Another Look at Sluicing in Japanese: The Presence and the Absence of the Copula

Abstract

Sluicing in English is generally understood to involve a WH-phrase in [Spec, CP], which is typically raised to that position, and TP-deletion. Sluicing in Japanese is widely assumed to involve a reduced cleft structure, which is evidenced by the optional presence of a copula. This paper shows that certain WH-expressions in Japanese allow sluicing but are not compatible with a cleft structure and suggests that the English type of sluicing in possible in Japanese.