L'ellipse Zeugmatique et le Principe de Récupérabilité

Abstract

This paper attempts to show that, within a grammatical framework allowing for "empty nodes" in syntactic representations, a crucial theoretical distinction should be drawn between empty categories as defined in the Governement-and-Binding literature: pro, PRO, trace), and elliptical (or: zeugmatic) gaps, such as the empty slots in "Gapped", or "VP Deletion" sentences, once derived through "deletion under identity". Through a brief study of two groups of examples involving Gapping, and "Comparative Deletion", it is suggested that unlike empty categories, which, supposedly, fall under the scope of Core Grammar, elliptical (zeugmatic) gaps abide by distinct linguistic principles, some of which outside the scope of sentence grammar, including a functional Recoverability Principle, and constraints on discourse anaphora.