Silent Copy and Polarity Focus in VP Ellipsis

Abstract

This paper investigates the issue of symmetric and nonsymmetric focus and deaccentuation in VP Ellipsis (VPE). In contrast to most previous approaches to the information structure of VPE (Rooth 1992b, Tomioka 1995, Fox 1998), which claim under a symmetry assumption that the function of VPE is to contrastively focus the remaining subject in relation to the subject in the antecedent clause, I show that in the unmarked case, focus and deaccentuation in the antecedent and the elliptical clause need not be symmetric. I propose a unified account of the information structure of VPE by assuming a single PF economy principle, Silent Copy, interacting with a syntactic focus theory which allows for layered focus structures. In particular, Silent Copy favors to leave a syntactic copy unpronounced provided focus is assigned to the head of the sentence internal polarity phrase. The arguments in support of this proposal rest to a substantial degree on a theory of focus in question-answer contexts, as proposed by Drubig (1998). I show that VPE characterized by nonsymmetric focus and deaccentuation occurs as an answer to a multiple wh-question giving rise to a presentational focus reading. The symmetric focus and deaccentuation type then falls out as a special case in which the VPE answers a narrowly focusing question.