A Null Argument as pro : Evidence from Recovery of a Focus Particle

Abstract

This paper investigates a null argument in Korean that cannot take as its antecedent a nominal marked with a focus particle like –man ‘only’. Although trivial in appearance, this peculiar behavior of the null argument in this language renders compelling evidence against a PF deletion and LF reconstruction-based ellipsis analysis and a V-stranding cum VP ellipsis analysis of the Korean null argument. Thus, it is suggested that we go back to the traditional analysis of the null argument as a pronoun or, more exactly, pro. Since a pronoun is a feature complex composed of phi-features (such as person, number, gender, Case), the focus marker-inclusive construal of the null argument even when it takes a –man marked nominal as its antecedent is not allowed. But such a construal is apparently allowed when the VP anaphor recovers a –man marked nominal inside it, which in turn flies in the face of deriving the null argument via V-stranding cum VP ellipsis.