動詞懸置刪略結構之比較研究

This project aims at a syntactic analysis of verb-stranding ellipsis constructions, in which the main verb remains obligatorily overt after the elision occurs. In particular, with a comparative approach, we investigate the issue of whether some apparent null object constructions can be analyzed as involving verb phrase ellipsis in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Previous works in verb-raising languages have demonstrated that a verb that has raised to a higher functional head can license ellipsis of the predicate phrase. On the other hand, although this sort of “VP ellipsis in disguise” has been extensively discussed in Chinese, Japanese and Korean linguistics, however, no common understanding has been achieved. Therefore, starting with Chinese as our major empirical ground, we scrutinize the associated properties pointed out in the literature as well as present novel observations made in the current project. We suggest that there is verb-stranding ellipsis in (at least) Chinese, drawing on new evidence from idiom chunks and verb identity phenomenon, and that it exhibits parallel traits that are attested in English genuine VPE, such as interpretation ambiguities, locality constraints and licensing conditions. We believe that this research can make substantial contribution to the understanding of null pronominal elements, articulated verbal structures in these East-Asian languages and the syntactic theories of VPE, or more broadly, ellipsis in general.