Antecedent-contained argument ellipsis in Japanese

Abstract

This article aims to provide new and solid evidence for the observation made in the previous literature that antecedent containment needs to be resolved in overt syntax in cases of antecedent contained deletion in Japanese. The evidence is new in the sense that it is based on argument ellipsis, which the recent literature has convincingly shown to be available in Japanese, rather than verb-stranding VP-ellipsis, the existence of which has been debated. It is shown how to construct relevant data using elliptic clausal arguments in the hope that similar research will be conducted with data from other languages where argument ellipsis is assumed to be available. It is argued that cases of antecedent-contained argument ellipsis in Japanese can be accounted for by the PF deletion analysis or the derivational copying analysis, but not by the LF copying analysis that posits that copying applies at the very end of the LF derivation.