Apparent Adjunct Ellipsis via (Un)Structured Coordination

Abstract

Lee, Wooseung and Myung-Kwan, Park. 2018. Apparent adjunct ellipsis via (un)structured coordination. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics 18-4, 381-394. This paper investigates apparent ellipsis phenomena in coordinate structure involving three different types of adjunct; relative clauses, comparative phrases and locative phrases (Collins 2014, 2017). These constructions are especially interesting, in that the adjuncts at issue are realized overtly in the initial conjunct only, but possibly are present interpretatively in the second conjunct as well, unlike in right node raising constructions where the shared part occurs in the final conjunct only. An ambiguity arises depending on whether the adjuncts are interpreted in the initial conjunct only or distributed across the whole conjuncts. As for the second, less-studied reading, we propose an analysis based on Chomsky’s (2013) unstructured coordination and Moro’s (2011) clause structure folding, which derives the correct word order and accounts for the intended interpretation (cf. Collins 2014, 2017).