The Asymmetry Between The Chinese First/Second Person Pronouns And The Third Person Pronouns And The Blocking Effect In Long-distance Binding

This thesis is a study on the asymmetry between the first/second and third personpronouns exhibited in the blocking effect of long-distance bound ziji self·in Chinese.The previous studies on the asymmetry between the Chinese personal pronouns in theblocking effect are mainly conducted from syntactic and pragmatic perspectives.However, few of them have provided a satisfactory account for it, for the reason thatnone of them has touched upon the basic grammatical difference between the Chinesepersonal pronouns.A new proposal is put forth in this thesis that it is the distinctive grammaticalstatus of the personal pronouns in Chinese that results in the asymmetry between thefirst/second person pronouns and the third person pronouns displayed in the blockingeffect in long distance binding of ziji self·. Following the studies on the distinctivegrammatical status of personal pronouns by Safir (2004), Partee (2004) and Déchaine&Wiltschko (2002), I find out that the Chinese personal pronouns have distinctivesyntactic and semantic status as well: The Chinese first/second person pronouns aresaturated constants in semantics and pro-DPs in syntax while the Chinese third personpronouns are unsaturated bound variables in semantics and pro-Ps in syntax.To account for the relationship between the grammatical status of the Chinesepersonal pronouns and their asymmetry displayed in the blocking effect in longdistance binding of ziji self·, I assume that the crucial difference in grammaticalstatus between the first/second person pronouns and the third person pronouns lies inwhether the denotation of personal pronouns is clearly specified and whether there isany uncertain information in the denotation of personal pronouns. It is the uncertaintyin the denotation of personal pronouns which implies a slot in the syntactic andsemantic structure that eventually provides a landing site for the anaphoric reflexiveziji self· to cross over the personal pronouns and seek for its long-distanceantecedents.In addition, the relevant issues brought by the asymmetry between the personal pronouns are discussed in this thesis. The distinctive grammatical status of thepersonal pronouns in Chinese not only results in their asymmetry in the blockingeffect in long distance binding but also brings about a series of asymmetries betweenthem in other constructions such as existential constructions, modificationconstructions, quantification constructions and VP ellipsis constructions and so forth.The asymmetry between the two types of personal pronouns in the blocking effect inlong-distance binding of ziji self· is just a representative of these asymmetries. Allthe asymmetries between the first/second person pronouns and the third personpronouns are determined by the syntactic and semantic distinction between the twotypes of personal pronouns.