Keywords

implicit control, anaphora, syntactic

Abstract

Implicit control (IC) is the apparent anaphora on display when we use (1) to mean (2). In this talk we develop two objections to grammatical accounts of IC with rationale clauses, which analyze it as identification of two variables in the meaning of the sentence. Such accounts, whether syntactic ([1]) or semantic [2,3]), can explain neither remote IC, as in (3), nor the truth-conditions of the rationale construction. Our objections thus favor the view of IC as a restrictive variety of discourse anaphora, as urged in [4,5]. In turn they weaken the persistent claim that IC indicates the syntactic presence of an ‘implicit argument’ in short passives.

Original Publication Citation

Williams, A. & Green, J.J. Why Implicit Control cannot be a syntactic or semantic relation between arguments. NELS 47, Amherst MA, October 14.