Fragment Answers with Correction: A Direct Interpretation Approach
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Abstract
Fragment answers have received much attention as a type of elliptical constructions and often been taken as involving move-cum-deletion processes from a sentential source. This sentential approach is challenged by the fragment answer followed by correction (e.g., A: Where are you running to? B: To school, but I am not running) since its putative sentential source would contradict with the statement of correction following the source. This paper reviews three possible directions to account for such a form-function mismatch phenomenon and suggests that a direction interpretation approach referring to a structured discourse can offer a more viable analysis than a quotation-based sentential analysis.
Keywords:
fragment answer, correction, Pom Pom dialogue, direct interpretation, question-under-discussion, mixed quotationAcknowledgments
I thank helpful comments from the anonymous reviewers of this journal.
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