Remarks on the Apparent Amelioration of MaxElide Violations

Abstract

According to Merchant’s (2008) MaxElide, ellipsis must target the biggestdeletable constituent when it contains an A’-trace. This straightforwardlyaccounts for the well-known contrast between the matrix IP-ellipsis andthe matrix VP-ellipsis in Sluicing environment. However, it is observedthat targeting certain types of embedded VP induces a much improvedstatus, giving an illusion that a MaxElide violation is ameliorated. In thispaper, I argue that it is indeed an illusion by claiming that the improvedstatus arises since MaxElide alone, but not (a version of) Parallelism, isviolated. This entails that when both MaxElide and Parallelism areviolated, an cumulative effect arises, inducing much severedegradedness. We argue that the severe degradedness of the matrixVP-ellipsis represents such a case.