Nanzan Linguistics 6, 79-99 ©2010 Serkan Şener and Daiko Takahashi ELLIPSIS OF ARGUMENTS IN JAPANESE AND TURKISH * Serkan Şener and Daiko Takahashi University of Connecticut and Tohoku University 1. Introduction In this paper we consider the phenomenon of argument ellipsis, where arguments such as subjects and objects are elided under identity with antecedents nearby. Several researchers including Kim (1999), Oku (1998), Otani and Whitman (1991) have argued in one way or another that some null argument constructions are best analyzed as involving ellipsis rather than empty pronouns. For instance, suppose that the null object construction in (1b) is preceded by (1a), and that the null object in (1b) is somehow anaphoric to the object in (1a). In this context, (1b) is ambiguous between the two readings in (2): (1b) means either that Hanako hates Taro’s mother, which is called the strict reading, or that Hanako hates her own mother, which is called the sloppy reading. (1) a. Taro-wa zibun-no hahaoya-o aisiteiru. Taro-NOM self-GEN mother-ACC loves ‘Lit. Taro loves self’s mother.’ b. Hanako-wa e nikundeiru. Hanako-TOP hates ‘Lit. Hanako hates e.’ (2) a. Hanako hates his (= Taro’s) mother. (strict) b. Hanako hates her own mother. (sloppy) * The material reported here was presented in one form or another at the 3rd Workshop of the International Research Project on Comparative Syntax and Language Acquisition held at Nanzan University in March, 2009 and at the 6th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics held at Nagoya University in September, 2009. For their valuable comments and questions, we are grateful to Željko Bošković, Hideki Kishimoto, Jaklin Kornfilt, Hideki Maki, Shigeru Miyagawa, Mamoru Saito, Nilüfer Gültekin Şener, Asako Uchibori, and James Yoon as well as the audiences at those meetings. The present research was financially supported by the Nanzan International Research Project on Comparative Syntax and Language Acquisition (the first author) and by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (21520392) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (the second author). A shortened version of this paper will appear in Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics to be published by MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.