Derivation of anaphoric object drop in Cantonese and their counterparts in English

Abstract

In this paper, I attempt to examine (1) types of anaphoric object drop in Cantonese and (2) their derivation of object drop, particularly compared to English. Two types of anaphoric object drop in Cantonese were studied: (a) specific and (b) non-specific object drop: (i) nonspecific existential object drop, (ii) non-specific generic and (iii) non-specific attributive object drop. As for the derivation of object drop, I assume that all null arguments in Cantonese have the same featural composition: [uD, N] (Holmberg 2010a; see Cheng and Sybesma 2014 for NP structure). They have an unvalued D-feature which needs to be assigned a value in the course of the derivation, and a nominal feature which means they can occur in all positions where nominal constituents are found.

(1) [uD, N] I explain that [uD] in Cantonese can be valued from an antecedent, but it is with a referential index [D_i N] or a referential variable [D_x N]. The valuation can be depicted as in (2), where DP needs to be in a local relation to the null pronoun.

(2) DP_i ... [uD, N] → DP_i ... [D_i, N]

<b>An aboutness topic feature accounts for specific object drop</b> One difference between Cantonese and English is that Cantonese declarative sentences have a feature in C which requires a topic specifier. I will call this feature [Aboutness topic] (see Frascarelli and Hinterhölzl (2007) on the typology of topics).

(3) sannggwo, ngo zeoi zungji hoengziu fruit, I most like banana ‘(As for) fruits, I like bananas most.’

As for English, it has no general aboutness topic-feature in C. What it has, as an optional feature of C, is a [contrastive] feature, triggering movement of a contrast-marked phrase to spec, CP. The following example shows that English does not allow movement of an aboutness topic, and that it allows the movement of a contrastive topic.

(4) A: Do you like that book? B₁: I like that book. B₂: That book, I like *(but not the other one).

<b>NP-deletion without an overt determiner stranding for non-specific object drop</b> Consider anaphoric specific and non-specific object drop in Cantonese as in (5a) and (5b).

<i>Referential index (specific interpretation):</i> (5a) Cheung taigin jat zek hung laa Mali dou taigin e (Cantonese) Cheung see one CI bear_i ASP Mali also see [D_i N] 'Cheung saw a bear. Mary also saw <b>it</b>.'

<i>Referential variable (non-specific interpretation):</i> (5b) Cheung taigin jat zek hung laa Mali dou taigin e (Cantonese) Cheung see one CI bear ASP Mali also see [D_x N] 'Cheung saw a bear. Mary also saw <b>one</b>.'

Huang (1984) argues that there is a null topic mediating between the antecedent and the null object, but that cannot be so in the indefinite cases (because an indefinite DP cannot be a topic). In the cases of non-specific object drop, they are derived by NP-ellipsis, stranding a null D. Instead, English has an overt D, a definite pronoun in the specific case (e.g. <i>it</i>), and an indefinite determiner <i>one</i> in the indefinite case.