Pseudoclefts and ellipsis (in linguistic theory)

This paper argues that specificational pseudoclefts (SPCs) come in two type s. In SPCs with the order wh-clause < be < XP(type A), the who-clause is a question and XP is a full finite IP, usually reduced (leaving a DP, VP, AP, PP or CP remnant) by ellipsis of the type also operative in Question-Answe r pairs (QAPs). In SPCs with the order XP < be < wh-clause(type B), XP (=DP , VP, AP, PP or CP) is not reduced from IP by ellipsis, but forms the subje ct of a copular sentence whose predicate is the wh-clause. The analysis (fo und in Type A SPCs and QAPs but not in Type B SPCs), along with other simil arities between QAPs and Type A SPCs and differences between the two types of SPC, which competing approaches fail to capture.