Verb doubling emphatic affirmation and V(P) topicalisation as VP ellipsis and acoustic realisation of two copies of V

Considering the derivation of null object structures in terms of VP ellipsis, the paper discusses the syntax of two verb doubling constructions in Polish, namely emphatic affrmation and V(P) topicalisation. These structures are analysed here within the minimalist framework of generative grammar. It is argued that in both of them the verb doubling effect follows from the acoustic realisation of two copies of the verb, which undergoes movement in the syntactic component. The structures in which the verb is not followed by an overt object (and/or other overt material interpreted within VP) are derived with the application of VP ellipsis, following the movement of the verb outside of VP. VP ellipsis is licensed in this case by the focusing of the Σ head, which introduces the polarity feature into the derivation. If this proposal is on the right track, the grammar of Polish has at its disposal more than one mechanism deriving null object structures.