An analysis of Mandarin Chinese islands in Phase Theory

This paper reconsiders islandsin Mandarin Chinese under Phase Theory, proposed by Chomsky (2000). Based on the ideas of phases by Chomsky (2008) and Kanno (2008), among others, I argue that the difference of islandhood in Chinese and English can be explained by arguing that phases are not formed in Chinese because it lacks phi feature agreement. Furthermore, I extend the analysis to long-distance binding in Chinese, following the analysis of Quicoli (2008) and Saito (2017a, b). If my proposal is correct, it suggests that languages which lack phi feature agreement do not show a phase effect entirely.