• Language and Information
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.93-110
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• 2016

VP-ellipsis constructions in English can be schematized as S + [NP finite-AUX __ ] where the underlined part is understood to be a VP. Similarly, the pattern S + NP[-to] can be observed in Korean colloquial contexts. Though the English VP-ellipsis sentence pattern and the Korean pattern superficially seem to be similar, the Korean pattern exhibits peculiar properties: Syntactically, the NP of the pattern should have the delimiter -to. Semantically, it may convey ambiguous readings: VP-ellipsis-like and/or Stripping-like interpretation. To account for the pattern at issue, we propose a base-generated analysis driven by the delimiter -to within a construction grammar. We claim that the mother of the NP[-to] in this pattern is an S whose meaning is ambiguous between a VP-ellipsis-like and a Stripping-like reading. Consequently, the code of the VP-ellipsis in English is finite auxiliary verbs while that of the pattern S + NP[-to] in Korean is the delimiter -to.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2002

Linguistically, 'Focus' is the element which includes new or unpresupposed information. It is usually signalled by prosodic prominence called the 'pitch accent'. The purpose of this study is to observe the realization of the focal accent in VP-ellipsis, especially, to affect the meaning recovery of elided VP. Asher (1999) gave evidence that focal stress should be on the higher verb and the AUX in order to recover the elided VP to the lower one. In this paper, the systematic patterning of focal accent to decide the elided meaning in VP-ellipsis is to be observed. The realization of focal accent by English native speakers is set as the criteria for the meaning recovery of the elided VP and is compared to Koreans'. Moreover, the focal accents of Koreans are observed and compared with respect to their English proficiency levels.

• Language and Information
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.87-103
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• 2007

This paper reanalyzes examples with missing verbs. Northern Mandarin rejects argument nominal phrases after a silent verb, as well as silent verbs inside islands. These restrictions suggest a grammatical process which silences verbs. I propose that these restrictions are the result of VP-topicalization followed by ellipsis. This analysis accounts for the island sensitivity of these constructions: since VP-topicalization feeds ellipsis, constructions with elided VPs are not derivable from configurations where movement is impossible. Also, to avoid topicalization along with the VP, the argument must move out of VP; the subsequent topicalization of the VP containing the argument's trace would then give rise to a configuration where that trace c-commands the moved-out DP. Adjuncts do not pose a problem because they are located outside of that smallest VP-shell. The data presented here are accommodated by neither of Tang's (2001) proposals for silent verbs (gapping and empty verbs). Instead, they provide support for a third source for silent verbs, VP-ellipsis via topicalization.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.119-136
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• 2004

Ellipsis is the figure of speech characterized by the deliberate omission of words that are obviously understood, but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically or semantically complete. The purpose of this study is to examine how ellipsis affects its adjacent elements acoustically and phonologically in English VP-ellipsis, sluicing and gapping. In the experiment, the realizations by English native speakers are set as the criteria for the observing point and are compared to Korean speakers' realizations. For the results, while English native speakers utilized various acoustic information such as word duration and pitch range and phonological information such as pith accent realization in order to intend the cues for decoding the missing constituent, Korean English learners relied on only duration information and could not use various information effectively.

• Language and Information
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 1999

The purpose of this paper is to propose a theory for the interpretation of VP-ellipsis. Although there have been various proposals such as Sag(1976), Williams(1977), Darlymple et al.(1991), there remain many problems, especially with respect to the interpretation of pronouns. Assuming that a coordinate sentence forms a kind of discourse, we propose a theory which consists of two subparts, i. e. a revised HPSG for the syntactic treatment and a so-called 'default-inheritance' mechanism for the interpretation of elliptical parts. By means of this theory, we can explain various elliptical constructions of Fiengo and May(1994), in which pronouns are interpreted ambiguously within the elliptical conjuncts of coordinate sentences according to the related syntactic and the discourse structures.

• Language and Information
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.63-78
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• 2011

This study investigates the binding behavior of the Korean anaphor 'caki', which has been regarded thus far as a long-distance anaphor (LDA). Given that even local anaphors can be bound long-distance when they function as exempt anaphors in certain languages (Pollard and Sag 1992; Kim and Yoon 2009a, b), I investigated the binding behavior of LD-bound 'caki', in order to determine whether LD-bound 'caki' differs from LD-bound 'caki-casin' in the same contexts. In the experiment, subjects were required to rate the grammaticality of Korean sentences representing various types of LD binding of 'caki' and to determine whether the sloppy or the strict reading was more prominent in elliptical VPs containing the anaphor. The results are discussed with respect to the typology of LDAs proposed by Cole, Hermon and Huang (2001).