Abstract
This paper presents a novel analysis of Sluicing, an ellipsis construction first described by Ross (1969) and illustrated by the bracketed portion ofI want to do something, but I'm just not sure [what _]. Starting from the assumption that a sluice consists of a displaced Wh-constituent and an empty IP, we show how simple and general LF operations fill out the empty IP and thereby provide it with an interpretable Logical Form. The LF operations we appeal to rely on the influential theory of indefinites developed by Irene Heim and Hans Kamp, and are in harmony with certain aspects of Chomsky's Minimalist Program for linguistic theory. The analysis accounts directly for the familiar properties of Sluicing, as well as some facts which have not previously been observed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berman, Stephen: 1991,On the Semantics and Logical Form of WH-Clauses, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, distributed by Graduate Linguistics Student Association, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Chao, Wynn: 1987,On Ellipsis, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, distributed by Graduate Linguistics Student Association, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Chierchia, Gennaro: 1992, ‘Questions with Quantifiers’,Natural Language Semantics 1(2), 181–234.
Chomsky, Noam: 1963,Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, Mouton, The Hague.
Chomsky, Noam: 1981,Lectures on Government and Binding, Foris Publications, Dordrecht.
Chomsky, Noam: 1986,Barriers, Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 13, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Chomsky, Noam: 1993, ‘A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory’, in K. Hale and S. J. Keyser (eds.),The View from Building 20 — Essays in Honor of Sylvain Bromberger, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 1–52.
Engdahl, Elisabet: 1986,Constituent Questions, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Engdahl, Elisabet: 1988, ‘Relational Interpretation’, in R. Kempson (ed.),Mental Representations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 63–82.
Fiengo, Robert and Robert May: 1994,Indices and Identity, Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 24, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Fillmore, Charles: 1986, ‘Pragmatically Controlled Zero Anaphora’, V. Nikiforidou et al. (eds.),Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley, pp. 95–107.
Fodor, Janet and Ivan Sag: 1982, ‘Referential and Quantificational Indefinites’,Linguistics and Philosophy 5(3), 355–398.
Ginzburg, Jonathan: 1992,Questions, Queries and Facts: A Semantics and Pragmatics for Interrogatives, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University.
Groenendijk, Jeroen and Martin Stokhof: 1982, ‘Semantic Analysis of Wh-Complements’,Linguistics and Philosophy 5(2), 175–233, reprinted in Groenendijk and Stokhof (1984), pp. 77–164.
Groenendijk, Jeroen and Martin Stokhof: 1984,Studies on the Semantics of Questions and the Pragmatics of Answers, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Amsterdam.
Hamblin, C. L.: 1973, ‘Questions in Montague English’,Foundations of Language 10(1), 41–53, reprinted in B. Partee (ed.),Montague Grammar, Academic Press, New York, 1976, pp. 247–259.
Hankamer, Jorge: 1978, ‘On the Nontransformational Derivation of Some Null VP Anaphors’,Linguistic Inquiry 9(1), 66–74.
Hankamer, Ivan and Ivan Sag: 1976, ‘Deep and Surface Anaphora’,Linguistic Inquiry 7(3), 391–426.
Heim, Irene: 1982,The Semantics of Definite and Indefinite Noun Phrases, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, distributed by Graduate Linguistics Student Association, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; published in the Distinguished Dissertations in Linguistics Series, Garland Press, 1988.
Heim, Irene: 1987, ‘Where Does the Indefiniteness Restriction Apply? Evidence from the Definiteness of Variables’, in E. Reuland and A. ter Meulen (eds.),The Representation of (In)definiteness, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 21–42.
Higginbotham, James and Robert May: 1981, ‘Questions, Quantifiers and Crossing’,The Linguistic Review 1(1), 41–79.
Jones, Charles: 1990, ‘Some Wh/Operator Interactions’,Linguistic Inquiry 21(4), 577–588.
Kamp, Hans: 1984, ‘A Theory of Truth and Semantic Representation’, in J. Groenendijk, T. Janssen, and M. Stockhof (eds.),Truth, Interpretation and Information, Foris Publications, Dordrecht, pp. 277–322.
Kamp, Hans and Uwe Reyle: 1991,From Discourse to Logic: An Introduction to Modeltheoretic Semantics of Natural Language, Formal Logic and Discourse Representation Theory, Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 42, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Karttunen, Lauri: 1977, ‘Syntax and Semantics of Questions’,Linguistics and Philosophy 1(1), 3–44.
Kennedy, Christopher: 1994, ‘Argument Contained Ellipsis’, Working Paper LRC-94-03, Linguistics Research Center, University of California Santa Cruz.
Koopman, Hilda and Dominique Sportiche: 1982, ‘Variables and the Bijection Principle’,The Linguistic Review 2(2), 139–160.
Lahiri, Utpal: 1991,Embedded Interrogatives and Predicates That Embed Them, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.
Levin, Beth and Malka Rappaport: 1986, ‘The Formation of Adjectival Passives’,Linguistic Inquiry 17(4), 623–661.
Levin, Lori: 1982, ‘Sluicing: a Lexical Interpretation Procedures’, in J. Bresnan (ed.),The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relations, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 590–654.
Li, Yen-hui Audrey: 1992, ‘IndefiniteWh in Mandarin Chinese’,Journal of East Asian Linguistics 1(2), 125–156.
Lobeck, Anne: 1991, ‘The Phrase Structure of Ellipsis’, in S. D. Rothstein (ed.),Perspectives on Phrase Structure: Heads and Licensing, Syntax and Semantics 25, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 81–103.
Lobeck, Anne: 1992, ‘Licensing and Identification of Ellipted Categories in English’, in S. Berman and A. Hestvik (eds.),Proceedings of the Stuttgart Ellipsis Workshop, Arbeitspapiere des Sonderforschungsbereichs 340, “Sprach-theoretische Grundlagen für die Computerlinguistik,” Universität Stuttgart.
May, Robert: 1985,Logical Form: Its Structure and Derivation, Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 12, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
May, Robert: 1988, ‘Ambiguities of Quantification and WH: A Reply to Williams’,Linguistic Inquiry 19(1), 118–135.
Nishigauchi, Taisuke: 1986,Quantification in Syntax, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, distributed by Graduate Linguistics Student Association, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Nishigauchi, Taisuke: 1990,Quantification in the Theory of Grammar, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Pesetsky, David: 1987, ‘Wh-in-situ: Movement and Unselective Binding’, in E. Reuland and A. ter Meulen (eds.),The Representation of (In)definiteness, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 98–129.
Rosen, Carol: 1976, ‘Guess what about?’ in A. Ford, J. Reighard, and R. Singh (eds.),Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Linguistics Society, GLSA, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, pp. 205–211.
Ross, John R.: 1969, ‘Guess who?’ in R. Binnick et al. (eds.),Proceedings of the Fifth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., pp. 252–286.
Wasow, Thomas: 1972,Anaphora in Generative Grammar, Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, published by E. ‘Story’-Scientia, Ghent, 1979.
Williams, Edwin: 1977, ‘Discourse and Logical Form’,Linguistic Inquiry 8(3), 101–139.
Williams, Edwin: 1988, ‘Is LF Distinct from S-structure? A Reply to May’,Linguistic Inquiry 19(1), 135–146.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chung, S., Ladusaw, W.A. & McCloskey, J. Sluicing and logical form. Nat Lang Seman 3, 239–282 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01248819
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01248819