The height of let alone in English: Evidence from inversion and contrastive topics

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the let alone structure in English (Fillmore et al., 1988). Concentrating on inversion structures, I further develop the stripping ellipsis analysis presented in Harris (2016) with two additional claims. First, the maximal height of the fragment following let alone is lower than sentential negation. Second, contrastively marked subjects occupy a low topic position above vP (Belletti, 2004), thereby offering novel evidence for discourse functional elements between vP and TP. I conclude with a brief discussion of the subclausal syntax below let alone in ellipsis and inversion environments. We begin with a brief introduction to the let alone construction.

Publication
WCCFL 40

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