplex reflexives and compound reflexives as having different syntactic properties. Mandarin simplex reflexives with ziji possess features of both anaphor and pronoun and follow the normal pattern of derivation. This explains why the simplex reflexives exhibit the long-distance binding phenomenon and blocking effect. Mandarin compound reflexives are quite similar to English reflexives and they follow the special derivational pattern. At the beginning of the derivation, they form pairs with antecedents and their antecedents help to value the reflexive feature and then designate ziji as a suffix to the pronouns. This helps to explain why the Mandarin compound reflexives strictly follow the BCA. The simplex reflexive in Mandarin double reflexive structures is different from the bare conditional shui in having de dicto interpretation, that is, it has an implicit specified antecedent in the context.