Abstract
This paper concerns the question whether reflexives can have strict readings in VP-ellipsis. It is argued that the possibility for strict interpretation is determined by a syntactic factor: subordination of the elided clause relative to the antecedent clause facilitates strict interpretation, whereas coordination disfavors it. This contrast is shown to be predictable by theories of syntactic reconstruction which assume that a surface reflexive corresponds to a bound variable at the point of ellipsis reconstruction, and where the binder has scope over a subordinated ellipsis but not over a coordinated ellipsis. One possibility is that the binder is the reflexive itself, moved at LF. A further factor, namely the possibility of speakers reinterpreting the ellipsis as a deep anaphor, accounts for why strict readings are in fact weakly acceptable in coordinated ellipsis. Previous accounts of ellipsis and reflexives are evaluated in light of the new data.
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This paper, a longer version of which was distributed as Hestvik (1992), has benefited from presentations at the universities of Cologne, Oslo, Florida International University, UQAM, Tübingen, Stuttgart, SOAS and Oxford, and at the 1993 LSA meeting in Los Angeles. Thanks to Nick Asher, Steve Berman, Bob Fiengo, Hans Kamp, Robert May, Mats Rooth, Helle Sem, Arnim von Stechow, and the editors of this journal for useful commentary and discussion. This work was supported by grant SFB 340 (A5) from the German Science Foundation to the University of Stuttgart.
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Hestvik, A. Reflexives and ellipsis. Nat Lang Seman 3, 211–237 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01249838
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01249838