Abstract
This paper has two goals. First, I argue that contrary to what has been assumed by many previous works, the two characteristics of long-distance reflexivization, long-distance binding and subject-binding, should not be treated as two inseparable consequences of a single LF operation. While long-distance binding indeed results from LF movement, subject-binding must be analyzed separately. Secondly, I show that it is not necessary to make the unjustified assumption that bare reflexives always involve X0-movement while compound reflexives move only as phrases. Given Huang's observation that there is no Subjacency effect at LF, the contrast between long-distance binding and local binding can be accounted for by uniformly moving N0 (=head of a reflexive) at LF regardless of the actual form of the reflexive. The only constraints are the independently motivated ones such as Lasnick and Saito's ECP and Li's theory of X0-binding.
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I thank Jim Huang and Howard Lasnik for thoroughly discussing this paper with me. I also discussed various parts of this paper with Duanmu San, Jane Grimshaw, Ken Hale, Joan Maling, Wayne O'Neil, and Esther Torrego. TwoJEAL reviewers' comments have helped make my arguments more rigorous. I thank them for sharing their expertise with me. I am grateful to Duanmu San, Wang Yüyan, and Xie Qing for providing their judgments on the Chinese data.
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Li, Y. What makes long distance reflexives possible?. J East Asian Linguis 2, 135–166 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01732502
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01732502