Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka, 2012.
“Share to Compare: the Mandarin bǐ Comparative.”
Proceedings of the 29th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 29), pages 54–62.
This paper argues against Direct Analysis approaches to the Mandarin bǐ comparative construction. Instead, I propose that the derivation of a bǐ comparative involves the construction of two full TPs: one for the target and one for the standard. This view is motivated by comparatives where material has moved simultaneously from the predicate into the target and into the standard, which are difficult to capture within a Direct Analysis. A technical implementation of this proposal is presented in which common material in the two TPs’ predicates is obligatorily multidominated.
For full discussion, see “Clausal comparison without degree abstraction in Mandarin Chinese” in NLLT.