Comparative Deletion And Optimality In Syntax

Abstract

This paper investigates the syntax of comparative deletion and comparative subdeletion in English and argues that the apparently paradoxical behavior of these two types of clausal comparative constructions is due to a derivational distinction between them: comparative deletion involves overt movement plus deletion of a compared phrase, while comparative subdeletion involves covert movement of the compared phrase. Although this derivational difference must be stipulated in standard approaches, it follows from general constraints on the relation between movement and deletion in English in a model of syntax in which syntactic constraints are ranked and violable, and well-formedness is determined by evaluating competing representations against the set of constraints, as in Optimality Theory. The analysis receives independent support from the interaction of comparatives and ellipsis, and achieves a higher level of descriptive and explanatory adequacy than alternative analyses that do not make reference to ranked and violable constraints.