TP Ellipsis Research Articles

Clitics, DOM and ellipsis

This paper discusses the correlation between clitics, DOM and ellipsis in Spanish. As observed by Cyrino & Ordóñez (2018), strict and sloppy readings can be obtained in both TP ellipsis and argument ellipsis with clitics. However, DOM animate antecedents severely limit the availability of sloppy readings in argument ellipsis with clitics. This is a new observation, and judgments about the lack of sloppy readings is often delicate. We carried out an experimental study in order to confirm the data reported in Cyrino & Ordóñez (2018). We also wanted to test whether this distinction applied to speakers of three different dialects of Spanish where distribution of clitics and doubling differs. The results show a significant statistical anti animacy effect for obtaining sloppy readings with clitics. This effect is not found with TP ellipsis. In this paper we propose a syntactic approach to account for such effect with clitics. We propose that clitics contain an empty doubled (see also Bošković 2018). We propose an analysis based on the idea that DOM objects are moved out of the vP and that the doubled DOM KP undergoes vehicle change to become a pronoun in the case of argument ellipsis.

Sluicing and focus related particles in Brazilian Portuguese and Nupe

We argue that the C-element que, following fronted wh-elements and fronted focused elements more generally in Brazilian Portuguese, is realized as Fin, rather than Foc (MENDES & KANDYBOWICZ, 2021; pace MIOTO, 2001; MIOTO & KATO, 2005). We put together three observations from the literature: (i) the appearance of que is contingent on wh/focus fronting; (ii) que introduces a finite clause, and (iii) que disappears under sluicing. We present novel evidence that Nupe’s focus particle is a left-periphery element and that Nupe provides a concrete counterexample to Merchant’s (2001) sluicing-COMP generalization. A comparison between Nupe and Brazilian Portuguese regarding the presence of nonoperator material in sluicing constructions is crucial to establishing sluicing as FinP ellipsis (BALTIN, 2010; ABOH, 2010), instead of TP ellipsis, as standardly assumed, as well as que as a Fin element. We offer an analysis that captures all of the Brazilian Portuguese distributional facts, according to which que is a Fin head with a [finite] feature and an uninterpretable [ufoc] feature that must be licensed by Agree with a higher focus head.

Construções contrastivas com “mas”, Contraste Sintagmático e Elipse do TP

In Portuguese, mas ‘but’ occurs in two different structural constructions, one mainly involving contrast between two non-sentential phrases, Contraste Sintagmático ‘Phrasal Contrast’, and the other contrasting two sentences and presenting ellipsis, TP ellipsis with polarity items. In languages as Spanish and German, contrastive coordination typically correlates two different conjunctions with two constructions exhibiting distinct values, the corrective and the counter-expectation value. Relying on work of the past two decades on adversative coordination with corrective and counter-expectation values, the current paper aims at determining to what extend it is possible to establish a univocal correlation between the values of the adversative coordination and the constructions of Contraste Sintagmático and TP ellipsis in portuguese. It is also our goal to develop a more accurate analysis of these constructions.

스트리핑 구문과 부가어 섬 효과

For the stripping from the adjunct clause, an interrogative adverb and a case-marked argument undergo movement to the matrix Spec-IntP and Spec-FP, respectively, which is followed by double clausal ellipsis including the adjunct island. The interrogative adverb out of an island shows island effects even at PF. In the meanwhile, the focused remnant is insensitive to the islands such as an adjunct clause. The interrogative adverbs such as when, where or how in Korean are adjoined to VP while why in Korean cannot appear in the adjunct clause, which induces the gap of the stripping unacceptability degree. For the matrix stripping, the interrogative adverbs occupy the matrix Spec-IntP and the focused remnant undergoes focus movement to the matrix Spec-FP followed by the matrix TP ellipsis. The paper has investigated why unlike the fragment, the stripping from the adjunct is not repaired by ellipsis. The reason is because the interrogative adverb out of the adjunct island triggers island effects even at PF. Therefore, there is no island repair by ellipsis in the stripping at PF. In conclusion, we have shown that this is what the stripping in Korean shows at PF.

