Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
5,913
result(s) for
"Ellipsis"
Sort by:
Unveiling Topic-Remnant Elided Polar Questions
This paper offers an in-depth analysis of a novel elliptical construction Spanish, dubbed Topic-Remnant Elided Polar Questions (or polar TREQs in short). A detailed examination of polar TREQs will provide evidence for the claim that (a) they are a type of TP-Ellipsis, triggered by the presence of an [E]-feature on C, and (b) the remnant is a topicalized XP that undergoes movement out of the ellipsis site. Furthermore, the analysis of polar TREQs in various contexts (in particular, with respect to so-called connectivity effects) confirms the need of syntactic identity between the linguistic antecedent and the ellipsis site to license ellipsis here. Additionally, this study sheds light on the syntactic structure underlying these constructions, particularly the presence of an intermediate TopP position within the embedded clause. Moreover, an examination of the patterns related to the presence or absence of an overt complementizer in this elliptical construction provides empirical support for Merchant's (2001) Sluicing-COMP Generalization. In summary, this paper not only provides a comprehensive account of the syntactic intricacies of a new elliptical construction in Spanish, but also provides valuable insights into the broader landscape of ellipsis phenomena in this language.
Journal Article
On the Nonexistence of Verb-Stranding VP-Ellipsis
An increasingly popular analysis of object gap sentences in many languages derives them in two steps: (a) V-raising out of VP, and (b) VP-ellipsis of the remnant, stranding the verb (V-stranding VPellipsis, VSVPE). For Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, and Portuguese, I show this analysis to be inadequate. First, it undergenerates elliptical objects in various environments, and second, it overgenerates nonexisting adjunct- including readings. For all the problematic data, simple argument ellipsis provides a unified explanation. The absence of VSVPE in languages that do allow V-raising and Aux-stranding VP-ellipsis raises an intriguing problem for theories addressing the interaction of head movement and ellipsis.
Journal Article
The effect of gender (mis)match on the interpretation of English reflexive pronouns in cases of VP-ellipsis by native and non-native speakers of English
This paper aims to investigate the effect of both gender (mis)match and the direction of the gender mismatch on the interpretation of English reflexive pronouns in cases of VP-ellipsis by native speakers of English and L1 Spanish learners of English with different proficiency levels (intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced). Results showed that native speakers of English tend to prefer the sloppy reading over the strict one and are sensitive to gender mismatches when interpreting reflexives in VP-ellipsis constructions. Our data support a non-structural account of ellipsis resolution. Concerning learners, no gender mismatch effects were attested, since, in general, their preferred choice of sloppy interpretations was less frequent in both matched and mismatched contexts. Nevertheless, proficiency turned out to be a significant factor in the interpretation of gender-matched sentences, as intermediate learners interpreted the experimental sentences sloppily significantly less frequently than native speakers, whilst advanced learners did not. Finally, all participants showed a more marked preference for sloppy readings in feminine-masculine orderings.
Journal Article
Clitics, DOM and ellipsis
This paper discusses the correlation between clitics, DOM and ellipsis in Spanish. As observed by Cyrino & Ordóñez (2018), strict and sloppy readings can be obtained in both TP ellipsis and argument ellipsis with clitics. However, DOM animate antecedents severely limit the availability of sloppy readings in argument ellipsis with clitics. This is a new observation, and judgments about the lack of sloppy readings is often delicate. We carried out an experimental study in order to confirm the data reported in Cyrino & Ordóñez (2018). We also wanted to test whether this distinction applied to speakers of three different dialects of Spanish where distribution of clitics and doubling differs. The results show a significant statistical anti animacy effect for obtaining sloppy readings with clitics. This effect is not found with TP ellipsis. In this paper we propose a syntactic approach to account for such effect with clitics. We propose that clitics contain an empty doubled (see also Bošković 2018). We propose an analysis based on the idea that DOM objects are moved out of the vP and that the doubled DOM KP undergoes vehicle change to become a pronoun in the case of argument ellipsis.
