Salvation by Deletion in Nupe
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Gesoel Mendes [1] ; Jason Kandybowicz [2]
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[1] University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
Estados Unidos
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[2] City University of New York
City University of New York
Estados Unidos
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- Localización: Linguistic inquiry, ISSN 0024-3892, Vol. 54, Nº 2, 2023, págs. 299-325
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
This article presents novel data from ellipsis in Nupe, a Benue-Congo language of Nigeria, and explores its theoretical implications. Three claims are made. First, sluicing in Nupe counterexemplifies Merchant’s (2001) Sluicing-COMP Generalization. Second, ungrammatical outputs resulting from extraction from perfect clauses are salvaged by ellipsis, arguing against Kandybowicz’s (2009) analysis where such a restriction is a narrow-syntax derivational constraint. Third, COMP-trace effects in Nupe are also repaired under ellipsis, lending support to Kandybowicz’s (2009) claim that the Nupe COMP-trace effect is an interface phenomenon. Our findings provide evidence for the claim that ellipsis can repair certain otherwise ill-formed structures
