NP Ellipsis and Parameters:
An Acquisitional Perspective
Koji Sugisaki
Mie University

1. Introduction
Within the Principles-and-Parameters approach to UG (including the recent Minimalist Program),the process of language acquisition is interpreted as the process of fixing the values of parameters in
one of the permissible ways (see e.g. Chomsky 1995:6). Under this view, the data from child languagecan (in principle) be especially valuable, in evaluating the parameters proposed through theinvestigations of comparative syntax. The present study attempts to demonstrate this point through theexamination of child Japanese.
In this study, I present preliminary evidence from my own experiment in progress that the grammarof young Japanese-speaking children permits the sloppy-identity interpretation of phonologically nullarguments. This finding is in conformity with recent, minimalist approaches to Hale’s (1983)
Configurationality Parameter that postulate a tight connection between the possibility of noun-phrase
ellipsis and the availability of scrambling (Oku 1998, Saito 2003).

2. The Configurationality Parameter
It has been observed at least since the seminal work by Hale (1983) that free word-order languages(or scrambling languages) tend to allow extensive use of null anaphora. Non-configurational languages
such as Warlpiri and Japanese show both of these properties, while configurational languages such as
English exhibit neither of them. The free word-order property of Warlpiri and Japanese is illustrated in(1) and (2), and the productive use of null arguments in these languages is exemplified in (3) and (4).
(1)

Free word-order property in Warlpiri (Hale 1983:6):
a. Ngarrka-ngkukawawirri
panti-rni.
man
Erg
Aux
kangaroospear Nonpast‘The man is spearing the kangaroo.’b. Wawirrikapanti-rni
ngarrka-ngku.
kangaroo
Aux
spear Nonpast man
Ergc. Panti-rnikangarrka-ngku
wawirri.
spear Nonpast Auxman
Ergkangaroo(2)

Free word-order property in Japanese:a. Ken-ga
sono hon-oyonda.
Ken-Nomthat book-Acc
read‘Ken read that book.’* I am grateful to Cedric Boeckx, Shigeru Miyagawa, Keiko Murasugi, Yukio Otsu, and especially to William
Snyder for valuable comments on this study. I would like to thank Etsuko Yoshida for her help in conducting theexperiment. The usual disclaimers apply. The research reported here was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (#17320062, Project Leader: Seiki
Ayano).

© 2007 Koji Sugisaki. Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition
North America (GALANA), ed. Alyona Belikova et al., 416-425. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings
Project.

417

b.
c.
d.

Sono hon-oKen-gayonda.
that book-Acc
Ken-Nom
read
Eri-ga[ Ken-gasono hon-o
Eri-Nom
Ken-Nomthat book-Acc‘Eri thinks that Ken read that book.’
Sono hon-o [ Eri-ga[ Ken-gathat book-Acc
Eri-Nom
Ken-Nom

yonda
read

to ]
that

omotteiru.
think

yonda
read

to ]
that

omotteiru.]]
think

(3)

Productive use of null arguments in Warlpiri (Hale 1983:7):
a. Ngarrka-ngkukawawirri
panti-rni.
man
Erg
Aux
kangaroospear Nonpast‘The man is spearing the kangaroo.’b. Panti-rnika.
spear Nonpast Aux‘He/she is spearing him/her/it.’(4)

Productive use of null arguments in Japanese (Takahashi, in press):
Speaker A:
Taroo-wadoosimasita ka?
Taroo-Top
howdidQ‘What happened to Taroo?’
Speaker B:
eie-ni
kaerimasita.
home-toreturned‘(He) returned home.’
Speaker C:
Sensei-ga
esikarimasita.
teacher-Nom
scolded‘The teacher scolded (him).’

In order to account for the cross-linguistic correlation between free word-order and the availabilityof productive null arguments, Hale (1983) proposed that UG is equipped with the Configurationality
Parameter, which regulates the application of the Projection Principle in the syntactic component of thegrammar. Hale’s formulation of the parameter is given in (5), and an informal version of the Projection
Principle is stated in (6). LS and PS refer to lexical structure (the argument structure of a predicate) andphrase structure, respectively.
(5)

The Configurationality Parameter (Hale 1983:26):(a) In configurational languages, the Projection Principle holds of the pair (LS, PS).
(b) In non-configurational languages, the Projection Principle holds of LS alone.

