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Pseudogapping in English: a direct interpretation approach

  • Jong-Bok Kim ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Jeffrey T. Runner ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: July 7, 2022
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Abstract

Gapping elides a finite verb in the non-initial conjunct of a coordinate structure while VP ellipsis deletes a whole VP after an auxiliary. Unlike these two, pseudogapping elides most of the VP except one remnant. Pseudogapping additionally differs from gapping and VP ellipsis, in that it involves ellipsis of part of a non-finite VP. In this paper we provide a Construction Grammar account of pseudogapping that captures its similarities with as well as differences from other related elliptical constructions like VP ellipsis. Our construction-based analysis, which capitalizes on the inheritance network of constructions to capture broad similarities and unique differences among these constructions, allows us to account for the full range of extant data.


Corresponding author: Jong-Bok Kim, Department of English Linguistics and Literature, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea, E-mail:

Acknowledgment

Our deep thanks go to three anonymous reviewers for their critical but insightful comments, which helped reshape and improve the paper a lot. The usual disclaimers apply. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2017S1A2A2041092).

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Published Online: 2022-07-07
Published in Print: 2022-09-27

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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