Wh-in-situ, Phase, and Argument-adjunct Asymmetry

This paper focuses on wh-in-situ phenomena under phase-based approach and discusses the asymmetry between wh-arguments and wh-adjuncts in Mandarin Chinese. Wh-adjuncts, contrary to wh-arguments, are considered to be operators and must undergo movement so that the wh-island effects in this case can be explained. This paper attributes the subjacency effect to the locality requirement of wh-adjuncts and suggests that the asymmetry results from different licensing processes on wh-words, movement in the narrow syntax, or binding after narrow syntax.