(6)

The Projection Principle (Chomsky 1981:29):
Representations at each syntactic level (i.e., LF and D- and S-structure) are projected from thelexicon, in that they observe the subcategorization properties of lexical items.

(7)

The θ-Criterion (Chomsky 1981:36):
Each argument bears one and only one θ-role, and each θ-role is assigned to one and only one
argument.

Under Hale’s parametric system, the Projection Principle does not hold at the strictly syntactic levels in
non-configurational languages. This means that the θ-Criterion (7) need not be satisfied at D-structureor S-structure. Then, in languages like Warlpiri and Japanese, arguments need not be generated in theirD-structure positions, and they need not be generated syntactically at all. Base-generation in
non-D-structure position yields free word-order, and absence of generation leads to productive use ofnull arguments.

418

3. Minimalist Approaches to the Configurationality Parameter
Even though Hale’s (1983) parametric proposal was quite significant in that it was the initialattempt to capture the cross-linguistic connection between free word-order and productive nullarguments, it cannot be maintained in its original form within the current Minimalist conceptions ofsyntax. The Minimalist framework dispenses with D-structure, S-structure, and the associatedprinciples of θ-Criterion and Projection Principle, due to their lack of conceptual necessity (Chomsky
1995:187-8). Since the Configurationality Parameter in (5) crucially refers to the Projection Principle,
this parameter needs to undergo Minimalist reformulation. In order to maintain the basic insight ofHale’s parametric proposal, attempts have already been made to refine and reformulate theConfigurationality Parameter within the Minimalist framework. In the following we review two suchattempts, Oku (1998) and Saito (2003).1

3.1 Noun Phrase Ellipsis
Through a detailed analysis of Japanese, Oku (1998) and Saito (2003) propose that a Minimalist
version of the Configurationality Parameter should relate the availability of scrambling in Japanesewith the possibility of noun-phrase ellipsis (NP-ellipsis). NP-ellipsis is responsible for thesloppy-identity reading of null arguments in sentences like (8). Having (8a) as the discourse antecedent,(8b) may mean either that Mary discarded John’s letter (the strict-identity interpretation) or that Mary
discarded Mary’s letter (the sloppy-identity interpretation).
(8)

a.
b.

John-wa[ zibun-no
tegami-o ]sute-ta.
John-Nom
self-ofletter-Acc
discard-Perf‘John1 threw out self1’s letters.’
Mary-mo[e]sute-ta.
Mary-also
discard-PerfOK
strict-identity interpretation:‘Mary discarded John’s letter.’OKsloppy-identity interpretation: ‘Mary discarded Mary’s letter.’(Otani & Whitman 1991:346-7)

As can be shown by the English examples in (9) and (10), the sloppy interpretation is possible withellipsis but not with pronouns.
(9)Peter likes his picture, and Joan does, too.
OK
strict-identity interpretation:‘Joan likes Peter’s picture.’OKsloppy-identity interpretation: ‘Joan likes Joan’s picture.’(10)Peter likes his picture, and Joan likes it, too.
OK
strict-identity interpretation:‘Joan likes Peter’s picture.’*sloppy-identity interpretation:‘Joan likes Joan’s picture.’(Saito 2003:337)

In addition, the following contrast between Japanese and Spanish suggests that the sloppy-identity
reading is not a property of phonologically null arguments in general. While Japanese null subjects
exemplified in (11b) permit the sloppy interpretation, the Spanish counterpart in (12b) allows only thestrict interpretation. That is, the Japanese example (11b) can mean either that John also thinks that
Mary’s proposal will be accepted, or that John also thinks that John’s proposal will be accepted. In
contrast, the Spanish example in (12b) does not permit the latter type of interpretation, and can only beinterpreted as meaning that Juan believes that Maria’s proposal will be accepted.2
1. See Boeckx (2003) for an alternative minimalist reformulation of the Configurationality Parameter.
2. The contrast between Japanese and Spanish would pose a potential problem to Hoji’s (1998) analysis, whichclaims that the apparent sloppy-identity reading in Japanese stems from the indefinite use of null arguments. See
Oku (1998) and Takahashi (in press) for arguments against Hoji’s approach.

