Wh-P and the Intervention Effect of negation

Aiqing Wang

doi:10.36892/ijlls.v3i1.477

Abstract

Following the Government and Binding theory mainly developed by Chomsky (1981, 1982, 1986), I explore wh-P and the Intervention Effect of negation in Late Archaic Chinese (LAC). I propose that the inverted order of wh-P in LAC is generated via PP inversion followed by the separate preposing of wh and P. The wh-complement raises to [Spec, PP] and further moves to the specifier position of a functional projection. If the wh-PP is base-generated preverbally, the preposition moves to the head position of the functional projection directly; if the wh-PP is base-generated postverbally, the preposition must first incorporate to a V0 and then move to the head position of the functional projection through excorporation. In terms of the Intervention Effect, wh-arguments and adverbials that usually move to the Low focus position below negation are subject to a blocking effect caused by negation, so these wh-phrases have to land in the High focus position above negation which is expected to accommodate ‘high’ adverbials exclusively. I argue that the Intervention Effect in LAC is a consequence of Q-binding as feature movement of [wh], interacting with fronting into the hierarchy of clause-internal positions driven by [Focus] feature.

Highlights

Archaic Chinese refers to the language of the early and middle Zhou (11thc BC-221BC) period (Karlgren 1923, Djamouri et al 2012)
Late Archaic Chinese (LAC) exhibits robust characteristics disparate from modern Mandarin, and the Chinese language during the following Han Dynasty (2ndc BC-2ndc AD), which was regarded as a crucial transitional period with multiple typological changes (Xu 2006, Aldridge 2015)
Returning to the approach of PP inversion followed by separate movement of wh and P, this argument accounts for four facts: 1) a preposed wh-element is higher than its corresponding preposition in the tree, 2) there is no intervening element between the preposed wh and its corresponding preposition, 3) there is complementary distribution of FMs ZHI/SHI and prepositions, and 4) the derived order wh-P only occurs preverbally, but not postverbally

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Archaic Chinese refers to the language of the early and middle Zhou (11thc BC-221. BC) period (Karlgren 1923, Djamouri et al 2012). Returning to the approach of PP inversion followed by separate movement of wh and P, this argument accounts for four facts: 1) a preposed wh-element is higher than its corresponding preposition in the tree, 2) there is no intervening element between the preposed wh and its corresponding preposition, 3) there is complementary distribution of FMs ZHI/SHI and prepositions, and 4) the derived order wh-P only occurs preverbally, but not postverbally. For a non-wh-PP base-generated postverbally and fronted to a preverbal position, if inversion did not happen but P and DP still formed a constituent, we would expect (long-distance) PP movement only, an order PDP-VP. Yǐ this can with observe morality.behavior Decl ‘(People) can observe (one’s) morality and behaviors with this’

The Intervention Effect of Negation

Conclusion