Reciprocal questions and the pragmatics of argument reversing verb phrase ellipsis

Abstract

Adding to the literature on pragmatics-sensitive ellipsis, the current paper examines cases of argument mismatches in verb phrase ellipsis involving pairs of participants, termed argument reversals (ARs), and argues that they are primarily possible in situations involving implicit questions of reciprocity or actuality. The analysis put forth captures this generalization by arguing that ellipsis in these cases may be pragmatically licensed by accommodating a reciprocal or actual Question Under Discussion (r/aQUD) structure (Roberts, 2012). The emergence and resolution of these implicit questions is operationalized using the Table model (Farkas and Bruce, 2010). In light of their unique structural and pragmatic characteristics and the observation that existing theories of AR, which implement standard licensing conditions on ellipsis, are insufficient for capturing their pragmatics, some directions forward for addressing the issue of the grammaticality of these constructions are discussed.