(Embedded) short answers to wh-questions in Mandarin Chinese

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it investigates the formation of Mandarin embedded short-answer sentences. Given the fact that this type of sentence shares many syntactic properties with Mandarin pseudo-sluicing constructions, I propose that they are not derived via movement and ellipsis; instead, they consist of a base-generated empty category, shi, and the short-answer phrase. Although Mandarin embedded short-answer sentences are structurally similar to pseudo-sluicing constructions, they do not pattern alike in all aspects: the former differs from the latter in that the pre-shi empty category can be analyzed as an E-type pronoun, a topic-bound variable, or an event-related pro, depending on what it is co-referential with. In addition, the event-related pro cannot be linked to an implicit argument in embedded short-answer sentences, though it can in pseudo-sluicing constructions. Second, this analysis, in conjunction with the one proposed for Mandarin pseudo-sluicing constructions, illustrates that Mandarin Chinese, unlike Dutch and Hungarian, does not rely on the [E]-feature to construct sluicing and embedded fragment-answer sentences, which suggests that the [E]-feature is entirely absent in this language. Therefore, I propose that we should account for the derivation of Mandarin matrix fragment answers in terms of LF-copying, rather than PF-deletion.