419(11) a.
b.

(12) a.
b.

Mary-wa [ zibun-no
teian-gasaiyo-sare-ru
to ]Mary-Top self-Gen
proposal-Nom accept-Pass-Pres Comp
‘Mary1 thinks that her1 proposal will be accepted.’
John-mo [esaiyo-sare-ru
to ]omotteiru.
John-also
accept-Pass-Pres Comp think
Lit. ‘John also thinks that [e] will be accepted.’omotteiru.
thinkMaria cree[ que
su propuesta
será
aceptada ] yMaria believes
that
her proposal will-be acceptedand‘Maria1 believes that her1 proposal will be accepted and …’
Juantambién
cree
[ que
pro
será
aceptada ]Juantoobelieves
thatwill-be accepted
Lit. ‘Juan also believes that pro will be accepted.’(Oku 1998:305)

The observations reported in (9)-(12) suggest that the sloppy-identity interpretation of the Japaneseexample (8b) cannot be derived from a phonologically empty pronoun and should be attributed tosome form of ellipsis.
Otani & Whitman (1991) claim that the sloppy reading of Japanese null objects is obtained by anellipsis of the VP node whose head verb has moved out of it via overt V-to-T raising. An informal
illustration of their derivation for (8b) is given in (13).
(13)

Mary-moMary-also[VP zibun-no
self-oftegami-oletter-Acc

tV ]sute-ta.
discard-Perf

Oku (1998) and Kim (1999) argue extensively against such a VP-ellipsis account, however.3 One
piece of evidence against the VP-ellipsis analysis comes from a certain interpretive difference between
null objects in Japanese and the VP-ellipsis in English (Oku 1998:304).
(14)

a.
b.

(15)

a.
b.

Bill-wa
kuruma-oteinei-ni
aratta.
Bill-Top
car-Acc
carefully
washed‘Bill washed the car carefully.’
John-wa[e]arawa-nakat-ta.
John-Top
wash-Not-Past
Lit. ‘John didn’t wash [e].
Bill washed the car carefully, butJohn didn’t.

In the case of the Japanese sentence (14b), it is very hard to obtain the interpretation that John did notwash the car carefully: The most natural interpretation of this example is that John did not wash the
car at all. In contrast, for the English example (15b) which involves VP-ellipsis, the most prominent
reading is that John did not wash the car carefully, namely that John did wash the car but not in a
careful manner. If the same operation of VP-ellipsis were involved both in (14b) and in (15b), a
serious question would arise as to why the adverb cannot be interpreted within the elliptic site in theJapanese example (14b). In order to account for the above contrast between Japanese and English,
Oku (1998) propose that (14b) is derived through an ellipsis of a smaller constituent, namely an
ellipsis of the object NP. According to Oku (1998), such NP-ellipsis is the source of thesloppy-identity interpretation for the example in (8).

3.

See Takahashi (in press) for a summary of arguments against the VP-ellipsis analysis of Japanese null objects.

420

(16)

a.
b.

(17)

a.
b.

Bill-wa [NP kuruma-o ]Bill-Top
car-Acc
John-wa [NP kuruma-o ]John-Top
car-Acc
John-wa
John-Nom
Mary-moMary-alsoteinei-ni
aratta.
carefully
washedarawa-nakat-ta.
wash-Not-Past[NP zibun-no
self-of[NP zibun-no
self-oftegami-o ]letter-Acc
tegami-o ]letter-Acc

sute-ta.
discard-Perfsute-ta.
discard-Perf

In sum, we have seen evidence that the sloppy-identity interpretation of Japanese null arguments
stems neither from a phonologically empty pronoun nor from VP-ellipsis; it should stem from
NP-ellipsis. Then, a sensible next question is why NP-ellipsis is permitted in Japanese but not inEnglish or in Spanish. In light of a small cross-linguistic survey summarized in (18), Oku (1998) andSaito (2003) argue that the availability of NP-ellipsis in a given language is tightly connected to theavailability of scrambling, and that both of these properties follow from the Minimalist version of theConfigurationality Parameter.
(18)

Cross-linguistic Survey:
Null Arguments?
Japanese
KoreanSpanishEnglish

YES
YES
YES
(Null subjects only)NO

Sloppy Interpretation of
Null Arguments?

