deletion versus pro-forms: an overly simple dichotomy?

this paper examines an anaphoric construction, british english do, and locates it within the dichotomy in the ellipsis literature between deleted phrases and null pro-forms, concluding that the choice is a false one, in that pro-forms involve deletion as well; the question, then, is how to account for the differential permeability to dependencies that require external licensing of the various deleted constituents. british english do has some characteristics of a fully deleted phrase, and some of a pro-form. the paper proposes that deletion is involved in this construction, but of a smaller constituent than can host wh-movement or long quantifier-raising. therefore, deletion must occur within the syntax, in order to bleed syntactic processes.