<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The paper discusses the universality of the final-over-final condition (FOFC). It has been proposed that sentence-final particles (SFPs) in Chinese may invalidate the universality of FOFC. This paper argues that the challenge from SFPs is inconclusive since the evidence for the head status of SFPs is lacking. On the other hand, the leftward complement of N<sup>0</sup> in Chinese (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_scl-2017-0005_ref_021_w2aab3b7b2b1b6b1ab1ac21Aa">Huang 2016</xref>) poses a greater threat to FOFC. However, it is argued that the violation is caused by a language-particular word order constraint due to Case directionality (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_scl-2017-0005_ref_028_w2aab3b7b2b1b6b1ab1ac28Aa">Li 1990</xref>). Relating the syntactic FOFC violation to the word order constraint in compounds, it is proposed that FOFC may be understood as an instance of the shape conservation principle (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_scl-2017-0005_ref_068_w2aab3b7b2b1b6b1ab1ac68Aa">Williams 2003</xref>), where the language-particular constraint is satisfied at the expense of a minimal violation of the universal condition.</p></abstract>

The paper discusses the universality of the final-over-final condition (FOFC). It has been proposed that sentence-final particles (SFPs) in Chinese may invalidate the universality of FOFC. This paper argues that the challenge from SFPs is inconclusive since the evidence for the head status of SFPs is lacking. On the other hand, the leftward complement of N0 in Chinese (Huang 2016) poses a greater threat to FOFC. However, it is argued that the violation is caused by a language-particular word order constraint due to Case directionality (Li 1990). Relating the syntactic FOFC violation to the word order constraint in compounds, it is proposed that FOFC may be understood as an instance of the shape conservation principle (Williams 2003), where the language-particular constraint is satisfied at the expense of a minimal violation of the universal condition.

Remarks on the Final-over-Final Condition: A View from Chinese Head-Final Structures

Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica

Studies in Chinese Linguistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The paper discusses the universality of the final-over-final condition (FOFC). It has been proposed that sentence-final particles (SFPs) in Chinese may...

Remarks on the Final-over-Final Condition: A View from Chinese Head-Final Structures

Published Online: Dec 29, 2017

Page range: 93 - 118

Received: Dec 06, 2016

Accepted: Sep 22, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/scl-2017-0005

Keywords
final-over-final condition, head-final structure, representation theory, sentence-final particle, Chinese syntax

© 2017 Wei-wen Roger Liao, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Remarks on the Final-over-Final Condition: A View from Chinese Head-Final Structures

Published Online: Dec 29, 2017

Page range: 93 - 118

Received: Dec 06, 2016

Accepted: Sep 22, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/scl-2017-0005

Keywordsfinal-over-final condition, head-final structure, representation theory, sentence-final particle, Chinese syntax

© 2017 Wei-wen Roger Liao, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
final-over-final condition, head-final structure, representation theory, sentence-final particle, Chinese syntax