Abstract
Word order (WO) is one of the most fascinating and investigated topics in Mandarin
Chinese (MC) linguistics: topic-comment structures, argument alternations, and available
WO patterns and variations in general have received considerable critical attention in the
past decades. However, despite the large amount of research, several WO-related issues
remain rather controversial. Crucially, no unified consensus exists on the relationship
between WO and the different dimensions of the language (i.e. semantics, syntax and
pragmatics), and on how these levels interact with each other. The present thesis’s aim is
twofold: (1) identify the categories that are useful to account for WO patterns and variations
in MC; (2) examine in greater depth the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic factors that
influence word order in MC, as well as how they interact and impose constraints on possible
WO variations. The novelty of the approach lies on three aspects: (i) a typological,
comparative perspective that benefits from cross-linguistic investigation of WO phenomena
in other languages; (ii) a bottom up approach that employs cross-linguistically validated
typological tools (e.g., GR tests, or constituenthood tests) aimed at conducting the analysis
on a language-internal basis, and (iii) an empirical approach: the analysis avails itself of
natural linguistic data, mainly drawn from corpora, and relies on acceptability checks with
native speakers. Overall, the thesis highlights that WO patterns and constructions are
determined by the interplay of different factors and constraints. It also highlights that, for the
sake of clarity and ambiguity avoidance, WO constraints are hierarchically organised, and
WO freezing phenomena occur to allow disambiguation of participants in the described
event.
