Control Types or Complement Types? On the Licensing of Overt Controlees in Mandarin Chinese
By: Hao Pan, Ruiyang Chen and Xiaoshi Hu
References
- Bošković, Željko & I-Ta Chris Hsieh. 2013. On word order, binding relations, and plurality in Chinese noun phrases. Studies in Polish Linguistics 8(4). 173–204.
- Givón, Talmy. 1980. The binding hierarchy and the typology of complements. Studies in Language 4(3). 333–377. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.4.3.03giv.
- Grano, Thomas. 2015. Control and restructuring. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198703921.
- He, Yuyin. 2020. Time in Mandarin: The fingerprints of tense and finiteness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University dissertation.
- He, Yuyin. 2024. Finiteness in Mandarin clausal complements: The role of ICH and future modals. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 33(2). 259–297. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10831-024-09278-w.
- Hornstein, Norbert. 1999. Movement and control. Linguistic inquiry 30(1). 69–96. https://doi.org/10.1162/002438999553968.
- Hu, Jianhua, Haihua Pan & Liejiong Xu. 2001. Is there a finite vs. nonfinite distinction in Chinese? Linguistics 39. 1117–1148. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2001.043.
- Huang, C.-T. James. 1982. Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology dissertation.
- Huang, C.-T. James. 1989. Pro-drop in Chinese: A generalized control theory. In Osvaldo Jaeggli & Kenneth J. Safir (eds.), The null subject parameter, 185–214. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2540-3_6.
- Huang, C.-T. James. 2017. On finiteness and the architecture of complement clauses. Handout for the talk at National Tsinghua University, 27 October.
- Huang, C.-T. James. 2022. Finiteness, opacity, and Chinese clausal architecture. In Andrew Simpson (ed.), New explorations in Chinese theoretical syntax: Studies in honor of Yen-hui Audrey Li, 17–76. Amsterdam: Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.02hua.
- Huang, Nick. 2018. Control complements in Mandarin Chinese: Implications for restructuring and the Chinese finiteness debate. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 27(4). 347–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-018-9185-1.
- Huang, Nick. 2024. Finiteness in a language without finite morphology: An experimental study of Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 42(2). 533–556. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-023-09591-4.
- Jiang, Li Julie. 2012. Nominal arguments and language variation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University dissertation.
- Jiang, Li Julie. 2017. Mandarin associative plural -men and NPs with -men. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 4(2). 191–256. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.16015.jia.
- Jiang, Li Julie. 2020. Nominal arguments and language variation. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kratzer, Angelika. 2009. Making a pronoun: Fake indexicals as windows into the properties of pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 40(2). 187–237. https://doi.org/10.1162/ling.2009.40.2.187.
- Kurafuji, Takeo. 2004. Plural morphemes, definiteness, and the notion of semantic parameter. Language and Linguistics 5(1). 211–242.
- Landau, Idan. 2000. Elements of control: Structure and meaning in infinitival constructions. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3943-4.
- Landau, Idan. 2013. Control in generative grammar: A research companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Landau, Idan. 2015. A two-tiered theory of control. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262028851.
- Lee, Kum Young. 2009. Finite control in Korean. Iowa City, IA: The University of Iowa dissertation.
- Li, Daoxin. 2024. Controlling overt subjects in Mandarin. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 33(3). 333–366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-024-09280-2.
- Li, Yen-Hui Audrey. 1985. Abstract case in Chinese. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California dissertation.
- Li, Yen-Hui Audrey. 1990. Order and constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1898-6.
- Lin, Jo-Wang. 2006. Time in a language without tense: The case of Chinese. Journal of Semantics 23(1). https://doi.org/1–53.10.1093/jos/ffh033.
- Lin, Jo-Wang. 2010. A tenseless analysis of Mandarin Chinese revisited: A response to Sybesma 2007. Linguistic Inquiry 41(2). 305–329. https://doi.org/10.1162/ling.2010.41.2.305.
- Lin, T.-H. Jonah. 2011. Finiteness of clauses and raising of arguments in Mandarin Chinese. Syntax 14(1). 48–73. 10.1111/j.1467-9612.2010.00145.x.
- Lin, T-H Jonah. 2012. Multiple-modal constructions in Mandarin Chinese and their finiteness properties. Journal of Linguistics 48(1). 151–186. https://doi/org/10.1017/S0022226711000272.
- Madigan, Sean William. 2008. Control constructions in Korean. Newark, DE: University of Delaware dissertation.
- Meng, Fanjun & Jinglian Li. 2019. Hanyu bufen kongzhi de shixian xingshi ji qi jiedu [The instantiations of partial control in Chinese and their interpretations]. Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Foreign language teaching and research] 51(5). 653–664, 799.
- Park, Yangsook. 2018. Overt subjects in obligatory control constructions in Korean. In Wm. G. Bennett, Lindsay Hracs & Dennis Ryan Storoshenko (eds.), Proceedings of the 35th West coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL), 305–312. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
- Pearson, Hazel. 2012. The sense of self: Topics in the semantics of de se expressions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University dissertation.
- Pearson, Hazel. 2016. The semantics of partial control. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 34. 691–738. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-015-9313-9.
- Quine, Willard Van Orman. 1956. Quantifiers and propositional attitudes. Journal of Philosophy 53. 177–187. https://doi.org/10.2307/2022451.
- Ramchand, Gillian & Peter Svenonius. 2014. Deriving the functional hierarchy. Language Sciences 46. 152–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2014.06.013.
- Szabolcsi, Anna. 2009. Overt nominative subjects in infinitival complements cross-linguistically: Data, diagnostics, and preliminary analyses. In Patricia Irwin & Violeta Vázquez Rojas Maldonado (eds.), NYU working papers in linguistics, vol 2. New York: New York University.
- Ussery, Cherlon, Lydia Ding & Yining Rebecca Liu. 2016. The typology of Mandarin infinitives. In Patrick Farrell (ed.), Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, vol. 1, Article 28, 1–15.
- Wurmbrand, Susi & Magdalena Lohninger. 2023. An implicational universal in complementation: Theoretical insights and empirical progress. In Jutta Hartmann and Angelika Wöllstein (eds.), Propositional arguments in cross-linguistic research: Theoretical and empirical issues, 183–232. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Yang, Henrietta Shu-fen. 2005. Plurality and modification in Mandarin nominal phrases. Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin dissertation.
- Zhang, Niina Ning. 2016. Identifying Chinese dependent clauses in the forms of subjects. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 25(3). 275–311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-016-9146-5.
Language: English
Page range: 45 - 74
Submitted on: Jun 29, 2025
Accepted on: Feb 25, 2026
Published on: Jun 30, 2026
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
Related subjects:
© 2026 Hao Pan, Ruiyang Chen, Xiaoshi Hu, published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.