The Copy-Theoretic Approach to Serial Verb Constructions in Chinese

The present study addresses the argument sharing problem that arises during the derivation of Chinese serial verb constructions in accordance with the copy theory of movement in MP.The generation of copies reveals that the argument sharing phenomenon results from the asymmetry between the semantic and phonological interfaces, and the solution to its conflict with the theta criterion lies in the interpretation of the covert copies in the semantic component.Since theta roles are assigned in the semantic component, both the mother copy and the daughter copy will be theta-marked during the process of semantic interpretation as long as they are merged in theta-positions.The copy-theoretic approach not only offers a minimalism account of the argument sharing problem in Chinese Serial Verb Constructions, but also reveals that the competition between accuracy and economy is a general mechanism underlying human language development.