Scrambling?

YES
YES
NO

YES
YES
NO

N/A

NO

3.2 Oku’s (1998) Parametric Proposal
Oku (1998) establishes the connection between scrambling and NP-ellipsis by making use of theparameter proposed by Bošković & Takahashi (1998), which can be called the Parameter of θ-feature
Strength.
(19)

The Parameter of θ-feature Strength: θ-features are {strong, weak}.

According to Bošković & Takahashi (1998), θ-features of a verb are weak in Japanese, while they arestrong in non-scrambling languages like English and Spanish. Given their weak nature, θ-features ofJapanese verbs need not be checked in overt syntax. This property of Japanese makes it possible for anargument to be base-generated in a ‘scrambled’ position, as shown in (20a). In the LF component, the‘scrambled’ object undergoes a lowering operation and merges with the predicate, in order to check theselectional features of the verb.
(20)

a.

b.

In overt syntax:[TP Ken-o [TP Taroo-ga[CP Hanako-ga [VP
Ken-Acc
Taroo-Nom
Hanako-Nom
Lit. ‘Ken, Taroo said that Hanako scolded.’In the LF component:[TPsikatta]scoldedto] itta]]that said[TP Taroo-ga[CP Hanako-ga [VP Ken-o sikatta]
Taroo-Nom
Hanako-Nom
Ken-Acc scoldedto] itta]]that said

421

Such a derivation is not available in English or Spanish, since θ-features in these languages are strong
and hence they must be checked in overt syntax soon after verbs are introduced into the derivation.
Building on Bošković & Takahashi’s (1998) LF analysis of scrambling, Oku (1998) argues that thepossibility of NP-ellipsis in Japanese also follows from the weakness of θ-features. Since θ-features ofJapanese verbs need not undergo checking in overt syntax, an argument position can be literally absent
in Japanese, as shown in (21a). At LF, the second clause in (21) comes to have a licit transitive
configuration through the LF-copying of an antecedent NP.
(21)

a.

In overt syntax:

John-wa [VP [zibun-no
John-Nom
self-ofb.

tegami-o]letter-Acc

sute-ta. ]discard-Perf

Mary-mo [VPMary-alsosute-ta. ]discard-Perf

In the LF component:
LF-Copy

John-wa [VP [zibun-no tegami-o] sute-ta. ]John-Nom
self-ofletter-Acc discard-Perf

Mary-mo [VP [zibun-no tegami-o] sute-ta. ]Mary-also
self-ofletter-Acc discard-Perf

This way, Oku (1998) attributes both the availability of scrambling and that of NP-ellipsis to a single
parametric property of Japanese: the property that θ-features are weak.

3.3 Saito’s (2003) Parametric Proposal
Saito (2003) proposes a derivational reformulation of the Confgurationality Parameter, placing theparameter in the way Merge (either as an independent operation or as part of Move) constructs phrase
structure.4(22)

The Derivational Configurationality Parameter (Saito 2003:325):
Configurational languages are subject to (a)-(b), but Japanese-style non-configurational
languages are not.
(a) Merge applies only to satisfy selectional requirements. (Merge implies selection.)(b) Selectional requirements must be satisfied by Merge. (Selection implies Merge.)

Since (22a) is off in Japanese, a phrase can be initially merged at a position where it is selected, andthen merged again at a position where it is not. This is instantiated as scrambling, as shown in (23).
(23)

Merge without Selection
Sono hon-o [ Eri-ga [Ken-gathat book-Acc
Eri-Nom
Ken-Nom
Lit. ‘That book, Eri thinks that Ken read.’

yonda
read

to ]
that

omotteiru
think]

Since (22b) is also off in Japanese, the selectional requirement of a predicate can be satisfied by meansother than Merge, for example, by the LF-copying of an antecedent into an ellipsis site. Since theoperation that underlies NP-ellipsis is permitted, NP-ellipsis becomes possible in Japanese. Under
Saito’s parametric system, English has neither scrambling nor NP-ellipsis because it is subject to both(22a) and (22b).

