Born empty

Abstract

Chinese seems to allow argument ellipsis in object but not subject positions according to interpretive contrasts between null subjects and objects. It has been claimed that this contrast can be captured by allowing only a null subject to be a pro, which is licensed by agreement. The presence of agreement means the absence of argument ellipsis. This line of analysis would require Chinese to have subject agreement. However, it will be shown that this language does not have agreement. Moreover, there are constructions disallowing missing objects, challenging the available analyses. It will be argued that these complex facts, including the noted subject/object asymmetry and the impossibility of missing objects in various constructions, can be accommodated if a base-generated true empty category is possible when a pro is not available. Interestingly, the arguments supporting this proposal would lead us to claim that VP-ellipsis should be the result of a deletion operation; i.e., not all ellipsis constructions are derived via the same mechanisms.