2007 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 319-340
We propose that Ellipsis is a phase-based operation, and demonstrate how this hypothesis can account for ellipsis phenomena. Particularly, we argue that vP-ellipsis (VP-deletion) is triggered by the silence feature of C, “inherited” by T (Chomsky (2005)). This proposal, together with the Phase Impenetrability Condition (Chomsky (2001)), can account for a number of properties of vP-ellipsis. Furthermore, we will show that noun phrases and sentences are parallel concerning Ellipsis. This provides some support for the hypothesis of the parallelism between noun phrases and sentences. Finally, it will be shown that our proposal and the single-cycle system in Chomsky (2004) can account for the interaction between Ellipsis and interpretation.