3.4 Summary
Even though the parametric system proposed by Oku (1998) and the one proposed by Saito (2003)
differ in important respects, these theories share the fundamental proposal that the Minimalist versionof the Configurationality Parameter should establish a tight connection between the availability ofscrambling and the possibility of NP-ellipsis. My experiment to be presented below is an attempt to
4. Saito (2003) suggests that this parameter is also responsible for the possibility of the light-verb construction in
Japanese, in addition to scrambling and NP-ellipsis. See Saito (2003) for a detailed discussion.

422

evaluate this basic insight of their proposals, by investigating the acquisition of Japanese.

4. Prediction for Child Japanese
If the parametric proposals of Oku (1998) and Saito (2003) are on the right track, it is predictedthat Japanese-speaking children should acquire knowledge of scrambling and knowledge of NP-ellipsis
at the same time.5 Previous literature reports intriguing findings concerning the acquisition of Japanesescrambling, which we briefly review here.
In the late 1970s, Hayashibe (1975) examined how Japanese-speaking children interpret sentenceswith the canonical SOV order and those with the scrambled OSV order, illustrated in (24). The task was
act-out, in which children were asked to act out the meaning of the sentence by manipulating toy
animals placed in front of them.
(24)

a.

SOV:

b.

OSV:

Kamesan-ga
ahirusan-oturtle-Nom
duck-Acc‘A turtle pushed a duck.’
Ahirusan-okamesan-ga
duck-Acc
turtle-Nom

osimashita.
pushedosimashita.
pushedThe results indicated that there seems to be a period in development, sometimes up to five years old,
where children tend to interpret scrambled sentences like (24b) as if their first NP is the subject (agent)and their second NP is the object (theme). This finding raised the possibility that the grammar ofJapanese-speaking children lacks scrambling and this operation is acquired fairly late.
Otsu (1994) pointed out the possibility that even though the child grammar is equipped with thescrambling operation, children may have trouble creating the discourse context by themselves thatmakes the scrambled sentence sound natural. Specifically, he suggested that the scrambled NP is
usually established as a discourse topic, and hence that children cannot comprehend scrambled
sentences in the absence of any discourse context. In order to confirm this possibility, Otsu conducted
an experiment in which each test sentence was preceded by another sentence that establishes thescrambled NP as the discourse topic. An example is given in (25).
(25)

Kooen-niahirusan-ga
imashita.
park-induck-Nom
is-Pol-Past
Sonoahirusan-o kamesan-ga
osimashita.
theduck-Acc
turtle-Nom
push-Pol-Past‘There was a duck in the park. A turtle pushed the duck.’

The results showed that three- and four-year-old children had virtually no difficulty in understanding
OSV sentences, once the discourse context was provided. This finding indicates that the knowledge ofscrambling is acquired early, even though the knowledge relevant to creating the discourse context forscrambled sentences may take more time to develop. Early acquisition of scrambling in Japanese isfurther confirmed by Murasugi & Kawamura (2005). In addition to children’s comprehension ofscrambled sentences, Murasugi & Kawamura tested the acquisition of the reconstruction property ofscrambling, one of the syntactic properties associated with A'-movement. The sentences they used are
exemplified in (26).

5. Saito (2003) speculates that Chinese, which permits sloppy interpretation of null objects without having thescrambling operation, might be a language that is subject to (22a) but not to (22b). This analysis suggests that two“sub-parameters” in (22) can be independently set, and hence that this prediction of concurrent acquisition may notdirectly follow from the parameter in (22). I will set aside this possibility, based on Takahashi’s (in press) proposalthat sloppy interpretation in Chinese should be analyzed not as an instance of NP-ellipsis but as an instance of
VP-ellipsis (Huang 1991).

423

(26)

a.

SOV:

b.

OSV:

Ahiru-ga1 usi -o[ zibun-no1
niwa-de ]oikaketa.
duck -Nom cow-Acc
self -Gen
garden-atchased‘The duck chased the cow at the garden of himself.’
Usi-o1[ zibun-no2
niwa-de ]3 ahiru-ga2
t1 t3 oikaketa.
cow-Accself-Gengarden-at duck-Nom
chased‘The cow, at the garden of himself, the duck chased.’In (26a), the subject-oriented anaphor zibun is c-commanded and hence is bound by the subject NP
ahiru-ga. In (26b), this c-commanding requirement is satisfied through reconstruction: The anaphor isproperly licensed at its initial position. Using an act-out task, Murasugi & Kawamura showed that eventhree-year-olds have knowledge concerning the reconstruction property of scrambling. This finding isquite significant in that it suggests that the children had indeed acquired scrambling as a movement
operation.
In light of the above observations by Otsu (1994) and Murasugi & Kawamura (2005) thatJapanese-learning children acquire scrambling before or around the age of three, the Minimalist versionof the Configurationality Parameter should predict (27):(27)

Prediction for Acquisition:
Japanese-speaking children aged three and four should already have knowledge of NP-ellipsis.

