Bare argument ellipsis and information structure
This dissertation presents a cross-linguistic study of three elliptical predicate constructions: (a) stripping, (b) negative-contrast, and (c) yes/no ellipsis, which are all argued to fall under the scope of a more general type of ellipsis, Bare Argument Ellipsis. From an interpretive point of view, in all three constructions, the constituent that is present in the second conjunct ('the remnant') has a characteristic information role. In yes/no ellipsis, the remnant functions as a contrastive topic whereas in stripping and negative-contrast the remnant is a focused constituent. The latter two constructions are further differentiated with regard to the semantic characteristics of Focus. Based on the assumption that Focus is not uniform, it is shown that stripping involves narrow information focus whereas negative-contrast involves contrastive focus. From a syntactic point of view, I argue that Bare Argument Ellipsis involves overt movement of the remnant to the left periphery of the clause, followed by IP deletion. The PF-deletion approach is extended to all three constructions. Following Rizzi's (1997) split-CP hypothesis, it is proposed that the remnant in yes/no ellipsis moves to TopP, a functional projection
Kolokonte, Marina
Bare argument ellipsis and information structure. This dissertation presents a cross-linguistic study of three elliptical predicate constructions: (a) stripping, (b) negative-contrast, and (c) yes/no ellipsis, which are all argued to fall under the scope of a more general type of ellipsis, Bare Argument Ellipsis. From an interpretive point of view, in all three constructions, the constituent that is present in the second conjunct ('the remnant') has a characteristic information role. In yes/no ellipsis, the remnant functions as a contrastive topic whereas in stripping and negative-contrast the remnant is a focused constituent. The latter two constructions are further differentiated with regard to the semantic characteristics of Focus. Based on the assumption that Focus is not uniform, it is shown that stripping involves narrow information focus whereas negative-contrast involves contrastive focus. From a syntactic point of view, I argue that Bare Argument Ellipsis involves overt movement of the remnant to the left periphery of the clause, followed by IP deletion. The PF-deletion approach is extended to all three constructions. Following Rizzi's (1997) split-CP hypothesis, it is proposed that the remnant in yes/no ellipsis moves to TopP, a functional projection
bare argument ellipsis information_structure present cross_linguistic study elliptical predicate construction negative contrast yes ellipsis argue fall scope general type ellipsis bare argument ellipsis interpretive point_view construction constituent present second the remnant characteristic information role yes ellipsis remnant function contrastive topic whereas strip negative contrast remnant focus constituent latter construction differentiate regard semantic characteristic focus based assumption focus uniform show strip involves narrow information focus whereas negative contrast involves contrastive focus syntactic point_view argue bare argument ellipsis involve overt movement remnant leave periphery clause follow deletion deletion extend construction following split hypothesis_propose remnant yes ellipsis move functional_projection