中文關係子句孤島限制的再探

Revisit Relative Clause Islands in Chinese

在中文裡，有兩個對於關係子句孤島限制違反的不一致性。第一，只有當關係子句孤島在形容主語的位置時，違反孤島限制是可接受的，其他位置皆不行。第二，當關係子句孤島在形容主語的位置，違反孤島限制有時可接受而有時不可接受。這篇文章論證當位移出自關係子句孤島是可接受時，這實際上並沒有違反孤島限制，這是因為在深層結構裡，被移動的名詞是在孤島的外面。此外，本文也提出語用條件會影響是否被移動的名詞在深層結構裡是主題詞。

There are two inconsistencies regarding the violation of relative clause islands that challenge current analyses for relative clauses in Chinese. First, the violation is acceptable only when the relative clause island is located in the subject-modifying position, but not in other positions. Second, when the island is in the subject-modifying position, the violation is sometimes acceptable and sometimes unacceptable. This paper argues that when the extraction out of relative clause islands is permissible, there is actually no island violation, because the target of relativization is located outside of the island in the underlying structure. In addition, a pragmatic condition is proposed to play a role in allowing the target of movement to be a topic in the underlying structure. When the target NP cannot be properly characterized by the following clause, it cannot be a topic NP in the underlying structure. In this case, the target of relativization must be located inside the island, and extracting it out of the island causes ungrammaticality. This analysis provides a unifying analysis based on movement and can account for the inconsistencies successfully. It suggests that pragmatics affects syntax, and that all relative clauses in Chinese can be derived via syntactic movement.