Chaoyi Chen Successfully Passed His Dissertation Defense

Abstract: Headless relatives exhibit dual characteristics: morphologically, they resemble clauses, while distributionally, they function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. This dual nature complicates a comprehensive understanding of their syntactic and semantic properties.

This dissertation advances our understanding of headless relatives by addressing four syntactic and semantic issues. First, I examine the syntactic transformation of nominal headless relatives from CPs to NPs/DPs. Through a detailed cross-linguistic analysis, I propose that this transformation requires a categorical [N]/[D] feature provided by the daughters of the headless-relative node. In [+wh] headless relatives, overt fronted wh-phrases supply the [N]/[D] feature, whereas in [-wh] headless relatives, external nominal heads can provide this feature.

Next, I explore whether all arguments within a headless relative clause can be equally relativized when they are phonologically null. A preference for object readings over subject readings is observed in Mandarin doubly-gapped headless relatives. I argue that this asymmetry stems from a general preference for nested movements over crossing movements, as well as the unavailability of generic null objects with most Mandarin verbs.

I then turn to the semantic composition of headless relative clauses. I observe that pied-piping in English free relatives is less acceptable than in corresponding wh-questions and headed relative clauses. Based on this observation, I propose a compositional analysis in which the meaning of free relatives is sensitive to the form of their fronted strings.

Finally, I extend the discussion to the readings headless relatives can have and their parallels with modified bare nouns. Drawing on the similarities between English free relatives and English modified bare nouns, I argue that the distribution of kind and non-kind readings in these two constructions should be captured in a unified manner.