Gapping : Movement or Deletion

Gapping : Movement or Deletion

  Based on Johnson"s (1994) across-the-board (ATB) movement analysis of Gapping, Agbayani and Zoerner (2004) argue that Gapping involves the application of sideward movement of the main verb out of coordinate structures. In this paper, I show that the verb movement analyses of Gapping are problematic. Ultimately, I maintain that Gapping is a discourse-oriented variant of TP ellipsis. More precisely, I argue that the left-side remnant moves out of the ellipsis site via NP movement to Spec of AgrsP in Narrow Syntax, whereas the right-side remnant moves out of the ellipsis site via a rightward movement in Shallow Syntax. In sum, this investigation will provide certain insights into the organization of the syntax-information interface.