Features of French clausal ellipsis
Evidence is provided that there is a use of the French clitic le (coined special le) that co-occurs with clausal ellipsis. I argue against extending Elbourne’s (2001) analysis of E-type pronouns as definite determiners followed by ellipsis to special le and suggest instead that it is best analyzed...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Isogloss |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/483 |
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| Summary: | Evidence is provided that there is a use of the French clitic le (coined special le) that co-occurs with clausal ellipsis. I argue against extending Elbourne’s (2001) analysis of E-type pronouns as definite determiners followed by ellipsis to special le and suggest instead that it is best analyzed as the optional phonological realization of an E-feature. I further establish the existence of two distinct types of clausal ellipsis: type 1, which may, but need not, co-occur with wh-extraction out of the ellipsis site and type 2, which must involve wh-extraction of an ellipsis remnant to be licensed. I propose an account of type 1 (a.k.a. modal) ellipsis that correctly predicts that it is only licensed by those modal verbs that take phasal complements. I then turn to type 2 ellipsis and argue that it involves the pairing of an E-feature and an EPP feature with the higher C-projection of a CP-recursive structure selected by verbs embedding a speech act such as bridge verbs. Finally, I show that type 2 ellipsis is licensed in ACD relatives but not in standard relatives. I provide a tentative explanation for this based on Koster-Moeller & Martin Hackl’s (2008) derivational theory of ACD relatives.
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| ISSN: | 2385-4138 |