This article investigates the nature of Japanese null arguments. Although it has been more or less standardly assumed that Japanese null arguments are empty pronouns, recent literature has shown that they can also be derived via argument ellipsis based on the fact that they can yield readings that pronouns generally cannot support (Oku in A theory of selection and reconstruction in the minimalist program, 1998; Saito in Lang Res 43: 203–227, 2007; Takahashi in: Miyagawa and Saito (eds) The Oxford handbook of Japanese linguistics, Oxford University Press, New York, 2008a, in Linguist Inq 39:307–326, 2008b, among others). Most of the literature on argument ellipsis has discussed its availability, while less attention has been paid to the issue of the conditions under which ellipsis of arguments is possible. This article focuses on this issue. Specifically, building on Abe’s (in: Hoshi (ed.) The dynamics of the language faculty: Perspectives from linguistics and cognitive neuroscience, Kuroshio Publishers, Tokyo, 2009) observation that argument ellipsis is not freely available, I argue that argument ellipsis is locally phase-constrained (cf. Chomsky in Martin et al. (eds) Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik, MIT, Cambridge, 2000; in Kenstowicz (ed) Ken Hale: A life in language, MIT, Cambridge, 2001, and seq.), developing a particular phase-based approach to argument ellipsis which is shown to have consequences for Abe’s (in: Hoshi (ed.) The dynamics of the language faculty: Perspectives from linguistics and cognitive neuroscience, Kuroshio Publishers, Tokyo, 2009) anti-c-command generalization regarding the availability of argument ellipsis and Takahashi’s (in: Laurençot (eds) University of Connecticut working papers in linguistics 5, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1996a; in: Uchibori and Yatsushiro (eds) University of Connecticut working papers in linguistics 7: Papers in honor of Mamoru Saito, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1996b) “Antecedent-Contained Deletion” in Japanese. The approach developed in this article thus provides a tool which contributes to our understanding of the context in which the ellipsis-indicating readings are/are not available with Japanese null arguments.

中文翻译：

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日语的阶段和论点省略号

本文研究了日语空参数的性质。尽管已经或多或少地规范假设日本空参数都是空的代名词，最近的文献表明，他们也可以通过论证得出省略号基于一个事实，即它们可以产生读数代词一般不能支持（奥中的理论极简程序中的选择和重构，1998；Saito in Lang Res 43：203-227，2007；高桥：宫川和斋藤编（日本语言学的牛津手册，牛津大学出版社，纽约，2008a，语言学家inq 39：307-326，2008b等）。关于论点省略号的大多数文献都讨论了它的可用性，而对可能引起论点省略号的条件问题的关注较少。本文重点讨论此问题。具体来说，是基于安倍晋三（Hoshi（ed。）语言学院的动态：来自语言学和认知神经科学的观点，黑潮出版社，东京，2009年）观察到，论点省略号不是免费提供的，我认为论点省略号是本地的相位受限（请参阅Martin等人的Chomsky（编））循序渐进：为纪念Howard Lasnik，MIT，剑桥，2000；肯斯托维奇（Ken Hale）：《语言的生活》，麻省理工学院，剑桥，2001年，以及序列），开发出一种基于阶段的论点省略号的特殊方法，该方法对安倍晋三的研究有影响（in：Hoshi（ed。）语言学院的动态：语言学和认知神经科学的观点，黑潮出版社，东京，2009年）关于论点省略号和Takahashi的反c指令的概括（参见：Laurençot（eds）康涅狄格大学的语言学研究论文，第5卷，康涅狄格大学，斯托斯，1996a；参见：Uchibori和Yatsushiro（eds）康涅狄格大学的工作语言学领域的论文7：为纪念Samo Mamoru Saito而著的论文，康涅狄格大学，斯托尔斯，1996b）“日语中包含的删除”。因此，本文开发的方法提供了一种工具，有助于我们理解上下文（其中省略号指示的读数无法使用日语空参数）。