5. Experiment
An experiment was designed in order to examine Japanese-speaking children’s knowledge of
NP-ellipsis. Six children have been tested so far (mean age: 4;5). The experiment employed a modified
version of the Truth-Value Judgment Task (Crain & Thornton 1998). In this task, each child was told astory, which was accompanied by a series of pictures presented on a laptop computer. At the end ofeach story, a puppet described verbally what he thought had happened in the story. The task for thechild was to judge whether the puppet’s description was true or false, by feeding him either a nicestrawberry or a horrible green pepper. The experiment contained (i) two sentences with null objects, and(ii) two sentences with overt pronouns, in order to determine whether children allow the sloppy
interpretation for null objects while disallowing this interpretation for overt pronouns. The test
sentences are listed in (28).
(28)

Test Sentences:a. Risu kun-ga [ zibun-noehon-o ]yondeiru
squirrel-Nom
self-Gen
picture book-Acc reading‘A squirrel1 is reading his1 picture book.’Zou san-mo[e] / sore-o yondeiru
yo.
elephant-also
it-Acc reading
Excl‘An elephant is also reading [e]/it.’b. Usagi san-ga [ zibun-no
isu-o]hakondeiru
rabbit-Nom
self-Gen
chair-Acc
carrying‘A rabbit1 is carrying her1 chair.’Buta san-mo[e] / sore-o hakondeiru yo.
pig-also
it-Acc carrying
Excl‘A pig is also carrying [e]/it.’c. Zou san-ga [ zibun-no
oyatsu-o ]tabeteru
elephant-Nom
self-Gensnack-Acc
eating‘An elephant1 is eating his1 snack.’
Pengin san-mo [e] / sore-o tabeteru
yo.
penguin-also
it-Acc eating
Excl‘A penguin is also eating [e]/it.’

yo.
Excl

yo.
Excl

yo.
Excl

424

d.

Panda san-ga [ zibun-nosanrinsya-o ]aratteru
panda-Nom
self-Gen
tricycle-Acc
washing‘A panda1 is washing his1 tricycle.’
Buta san-mo[e] / sore-o aratteru
yo.
pig-also
it-Acc washingExcl‘A pig is also washing [e]/it.’

yo.
Excl

The story for (28d) goes as follows:(29)

A Sample Story:
Today, a panda and a pig enjoyed riding on their favorite tricycles. Now they decided to wash
them. The panda said, “Oh! My tricycle is very dirty.” The pig said, “Shall I help you wash
your tricycle?” The panda replied, “No, thanks. I will try to do it by myself, so you can workon your own.” They started washing their favorite tricycles.
(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

The results are summarized in (30).
(30)

Results:
Sloppy-identity reading of null-object sentences:
Sloppy-identity reading of overt pronouns:

92% acceptance (11/12)
92% rejection(11/12)

Even though preliminary, these results clearly indicate that young Japanese-speaking children permit
the sloppy-identity interpretation for null-object sentences, which in turn suggests that knowledge of
NP-ellipsis is already in their grammar. This finding is consistent with the prediction of the minimalist
versions of the Configurationality Parameter proposed by Oku (1998) and Saito (2003), and hence
lends acquisitional support to this approach.

6. Conclusion
Even though the results are still preliminary, there is a clear indication that the grammar of young
Japanese-speaking children permits NP-ellipsis. This finding is in conformity with recent, minimalist
approaches to Hale’s (1983) Configurationality Parameter that postulate a tight connection between thepossibility of NP-ellipsis and the availability of scrambling. A broader implication of this study is thatchild language acquisition constitutes an important testing ground for the evaluation of parametricproposals (e.g. Snyder 2001, Sugisaki 2003).

425

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