The Syntax of Sluicing in Omani Arabic

This study examines the syntax of sluicing in Omani Arabic to uncover its morpho-syntactic properties and underlying source. It also attempts to account for the apparent preposition stranding (p-stranding) effects displayed by Omani Arabic sluicing, which indicates that the language is a counterexample to the p-stranding generalisation (Merchant, 2001). The paper concludes that sluicing exists in the language and it is derived from regular wh-questions by wh-movement and TP ellipsis at PF. Furthermore, Omani Arabic displays pseudo-sluicing (i.e., an elliptical cleft wh-question), which can also be derived via wh-movement from spec-TP to spec-CP plus TP deletion at PF. Finally, the study argues that the apparent cases of sluicing under p-stranding are actually pseudo-sluicing. The drop of copular pronouns in the sluiced clause and omission of the preposition with the relative clause lead to the illusion that sluicing in Omani Arabic exhibits p-stranding effects.

Voice Mismatch Meets Neurolinguistics

This paper aims to investigate Korean advanced L2 English learners’ strategies for ellipsis resolution during sentence processing. Ellipsis resolution is known to involve several stages of information processing from the initial step of detecting an ellipsis-licensing element by the parser to the final stage of integrating the ellipsis site with the information retrieved from the antecedent of the ellipsis site. In examining these steps, we have manipulated three factors: (i) TP vs. VP-ellipsis; (ii) two types of discourse coherence relations (resemblance(-contrast) vs. cause-effect relations); (iii) voice match vs. mismatch. We found through the ERP recordings that voice mismatch in TP ellipsis elicited N400, followed by P600, irrespective of discourse coherence relations. In contrast, voice mismatch in VP-ellipsis registered N400 only in resemblance(-contrast) relation, but not in cause-effect relation. These findings lead us to conclude that Korean advanced L2 learners of English seem to undergo the full sequence of processing stages required for ellipsis resolution.

A pro-drop analysis of verb-echo answers in Korean

There are a variety of ways of answering to yes/no questions in Korean. One of them is verb-echo answers (VEAs), whereby speakers use as answers only the verbs which have already been mentioned in the preceding questions. We argue in this paper that unpronounced (or omitted) arguments in Korean verb-echo answers are phonologically null pronominals, namely pros, rejecting the TP ellipsis approach, which proposes that a verb undergoes V-T-C movement, and subsequently, the TP containing its argument(s) is deleted at PF. The current approach is supported by the fact that the recoverability of manner adverbs located inside verbal domains is restricted, and that we can easily find out instances where voice mismatch is allowed in verb-echo answers. In doing so, we propose what follows: First, pro-drop in VEAs needs an appropriate identity domain, whose size can vary depending on information structure. Second, adjunct ellipsis DOES exist in Korean, and it is licensed by a local head Pol in the matrix clause. (Seoul National University and Dongguk University)

An ERP Study of Ellipsis Resolution in Korean

Park, Myung-Kwan and Chung, Wonil. 2018. An ERP study of ellipsis resolution in Korean. Language and Information, 22.1, 29-56. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prediction/integration of syntactic structure during sentence processing, employing the construction that allows a TP ellipsis or Sluicing-like interpretation in Korean. To this aim we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from Korean native speakers while they read ellipsis constructions where the syntactic context allows or disallows remnants/ survivors (mis)matching with their explicit/implicit correlates in terms of Case/case (postposition) particle, also reflecting voice (mis)match between the antecedent and the ellipsis clauses. The Korean speakers were able to predict clausal syntactic structure on the basis of the antecedent clause and integrate it into the ellipsis site, thereby quickly detecting voice match/mismatch, as suggested by an ERP difference between matched and mismatched remnants/survivors neighboring the ellipsis site.