Journal Article
Pragmatics or Syntax: The Nature of Adjunct-Inclusive Interpretations
This paper investigates the nature of adjunct-inclusive interpretations in Japanese, which has long been debated in the literature. Previous studies have disagreed on whether these interpretations arise from V-stranding VP-ellipsis or adjunct ellipsis. This study argues that adjunct-inclusive interpretations fall into two distinct types: one semantically encoded and structurally represented, and another pragmatically inferred, depending on context beyond sentence structure. Using anaphoric expressions and negation as diagnostics, this study shows that adjunct-inclusive interpretations involving (i) omission of both adjunct and object in transitive sentences and (ii) adjunct omission in intransitive sentences are syntactically represented, supporting the existence of V-stranding VP-ellipsis. By contrast, adjunct-inclusive interpretations where only the adjunct is omitted and the object is contrastively focused are derived from pragmatic inference via free pragmatic enrichment, rather than from syntactic structure. These findings provide empirical and theoretical support for the view that Japanese does not allow syntactic adjunct ellipsis but does allow V-stranding VP-ellipsis. More broadly, this study contributes to the understanding of the syntax–pragmatics interface in ellipsis, showing that not all implicit interpretations reflect syntactic structure and highlighting the importance of carefully distinguishing between semantic and pragmatic sources in analyzing ellipsis phenomena.
Journal Article
Contextual anaphora relations in English nominal ellipsis
The nominal (often called N ) ellipsis construction in English includes an understood material other than the remaining determiner. This elliptical NP tends to occur in contexts where its antecedent exhibits a similar or parallel structure. Popular analyses have derived such a construction with the postulation of the unexpressed materials and deletion operations, referring to the linguistic antecedent. However, our empirical investigation reveals a significant number of attested examples where the understood head noun refers to a discourse correlate, challenging such structure-based and movement operations. In this paper, based on such an empirical observation, we suggest a construction based analysis that allows us to refer to the inherently anaphoric (or deictic) or contextually anaphoric correlate of the understood head. This direction brings about a wider coverage of the empirical data.
Journal Article
Discourse-Linked DPs as Covert Partitives
The paper studies the conditions that determine the Discourse-Linked or non-Discourse-Linked status of noun-less Determiner Phrases introduced by different determiners, in Italian and in English. For instance, given the sentence Ten bombs exploded yesterday, the continuation [Three] were cluster bombs tends to have a meaning equivalent to 'three of the bombs that exploded’ (D-Linked), while [Three] will explode today is understood as 'three (different) bombs’ (non D-Linked). Beside world-knowledge, the syntax of the determiners and their position with respect to the verb affect the availability of DL/non-DL readings. This and other facts undermine an analysis cast purely in terms of semantic domain restrictions, and suggest that DL readings are due to the presence of a covert partitive structure. While perhaps intuitive, this idea faces various issues in Italian, due to its interactions with the syntax of the pro-form ne. We show that an NP-based structure for numeral and proportion-based partitives (three/half of the bombs) is actually compatible with the facts, and offers a cue on the nature of sub-DP pro-forms and their uses.
Journal Article
Voice and Ellipsis
Elided VPs and their antecedent VPs can mismatch in voice, with passive VPs being elided under apparent identity with active antecedent VPs, and vice versa. Such voice mismatches are not allowed in any other kind of ellipsis, such as sluicing and other clausal ellipses. These latter facts appear to indicate that the identity relation in ellipsis is sensitive to syntactic form, not merely to semantic form. The VP-ellipsis facts fall into place if the head that determines voice is external to the phrase being elided, here argued to be vP; such an account can only be framed in approaches that allow syntactic features to be separated from the heads on which they are morphologically realized. Alternatives to this syntactic, articulated view of ellipsis and voice either undergenerate or overgenerate.
Journal Article