Subject: ellipsis in conjunction

call for papers , focus group , zas , berlin , oct . 2 - 3 , 1998 workshop on ellipsis in conjunction in view of the growing interest in conjunction ellipsis this workshop is an attempt to promote the communication and bridge the gaps between different approaches within the framework of generative syntax . the workshop will concentrate on the following issues : ( 1 ) the structure of a conjunction construction . is the base-generated structure of a coordinate construction a double-headed structure ( williams 1994 ) , or does it have the second conjunct right-adjoined to the first conjunct ( reinhart 1991 ) , or is it a projection of a conjunction word ( &p ) ( munn1987 ) , or something else ? ( 2 ) the possible categories to be conjoined . must a conjunct be a clause or an extended projection ( excluding smaller xp - types ) ? must a conjunct be an xp ( excluding head and x ' ) ? and how are ' asymmetrical coordinations ' analyzed if only ' like ' categories can be conjoined ? ( 3 ) the analyses of ellipsis and gapping constructions . the verb gapping construction , for instance , has been analyzed as rightward np movement followed by an identical constituent deletion ( jayaseelan 1990 ) , across - the - board verb movement ( johnson 1996 ) , and deletion licensed in lf ( wilder 1997 ) . in addition , it remains to be shown how to account for the relationships between vp ellipsis , pseudogapping and gapping . furthermore , a general study of sluicing is required to cover wh in-situ languages where slucing does not alternate with an overt movement to eliminate strong features of a wh question ( lasnik 1997 ) . ( 4 ) the analysis of similarities and differences among various types of reduction . how and why do coordinative , comparative , and exception conjunction ellipses share properties and differ from each other syntactically , and / or semantically ? are the properties of forwad deletion and backward deletion related to lf and pf respectively , as claimed by wilder ( 1997 ) ? ( 5 ) the constraints on the ellipsis constructions . what are the language-specific properties that might interact with the representations of conjunction ellipsis ? are there any ellipsis or gapping rules in ug ? ( 6 ) the connection between conjunction ellipsis and information structure . to what extent are such ellipses determined by information structural aspects like focus background structuring ? ( 7 ) studies of conjunction ellipsis of a greater variety of languages . invited speakers : danny fox tilman hoehle kyle johnson jason merchant alan munn craig thiersch chris wilder organizers : kerstin schwabe , niina zhang , horst - dieter gasde , and andre meinunger the deadline for receipt of abstracts is july 1 , 1998 . please send your abstract ( 1 a4 / letter - size max ) to : dr . niina zhang zas jaegerstr . 10-11 10117 berlin germany tel : 49-30 - 20192572 fax : 49-30 - 20192402 email : ellipsis @ zas . gwz-berlin . de we accept abstracts by fax , email , as well as regular mail . the selection of the abstracts for presentation will be finished by the end of august . zentrum fur allgemeine sprachwissenschaft ( zas ) http : / / www . zas . gwz-berlin . de
