Clifton Charles, Frazier Lyn
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Syntax. 2010 Dec 1;13(4):279-297. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9612.2010.00142.x.
Ellipsis is subject to both syntactic conditions and discourse conditions. Here we explore the discourse condition that favors antecedents that are part of the main assertion of an utterance. We argue that the main assertion tendency is best captured in the processor, not the grammar. Two experiments test verb phrase ellipsis examples with antecedents in a conditional. One suggests that, because of the main assertion tendency, a reader considers full conditional antecedents and not just verb phrase antecedents. However, when the antecedent of the conditional expresses already given information and essentially becomes redundant, fewer full conditional antecedents are chosen for the verb phrase ellipsis, as if the consequent clause has become the assertion of the conditional sentence with the if-clause essentially cancelling out. The second experiment explores examples where a modal is added inside the if-clause, rendering the conditional counterfactual. As in other examples of flawed or imperfect ellipsis, the non-actuality entailment/implicature improves the acceptability of such examples.
省略既受句法条件的制约，也受语篇条件的制约。在此，我们探讨有利于作为话语主要断言一部分的先行词的语篇条件。我们认为，主要断言倾向在处理器中而非语法中能得到最佳体现。两项实验测试了条件句中带有先行词的动词短语省略示例。其中一项实验表明，由于主要断言倾向，读者会考虑完整的条件句先行词，而不仅仅是动词短语先行词。然而，当条件句的先行词表达的是已给出的信息且基本变得多余时，用于动词短语省略的完整条件句先行词会减少，就好像结果从句已成为条件句的断言，而条件句中的if从句基本上被抵消了。第二项实验探讨了在if从句中添加情态动词从而使条件句成为反事实条件句的示例。与其他有缺陷或不完美省略的例子一样，非现实性蕴含/隐含义提高了此类例子的可接受性。
