Imperfect Ellipsis: Antecedents beyond Syntax?

Abstract

Ellipsis is subject to both syntactic conditions and discourse conditions. Here we explore the discourse condition that favors antecedents that are part of the main assertion of an utterance. We argue that the main assertion tendency is best captured in the processor, not the grammar. Two experiments test verb phrase ellipsis examples with antecedents in a conditional. One suggests that, because of the main assertion tendency, a reader considers full conditional antecedents and not just verb phrase antecedents. However, when the antecedent of the conditional expresses already given information and essentially becomes redundant, fewer full conditional antecedents are chosen for the verb phrase ellipsis, as if the consequent clause has become the assertion of the conditional sentence with the if-clause essentially cancelling out. The second experiment explores examples where a modal is added inside the if-clause, rendering the conditional counterfactual. As in other examples of flawed or imperfect ellipsis, the non-actuality entailment/implicature improves the acceptability of such examples.

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