Towards the feature identity for ellipsis in Russian: Evidence from noun phrases with coordinated adjectives

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of feature identity in Russian noun phrases with coordinated modifiers. The data from various languages shows that ellipsis allows mismatch of some morphological features for the elided and the spelled-out constituents while other features must match. The studies of Russian noun phrases with coordinated modifiers propose ellipsis analysis but does not determine the constraints on feature identity for the elide and the spelled-out noun. In this paper, we analyze the identity of such noun features as number and case by conducting a corpus study and a selfpaced acceptability experiment. The results demonstrate that the difference in number is unacceptable for conjuncts without numerals (singular vs. plural nouns) but acceptable with paucal and other numerals (numberless vs. plural nouns according to D. Pesetsky’s analysis). The noun number features mismatch in noun phrases without numeral, but number features in numeral phrases do not conflict. The coordination of a noun phrase without numeral and a numeral phrase is also unacceptable. While the nouns in both conjuncts are plural, the case is different (external case vs. genitive). Thus, the ellipsis in Russian noun phrases with coordinated modifiers requires the lack of number