String‐Vacuous Head Movement in Japanese: New Evidence from Verb‐Echo Answers

AbstractWhether Japanese has verb raising or not has been one of the most contentious issues in the literature for more than 20 years. This Remark presents novel evidence for string‐vacuous head movement from the previously unexplored perspective of verb‐echo answers. We propose that such an answer form in Japanese is derived through V–T–C movement in overt syntax, followed byTPellipsis at Phonological Form (PF), rejecting the alternativepro‐drop analysis. Our analysis is supported by a wide range of new facts on verb‐echo answers, including the indefinitepro‐drop restriction, the impossibility of voice mismatches, and adverb‐inclusive interpretations. Because our theory presupposes head movement as its central analytical premise, the results of this article indicate that Japanese grammar is equipped with string‐vacuous verb raising. We will also briefly explore some curious behaviors of verb raising in Japanese relating to the scope of negation under ellipsis and intervention effects. We will argue that this phenomenon differs fundamentally from its counterpart in European languages such as French in that the former is an optional operation in narrow syntax that only occurs if it yields new outcomes atPFand/or Logical Form (LF).

An Event-based Approach to Fragments as TP Ellipsis

An Event-based Approach to Fragments as TP Ellipsis

Multiple Sluicing and SWIPING Meet RT-based Experimental Syntax

The main purpose of this paper to scrutinize to what extent advanced L2 learners would differ from L1 speakers in the anticipation, integration, and repair of syntactic information during sentence processing. For this purpose, we conducted two on-line self-paced reading experiments for processing multiple Sluicing (or TP ellipsis) with two PP remnants in English by both L1 speakers and L2 learners and found some interesting findings as follows. First, L1 speakers showed an early effect of processing both the first preposition pied-piped and the first SWIPING-ed (or inverted preposition) PP remnant conditions in the same way, pointing to the fact that they anticipated upcoming information (TP ellipsis), whereas the L2 learners did not. The latter result is in line with those in other works showing that L2 learners do not expect upcoming syntactic categories in the same fashion as L1 speakers do. Second, L2 speakers showed a late effect of processing both the first and the second SWIPING-ed PP conditions analogously, implying either an increase in working memory or the use of different repair tactics compared with L1 speakers.

TP-ellipsis with a polarity particle in multiple-complementizer contexts in Spanish: on topical remnants and focal licensors

This paper investigates TP-ellipsis in Spanish in the context of multiple-complementizer clauses (i.e., … que XP que ellipsis licensor ellipsis site). The paper argues for a standard ΣP-account of TP ellipsis, with the polarity/focal item (e.g., también/tampoco/sí/no) crucially involved in the licensing of ellipsis. It is argued that the XP-que sequence is hosted in TopicP. The XP is a contrastive topic functioning as the remnant of TP-ellipsis and que is an instance of recomplementation que –a topic marker. The ellipsis licensor, for its part, sits in a CP-related projection that follows TopicP. Given the parallelism drawn here between the items that can partake in the licensing of TP-ellipsis and run-of-the-mill focused phrases, the paper puts forth the claim that ΣP and FocusP should be conflated. Similarly, I explore the relationship established between TopicP (the remnant) and ΣP/FocusP (the ellipsis licensor) in the process of TP ellipsis as well as offer an account of the inability of jussive/optative que to survive ellipsis, unlike recomplementation que.

Fragment answers in Mandarin Chinese

The derivational differences of the fragment answers in Mandarin Chinese lie in whether a fragment moves or not. Under the movement and ellipsis analysis (Merchant 2004), fragment answer to wh-question moves to SpecFocP, followed by TP ellipsis. In contrast, fragment answer to yes-no question or for correction is a base-generated structure, [pro copula fragment]. The analysis is supported not only by the existence of the copular verb and the fragment answers to questions involving the passive constructions and preposition stranding but also by cross-linguistic evidence.

