Chapter 10. Null object constructions, VP-ellipsis, and sentence interpretation

2019 ◽  
pp. 283-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haihua Pan
Keyword(s):  
Null Object ◽  
Vp Ellipsis ◽  
Sentence Interpretation ◽  
Null Object Constructions

Null Objects in Korean: Experimental Evidence for the Argument Ellipsis Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-340
Author(s):  
Chung-hye Han ◽  
Kyeong-min Kim ◽  
Keir Moulton ◽  
Jeffrey Lidz
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Correlation Experiment ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Null Object ◽  
Vp Ellipsis ◽  
Verb Raising

Null object (NO) constructions in Korean and Japanese have received different accounts: as (a) argument ellipsis ( Oku 1998 , S. Kim 1999 , Saito 2007 , Sakamoto 2015 ), (b) VP-ellipsis after verb raising ( Otani and Whitman 1991 , Funakoshi 2016 ), or (c) instances of base-generated pro ( Park 1997 , Hoji 1998 , 2003 ). We report results from two experiments supporting the argument ellipsis analysis for Korean. Experiment 1 builds on K.-M. Kim and Han’s (2016) finding of interspeaker variation in whether the pronoun ku can be bound by a quantifier. Results showed that a speaker’s acceptance of quantifier-bound ku positively correlates with acceptance of sloppy readings in NO sentences. We argue that an ellipsis account, in which the NO site contains internal structure hosting the pronoun, accounts for this correlation. Experiment 2, testing the recovery of adverbials in NO sentences, showed that only the object (not the adverb) can be recovered in the NO site, excluding the possibility of VP-ellipsis. Taken together, our findings suggest that NOs result from argument ellipsis in Korean.

Null objects and non-thematic subjects

1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Null Objects ◽  
Null Object ◽  
Middle Constructions ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Null Object Constructions

This article analyses middle constructions in English, accounting for their key syntactic and semantic properties. The analysis rests on the observation that there are certain similarities between middle, tough and recipe-context null-object constructions, such as in (1a–c). (1) (a) This bread cuts—easily. (b) This bread is easy to cut—. (c) Take bread. Cut—carefully (and arrange—nicely).

Null object constructions in KiNande

1988 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-Marc P. Authier
Keyword(s):  
Null Object ◽  
Null Object Constructions

Null Object and Sloppy Identity in Japanese

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajime Hoji
Keyword(s):  
Null Object ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Vp Ellipsis ◽  
Made In

I demonstrate that the null object construction (NOC) in Japanese cannot be analyzed on a par with VP-ellipsis (VPE) in English, contrary to the suggestion made in Huang 1988, 1991 and Otani and Whitman 1991. I argue that what are considered to be “sloppy identity readings” in these works are not genuine sloppy identity readings, and I argue that such readings arise quite independently of the alleged VPE status of the NOC.

VP-ellipsis, Stripping, and the Functions of the Delimiter –to in Korean

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
So-Jee Kim ◽  
Sae Youn Cho
Keyword(s):  
Vp Ellipsis

Focus Attracts Attachment

2021 ◽  
pp. 002383092110333
Author(s):  
Katy Carlson ◽  
David Potter
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Focus Position ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Prosodic Boundaries ◽  
Sentence Interpretation ◽  
Pitch Accents

There is growing evidence that pitch accents as well as prosodic boundaries can affect syntactic attachment. But is this an effect of their perceptual salience (the Salience Hypothesis), or is it because accents mark the position of focus (the Focus Attraction Hypothesis)? A pair of auditory comprehension experiments shows that focus position, as indicated by preceding wh-questions instead of by pitch accents, affects attachment by drawing the ambiguous phrase to the focus. This supports the Focus Attraction Hypothesis (or a pragmatic version of salience) for both these results and previous results of accents on attachment. These experiments show that information structure, as indicated with prosody or other means, influences sentence interpretation, and suggests a view on which modifiers are drawn to the most important information in a sentence.

Interpretation of reflexive anaphora in second language VP-ellipsis: Relevance Theory and paradigms of explanation

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xosé Rosales Sequeiros
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Comprehension Strategies ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Vp Ellipsis ◽  
Processing Effort ◽  
Maximal Relevance ◽  
The Impact

This article explores second language (L2) learners’ interpretation of reflexive anaphora in VP-Ellipsis by critiquing the work of Ying (2003), who applies Relevance Theory to explain elliptical anaphora. It argues against four claims made in his analysis: that L2 learners apply maximal relevance in anaphoric interpretation; that a procedural account of the impact of referential sentences on VP-ellipsis disambiguation is appropriate; that an account of anaphoric interpretation preferences should be based on processing cost; and that differences in experimental results between intermediate and advanced L2 learners are due to the use of different comprehension strategies (see Sperber, 1994). Instead, it argues: that it is not maximal but rather optimal relevance that is at work; that the key in disambiguating anaphora in VP-elliptical sentences is the achievement of an optimally relevant interpretation; that the role of contextual assumptions in anaphora resolution is to enable L2 learners to derive enough contextual effects to make it worth their effort and, in doing so, identifying (as a side effect) what they take to have been the intended referent; and that what is crucial in the use of comprehension strategies is not processing effort, but rather consistency with the second principle of relevance. Overall, all these factors provide the basis for an alternative and more comprehensive explanation of the experimental results discussed by Ying.

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