Merchant (2001) proposes an insightful generalization that non-operator elements cannot survive sluicing, which is referred to as the Sluicing-Comp Generalization. Researchers have tried account for how we can capture the generalization, by using several theories of ellipsis. Park (2017) proposes a derivational approach to ellipsis, whereby ellipsis is an overt syntactic operation that eliminates the phonological feature matrices of lexical items inside the ellipsis site, and elided elements can participate in further formal/syntactic operations that occur after ellipsis. In this paper, by using Park’s derivational approach, I argue that the Sluicing-Comp Generalization can be best captured by the Economy Principle. More specifically, when there is more than one possible derivation caused by a head, the Economy Principle rules out less economical derivations, which is distinct from Lasnik’s (1999) analysis using the Economy Principle.
1. Three existing ways to capture the Sluicing-Comp Generalization
2. T-to-C movement as a narrow syntactic operation
3. Ellipsis occurs at narrow syntax
4. Sluicing-Comp Generalization revisited
5. Concluding remarks