Open AccessElliptical constructions and underlying clefts
Author(s) -
Joanykiel
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
lsa annual meeting extended abstracts
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2377-3367
DOI - 10.3765/exabs.v0i0.541
Subject(s) - interrogative word , linguistics , salience (neuroscience) , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , psychology , cognitive psychology , philosophy , social psychology
In this study, I argue that, contra previous accounts, the possibility of preposition omission in elliptical constructions, in particular under sluicing, is not syntactically motivated. Polish has no possibility of preposition stranding in non-elliptical interrogatives, and nor does it have acceptable cleft interrogatives that could underlie elided phrases without prepositions. However, manipulations of the complexity of elided phrases and/or their correlates influence the acceptability of preposition omission in three elliptical constructions. These results are not predicted on a transformational account, but are consistent with accounts appealing to the salience of the correlate available in the antecedent, including processing accounts.