Peripheral fragments: Dislocation as ellipsis

Abstract

Left- and right-dislocation constructions have so far resisted reduction to basic mechanisms of grammar, and in fact pose various theoretically challenging problems. Focusing on Germanic, I argue that "dislocation" is in fact a kind of juxtaposition of two clauses, one of which is reduced by IP-ellipsis (as attested in sluicing and fragment answers). Analyzing dislocated XPs as remnants of clausal ellipsis directly predicts various otherwise puzzling properties of dislocation, such as reconstruction into the main clause, now reanalyzed as reconstruction internally to the reduced clause. I show that the analysis receives independent support from parallels between sluicing/fragment answers and dislocation.