We present a new method for characterizing the interpretive possibilities generated by elliptical constructions in natural language. Unlike previous analyses, which postulate ambiguity of interpretation or derivation in the full clause source of the ellipsis, our analysis requires no such hidden ambiguity. Further, the analysis follows relatively directly from an abstract statement of the ellipsis interpretation problem. It predicts correctly a wide range of interactions between ellipsis and other semantic phenomena such as quantifier scope and bound anaphora. Finally, although the analysis itself is stated nonprocedurally, it admits of a direct computational method for generating interpretations. This article is available through the Computation and Language E-Print Archive as cmp-lg/9503008, and also appears in Linguistics and Philosophy 14(4):399–452. cmp-lg/9503008 Ellipsis and Higher-Order Unification 1

In the present paper we will discuss an interpretation of a certain type of "empty slots", e.g. deletions, in Czech sentences, especially in the positions where the deletions seem to be conditioned grammatically. These issues are often discussed in present day formal linguistics within Chomsky's framework of Government and

This paper investigates the interaction of the syntax and semantics of infinitival constructions. It is argued that there is a close connection between the syntactic structure (the presence vs. absence of an infinitival PRO subject) and the interpretation (obligatory vs. non-obligatory control) of infinitival constructions. The main claim is that obligatory control is determined lexically/semantically, whereas non-obligatory control is determined syntactically. While obligatory control is compatible with a subjectless (i.e., PRO-less) infinitive, non-obligatory control requires the presence of a syntactic PRO subject. Empirical evidence for the absence vs. presence of a syntactic PRO subject comes from the A-movement (restructuring) and binding properties in infinitival constructions. Finally, binding and the interpretation of it-anaphors shows that the correlation between obligatory control and the lack of a syntactic subject is only a one-way correlation and that the syntactic struct...