Are Topic Constructions Licensed by A' Movement in Mandarin Chinese?-A Preliminary Study

摘要

Topic structures are conventionally classified into two types in Mandarin Chinese, namely dangling and non-dangling topics. The present study concurs that non-dangling topics might be licensed by A' movement (e.g. Chen 1995), in the sense that they might be interpreted as an operator A'-binding their co-indexed variable, usually an empty category, in a corresponding comment clause. As regards so-called dangling topics, this study favors the traditional postulation of an A/A' position and also lends support to the A' movement analysis (e.g. Huang and Ting 2006).