Pseudo-gapping: Evidence for Overt Quantifier Raising

This paper explores the grammatical process of pseudo-gapping. In the literature, pseudo-gapping has been analyzed as a series of two operations: the syntactic movement of a remnant out of a VP (Move-R) and the phonological deletion of the VP (VP-deletion). Given this movement + deletion theory, I address what type of movement Move-R is. This paper makes a new argument against Takahashi’s (2004) approach, and for Johnson’s (2008) approach; the former identifies Move-R with the combination of Heavy NP Shift and Object Shift, while the latter identifies it with Quantifier Raising (QR), whose output is covert in general cases. Specifically, it is shown that the latter, but not the former, can predict two facts: that the object of a preposition in an NP-PP argument construction can be a remnant and that no predicate NP can be a remnant. The QR approach is then extended by adopting the single output model of syntax (e.g., Bobaljik 1995). In particular, a new phonological theory of QR is proposed, which provides four possible ways to reduce the chain of QR, depending on whether VP-deletion applies and whether the moved element is focused. This new theory is shown to explain why the output of QR can be overt in pseudo-gapping. Considering the possibility of overt QR, this paper concludes by arguing against the traditional T model of grammar, or the dual output model of syntax (e.g., Chomsky and Lasnik 1977). This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/ vol23/iss1/30 U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 23.1, 2017 Pseudo-gapping: Evidence for Overt Quantifier Raising