An Event Semantics Approach to Sluicing vs. VP Ellipsis

Abstract

This study proposes an account on contrasting grammaticality of sluicing and VP ellipsis based on davidsonian event semantics by arguing for a fundamental semantic difference between them. It is claimed that the elided event in sluicing is an old event, which is anaphorically referring back to the event denoted by the antecedent event, just like a pronoun, whereas the event of a VP ellipsis introduces a novel event. This can explain why sluicing usually occurs with an indefinite antecedent, whereas VPE cannot.