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Verbal reduplication in Mandarin Chinese: An HPSG account

Author: Janru Lu and Stefan Müller

Keywords: Reduplication, Mandarin Chinese, HPSG This paper appeared 2021 in Stefan Müller (Ed): Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Online (Frankfurt/Main), 83–103. Frankfurt/Main: University Library. DOI: 10.21248/hpsg.2021.5

We show how the variation in the passive in Danish, English, and German can be accounted for. The dimensions in which the three languages differ are

  • the existence of a morphological passive in Danish
  • a subject requirement in Danish and English resulting in expletive insertion in impersonal constructions in Danish and absence of impersonal passives in English
  • the possibility to promote the secondary object to subject in Danish
The differences are accounted for by differences in the structural/lexical case distinction and by mapping processes that insert expletives in Danish. The passive in general is accounted for by a lexical rule that is uniform across languages and hence captures the generalization regarding passive.