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At the Syntax-Discourse Interface: Verb Phrase Ellipsis Interpretation in Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Jeffrey Geiger  and
Ming Xiang
Jeffrey Geiger*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Ming Xiang*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
*
Geiger, 185 East Sixth Street Pomona College LGCS, Edmunds 206 Claremont, CA 91711, [jeffrey.geiger@pomona.edu]
Xiang, 1115 East 58th Street Rosenwald Hall 205B Chicago, IL 60637, [mxiang@uchicago.edu]
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Abstract

A central question of language comprehension concerns the interaction between linguistic form and broader representations of discourse in the interpretation of context-sensitive expressions. This interaction is instantiated in the interpretation of verb phrase ellipsis (VPE), where previous work has shown that the linguistic antecedent and the broader context are both considered in resolution. Using a novel experimental paradigm, we investigated VPE interpretation in discourses where the antecedent and the broader context make different information available for inclusion in the interpretation of the ellipsis site. Our results point to a complex interaction between linguistic antecedents and the broader discourse context in interpretation, putting considerable constraints on the set of possible models for VPE resolution. This work contributes to a better understanding of both the connections between and the boundaries separating linguistic structure and mental models of discourse contexts.

Keywords

verb phrase ellipsismeaning in contextsyntax-discourse interfacediscourse comprehensionexperimental pragmatics

Information

Type
Research Report
Information
Language , Volume 97 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. e89 - e110
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. BCS-1827404. We would like to thank the referees and editors of Language, as well as Chris Kennedy, Jason Merchant, and the Language Processing Lab at the University of Chicago for their many helpful comments. All remaining errors are due to the authors.

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