Local, Intermediate and Long-distance Binding: The Case of the Chinese Reflexive Ziji in the Long Bei-construction

This study tackles binding issues of Chinese reflexive ziji, an instantiation of so-called long-distance anaphors.We evaluated a "mixed" approach (Charnavel, 2019; Huang Huang et al., 2009) to long-distance anaphora, by analysing the role of locality and logophoricity on the behaviour of ziji in the long-bei passive, an understudied construction in the domain of Chinese anaphora.Our analysis shows that the "mixed" approach, which claims that a long-distance anaphor is either a plain anaphor or a logophor subject to logophoricity, is not sufficient for capturing ziji's behaviour in the bei-construction.We argue that when taking antecedence from the matrix subject of the long-bei passive, ziji is neither a plain anaphor as it is not locally bound, nor a logophor as logophoricity effects are absent.We suggest that ziji may have a third status: intermediate binding, i.e., neither local nor long-distance, but rather indirect resulting from the mediation of a null operator.Further research will look into other constructions that may involve intermediate binding, e.g., the ba-construction, and focus on properties of intermediate binding and seek accounts for it.