Rule ordering is free: A case study of extraction out of ellipsis

Abstract

This paper examines Bošković’s (2014) idea that extraction out of an ellipsis site is impossible when a phase is elided. One of the empirical problems with this analysis is that there is a case, pointed out in Takahashi (2020), where focus movement out of an elided CP (a phase) is possible in Japanese. By reformulating Bošković’s (2014) system in terms of Obata, Epstein and Baptista’s (2015) view that that ordering of rule-application is underspecified in UG, we demonstrate that the ordering between Internal Merge (IM) and Bošković’s ‘Marking for Ellipsis’ (ME) is crucial: in Bošković’s system, ME needs to precede IM, which makes extraction out of CP impossible. If IM precedes ME, on the other hand, extraction out of CP should be equally possible, which enables us to generate Takahashi’s (2020) focus movement case. As a consequence, our analysis clarifies what roles labels play in the interfaces, which supports Chomsky’s (2013) view that labels are necessary for interface interpretation.