Resolving Reflexive Pronouns in Chinese: An Experimental Approach

By Jun Lyu

This book explores the resolution of Mandarin Chinese reflexive pronouns--ziji ('self') and ta-ziji ('he/she-self')--in language processing, focusing on how the human mind integrates multiple linguistic cues during comprehension through both theoretical and experimental approaches.

It investigates the structural, semantic, and discourse-level properties of these reflexives, examining how syntactic and non-syntactic constraints shape real-time resolution. By introducing new empirical data, the book challenges established assumptions about Chinese reflexives, addressing whether locality bias reflects syntactic or linear proximity, how discourse-level factors influence ta-ziji interpretation, and how perspective-taking interacts with syntactic prominence in processing. These findings are synthesized into a unified framework that integrates syntactic and non-syntactic factors governing reflexive resolution in Chinese.

This work is a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students in linguistics, psycholinguistics, syntax, semantics, and language processing, particularly those specializing in Chinese linguistics, anaphora resolution, and experimental approaches to theoretical linguistics.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1041171196
• ISBN13: 9781041171195
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 166 Pages