Yang, C. and Brunetto, V. (2024) Local, Intermediate and Long-distance Binding: The Case of the Chinese Reflexive Ziji in the Long Bei-construction. International Journal of Chinese Language Teaching, 5 (2). pp. 5-18. ISSN: 2708-9517
Abstract
This study tackles binding issues of Chinese reflexive ziji, an instantiation of so-called long-distance anaphors. We evaluated a “mixed” approach (Charnavel, 2019; Huang & Liu, 2001; Huang et al., 2009) to long-distance anaphora, by analyzing the role of locality and logophoricity on the behavior of ziji in the long-bei passive, an understudied construction in the domain of Chinese anaphora. Our analysis shows that the “mixed” approach, which claims that a long-distance anaphor is either a plain anaphor or a logophor subject to logophoricity, is not sufficient for capturing ziji's behavior in the bei-construction. We argue that when taking antecedence from the matrix subject of the long-bei passive, ziji is neither a plain anaphor as it is not locally bound, nor a logophor as logophoricity effects are absent. We suggest that ziji may have a third status: intermediate binding, ie, neither local nor long-distance, but rather indirect resulting from the mediation of a null operator. Further research will look into other constructions that may involve intermediate binding, eg, the ba-construction, and focus on properties of intermediate binding and seek accounts for it.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article | 
|---|---|
| Authors/Creators: | 
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| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | 
| Keywords: | Long-distance anaphora, Chinese reflexive ziji, the bei-construction, locality, logophoricity | 
| Dates: | 
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| Institution: | The University of Leeds | 
| Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) | 
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications | 
| Date Deposited: | 24 Sep 2025 14:39 | 
| Last Modified: | 24 Sep 2025 14:39 | 
| Status: | Published | 
| Publisher: | Clifford Publishing Limited | 
| Identification Number: | 10.46451/ijclt.20240202 | 
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:231994 | 
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