Japanese

要旨

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of, while examining various proposals for, ellipsis in Japanese. Fragments are examined, and it is claimed to be reasonable to assume that stripping, sluicing, and ellipsis in comparatives are a uniform phenomenon while short answers are distinct. It is also argued that the properties of Right-Node Raising can be best captured by a non-constituent string deletion analysis. Three approaches to null arguments are examined, and shortcomings in each are discussed. N’-deletion is then explored and claimed to be ambiguous between two structural possibilities: ellipsis and non-ellipsis. VP-ellipsis, gapping, and pseudo-gapping are also touched upon. One significant aspect of the ellipsis phenomena in Japanese illustrated in this chapter is that the presence and absence of a case-marker plays a crucial role, with case-marked and non-case-marked fragments being analyzed as instances of surface anaphora and deep anaphora, respectively. This indicates the importance of focusing on case-marked versions in the syntactic investigation of these phenomena.

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