Syntax of Concealed Sluicing in Bùlì

Abstract

Sluicing is a star example of ellipsis first observed by Ross (1969). Ross (1969) argued that sluicing results from an embedded wh-question clause, in which wh-movement is followed by deletion of everything but a wh-phrase. Interestingly, some languages disallow embedded wh-questions and instead, express them with relative clauses. In this paper, we show that B` ul` ı, a Mabia/Gur language spoken in Northern Ghana, exhibits rarely-discussed interesting patterns of sluicing within relative clauses and propose a phase-based explanation.