Mandarin DP1-he-DP2 in the Subject Position

Recent studies claim that, syntactically, he in DP1-he-DP2 can only be analyzed as a conjunction or as a preposition, but not both, in the subject position in Mandarin. This paper presents both empirical and theoretical arguments against such singular analyses of he. Drawn upon cross-linguistic evidence, we argue that he is open to both a conjunction and a proposition analyses. Under the Merge theory, it is argued that the prepositional phrase (PP) is derived through only EXTERNAL MERGE (EM), while the conjunction phrase (&P) is yielded through EM and then INTERNAL MERGE (IM). Therefore, PP and &P undergo different processes of labelling. The Phase Impenetrability Condition helps explain the topicalization and focus marking issues by the singular analysis of he as a preposition only. This paper illustrates how the same lexical item of he is used for both the conjunction and the comitative structures in Mandarin, and how both structures differ syntactically under the Merge theory.