Modal complement ellipsis
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Lobke Aelbrecht
Abstract
Although the literature commonly assumes Dutch not to display VP ellipsis (VPE), this paper presents Dutch data reminiscent of VPE in English. In particular, the infinitival complement of a root modal can be elided. This modal complement ellipsis (MCE) differs from English VPE, however, in not allowing objects to extract out of the ellipsis site. Therefore, one might take MCE to involve a null proform. Since subjects can extract, however, I argue that MCE involves deletion of syntactic structure. I claim that the ellipsis site is sent to PF for non-pronunciation as soon as the ellipsis licensing head is merged. This implies that extraction is only possible to a position between the licensor and the ellipsis site. I account for the contrast between Dutch and English by showing that in MCE only the subject has such an escape hatch, while English VPE allows all extraction due to an intervening phase edge.
Abstract
Although the literature commonly assumes Dutch not to display VP ellipsis (VPE), this paper presents Dutch data reminiscent of VPE in English. In particular, the infinitival complement of a root modal can be elided. This modal complement ellipsis (MCE) differs from English VPE, however, in not allowing objects to extract out of the ellipsis site. Therefore, one might take MCE to involve a null proform. Since subjects can extract, however, I argue that MCE involves deletion of syntactic structure. I claim that the ellipsis site is sent to PF for non-pronunciation as soon as the ellipsis licensing head is merged. This implies that extraction is only possible to a position between the licensor and the ellipsis site. I account for the contrast between Dutch and English by showing that in MCE only the subject has such an escape hatch, while English VPE allows all extraction due to an intervening phase edge.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Comparative Germanic Syntax ix
- Modal complement ellipsis 1
- On the adverbial reading of infrequency adjectives and the structure of the DP 35
- Crossing the lake 67
- Preposition-determiner amalgams in German and French at the syntax-morphology interface 99
- Conditional clauses, Main Clause Phenomena and the syntax of polarity emphasis 133
- Cross-Germanic variation in binding Condition B 169
- Development of sentential negation in the history of German 199
- Contact, animacy, and affectedness in Germanic 223
- Syntactic change in progress 249
- Cross Germanic variation in the realm of support verbs 279
- The shift to strict VO in English at the PF-interface 311
- Deriving reconstruction asymmetries in Across The Board by means of asymmetric extraction + ellipsis 353
- A morphologically guided matching approach to German(ic) relative constructions 387
- Index 415
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Comparative Germanic Syntax ix
- Modal complement ellipsis 1
- On the adverbial reading of infrequency adjectives and the structure of the DP 35
- Crossing the lake 67
- Preposition-determiner amalgams in German and French at the syntax-morphology interface 99
- Conditional clauses, Main Clause Phenomena and the syntax of polarity emphasis 133
- Cross-Germanic variation in binding Condition B 169
- Development of sentential negation in the history of German 199
- Contact, animacy, and affectedness in Germanic 223
- Syntactic change in progress 249
- Cross Germanic variation in the realm of support verbs 279
- The shift to strict VO in English at the PF-interface 311
- Deriving reconstruction asymmetries in Across The Board by means of asymmetric extraction + ellipsis 353
- A morphologically guided matching approach to German(ic) relative constructions 387
- Index 415
