Contrast and verb phrase ellipsis

The case of tautologous conditionals

Bibliographic Data

ID4568937
AuthorsRichard Stockwell (0000-0002-0150-2454, Canterbury Christ Church University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume30
Issue1
Pages77-100
Publication date2022-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNatural Language Semantics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0925-854X • E-ISSN: 1572-865X
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11050-022-09189-3
OpenAlexW4220884630
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited29

This paper argues that verb phrase ellipsis requires contrast. The central observation is that ellipsis is ungrammatical in tautologous conditionals; e.g., *If John wins, then he does. Ellipsis is correctly ruled out by a focus-based theory of ellipsis (Rooth 1992a,b), but one that crucially imports focus's requirement for contrast: an elliptical constituent must have an antecedent that is not merely an alternative to it, but a 'proper' alternative. An explanation in terms of contrast failure proves superior to alternative explanations in terms of triviality and matching form. Showing as much catalogues what counts for contrast in ellipsis, encompassing negation, questions, and intensionality. Subjecting ellipsis to a contrast requirement is in direct conflict with the traditional analysis of MaxElide effects (Takahashi and Fox 2005), favouring alternative explanations (e.g., Jacobson 2019a,b), perhaps in terms of contrast itself (Griffiths 2019). Overall, this paper establishes that contrast has explanatory power in ellipsis licensing

Linguistics · Modal verb · Negation · Noun phrase · Phrase · Verb · Verb phrase · Verb phrase ellipsis · Computer Science · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence

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