Quantificational Null Objects and Argument Ellipsis

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiko Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Traditional View ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Null Objects

This article provides a new argument for the analysis of null arguments in terms of ellipsis by considering null objects that behave like quantifiers. It is shown that the presence of quantificational null objects and their scopal property are difficult to accommodate under the traditional view of null arguments as pronouns but are best accounted for by the ellipsis analysis. Among the consequences of the present study are the need to postulate phonetically invisible/inaudible scrambling and its obedience to the economy requirement.

On null objects in Egyptian Arabic

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-259
Author(s):  
Usama Soltan
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Egyptian Arabic ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Descriptive Account ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Strict Identity

Abstract This paper provides a descriptive account and a syntactic analysis of the grammatical distribution and properties of null objects (NOs) in Egyptian Arabic. In particular, it is shown that NOs cannot be analyzed as instances of null pro or as variables bound by a null topic operator. A Verb-Stranding VP-Ellipsis account is also shown to be empirically non-viable. Instead, I argue that NOs result from Argument Ellipsis (AE), an operation that targets arguments for deletion at PF. This AE analysis has several empirical advantages, including an account for (a) the different-entity interpretation of NOs, (b) the fact that PP and CP internal arguments can be null, (c) the availability of both strict identity and sloppy identity readings with null PPs and CPs, (d) the indefiniteness and inanimacy restrictions on the antecedents of NOs, and (e) the fact that subjects, as opposed to objects, cannot undergo AE. Following existing proposals in the generative literature on null arguments, I provide a minimalist implementation of the AE operation, whereby principles of φ-agreement, case licensing, the NP/DP distinction, and a notion of relativized phasehood, all conspire to determine when NOs occur and when they are disallowed in the language.

On null arguments and phi-features in second language acquisition

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-223
Author(s):  
Yoichi Miyamoto ◽  
Kazumi Yamada
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Feature Learning ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Null Arguments

AbstractSaito, Mamoru. 2007. Notes on East Asian argument ellipsis. Language Research 43. 203–227 argues that argument ellipsis (AE) is available only in languages that lack phi-feature agreement. Accordingly, Japanese, but not English, permits AE. Under Saito’s theoretical framework, this paper compares experimental data from L1 Japanese learners of L2 English (J-EFL) and L1 English learners of L2 Japanese (E-JFL). Given that sloppy and quantificational reading arises from an ellipsis operation (Hankamer, Jorge & Sag, Ivan. 1976. Deep and surface anaphora. Linguistic Inquiry 7. 391–426, Takahashi, Daiko. 2008. Noun phrase ellipsis. In Miyagawa, Shigeru & Saito, Mamoru (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Japanese linguistics, 394–422. Oxford: Oxford University Press, among others), we hypothesize that J-EFL learners, but not E-JFL learners, allow the reading in point with null arguments: AE is available only in the grammar of J-EFL learners, forced by the lack of phi-features in their L2 English grammar, due to L1 transfer. The results from our main study adopting a truth value judgement task supported the hypothesis. Based on our finding, we suggest that correct L2 phi-feature specification can ultimately be obtained when no phi-features are present in L1 (Ishino, Nao. 2012. Feature transfer and feature learning in universal grammar: A comparative study of the syntactic mechanism for second language acquisition. Doctoral dissertation: Kwansei Gakuin University, Miyamoto, Yoichi. 2012. Dainigengo-ni okeru hikenzaiteki-na yōso-ni kansuru Ichikōsatsu [A study on null elements in second language acquisition]. Paper presented at the 84th ELSJ annual general meeting: Senshu University, 26 May).

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.

Derivational argument ellipsis

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-74
Author(s):  
Daiko Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Null Arguments

AbstractThe present article is concerned with two important observations about argument ellipsis. One is that it may apply to arguments that do not enter into agreement relationship with functional categories but not to those that do; the other is that extraction out of elided arguments is possible in Japanese. In order to account for these properties, I adopt the theory of derivational ellipsis, according to which elliptic constituents are marked as such as early as in the syntactic component, and the hypothesis that v, V, and an internal argument can be combined in different ways in different languages. The proposed analysis does not only account for the relevant facts about argument ellipsis in Japanese, but also extends to other languages that exhibit slightly different behaviors with regard to null arguments.

scholarly journals Cross-linguistic influence in simultaneous and early sequential acquisition: Null subjects and null objects in Polish-German bilingualism

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692098891
Author(s):  
Aldona Sopata ◽  
Kamil Długosz ◽  
Bernhard Brehmer ◽  
Raina Gielge
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Delay Effect ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Sequential Acquisition ◽  
Language Pair

