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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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Isogloss |
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| Online Access: | https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/483 |
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| author | J.-Marc Authier |
| author_facet | J.-Marc Authier |
| author_sort | J.-Marc Authier |
| collection | DOAJ |
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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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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-369555b38d9b4374b7cdf74fd01b2b0b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2385-4138 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Isogloss |
| spelling | doaj-art-369555b38d9b4374b7cdf74fd01b2b0b2025-08-20T02:40:29ZengUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaIsogloss2385-41382025-07-0111510.5565/rev/isogloss.483Features of French clausal ellipsisJ.-Marc Authier0https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0495-6503Penn State 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. https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/483antecedent contained deletionclausal ellipsisCP-recursionE-featureFrench |
| spellingShingle | J.-Marc Authier Features of French clausal ellipsis Isogloss antecedent contained deletion clausal ellipsis CP-recursion E-feature French |
| title | Features of French clausal ellipsis |
| title_full | Features of French clausal ellipsis |
| title_fullStr | Features of French clausal ellipsis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Features of French clausal ellipsis |
| title_short | Features of French clausal ellipsis |
| title_sort | features of french clausal ellipsis |
| topic | antecedent contained deletion clausal ellipsis CP-recursion E-feature French |
| url | https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/483 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jmarcauthier featuresoffrenchclausalellipsis |