초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This paper proposes a licensing condition on argument ellipsis based on phase theory (Chomsky 2000, 2001) and the parallelism condition on ellipsis (Fox 2000). This proposal predicts a subject-object asymmetry in the acceptability of sloppy readings. To show that the prediction is born out in Korean, an experiment was conducted and the results show that sloppy readings are more likely to be obtained when the null arguments are objects rather than subjects of finite embedded clauses. This study also discusses the potential syntactic identity of null subjects. Adopting Hoji’s (1998) pro-analysis, I assume that null subjects of finite embedded clauses are bare nouns corresponding to the antecedent. Throughout the discussion, this paper suggests a potential answer to the two questions that go beyond Korean argument ellipsis. The first one is why the subject-object asymmetry in the acceptability of sloppy readings is observed in many languages. I state that this is because the licensing condition on argument ellipsis is constrained by phase theory and the parallelism condition. The second question is why the sloppy reading is not impossible to get from null subjects (of finite embedded clauses). I attribute it to the semantic properties of bare nouns in those languages.
