תקציר:

Although the Hebrew null-object construction is superficially similar to verb phrase (VP) ellipsis, as the latter strands the verb in the tense head & does not impose strict identity on it, the two constructions are syntactically & semantically distinct: only the null-object construction requires strict object identity & displays locality effects. Unlike VP ellipsis, bare argument ellipsis in Hebrew is disallowed in islands & does not permit the antecedent to follow the remnant; Hebrew elliptical constructions with no overt verb have the properties of bare argument ellipsis, not VP ellipsis. Under this analysis, the absence of an otherwise mandatory resumptive oblique pronoun in a relative construction of the type dani yaSav al kol kise Se-ben-gurion yaSav 'Dani sat on each chair that Ben-Gurion did' can be explained as antecedent-contained VP ellipsis. 29 References. J. Hitchcock