{"title":"More doubts on verb‐stranding <scp>VP</scp> ellipsis: Reply to Simpson 2023","authors":"Idan Landau","doi":"10.1111/synt.12263","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Advocating a verb‐stranding‐VP‐ellipsis analysis for object‐gap sentences, Andrew Simpson (“In defense of verb‐stranding VP ellipsis”) argues that under negation the “adjunct reading” is missing because it depends on focal stress, which cannot be realized on unpronounced material. No such condition holds, I maintain, and the absence of the adjunct reading reflects a syntactic absence: argument‐ellipsis sites contain no VP adjuncts. The adjunct reading emerges in some languages when the antecedent sentence is negative too, an inexplicable contingency for the verb‐stranding‐VP‐ellipsis analysis; in fact, these constructions involve polarity ellipsis (of TP), in which VP adjuncts are included. However, this derivation is not available to all languages, explaining some crosslinguistic differences in adjunct readings under negation. Finally, an optional adjunct reading may emerge in affirmative object‐gap sentences due to pragmatic enrichment , a process sensitive to context in ways that go beyond the predictions of the syntactic analysis advocated by Simpson.","PeriodicalId":45823,"journal":{"name":"Syntax-A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Interdisciplinary Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Syntax-A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Interdisciplinary Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/synt.12263","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract Advocating a verb‐stranding‐VP‐ellipsis analysis for object‐gap sentences, Andrew Simpson (“In defense of verb‐stranding VP ellipsis”) argues that under negation the “adjunct reading” is missing because it depends on focal stress, which cannot be realized on unpronounced material. No such condition holds, I maintain, and the absence of the adjunct reading reflects a syntactic absence: argument‐ellipsis sites contain no VP adjuncts. The adjunct reading emerges in some languages when the antecedent sentence is negative too, an inexplicable contingency for the verb‐stranding‐VP‐ellipsis analysis; in fact, these constructions involve polarity ellipsis (of TP), in which VP adjuncts are included. However, this derivation is not available to all languages, explaining some crosslinguistic differences in adjunct readings under negation. Finally, an optional adjunct reading may emerge in affirmative object‐gap sentences due to pragmatic enrichment , a process sensitive to context in ways that go beyond the predictions of the syntactic analysis advocated by Simpson.
期刊介绍:
Syntax publishes a wide range of articles on the syntax of natural languages and closely related fields. The journal promotes work on formal syntactic theory and theoretically-oriented descriptive work on particular languages and comparative grammar. Syntax also publishes research on the interfaces between syntax and related fields such as semantics, morphology, and phonology, as well as theoretical and experimental studies in sentence processing, language acquisition, and other areas of psycholinguistics that bear on syntactic theories. In addition to full length research articles, Syntax features short articles which facilitate a fast review process. ''In the few years of its existence, Syntax quickly became one of the most prominent journals in the field, and unique as a source for high-quality studies at the forefront of research, combining theoretical inquiry and often significant innovation with outstanding descriptive and experimental work. It is indispensable for researchers in the areas it covers.'' Noam Chomsky, Massachusets Institute of Technology, USA