The Acquisition of English Reflexives by Speakers of Mandarin Chinese (Published)
This study offers a perspective on the interpretation of reflexive pronouns in English by Mandarin Chinese native speakers. It assumes that English reflexives are locally bound and based on structural processing in accordance with Principle A of Chomsky’s (1981) Binding Theory. However, Mandarin also long-distance binding of subjects is licit when there is no conflict with the centre of perspective within the sentence. The Test involves native speakers of Mandarin Chinese to see if their intuitions about English reflexive pronouns are in accordance with UG and if their grammars show logophoric features.
Keywords: Second Language Acquisition, Semantics, Syntax, logophors, reflexives