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The topic of cross-linguistic influence regarding the overt or null expression of arguments has been frequently considered regarding bilinguals acquiring language pairs in which the null option is licensed by one and not both of the two languages. The goal of this study is to investigate whether simultaneous and sequential bilinguals differ from monolinguals in the case of the acquisition of Polish and German; that is, languages which both license null subjects and null objects, but in which the nature of the null arguments clearly differs. We focus on the acquisition of null arguments as silent but syntactically active bundles of features. Design/methodology/approach: We compare the use of null subjects and null objects by 72 bilingual and 45 monolingual children in experimental setting: acceptability judgement and sentence repetition. Data and analysis: The distribution of null arguments in production and judgement data of simultaneous and early sequential bilinguals was compared to the data of monolinguals. Findings/conclusions: The study has revealed that early sequential Polish-German bilinguals avoid null subjects in L2 German at an advanced stage of acquisition, even though null subjects are quite frequent in their L1. The slower acquisition of null subjects in early L2 German in comparison to null objects in the case of Polish-German bilinguals demonstrates that the dissimilarity between the null subjects in both languages may lead to the delay effect in the acquisition. The findings suggest that the cross-linguistic influence is due to the increased complexity inherent to the integration of syntactic and pragmatic information in case of null arguments. Originality: Unlike previous studies, we focus on the acquisition of null arguments in a language pair, Polish and German, in which the null option is licensed by both grammars, and in which the nature of the null arguments clearly differ.

Asymmetries of null subjects and null objects in L1-English and L1-Japanese learners’ Chinese

Linguistics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 1141-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chang ◽  
Lina Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Dynamic Composition ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
L1 English

AbstractBased on the HSK Dynamic Composition Corpus, this study investigated the use of Chinese null arguments by advanced adult L1-English and L1-Japanese learners with Chinese native speakers as a baseline. Several asymmetries were found. First, the learners produced many more null subjects than null objects. Second, null subjects were mainly animate, while null objects were mainly inanimate. Third, more null subjects were used in non-matrix clauses than in matrix clauses. In addition, L1 did not seem to play a significant role in the learners’ use of Chinese null arguments, and the learners’ use Chinese null arguments was generally not native-like. Finally, it appears that null objects are not transferable or developmental and that infrequent use of null objects is universal in L2. It was argued that positive evidence in the target input as well as the nature of the subject and the object led to the asymmetric use of null subjects and null objects in L2 Chinese.

Overtly Empty but Covertly Complex

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-136
Author(s):  
Yuta Sakamoto
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Deep Anaphora ◽  
Proper Analysis

In this article, I argue for an ellipsis analysis of Japanese null arguments on the basis of a novel observation that covert extraction (i.e., extraction that does not affect word order) is possible out of them. Specifically, assuming that the extraction possibility is a diagnostic for surface anaphora/ellipsis, I claim that the covert extraction possibility indicates that Japanese null arguments can be elliptic: they cannot be uniformly silent deep anaphora/proforms. Furthermore, I show that there is an overt/covert extraction asymmetry in that only covert extraction is allowed out of Japanese null arguments. I argue that the LF copy analysis of argument ellipsis provides a solution for the overt/covert extraction asymmetry. The discussion also has consequences for the proper analysis of several phenomena of Japanese syntax, including wh-in-situ.

Licensing null arguments in recipes across languages

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
ILEANA PAUL ◽  
DIANE MASSAM
Keyword(s):  
Left Periphery ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Null Objects

While much of the literature on recipe contexts has focused on English and the availability of null definite patients, this paper shows that both null agents and null patients are possible in recipes in a range of typologically and genetically diverse languages. It is proposed that null agents in recipes arise due to a variety of syntactic strategies, but null patients are uniformly licensed via a null topic in the left periphery in all the languages considered. These results indicate that while the recipe register does not directly dictate specific syntactic structures such as imperatives or null objects, the register can provide the pragmatic context necessary for certain syntactic processes, such as null topicalization.

Intra-industry and inter-industry trade through the lens of comparative and absolute advantage

2016 ◽  
pp. 112-128
Author(s):  
A. Gnidchenko
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Product Quality ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Increasing Returns ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Export Diversification ◽  
Industry Trade ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Absolute Advantage

The article surveys the literature that emphasizes the importance of comparative and absolute advantages for intra- and inter-industry trade. Two conclusions follow form the survey. First, unlike the traditional view, intra-industry trade is determined rather by technology than by increasing returns. Second, absolute advantages that have been ignored in international trade models for a long time play a vital role through their linkages with product quality and export diversification. We also discuss a new strand of literature that models international trade with the assumption of non-homothetic preferences.

Pittenweem Priory and the conventuality question

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Lodge
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
New Mother ◽  
Set Up ◽  
And Control

Pittenweem Priory began life as the caput manor of a daughter-house established on May Island by Cluniac monks from Reading (c. 1140). After its sale to St Andrews (c. 1280), the priory transferred ashore. While retaining its traditional name, the ‘Priory of May (alias Pittenweem)’ was subsumed within the Augustinian priory of St Andrews. Its prior was elected from among the canons of the new mother house, but it was many decades before a resident community of canons was set up in Pittenweem. The traditional view, based principally on the ‘non-conventual’ status of the priory reiterated in fifteenth-century documents, is that there was ‘no resident community’ before the priorship of Andrew Forman (1495–1515). Archaeological evidence in Pittenweem, however, indicates that James Kennedy had embarked on significant development of the priory fifty years earlier. This suggests that, when the term ‘non-conventual’ is used in documents emanating from Kennedy's successors (Graham and Scheves), we should interpret it more as an assertion of superiority and control than as a description of realities in the priory.

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