Recent developments in generative grammar have been very stimulating.
The current theory defines a small set of principles that apply to all
human languages. Efforts have been made to demonstrate the adequacy of
this theory for a wide range of languages. We thus see an interesting
interface of theory and empirical data: the study of natural languages
contributes to defining the properties of Universal Grammar and the
predictions of the theory help in uncovering generalizations regarding
natural languages. This book aims to add to this exciting development by
showing how the analysis of Mandarin Chinese constituent structures
helps to define Case Theory and how interesting generalizations
concerning Chinese grammar are uncovered through verification of the
theoretical predictions. Starting from the inadequacy of work by
Koopman, Li, and Travis on the effect of Case directionality on word
order, the book shows that a detailed study of Chinese constituent
structures allows us to reduce the phrase structure component to a
minimal statement concerning the position of the head in a given phrase.
It argues that in a given language the constituent structures can be
adequately captured by the interaction of Case Theory, Theta Theory,
Government Theory, and X Theory. Long- standing controversies concerning
Chinese basic word order are resolved by showing that underlying word
order generalizations can differ from surface word order
generalizations.