On the Interaction between Multidominance and Ellipsis
December 20, 2023
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Starts at 18:00 (Moscow time)
Barbara Citko
Professor and Associate Chair of Linguistics
University of Washington
Abstract
In this presentation, based on the joint work with Martina Gracanin-Yuksek, I examine two ways in which a syntactic structure can be PF-reduced (partially or completely unpronounced): multidominance (MD) and ellipsis. If both PF-reduction mechanisms are in principle available, the following questions arise: (i) what factors influence the choice between ellipsis and MD?, (ii) how do the two interact with one another: can multiply-dominated material be elided and if so, under what circumstances? To answer these questions, we focus on coordinate structures in which the elements that survive PF-reduction are wh-phrases, Coordinated Wh-Questions (CWHs) in (1), and Coordinated Sluices (CSs) in (2).
(1) What and when should you teach?
(2) Someone saw something, but I can’t remember who or what.