Language Research

Discontinuous Negation in Persian Coordinate Structures: A Minimalist Approach

Mazdak Anoushe

Volume 16, Issue 2 , March 2026, , Pages 59-97

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2026.411384.666956

Abstract

Clausal negation and post-syntactic ellipsis have been extensively investigated within the Generative framework, and Persian linguists have offered detailed analyses of both phenomena. ... Read More Clausal negation and post-syntactic ellipsis have been extensively investigated within the Generative framework, and Persian linguists have offered detailed analyses of both phenomena. The present study, however, examines a specific type of negation that has thus far remained largely unaddressed in the syntactic literature on Persian. Rather than employing the verbal negative prefix, this construction makes use of an independent negative particle to reverse the truth value of a proposition. This syntactic configuration, called discontinuous negation, is realized by the bipartite marker na … na (‘neither … nor’) and licenses the ellipsis of parallel constituents and heads in coordinate structures. Focusing on this construction and drawing a principled distinction between sentential negation and constituent negation, I first demonstrate that the head of Negation Phrase (NegP) in Persian, merged above TP, hosts the verbal negative prefix. I then argue, following Hedde Zeijlstra (2015, 2022), that the negative particle na is phrasal in nature: it constitutes an independent syntactic element realized in the specifier of NegP and is capable of negating a clause either on its own or in combination with its counterpart. Building on these assumptions, I analyze coordinate structures with a shared subject that occur in discontinuous negation contexts and exhibit deletion of part of the first or second conjunct. I identify four distinct syntactic patterns—distinct from canonical gapping constructions—in which the verb or its dependents are deleted from either conjunct. I show that in cases where the verb lacks the negative prefix, the derivation involves either TP-ellipsis or VP-ellipsis. By contrast, in constructions where the verb bears negation in the presence of the discontinuous na … na marker, the relevant phenomenon is best analyzed as constituent negation rather than clausal negation. Moreover, drawing on both empirical evidence and theoretical considerations, I argue that in the constructions under discussion, an Across-the-Board (ATB) movement mechanism forces identical subjects to raise to a single structural position. This movement leaves behind a gap in the structure that, at the level of surface representation, gives the appearance of identity-based ellipsis

Primary and Secondary Predicate Ellipsis in Complement and Adjunct Small Clauses: A minimalist Approach (Phase Theory)

Shabnam Majidi; Fatemeh Bahrami; Mazdak Anoushe

Volume 13, Issue 2 , May 2023, , Pages 105-134

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2023.352971.666819

Abstract

The phenomenon of the head- and constituent ellipsis is one of the most discussed issues that grammarians have given a different name to each of its types. The present paper deals with ... Read More The phenomenon of the head- and constituent ellipsis is one of the most discussed issues that grammarians have given a different name to each of its types. The present paper deals with a specific type of ellipsis within the clause, which is referred to, in the tradition of generative grammar, as the Right Node Raising, and it is distinct from the deletion of the second coordinate clause, namely gapping. In the aforementioned ellipsis, the verb alone, or together with its dependents, is removed from the first coordinate clause. While examining such structures, the present article analyzes the ellipsis from the coordinate clauses which contain a complement or adjunct small clause, and therefore, due to the simultaneous deletion of the primary predicate (from the main clause) and the secondary predicate (from the subordinate clause), they represent more syntactic complexity of its own. In the analysis, which is based on the assumption of two processes, namely the “verb movement out of the vP” and the “object shift”, the discussed structures are divided into two types: coordinates with a common subject and ones with a non-common subject; and thus, a different explanation is provided for each kind. In coordinates that have a common subject and host a small clause in their argument structure, in fact, two vPs, and not two clauses, are coordinated, and the process known as Across-the-Board movement, which is applied to the verb and the subject of the clause, leaves some gaps in the first coordinate clause in place. In contrary, the ellipsis phenomenon is applied to coordinates with non-common subjects. Since this phenomenon occurs at PF level, it is expected that its occurrence is related to the phase domain. In this research, based on the Phase Theory, as well as the empirical evidence of the Persian, we argue that in the latter structures, ellipsis occurs at the higher phase stage, and the elements that have already reached the edge of the phase are pronounced at the phonetic level, following the Phase Impenetrability Condition.

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Keywords = Across-the-Board movement

Discontinuous Negation in Persian Coordinate Structures: A Minimalist Approach

Abstract

Primary and Secondary Predicate Ellipsis in Complement and Adjunct Small Clauses: A minimalist Approach (Phase Theory)

Abstract