Pseudogapping parameters

Abstract

This paper makes two main contributions. First, it offers novel evidence supporting an extension of the traditional view that Chinese languages lack English-style gapping to include pseudogapping. Second, it investigates the parametric underpinnings of pseudogapping, aiming to account for why Cantonese and Mandarin disallow a movement plus deletion derivation of pseudogapping despite allowing focus movement and VP ellipsis, operations that are thought to be involved in Japanese pseudogapping. We attribute this contrast to a FocP licensing parameter that prohibits ellipsis of VP complements following focus movement in Chinese, a parameter further motivated by right dislocation asymmetries. We conclude that the crosslinguistic distribution of pseudogapping emerges from the interplay among multiple phenomena, including overt QR, VP ellipsis, focus movement, and FocP licensing.