Title: Argument Structure as Another Reference-tracking System with Reference to Ellipsis
Abstract: Foley and Van Valin (1984) present a typology of reference-tracking systems and classify them into four basic types: switch-function, switch-reference, noun class, and pragmatic inference. They believe that languages such as Japanese, which heavily utilize ellipsis, lack the first three systems, and that assignment of coreference is not directly signalled in the linguistic form. I argue against this statement by showing that Japanese in fact utilizes all four systems. Furthermore, it utilizes argument structure as another reference-tracking system; person/animacy and discourse salience of arguments induce a particular argument structure, which signals the referential identity of ellipted arguments. I refer to other languages as further evidence for suggesting argument structure as another system for reference tracking.
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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