• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.52
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• pp.393-416
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• 2018

Negative Stripping Construction in English involves the disjunction but, the adverb not, and a constituent NP. This construction is an incomplete sentence although it delivers a complete sentential meaning. Interpretation of this construction may be ambiguous in that the constituent NP can either be construed as the subject, or as the complements including the object. To generate such sentences and resolve the issue of ambiguity, we propose a construction-based analysis under direct interpretation approach, rejecting previous analyses based on deletion approaches. In so doing, we suggest a negative stripping construction rule that can account for ambiguous meaning. This rule further can enable us to explain syntactic structures and readings of Negative Stripping Construction.