Cover not available
Part of
Interfaces in Grammar
Edited by Jianhua Hu and Haihua Pan
[Language Faculty and Beyond 15] 2019
► pp. 283–300

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

| The Chinese University of Hong Kong

This paper discusses issues related to VP-Ellipsis and null object constructions in Mandarin Chinese. It consists of two parts. First, pace Li (1998) and Xu (2003), but in line with Huang (1988a, b, 1991), the paper argues that it is not true that no null object construction (NOC) sentences can be analyzed as VP-ellipsis in Mandarin Chinese, and it will show that the reason for the fact that the interpretation patterns of the relevant sentences deviate from those of their English counterparts is not because there is no VP-ellipsis in Chinese but because Chinese pronouns and reflexives exhibit some special properties different from those in English. The claim in this paper is that the so-called NOC sentences are ambiguous in structure and can be analyzed as either VP-ellipsis or NOC. Second, pace Kehler (1993), the paper claims that it is not the parallel vs. non-parallel distinction but the semantic and discourse constraints of coordinate constructions with too and ye ‘also’ in VP-ellipsis that help explain why some VP-ellipsis sentences are ungrammatical in English and Mandarin Chinese, respectively. Hence, the coordination construction in neither English nor Chinese is constrained by the so-called syntactic condition which is based on the parallel vs. non-parallel distinction, as proposed in Kehler (1993), and discourse factors play a crucial role in the interpretation of coordination construction in the two languages concerned.

Article outline
  • 1.Arguments for and against the VP-ellipsis analysis of the null object construction
  • 2.Problems for Li (1998)
  • 3.The necessity of the two analyses of NOCs in Chinese
  • 4.The parallel vs. Non-parallel distinction and sentence interpretation
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 April 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.15.10pan
References
Aoun, Joseph and Y.-H. Audrey Li
2008 Ellipsis and missing objects. In R. Freudian, C. P. Otero, and M. L. Zubizarreta (eds.). Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory: Essays in Honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud, 251–274. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Carl Lee
1995 Contrast, and discourse prominence, and intensification, with special reference to locally free reflexives in British English. Language 71 (1), 63–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, Lotus
2005 Verb-stranding VP ellipsis: A cross-linguistic study. Ph.D.diss., McGil.Google Scholar
Gribanova, Vera
2013a A new argument for verb-stranding verb phrase ellipsis. Linguistic Inquiry 44 (1): 145–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013b Verb-stranding verb phrase ellipsis and the structure of the Russian verbal complex. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 31(1), 91–136 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hankamer, Jorge. and I. A. Sag
1976 Deep and surface anaphora. Linguistic Inquiry 7, 391–426.Google Scholar
Hoji, Hajime
1998 Null object and sloppy identity in Japanese. Linguistic Inquiry 29, 127–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hu, Jianhua., Pan, Haihua. and Xu, Liejiong
2001 Is there a finite vs. nonfinite distinction in Chinese? Linguistics 39(6), 1117–1148. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James
1988a Comments on Hasegawa’s paper. Proceedings of Japanese Syntax Workshop: Issues on Empty Categories. Connecticut College, New London.Google Scholar
1988b Verb-second in German and some AUX phenomena in Chinese. In A. Bramkamp et al. (eds.) Chinese-Western Encounter: Festschrift for Franz Giet, SVD on his 85th Birthday, Fu Jen University, Taipei.Google Scholar
1991 Remarks on the status of the null object. In Freidin (ed.) Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar, 56–76. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Jeff
1984 Obligatory too in English. Language 60(3), 510–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kehler, Andrew, L. Kertz, H. Rohde, and J. L. Elman
2008 Coherence and coreference revisited. Journal of Semantics 25, 1–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kehler, Andrew
1993 The effect of establishing coherence in ellipsis and anaphora resolution. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, 62–69, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Association for Computational Linguistics, Morristown, New Jersey. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000 Coherence and the resolution of ellipsis. Linguistics and Philosophy 23, 533–575. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002 Coherence, Reference, and the Theory of Grammar. California: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Kertz, Laura
2013 Verb phrase ellipsis: the view from information structure. Language 89, 390–428. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, Soowon
1999 Sloppy/strict identity, empty objects, and NP ellipsis. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 8, 255-284. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Grace
1998 Null object and VP ellipsis in Chinese. Proceedings of the 9th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. LA: GSIL, University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Li1, Hui-Ju Grace
2002 Ellipsis constructions in Chinese. Ph.D. Diss., University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Li, Yen-Hui Audrey
2014 Born empty. Lingua 151, 43–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oku, Satoshi
1998 A theory of subcategorization and reconstruction in the minimalist perspective. Ph. D. diss., University of Connecticut.Google Scholar
Otani, K. and J. Whiteman
1991 V-Raising and VP-Ellipsis. Linguistic Inquiry 22. 345–358.Google Scholar
Pan, H. H.
1996 Self-ascription and Mandarin reflexive ziji . Paper read at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America , San Diago, CA., USA
1997 Constraints on Reflexivization in Mandarin Chinese. Garland Publishing, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
1998 Closeness, prominence and binding theory. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 16, 771–815. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reinhart, T.
1976 The Syntactic Domain of Anaphora. Ph.D. diss., MIT, Google Scholar
1983 Anaphora and Semantic Interpretation. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Sag, Ivan and Jorge Hankamer
1984 Toward a theory of anaphoric processing. Linguistics and Philosophy 7, 325–345. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tomioka, Satoshi
1998 The laziest pronouns. Japanese/Korean Linguistics 7, 515-531.Google Scholar
2014 Mini-Parameters in discourse pro-drop languages: Comments on ‘Born Empty’ by Yen-hui Audrey Li. Lingua 151, 69–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Liejiong
2003 Remarks on VP ellipsis in disguise. Linguistic Inquiry 34(1), 163–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Sperlich, Darcy
2020. A Theoretical Synthesis. In Reflexive Pronouns: A Theoretical and Experimental Synthesis [Language, Cognition, and Mind, 8], ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.