Argument Ellipsis vs. V-Stranding VP Ellipsis: Evidence from Conjunctive/Disjunctive Constructions in Korean

Abstract

This paper explores a long-standing issue on the analysis of elliptical constructions. Specifically, based on two recent works that argue for divergent analyses (Simpson 2021, Landau 2021), we will investigate constructions involving ellipsis of argument clusters and connectors such as a coordinator and a disjunctor. In their respective works, Simpson (2021) argued for V-Stranding VP Ellipsis and Landau (2021) supported Argument Ellipsis as an analysis of constructions with silent arguments. Interestingly, W. Lee (2016) argued that some data in Korean are best analyzed as Argument Ellipsis and other data as V-Stranding VP Ellipsis, allowing both syntactic operations as grammatical components in Korean. Given these competing analyses and proposals in various languages, and given the fact that some data are argued to consistently point to Argument Ellipsis and other data V-Stranding VP Ellipsis, we revisit this apple of discord, focusing on recent proposals based on some novel empirical evidence. We further examine relevant constructions in Korean and argue in favor of the Argument Ellipsis analysis in elliptical conjunctive and disjunctive constructions. We show that Landau’s (2021) Argument Ellipsis, having recourse to the workings of pragmatic inference, is well suited for accounting for the elliptical constructions discussed here.