Genuine Argument Ellipsis: Fact or Fiction?

Abstract

This paper examines the null argument paradigm in Mandarin Chinese (MC) and argues that it cannot be fully captured by previous analyses. I provide new evidence to argue that the op-eration Argument Ellipsis (AE) is independently available in MC and should be distinguished from other elliptic constructions. Lastly, it is claimed that the establishment of a new type of ellip-tic construction has implications on the phase-hood status in MC in particular and the theory of el-lipsis in general.