Cleft Sources for the Sluice and Identity in Ellipsis

This paper investigates the controversial issue of developing a cleft structure analysis for the sluice that derives from Sluicing or TP ellipsis. We show that there are some constructions that require positing different types of cleft clause as the underlying structure of the sluice. Specifically, Sluicing/TP ellipsis in the p ∨ q construction of English is shown to apply to the inferential cleft clause. In Spanish or Polish, P-stranding is fed by Sluicing, which now applies to the truncated cleft clause. In English, Sluicing also applies after a preposition pied-piping wh-phrase moves out of a reduced cleft clause. Although all these three cases involve cleft clause for the sluice and non-cleft, declarative clause for its antecedent, we show that the clause type mismatch between cleft sluice and non-cleft antecedent clauses does not impinge on the identity condition on ellipsis, because the two elements, found additionally only in the cleft sluice clauses, such as the subject pronoun it and the inflected form of be, can be analyzed as a clausal anaphor referring to the antecedent of the sluiced clause, or a semantically-vacuous element.

Contrast and Island Sensitivity in Clausal Ellipsis

AbstractThis paper offers a comprehensive and uniform theory of island repair in clausal ellipsis (sluicing and fragments). We show that the correct generalization defines the repairing and the nonrepairing types of TP ellipsis in terms of contrastivity: TP ellipsis with contrastive remnants does not repair islands, whereas TP ellipsis with noncontrastive remnants does. Contrary to the influential account of Merchant (), we base our explanation for the island sensitivity of contrastive fragments entirely on the notion of Parallelism. The island insensitivity of noncontrastive remnants, on the other hand, follows from the island node being deleted at PF. With this we simplify the theory of islands, and, by treating the different types of clausal ellipsis on a par, we move away from the construction‐specific study of ellipsis that has characterized syntactic theorizing for the last forty years.

French adverbial clauses, rescue by ellipsis and the truncation versus intervention debate

AbstractThis paper investigates the restrictions on movement to the left periphery found in non-root environments such as French central adverbial clauses and argues that an analysis of main clause phenomena based on intervention/Relativized Minimality is to be preferred to one based on structural truncation. The empirical basis for this claim consists of an examination of some asymmetries between French infinitival TP ellipsis and infinitival TP Topicalization. Adopting Authie's (2011) approach to TP ellipsis whereby the to-be-elided TP undergoes fronting in the computational component but fails to be spelled out at PF, we argue that these asymmetries follow from the fact that in French, while a spelled out fronted TP is an intervener for

On the Syntax of Stripping in Libyan Arabic

The paper discusses a type of clausal ellipsis referred to as stripping with special focus on its syntactic properties and distribution, on the one hand, and its interaction with information structure on the other. The paper argues that stripping can be derived by focus movement of the remnant out of TP plus deletion of that TP at the PF interface in a way similar to that proposed by Depiante (2000), Merchant (2003) and Kolokonte (2008). The behaviour of the remnant with respect to preposition stranding, identity readings, binding and locality effects can be taken as arguments in favour of this movement-plus-deletion analysis. Given that stripping involves focus movement prior to TP ellipsis, it is further argued that the remnant in stripping, as far as information structure is concerned, is perceived as new informational focus.

Notes on Two Types of Fragments

Ahn, Hee-Don and Cho, Sungeun. 2011. Notes on Two Types of Fragments. Linguistic Research 28(1), 19-35. Korean has two types of fragments: Case-marked and case-less fragments. We suggest that they must be treated differently: Case-marked fragments are derived from TP ellipsis, while caseless fragments are just CPs directly dominating non-sentential NPs. Patterns of fragments containing negative polarity items or temporal adverbs support our claim that caseless fragments do not correlate with any sentential source. One of the issues regarding the architectures of grammar is whether the pragmatic/semantic factors come into play independently from syntax. Culicover & Jackendoff (2005) suggest that the grammar consists of parallel generative components, at least independent components for phonology, syntax, and semantics, each of which creates its own type of combinatorial complexity (this architecture of grammar is often called parallelism). This paper aims to defend the syntactocentrism advocated in Minimalism led by Chomsky (1995) that the grammar permits sound structure and semantic/pragmatic structure to interact only by way of syntax proper by exploring two kinds of fragments in Korean.