Syntax Circle: Apparent clausemate condition obviations in Spanish and German complex antecedent multiple sluicing as evidence for a short source approach

Abstract 

This presentation will discuss multiple sluicing (MS), a clausal ellipsis configuration involving two or more adjacent wh-interrogative remnants (e.g., Takahashi 1994). MS obeys a clausemate condition (CC), which demands that the wh-remnants’ correlates in the antecedent clause occupy the same finite clause (e.g., Lasnik 2014; Abels & Dayal 2022). Nevertheless, apparent obviations of the CC are attested (e.g., Nishigauchi 1998; Grano & Lasnik 2018; Barros & Frank 2023). One such exceptional case is a biclausal configuration with a bound pronominal subject in the embedded clause, see (2).

(1) [CP Every queeni mentioned [CP that shei had wished for some painting]], but I just don’t know which queen for which painting.

Barros & Frank (2022) offer a semantic account based on discourse-centering, arguing that CC obviations occur when there is a “shifty subject” in the embedded clause in the antecedent that displaces the attention from the most prominent argument in the matrix clause. This view is contested by Cortés Rodríguez & Griffiths (to appear), whose experimental results for German show that CC obviations are permitted whenever a monoclausal ‘short source’ interpretation is possible (see (2) for a short interpretation of (1)), regardless of whether the subject of the embedded clause is shifty or not.

(2) ... but I just don’t know which queen had wished for which painting.

To further investigate the viability of the short source analysis, we conducted two additional acceptability judgment studies. This time, we varied the multi-clausal structure of the antecedent, using relative clauses (RC) and complex NPs (CNP) instead of subordination under the root verb. To ensure our results are cross-linguistically valid, we conducted parallel experiments in German and Spanish.

The experimental data for Spanish (n=32) and German (n=30) were analyzed using ordered logistic regressions. The models for both languages yielded comparable results with a significant effect for SOURCE (p<.01) as well a significant effect for EMBEDDING TYPE (p<.01).

Our results regarding SOURCE align with Cortés Rodríguez & Griffiths (to appear), thus indicating a preference for short source interpretations regardless of the syntactic configuration or the language tested. Furthermore, the study also suggests that the presence of bound pronouns (personal, demonstrative, or relative) does not obviate the CC. Instead, the presence of bound pronouns allows for a local reconstruction of nominal referents, and the shortest possible source is used to compute the identity of the sluice. Additionally, the study found that the EMBEDDING TYPE – i.e., relative clauses versus complex NPs – has a significant effect on acceptability. We attribute this effect to an ellipsis-independent phenomenon related to interpreting complex antecedents.

Conceptually, our results are easily captured in the structuralist framework as follows: (i) the CC is a hard syntactic constraint on elliptic clauses, (ii) in apparent CC-obviation cases, the elliptic part is actually a monoclausal short source, meaning that (iii) CC-obviations are illusory. Lastly, the parallel results in both studies grant our analysis with solid cross-linguistic validity.

References

Abels, Klaus & Veneeta Dayal. 2022. On the syntax of multiple sluicing and what it tells us about wh-scope taking. Linguistic Inquiry. 1–49. doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00448; Barros, Matthew & Robert Frank. 2022. Attention and locality: On clause- boundedness and its exceptions in multiple sluicing. Linguistic Inquiry. 1–36. doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00458; Cortés Rodríguez, Álvaro & James Griffiths. to appear. An Experimental Investigation of the Clausemate Condition in German Multiple Sluicing. In West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) 40. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press; Grano, Thomas & Howard Lasnik. 2018. How to neutralize a finite clause boundary: Phase theory and the grammar of bound pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 49(3). 465–499. doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00279. Lasnik, Howard. 2014. Multiple sluicing in English? Syntax 17(1). 1–20. doi.org/10.1111/synt.12009; Nishigauchi, Taisuke. 1998. “Multiple sluicing” in Japanese and the functional nature of the wh-phrase. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 7(2). 121–152.

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